Melbourne Scene: When the saying “full of sugar and spice and all things nice” was coined – it must have been directly after the first sip of a San Churro Chilli Hot Chocolate.

San Churro, so the legend goes, was a Spanish monk who had witnessed the miracle of Aztec chocolate healing people of all sorts of ailments including the Queen of Spain and made it his life ambition to spread the goodness of the sweet treat across Europe. Sounds like a stand up bloke if you ask me!

The legend of San Churro’s passion for chocolate eventually found its way to Melbourne and the first of San Churro Chocolateria’s was opened. San Churro smells like Christmas dancing with Easter. Cloves, cardamon and cinnamon mixed with molten hot chocolate beverages or glacial cold chocolate ice cream. Topped off with warm interiors and inviting arm chairs it’s the perfect place to unwind and top up those all important blood sugar levels after a long day’s shopping and schmoozing around Brunswick or Chapel streets.

My picks off the menu include the Hot and Cold – which is possibly named after Melbourne’s schizophrenic weather – but most likely for its decadent combination of San Churro’s signature Hot Chocolate, teamed with a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream in the middle that slowly melts not only in the cup but in your mouth as you enjoy it. And another thing I just can’t help but come back to is the Chilli Hot Chocolate… although at first the idea of chilli and chocolate might sound like a curry that got a little too friendly with desert, just go back to the image of Christmas dancing with Easter and give it a whirl – you wont be disappointed!

There are 10 locations in Victoria alone (and more in greater Australia) to refuel with sugar, spice and all things nice.

Click here for www.sanchurro.com

- Catherine Sietkiewicz

If you haven’t visited Newmarket lately, you’re in for a big surprise. First there’s a whole new fashionista street behind the Rialto. Osborne Street (off Teed Street) has been made-over and now bursts with designer labels, new footpaths and trees. Then over on Broadway the new flagship Glassons has opened in the old Hallensteins building with a fancy Blowdry-Bar called Pony Express.

Opened by award-winning stylists Mana Dave and Kelly Latu from Blaze Hair – just up the road – this is the place to drop in for a quick follicular makeover for $35 – $45 (depending on whether you get it washed or not). They have a “menu” of 8 styles for up-dos and other tress-taming techniques. Or you can pop in and just have a wash and dry before work – or the posh drinkies you’re off to with friends after 5.

A quick hair do then a shop

Modelled on Top Shop in London, the blow-dry bar is sure to take off, especially as school ball season rolls in. Or those of us who fancy a little lift of an afternoon.

Bookings are recommended, but you can drop in and try your luck.

Pony Xpress Pony Xpress 237 Broadway, Newmarket.

Open Monday-Thursday, 8.30am-6pm; Friday, until 7pm; Saturday 9am-6pm; Sunday 10am-5pm. Phone 09 520 5086 for bookings.

I’ve just come back from a weekend in Kuaotunu. Where, you ask? I know, it’s a mission to find if you’re not from the ‘Mandel.

Many a satisfied customer has sat on this veranda, icecream melting down arm

Basically you head to the Kopu Bridge at Thames and turn right to get there via Tairua and Whitianga or left via Coromandel town. About an hour and a half later you arrive at a tiny seaside village with a hall, a fire station (which sounded its alarm for the volunteers to come running in the middle of the night), and the store, famous for its ice creams.

They seriously cannot be making any money out of these monstrous ice creams! One scoop is $2, but you can have two flavours in your one scoop cone (as I did). The Kauatunu Killer is a five-scoop ice cream in a double cone that costs $5 and is bigger than your head. Truly.

Proof of the ridiculously cheap cones

We had come back from the Whitianga Scallop Festival on this sunny afternoon and decided it was ice cream time. But the Killer is so big The Bloke was beaten by his three-scoops, although I’m told they sell at least one Killer a day. Definitely worth a stop – or even driving an hour out of your way. Oh and you can walk along the beach to burn it off which nullifies the transgression.

