HOT: Lost & Found Hotel Room, Little Collins Hotel, 27 Lt Collins St, Melbourne – Part 2

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Jetsetting Joyce

I like myself the most when I’m on holiday. I’m positive and energised, I’m endlessly curious about places and people, I’m intensely mindful of my surroundings and I take the time to enjoy small moments.

So when the temporary Lost & Found Hotel Room told me that they had room at the inn for two nights, I jumped at the chance to have a little vacation in the heart of the CBD.

I’ve already blogged about the layout and furnishings of this special Tourism Victoria-sponsored hotel room here, so this post is a more in-depth review of the luxuries of being a tourist in my own city. Sadly, no casual strolls around Melbourne’s laneways or art galleries for this sightseer though.

Day 1

I checked in after work and on entering the hotel room with its big cheerful HELLO sign, clapped my hands in delight (yes literally). I then went about the room, thoroughly uncovering every little well-thought out detail – touching, feeling, sniffing and listening.

These beautiful flowers from Cecilia Fox decorated the high-set glass dining table from Thomas Place, which cast intriguing ethereal shadows on the ceiling.

I invited some of my friends over to check out the room, here’s S trying to work the record player. Eleven university degrees and one professional musician in the room, and not one of us could operate this vintage piece of machinery properly. So no Melbourne music for us.

For pre-dinner festivities, we raided the mini-bar package from the Yarra Valley Dairy. Creamy marinated Persian feta and Spiced Syrian Fig relish on crackers, marinated Mount Zero olives and glasses of Pizzini red wine went down very well.

After stuffing ourselves we then proceeded to stuff ourselves further at cheap and cheerful Singapore Chom Chom.

The evening was perfect for more cosying back at the hotel room. The Koko Black chocolates made the perfect dessert with the Larsen & Thomspon flowering tea as we gave the curious ffixxed double wearable picnic rug a test run…

….constructed elephant puzzles made by Black Panda….

….looked up Youtube videos of our friend on the provided Macbook (an another Thomas Place desk)…

…and after our friends had departed, indulged in a bath with fragrant Aesop products and some uniquely Melbourne-esque bedtime reading.

Day 2

A bath in the morning (!) before heading out for breakfast at Liaison Cafe around the corner. My step was jaunty as I headed to work in my 5 minute commute, already planning my lunch stop at Stellini Bar. I wanted to eat carbs, lots of carbs, just so I could go take advantage of having an available bed in the CBD and having a post-prandial nap! Even though I didn’t get a chance to sleep in the end, I’m glad that I managed to briefly enjoy the room in the daytime , as it was a light-filled oasis of calm compared to the dim cosy ambience of the night before.

And after work that night, back to the hotel room with no Masterchef, no housework, no disturbances, just books and bed.

Day 3

Another indulgent morning soak. Check out. Back to reality. Sigh.

Have a look at some other photos I posted on the guestbook gallery here.

Lost & Found Hotel Room, Little Collins Hotel, 27 Lt Collins St, Melbourne – Part 2

HOT: Chocolate Buddha giveaway winners!

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Jetsetting Joyce

Thank you to everyone for your entries for the Chocolate Buddha giveaway!

I’ve dipped into the Kitchenaid of Fortune and here are our two winners of a $50 voucher each to dine at Chocolate Buddha:

Gem (Eat Drink Stagger)
Vivian

Please send your postal address to to collect your prize and have a great weekend!

Thanks again to Nuffnang and Chocolate Buddha for sponsoring this giveaway.

HOT: Melbourne Open House, Melbourne

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Jetsetting Joyce

I think one of the best free events held as part of State of Design is Melbourne Open House. The 2-day event sees public and private buildings all around Melbourne throw open their doors for a rare opportunity for you and I to discover the hidden histories and spaces in and around the CBD.

There are more than 60 sites to visit, including bowls clubs, banks, residential buildings, libraries and rooftop gardens. It’s an amazingly popular event so to make the most of it take Melbourne Open House’s advice:

– Plan your day

– Know building opening times (they do vary) and if a building is running tours – click here

– Be prepared for queues

– Have a contingency plan and be flexible

For instance, I had wanted to check out the normally closed upper levels of Block Arcade, but all the upcoming tours were full so I ended up at the Melbourne Athenaeum Library and Origin Roof Garden instead.

