Never Grow Up

I had a really great Sunday last weekend. It was like the carefree summer from when you were twelve, plus the independence and self-sufficiency of being twenty. The best of both worlds? I think so.

D and I started with a classy visit to the International Jazz Fest that had been going on all week. We went to a (free) performance at Federation Square, which was mellow and had a great atmosphere. It was a great day, and heaps of people were just hanging out, enjoying the weather and music.

The band was named Kid Life Crisis. I want to be the bassist.

Then we made it down the street to the Arts Centre Street Fair, where we proceeded to buy a few souvs and some deliciously adorable cupcakes. Each cupcake flavor had a short personality description, sort of like a horoscope. My Peppermint Twist cupcake said I was stubborn. Fair enough.

My Lemon Squeeze cupcake was heavenly, but not quite as delicious as my Peppermint Twist one.

The cupcakes reminded us that we were famished. There was construction going on the tram tracks, which was a huge blessing in disguise. We were forced to get off the tram before we were even halfway to our destination and switch to a bus, but we decided to grab a bite to eat first. We found the best, hole-in-the-wall, everyone-dreams-about-it-because-they-see-stuff-like-it-in-the-movies-and-wish-it-was-there-hangout-spot cafe, called Monkey. Can you guess why?

How many monkeys can you spot in this picture?

We sat in this hidden patio in the back, with about 300 different monkey-related decorations and a group of regulars (so jealous). We played a never-ending game of checkers while we ate our mmm-that-hit-the-spot sandwiches.

Are there even real monkeys in Australia?

With full bellies, we headed to our main attraction for the day - Luna Park, an amusement park in St. Kilda. We got unlimited passes and boy, did we make the most of those. With only two hours left until closing, we rode at least twelve of the fifteen or so rides in the entire park.

 

Bumper cars were hilarious. The ride guide actually had to give us directions over the loudspeaker because we were struggling so hard.

I had forgotten how fun theme parks are! We screamed louder than all the kids in the park combined, and I'm pretty sure I haven't laughed that hard since middle school. My abs were sore.

 

In the cage before one of the crazy upside-downers! They're surprisingly not huge on the security thing, we felt like we were falling out our seats the whole time!

Our stomachs were a little queasy after this one, but it was so worth it.

6 o'clock rolled around, and we were forced to leave after squeezing in a private ride on the flying Dumbo elephants. But what night is complete without some more sweets?

Overwhelming, right? Don't even get me started.

We compared at least five different bakeries on the Esplanade, and finally settled on one that had a dark chocolate slice for me and a pavlova for D. The perfect ending to a perfect day.