I’m as excited as a kid in a candy store for the upcoming Whitianga Scallop Festival! In fact I reckon even a kid would take a freshly sauteed scallop over a gummy bear any day.

The famous festival started in August 2005 and about 2500 people came that first year to sample the locally harvested scallops and enjoy the festivities. Today numbers are capped at 6,300 tickets to the public to ensure the queues aren’t too horrendous - especially for the porta loos!

The main day to get amongst the molluscs is Saturday August 28th where 100,000 fresh scallops are expected to be consumed, but the festival officially kicks off tonight with a four-course Monteith’s scallop and beer-match dinner at Salt Restaurant (tickets $70).

If you like golf with your scallops then take Friday off to play in the Mercury Bay Scallop Festival Open (tickets $40) which includes a seafood lunch and spot prizes.

The ‘miscellaneous’ free activities all kick off on Friday too with Shamus - the ultimate danger show in the afternoon, and the Blacksmith Lane Street party that night, followed by Scallop Idol at Smitty’s Bar at 8pm.

But Saturday is the big day. You can see, smell and taste from 70 scallop stalls selling and sampling Neptune’s hors d’oeuvres from a marquee village in the centre of town that sprawls to the waterfront and all the way to Taylors Mistake Park.

You’ll also find art and craft stalls, live music and entertainment and the surrounding cafes and restaurants are all in on the extravaganza. I’m going and I can’t wait.

For more info and to get your tickets (adults $50, children 13-17 years $10, 5-12 years $5) for the Whitianga Scallop Festival click here.

After much persuading, Kiwi expat Catherine Sietkiewicz today becomes our Melbourne Scene Blogger at Large!

Melbourne Scene blogger Catherine Sietkiewicz

She’s 20-something with a unique outlook and zest for life that most 20-somethings aspire to. Melbourne has been her adopted home all year and today she starts her series. Check out her tips  of the best places to hang, watch people, drink a cocktail…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from living in a country that’s predominantly flat – it’s that Kiwi’s love a good mountain to catch a glimpse of the sky from. Though climbing up the roof of the Myer Music Bowl in Kings Domain might offer you the most thrilling inner city skyline night time views, it’s not for the faint hearted! So here’s a list of my top 3 (legal…) spots, to spot Melbourne’s breathtaking skyline…

Melbourne's rooftop bar and outdoor cinema

1  Rooftop Bar: You’ll find  Rooftop Bar on Swanston St on the roof of the old Curtin House buildings. It’s  Melbourne’s premier open air roof top bar and is easily found above restaurant Cookie and intimate venue The Toff. The drinks are well priced –  they have the best mulled wine I’ve tasted all winter! – the company isn’t seedy, the music won’t put out your conversation, but beyond that… the view is prime. Though there are other rooftop bars around the CBD, none are quite so perfectly situated to give you the most impressive views of the iconic buildings like Melbourne Central, Flinders Street Station and a little old church that is mostly hidden by sky scrapers now, but once would have touched the sky with it’s spire. Rooftop bar is open till late most nights all year long and in summer it transforms into an open air cinema. Well worth the flights of stairs to get to!

Melbourne view from Kew thanks to Whale05

2 If the idea of the Rooftop isn’t your cup of tea (or mulled wine. Seriously – it’s great!) then 10 minutes out of the city by train is a suburb called Kew. Kew is a Remuera-meets-Ponsonby (for you Jafas!) type of settlement and the old Kew Mental Asylum-cum-snazzy apartment buildings is a great posy to see the city from. A friend described it as “the best free view in the city to see the city,” and I couldn’t agree with him more.
Pack a picnic, and a thermos of hot chocolate if you’re going up on a winter night and sit in the park. If you’re up there at 6pm (winter) or 8pm (summer) you’ll see thousands of fruit bats fly overhead from the Yarra River where they nest in the day up to the Yarra Valley to eat fruit at night. And, if you’re an early morning person rather than a night owl – because Kew is in a natural Thermal duct – it’s a beautiful place to watch the Saturday morning Hot Air Balloons from!

