TL;DR – We dip our toes into what Melbourne has to offer a little more with round 2.

Disclosure – I paid for all products featured or mentioned here.

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 3 –

Right next to where I was staying was the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens, so if there was ever a time to have a wander, a calm Saturday morning was the time. Unfortunately, that was also the same time as a Park Run, so there was much dodging.

One thing people from Victoria had advised me to do was to check out the quote ‘stonking big trees’ that they have, and I can confirm that they are spectacular. This was a Montezuma Baldcypress (Taxodium mucronatum), and this photo does not do justice to how wonderful it was.

I might never be able to afford a house, but I won’t turn down avocado on toast when it looks (and tastes) this good. This was from The Terrace, a small restaurant in the middle of the gardens, and it was a delightful place to have some brunch.

After a quick change, it was time to wander down the boardwalk back to PAX, for Saturday was my panel day when I would jump from session to session.

The first was Back Pocket, and nothing can quite ever prepare you for the chaos of a Back Pocket panel. There were screams of triumph as a card was discovered, madness as a whole room joined in with callisthenics at once, and a chorus of boos when Not Gus clearly cheated in the colour round. It was a beautiful chaos that made me smile as fake punches were thrown, and everyone as a group decided that this one child was the worst.   

After that panel, I had a short window to grab some food, and thankfully, The Melbourne Cellar had a seat open. I got their Korean Chicken Burger and fries, and can I tell you that they might have been the best fries I had in Melbourne so far. Then I had some time left and thought: ‘I can grab a small slice of cheesecake before I have to rush off’, not knowing just how big a slice was coming my way. Well, I am not one to back down from a challenge, and I conquered that cake with its tiny spoon.

The next panel was “We Don’t Talk About Milk Club” by ETTO, which I now realise that I am breaking Rule Number 1 by talking about Milk Club. Look, if you have never seen a bunch of people try and win a fighting game while also trying to chug assorted milks, have you ever truly lived? But seriously, there was so much milk drunk … maybe too much milk …

I stopped by a couple more panels before ending it for the day. As I returned to my hotel, I had much to ponder and discovered that a late-night Maccas run was an excellent way to end the day.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images are by the author