On the one hand, he was excited to see many world-famous Australian and international comedians and hang out with 18 of his closest buddies, but on the other hand... she wasn't coming back. As you know, General Millie was sold at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and I had made the mistake of telling the Captain that if she came back, there could be the opportunity for romance. He was a bit sad this trip, and didn't spend nearly as much time as last year out of his bag socialising.
We started our trip a day early, with a trip to see The Lion King at the Regent Theatre with our friends Alicia and Matt! It was a spectacular show - some of the most amazing costumes I've ever seen. At interval, the Captain tried out his Simba impression :P
We stayed that night at the Hotel Windsor, which I mostly chose because it was the place where The Hon Phryne Fisher first lived when she arrived back in Melbourne! It was incredibly swanky (possibly even too swanky) but we had a very enjoyable time and a delicious breakfast.
On Good Friday we headed over to our new house in Footscray and our fellow travellers trickled in over the afternoon :) In the evening, we went to our favourite restaurant (Palookaville in Fitzroy, can't recommend this place enough) and then to see Gillian Cosgriff at the Trades Hall in the evening. Oh man, if you ever get the chance to go see this amazingly talented and musical lady, DO IT. The Captain and I had our photo taken with the star herself and The Ugliest Bag in the World.
Saturday was a fairly relaxing day, because in the evening we had not one, but TWO shows to see, in not one, but TWO Spiegeltents!!
The first one was Head First Acrobats performing Elixir, at the Wonderland Spiegeltent in Melbourne's Docklands. Three incredibly hot guys, doing amazing feats of acrobatics and getting increasingly undressed... excuse me for a moment.
Our second Spiegeltent experience for the night was an old favourite, Ali McGregor's Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night. The Captain sneaked on to the stage before it started...
The lady herself, Ali McGregor was brilliant, and the guests were East End Cabaret, Tony Law and Nina Conti, and I think we achieved 100% audience participation!
Our Pat had at least one of the ladies of East End Cabaret on his knee, Deniz got dragged up on stage for a surreal interpretive dance on caring for the world with Tony Law, and my poor, poor brother was nominated to be Nina Conti's ventriloquy victim... Let's just say, there are videos, and the packed out audience all nearly split themselves laughing :D
After the show the Captain met up with East End Cabaret - you should definitely check them out on Youtube if you want some risque, musical silliness.
A very late night, including the end of daylight savings, made Sunday a very quiet day. On Sunday evening we saw the always hilarious Cal Wilson at the Swiss Club, and since we were a bit early, Captain Poprocks tried his hand at standup comedy, but the microphone was just a little bit too high.
Giving up on being heard, he decided to entertain us with some pre-Cal pole-dancing...
Following a delicious schnitzel dinner at the Swiss Club, we toddled down to the Athenaeum to see Adam Hills! In a familiar theme for the weekend, as the show went on there was progressively more nudity!
Monday night was our house party! We all dressed up for a Wild West Cookup of Mexican food (chicken fajitas on the barbeque and slow cooked beef carnitas) with all the trimmings, and then tasty and cheap jam doughnuts from the world famous doughnut van at Footscray Station. They squirt the jam out of a dolphin!
We all tried to solve the mystery of "Who Shot Mayor Poprocks?" with the man himself playing the title role with great panache. He is still refusing to take the bandanna off.
Tuesday night was the end of my spoons for the week, so while I stayed at home with crochet, takeaway Thai and TV, the rest of the group went off to see Watson perform "Who's Afraid of the Dark" at Old Melbourne Watch House. By all reports it was an excellent show, and as Pat said, "Comedy which requires a safe word is the best kind of comedy". They've been nominated for a Golden Gibbo, which is awarded to a local, independent show that bucks trends and pursues the artist's idea more strongly than it pursues any commercial lure. The winners are announced tomorrow night!
What a week! And the best part? We're already booked in for next Easter :D
What did you get up to over the Easter long weekend?
Take care,
Michelle
What a fun experience! Thanks for writing it up for us. Enjoyed that! Easter wasn't that good, as I was ill, but so it was relaxing and we had a quiet weekend over here.
ReplyDeleteOh no! I hope you're feeling better now, and glad that you managed a peaceful weekend anyway :)
DeleteWow what a lucky hippo! Sounds like an amazing few days in Melbourne. I can't believe your bro ended up on stage with Nina Conti how awesome!!
ReplyDeleteIt was just fantastic :D
Deletewow! what an incredibly FUN sounding outing! (rather exhausting, sounding, too!) :)
ReplyDeleteExhausting but awesome! I couldn't do it without my well oiled wheelchair pushing and organising machine (we have getting on and off trains and trams down to a fine art). It is SO worth it!
DeleteI must admit, as Steph said above, it is exhausting sounding - for any non-chronically-fatigued person as well! Sometimes one has to push the limits. How are you recovering?
DeleteI think staying in on the last night was definitely the right move - I've been tired, but not as thoroughly wiped as I could have been :)
DeleteI'm glad - you need to avoid the rock bottom, paralysing fatigue.
DeleteOh I DO hope it ended up all right for Captain Poprocks. That last picture looks a bit dangerous. But, I'm sure is okay. All superheros find a way out of a tight spot, right?????? ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt turned out Agatha-Christie-style - we all had reasons to get rid of Mayor Poprocks and all had a go at killing him! The little devil played his part admirably, and got lots of cuddles for his efforts :)
DeleteOnya! If you are going to do anything do it properly - you sure did! What a great mix of acts. Glad you had so much fun. It is easier to live without spoons when there are so many great memories to soothe the spirit.
ReplyDeleteWell done, you did it!
(Does it get easier with practice?)
Wishing you fun everyday xxx
It does get easier with practice!! One thing that makes a huge difference is that the whole group pitches in without complaint or commentary to get me around the place. We had such a fantastic time doing things and seeing shows, but also plenty of time lazing about the house crocheting, drinking tea and playing board games :)
Deleteyes, it is essential to factor in those days. :-)
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