The view of from Dandenongs thanks to Etoile

3 If you’ve got some spare time and want to make a bit of an afternoon of it, I’d highly recommend trekking up Mt Dandenong. Just 45 minutes east of the CBD, it boasts a complete view of Melbourne’s major suburbs. There’s a restaurant up at the top of Mt Dandenong which has divine food but if you’re like me and would prefer a slice of pizza and a picnic blanket on the bonnet of a mates car, the mountain suburb of Olinda has some great little places that do takeout. It’ll cost you five bucks to get into the car park, but from there the views of the city lit up like a constellation are just unbeatable. The drive up and back through the Dandenongs is stunning too with native gumtrees lining the windy road all the way up, and even a wombat if you’re lucky!

I just got the most random press release today giving me the crime stats for Los Angeles Airport. No homicides, rapes or robberies from January to June 2010, although there has been 1 aggravated assault. But don’t ask about the larceny stats. 4 cars stolen, 38 burglaries or thefts from cars and 343 larcenies. What the…? I say get a shuttle bus and don’t talk to strangers.

We’ve all seen the 1950s pouty red-head blowing kisses from the side of Jucy Rental vans and cars roaring up and down the countryside in their lime green and purple kit. Well now Jucy Lucy is all set to kiss you goodnight in her very own budget hotel.

Lucy says: Don't play hard to get be hard to forget

You’ll find the brand new Jucy Hotel, right in the heart of Auckland’s CBD, with her trademark lime green and purple screaming out from the blandness of Emily Place. This is a budget hotel (read backpackers) with 60 rooms sleeping from 1 to 4 people, with and without ensuites.

I went to the launch last week and was very impressed. For this end of the market, it’s amazing value. The place is funky and clean, the colours are startling (not sure what it’d be like waking up after a big night at nearby Vector Arena and the ensuing aftermath).

All the Jucy staff seem to look the same (or am I just getting old??). Long dark hair, doe eyes, hot bodies and luscious lip gloss (and I mean you Tim and Dan). This is also the new head office of Jucy and their open plan offices have those great big bean bag “fat boys” (in lime green of course). Their meeting rooms are designed like 1950s booths at the local diner.

All they need is girls on roller skates bearing maltshakes and fries.

The triple room

If you’re visiting Auckland and looking for a cheap and groovy hotel, check out Jucy Lucy. Prices start at $49 per night for a single to $149 for a quad room.

www.jucyhotel.com

Auckland Scene: Folk are running about in a veritable feeding frenzy in the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup.  Party Central looks like it’s going to end up being more of a state of mind and less of an actual place. The All Blacks are personally testing the public transport stretch into Kingsland. Mt Eden landlords are giving their tenants notice so they can pawn off their decrepit villas off to tourists for a few thousand a week. The remaining tenants are frantically inflating their old airbeds, hoping to rent out some floor space on the quiet (and maybe a hammock to utilize that wasted airspace in the hallway.) Madness.

I can’t help but think that I would be a fool not to cash in on some of this money-making potential. I therefore offer my sturdy 70’s pad to any world cup punters who need a place to lay their weary, rugby-loving heads. You can even use the garage, as soon as I’ve cleared it of the landlord’s stuff.

I live in Point Chevalier, which is a mere, sprightly 55 minute walk from the action at Eden Park. I gotta tell you though, you couldn’t ask for a nicer walk home after the game. It’s just a straight hoon down New North Road, one of the most under-rated roads in Auckland. You’ll take an extended dog’s leg to the right and eventually end up at the Point Chev shops on Great North Road, the perfect place to grab a late-night bite (your lodgings are meals exclusive, unless you dig canned soup.)

