Perhaps it's time to wish all my dear, dear readers a very happy New Year! I kind of got all caught up in trying to get caught up with myself, if you see what I mean, so I didn't do the whole "Merry Christmas, everybody" type blog when I should have. Ah well.

So, back to the story: there's one thing I forgot to mention about that Sunday night in Melbourne. After the stupendous buffet dinner David had to go back to his hotel to prepare for the following day's meeting, so I wandered through the CBD vaguely back towards Swanston Street.

I decided to check out one of the bars that Rainnie had recommended: Cabinet. It was tucked away upstairs on an alleyway, like all the best Melbourne haunts. I was feeling so full of food that I couldn't face beer or even wine, so instead, much to my own astonishment, I plumped for a single malt whisky!

I have to say it was delicious with just a dash of water to encourage the aromas, and I made it last a good hour, sitting on the balcony overlooking Swanston and watching the world go by. (Okay, I read a magazine as well; there's only so much people-watching I can do in one go.)

My second week in Melbourne was just as much fun as my first week. On Monday I had myself a delicious Nepalese lunch on Lygon, then in the evening I caught up with my good friend Pat for a bite to eat and met his friend Nick, which was a lot of fun.

On Tuesday I spent the afternoon and evening with Emily, Tiffany & her son Herbert down on the beach at St Kilda. First we got some gluten-free fish & chips and some white wine, then we headed down to the beach, then I messed around in the water with Herbert.

At one point we started building a huge sand castle (with a very fine moat, though I say so myself!), and this other little kid joined us. I was beginning to look like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn, according to the girls! But the best bit was when Herbert went into the sea to get some seaweed for decoration, and the little kid said to me "where's your brother?"!!!

We went back to Tiffany's for more wine and I ended up crashing at hers the night. Which meant I was able to have a late breakfast with her in St Kilda the next morning, before catching a tram into the CBD, picking up my camera from the mender's, and then heading back to Rainnie's place in the afternoon.

That evening I met up with Peter to go to the Summer Night Market, a multicultural shopping, eating, drinking & dancing thing they put on at Victoria Markets that reminded me strongly of summer Tollwood here in Munich.

On Thursday I caught up with my old massage teacher Michelle, out at her house in the inner eastern suburbs. It was SO lovely to see her again! She was looking fabulous: freshly in love, and full of the joys of life. She gave me a massage but for me it was more about having a chance to catch up on what's happened in the last four years since we spoke.

After the massage I headed back into the city for a quick coffee in another of Rainnie's recommended coffee shops, hidden away in an alley. That evening I met Stuart at Melbourne Town Hall and we went to Sahara for dinner followed by a couple of drinks at a couple of bars that Rainnie had suggested to me: The Workshop (a first-floor place on a corner of Elizabeth Street) and Sister Bella (tucked away on a side-alley off an alley).

Friday was Rainnie's last day of her studies to be a teacher. She finished relatively early, and as it was another lovely hot day we went on a cycle ride to celebrate her freshly-regained freedom.

We headed to Ceres, the alternative lifestyle place just up the Merri Creek from her house, and spent a while fixing up the bike that one of her teacher colleagues had just given her. It was a bit rusty but basically sound. I've never tightened spokes before, but they have all the equipment you could ever need at Ceres' community bike shed, so it was no trouble at all in the end.

And so we came to the evening, which we were billing to ourselves as a reprise of our 2005-standard "Bodyweight In Beer" evenings. (Rainnie always used to complain, the day after having been out with me, that I should remind her next time that she can't drink her bodyweight in beer. Somehow, it always slipped my mind to do so...)

Our first port of call was Cabinet, the bar I'd had a whisky in at the weekend. I'd forgotten, but when Rainnie had told me about it it was because of their amazing g&t. So this time I had one. The gin they use is Xoriguer, from Majorca, and I have to say I was very impressed! Full of flavour, balanced, and very smooth.

From there I took Rainnie to Siglo, the second-floor terrace bar on Spring Street I had become acquainted with through Matthew the previous week. We had martinis but somehow they weren't quite as tasty as the ones I'd had last time. At least the olives were just as plump and tasty as I remembered though.

From there we headed through the CBD towards the river. We stopped for a loo break at the Euro Bar but then ended up staying there for a beer because the live band that was on was playing excellent tracks and we felt like a bit of a boogie on the sticky carpet floor (it reminded me of cheesy nights with Powergen mates at the similarly-floored nightclub in Leamington Spa).

Then we went on to Recorded Music Bar on Collins Street, where we ended up chatting with these two girls who work for some sort of medical charity. It was such a bizarre, wine-bar type conversation with people I'd never in a million years normally come into contact with!

A few beers later we headed on again, to Cherry Bar, scene of many a drunken night in my year in Melbourne. Sadly, for the first time this trip, my happy memories of 2005 were spoilt somewhat by the reality of 2009. Rainnie rightly pointed out that we were at Cherry at altogether the wrong time of the evening (it was barely past midnight; it only kicks off there around two or three), but it was still a shock to the system to find anything negative at all about Melbourne. I'm over the shock now, thankfully, but at the time it was BAD!

We actually managed to catch the last tram back up Lygon towards Rainnie's place - and then both actually managed to fall asleep in said tram! We woke up about four stops beyond her place, swore liberally at ourselves and at one another for our stupidity, then started walking - well, staggering - back. We stopped for a late-night falafel pita sandwich and then strolled munching back to her place.