And here’s my best-of-Melbourne:

Best part/scene/place: Fitzroy. No doubt. The smallest postal code area in Australia, but it has all it needs. After five weeks I had only discovered a fraction of its bars, restaurants and cafés.

Best drink (alcoholic): Thursday 2$-Schooner at Sircuit. All you need. Before 9 pm. Then the price goes up!

Best restaurant: The Newmarket Hotel in St. Kilda. Newly opened, an explosion of taste. Mouthgasms, as my friend Murray used to day, tied with the incomparable ShanDong MaMa.

Best bar: Sircuit. Always a nice hang-out at the end of the day. No attitude, and a couple of drag shows thrown in for good measure.

Most visited place: Probably Sircuit, too. After that, a close tie between my various coffee places Grace Café and Hammer & Tong 412, and the ShanDong MaMa.

Best movie: American Hustle.

Song of the month: Getting away with it (all messed up) by James, remixed by Sean Quinn & Gus Cullen

Best speciality: ShanDong MaMa’s dumplings. And the edamame beans in the olive soy sauce.

Best sight: Probably a tie between the Victorian Bathhouses on Brighton Beach or the boys at the Fitzroy swimming pool.

The most beautiful place: Swimming in the Yarra River. The St. Kilda Pier. Fitzroy Gardens.

The reasons to come back: I feel like the story between me and Melbourne has only just begun. There are so many thing I did not do. The roof top drinks in Fitzroy’s Naked for Satan. Another night dancing at The Peel. Lentils as anything. I can go one and on…