One of the first places you’ll hit is the grand old Pt. Chev RSA – perhaps here is the place fans of the English can commiserate over a home-cooked roast, a cheap pint and some lively banter with the locals. From there, it’s a veritable smorgasbord of the nations Turkish Kebabs at 1218 (with real lamb!). Sages Indian at 1228, or Gourmet Wok at 153 Pt. Chev Road. If it’s a decent pie you’re after, and 90 percent of the time it will be, you need look no further than Angkor Bakery at 1202, or the Take 5 Lunch Bar around the corner at 35 Pt. Chev Road – home of the famous Steak and Mussel pie!

From there it’s a short womble home to my place where I may be able to guarantee something from the swappa crate, dependant on what time you arrive home. If it’s any time after 7pm, don’t hold your breath.

…and most of all, stay away from the Harlequin Bar. That’s my local. And damn it if some things are just far too sacred.

Call me.

Check out the Point Chevalier hub

- Luke Oram

Indochina is made up of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and this blog (while quite long!) covers some very cool highlights of the region – and some inside tips you’ll want to have your camera and taste buds on standby for…

If you haven’t been here before, a great way to see this part of the world is on a tour. If you took, say, this 15-day Highlights of Indochina Tour, the organisational palaver of where to stay and how to get around is done for you. You’ll still have plenty of free time to beetle off and do your own thing. You also get excellent guides to give you the insiders low-down.

Vietnam Highlights:

• When in Hoi An, visit Miss Ly’s Cafeteria for their divine wontons and Cau Lao flat noodles. Oh and you’ve got to try Pho (pronounced Fur) – a local soup made with chicken, rice noodles and garnished with fresh basil, lime and bean sprouts. If travelling and sampling the exciting tastes of local food tickles your tastebuds, try a cooking class (you can find them everywhere). For Vietnam’s answer to Gordon Ramsey visit the Hai Café in Hoi An! He’s not quite as fierce but certainly forceful in the kitchen – and shows you some beautiful Vietnamese dishes which you then you get to gorge on after your lesson.

• Halong Bay in rain or shine is just stunning. Doing it as an overnight trip, not just a day tour, is recommended as it’s at least four hours from Hanoi and the experience of staying on a junk boat for the night is absolutely worth it.

• If you’re after a tailored outfit, Hoi An is the place. They have fabulous (and I mean fabulous) tailors here, who in the space of 24 hours will rustle you up a gorgeous number. Just take a picture in and say ‘I want that one’ and before you know it, they will have taken your measurements and you’ll have a new ensemble in no time. ‘Yaly Couture’ comes highly recommended.

Cambodia highlights:

• Head to Phnom Penh if you are interested in the amazing and sad history of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge rule.  Places of note are: Tuol Sleng detention center and Choeung Ek, one of the infamous “killing fields”.  While sad these places are also full of hope and a testament to human endurance and well worth the visit.  Both places offer guided tours conducted by locals who suffered through the regime.  See both in one day, using a tuk tuk.

• Get a three-day pass to see the amazing sites of Angkor Wat and surrounding temple complexes in the busy town of Siem Riep.  If you have time, take a sunrise tour of Angkor Wat/Angkor Thom. Look out for Ta Prohm (used in Lara Croft movies), and the faces of the Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom. The best way to see them in a day is to hire a tuk tuk and walk in between the temples where the local children will delight in testing their history/geography skills with you! At night head to the centre of Siem Reap to try the street food and music. With dishes as low as $1 for amazing food it’s an opportunity you cant miss!

• If you are looking for some R&R, but still with great night atmosphere head to Sihanoukville in the south of Cambodia. Idyllic beaches, great restaurants and fantastic scenery. Great for relaxing after busy Phnom Penh. Jump on a bike and head out to the more distant, idyllic Otres Beach and try the cheap and amazing seafood BBQ at night.  If you’ve had a few too many tipples on the beach the night before head over the infamous Monkey Republic. The Heartstopper breakfast will sort you right out!
Laos Highlights:

• Luang Prabang during Laos New Year is great fun.  Street parades, flour throwing and water fights galore. But if you can’t head there in New Year, Luang Prabang is still worth the trip. Charter a long boat for a day trip to the Kuang Si waterfalls. Watch the locals compete in somersault competitions, or climb up to the top of the highest waterfall for a spectacular view.  Luang Prabang’s night market is a sight to behold and for $3, all you can eat side street BBQ food is well worth a visit!

