Rooftop Bars and Non-Stop Laughs…
Our last fortnight in Melbourne continued to provide us with loads of things to see and do – there were yet more rooftops bars to check out, a night at the annual comedy festival, a tour of some of Melbourne’s most beautiful parks and a visit to the sea side!
We’ve spoken previously of Melbourne’s fantastic network of laneways and alleys which hide a host of treats for the more intrepid tourist – but many more of the city’s best kept secrets aren’t found around corners and back streets… instead, they are hidden high up in the sky in the form of funky rooftop bars. We managed to visit three of them on a Wednesday night after work, starting with the uber stylish Emerald Peacock on Lonsdale Street.
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After taking in the views from the roof terrace and mixing with the locals chilling out after work, we moved on to the Red Hummingbird, my personal favourite!, which had some awesome wicker swing chairs hanging from the ceiling for us to play in!
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Finally we ended up at Palmz – a tropical themed bar at the top of the Carlton Hotel where we got some great views of the surrounding skyscrapers!
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Our night wasn’t over yet however, as our bar hopping was simply a prelude for the main event of the evening… the 25th annual Comedy Festival!…
Every night for two weeks, the city’s clubs and town halls play host to comedians from around Australia and the globe. After trawling through the website at the hundreds of shows and events happening that fortnight, we eventually opted for a budget-friendly ‘stand up’ show at the Hi-Fi Club on Swanston Street where we were treated to 14 different comedians for just ten dollars.
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The MC for the evening was Justin Hamilton (aka “Hammo”) a very funny bloke, comedian, writer and radio host from Adelaide. He really got the crowd geared up for the rest of the show which featured comedians from the UK, Malaysia, India and of course, Oz.
Luckily, neither of us were picked on or singled out as the butt of a joke, despite sitting right at the front. We had a great couple of hours laughing at the witticisms of amongst others, Ronny Chieng, Ava Videl and Nazeem Hussain!
The show was scheduled to finish at around 12.30 (quite late for a ‘school night’!) but went on until at least 1.30am – the jokes just kept on coming! Laughing non-stop for two hours is a great feeling and whilst being slightly tired the next morning we were extremely happy with our comedy club experience and urge anyone who is heading to Melbourne between 28 March-22 April 2012 to make the most of one of the city’s best festivals!
