At the start of the year, my nephew Nathan told us that he would be launching his video game at PAX Aus this year, so naturally the kids were super keen to head down for it, and since 2024 was the first year in a LONG time I hadn’t visited my beloved Melbourne, I was very much on board. I jumped online and found some great cheap flights and booked them immediately. I then found some accommodation that was close and perfect for our big family, and all we had to do then was wait nine months!! That was the hardest part! 🙂
Finally the week arrived and on the Thursday, the kids and I headed to the airport, said a quick hello to Lachie Neale, then flew down to Melbourne. We high-tailed it to our amazing AirBNB in Lt Lonsdale St, dropped off our stuff, did a mad dash to Woollies around the corner for essentials, dropped them back at the bnb, then made it just in time for the tram with Uncle Khicken. He had booked us somewhere a bit special for dinner, and when we walked around the corner, he pointed to some train carriages on top of a building and said that’s where we were eating! The kids were very excited!
We walked up at least four flights of stairs (oof!) and arrived at the top and had some of the absolute best burgers at Easey’s. We then walked through the streets in the beautiful evening, and stopped for ice cream on our way to Uncle Khicken’s place. Aunty Kate was in NZ at that point, but we did get to see her later in our trip.
We caught a tram back to our place and settled in for the night. It really was such a great place to stay! The next morning we were up bright and early to get ready to head in to PAX. Darby was the only one who wore a costume this year. Can you guess who he dressed up as?
Spending the day at PAX is kind of exhausting. There’s a fair bit of waiting around for games you want to play, then there’s a LOT of me waiting around while the kids played games. Uncle Khicken was there to help keep an eye on the boys with me, and we still managed to lose Darby a number of times, but it was great having a base (Nathan’s game booth) where they could come back to.
Everyone had such a great day, and it was topped off beautifully by dinner with the kids’ cousins all together. My heart and belly were both full.
On Saturday morning, Uncle Khicken took the kids to an indoor adventure park Rush HQ and had an absolute blast with them. While they were out having fun, I had a fairly dodgy massage, then I headed to Sydney road for some op-shopping and amazing brunch.
They were meant to go to sushi for lunch but couldn’t find a car park so they ended up at Maccas. Chance wasn’t feeling well with a huge headache after that, and unfortunately he was sick back at K&K’s place. I hopped into an Uber and found him lying on the couch, not being able to look at light, and feeling very unwell. I went into a bit of panic mode, thinking it might be gastro, but we got him back to the AirBNB and straight into bed without incident. He woke up two hours later feeling fine and very hungry! So thankfully it wasn’t gastro, it seems that he had a migraine which has never happened before. I was very relieved that at least it wasn’t contagious.
Marty joined us that evening, getting a lift from the airport from his sister and partner, all ready for the next part of our trip. I’ll leave it there and resume in Part 2 of our adventure!