• Alternatively use Luang Prabang as a stop off point and head to up the Nam Ou River to the relaxing villages of Nong Kiaow and Muang Ngoi.  Muang Ngoi is the more noteworthy of the two, with friendly locals, great cheap food and accommodation and fantastic scenery.

• If there’s one place everyone heads to in Laos, it’s the infamous Vang Vieng known for tubing, swings, slides and ziplines – this really is a grown ups playground. Hire a push bike or scooter for the day and visit the numerous caves and waterfalls, along with the beautiful Blue Lagoon.

• Beautiful scenery is one of the main highlights of Laos, and there is no better way to see this than to head down to Pakse and hire a scooter to ride around the Bolaven Plateau.  A three day trip will take you around small villages, dirt tracks and numerous stunning waterfalls.  You’ll be enchanted by the sunset at Tad Lo waterfall, (just one of the countless waterfalls along the way), surprised by the overwhelming friendliness of the locals, delighted by the children waving at you from every home and road along the way and stunned by the amazing scenery at every point in the journey.

**United Travel and Singapore Airlines have teamed up to provide two awesome Indochina packages. Click here for details on Highlights of Indochina and Taste of Vietnam tours. Flights are ex Auckland (or Wellington via Auckland). Accommodation and some meals are included, domestic flights and transport is all taken care of, as well as your entrance fees. You’ll also get a local guide and an expert Western tour leader.

Hot tips and recommendations were expertly provided by intrepid travellers Nicola Spink and Laura Barker.

You can’t go to Singapore and not have a sling!

However I nearly did that just that, as I didn’t know where to find it. I’d heard of it and I’m sure I’ve bandied the phrase around like a pro drinker, but it was as if the planets had aligned when I stumbled upon Raffles Hotel after shopping my way back to where I thought I was staying. I realised then I was meant to punctuate my afternoon with the famous pink tipple. (Besides, it was about 35C outside and the air conditioning was as essential as a mid-afternoon cocktail.)

The deliciously naughty drink was created here at Raffles Hotel at the turn of last century by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon. He kept his recipe locked away in the hotel safe, along with a scribbled copy on a bar chit that a visitor managed to get a waiter to give out in 1936. It was originally designed as a woman’s drink – all pretty in pink – but today it’s slung back by anyone and everyone.

At first sip the Singapore Sling tastes like a strawberry milkshake – only made from juice. It’s very sweet and waaay too easy to sling back. But at $25 you’ll want to take it easy.

Raffles is an icon in Singapore. The Long Bar serves peanuts in their shells to all guests who sit at the tables and the etiquette is to eat them and throw the shells onto floor. It looks like a shambles in here! These days The Long Bar is more about a photo op with its colonial touches, décor  and that famous drink. But when in Singapore, it’d be rude not to drop in, even just for that photo.

Here’s the Singapore Sling recipe – straight from Raffles:

30 ml Gin

15 ml Heering Cherry Liqueur

120 ml Pineapple Juice

15 ml Lime Juice

7.5 ml Cointreau

7.5 ml Dom Benedictine

10 ml Grenadine

Dash of Angostura Bitters

Garnish with Pineapple and a Cherry and sling back!

Grab this deal to Singapore!

Singapore Airlines and United Travel have put together a bunch of packages starting from $1829 for return flights from Auckland or Wellington and four nights accommodation. They also have extras you can add on like Breakfast at the Zoo, a dinner cruise on an Imperial Junk and City Tours. Click here for more information including great value stopover options.

And if you want to read my review of Singapore Airline’s double-decker A380, click here for the story and pics.