The Melbourne Athenaeum Library is normally open only to subscription members and is the city’s oldest public institution, with the library’s collection starting in 1840. The densely packed dark wood bookshelves overlook the grand facades of the Regent Theatre and Melbourne Theosophical Society, and the library is a step back in time amongst the CBD bustle.

Every visitor is given a self-guided tour briefly explaining various items of interest, from paintings to a metal book press. My favourites were the classical lift façade (from 1930) and the beautiful Art Nouveau bronze lamp holders.

The Origin Roof Garden was a very different space. Designed by famous TV landscape designer Jamie Durie, the 458 square metre balcony garden is for Origin employees to meet, relax and eat lunch. There’s barbecue and cooking facilities, outdoor seating covered in artificial turf and the most distinctive feature, an open-ended cylinder covered in turf. The garden has been designed using sustainable, recycled timber products, artificial turf and drought tolerant and allergy-free plants.

Lucky Origin employees!

Get your walking shoes on! Melbourne Open House finishes today 25 July. Check out all the properties and opening hours here.

HOT: Preston Zly and the Red Shoes, Preston Zly Studio, Rear 219 Smith St, Fitzroy

Posted on July 18, 2010 by Jetsetting Joyce

I first saw the movie The Red Shoes as a child, fascinated by the beauty of the ballet, the fabulous costumes and the ultra-glamorous London-Paris-Monte Carlo life it depicted in scratchy 1940s Technicolour.

So I was very excited to see that one of the free events being held as part of State of Design 2010, Victoria’s design festival, was a screening of The Red Shoes. Not just at any cinema though – a screening held in the wunderkammer workshops of shoemakers Preston Zly, where everyone was invited to wear their red shoes.

We arrived at the dimly lit workshop via a nondescript carpark off Smith Street and was greeted by the smell of popcorn. Each guest was given a paper bag of popcorn, a glass of pink sparkling and a little chocolate – so cute! We were all asked to take a full –length photo with our red shoes – mine were red suede pumps by Georgina Goodman which you may have seen before. All red shoes worn to the event will form part of a photographic installation.

Inside the workshop red shoes abounded in the cabinets, on the walls and resting eerily on silenced shoe-making equipment – very Victorian Gothic.

Being early birds, we claimed the best spot – front row of the seats, behind the big mattress and cushions set out for the latecomers. My low easy-chair even had a granny crochet rug, a necessity after a while in the winter night chill.

As for the movie itself, many of you may be familiar with the classic 1948 film so I won’t delve into details – but if you’ve not seen it, get it out on DVD! The acting is a bit OTT compared to naturalistic modern methods but it’s still a lovely journey into my favourite place in the whole wide world – the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden – and the dream of ballet.

On leaving, we were all presented with a gift bag – a pair of luxurious Leona Edmiston opaque tights and a gift voucher of $100 towards a pair of Preston Zly shoes form The Signet Bureau on Gertude St. Time for some more red shoes perhaps?

Tonight is the last screening of Preston Zly and The Red Shoes – there may still be seats so RSVP at or call +.

Preston Zly and The Red Shoes, Preston Zly Studio, Rear 219 Smith St, Fitzroy +

HOT: Coco Republic Lifestyle Lecture Series, 500 Church St, Richmond

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Jetsetting Joyce

I have a bulging email folder called ‘Newsletters’ which contains all the contents of the million mailing lists to which I subscribe. It’s an unmanageable beast (just like my Google Reader, currently at 1000+ unread items) but hey, I like to keep in the know.

Out of this mass of emails, a recent newsletter from The Agenda (Melbourne version, they do a Sydney version too) caught my eye – a design lecture series at Coco Republic. Great…until I kept on scrolling and read that Lucy Feagins aka Melbourne blogger extraordinaire of The Design Files, was presenting. ARGH! I quickly reserved a place for myself and another long-time admirer of Lucy, Miss Kish. Who also actually works in design, unlike myself, a pure blogger groupie.

Droolworthy furniture store Coco Republic is hosting this 3 part series to bring together influential speakers from design, property and arts industries. On a cold Wednesday evening and comforted considerably by the gorgeous surroundings (I have a real thing for clocks and lamps), the flutes of Cloudy Bay Pelorus sparkling wine and rounds of crustless chicken sandwiches, about 150 people gathered to hear Gerald Delany from real estate agents Kay & Burton and of course Lucy speak in the second of the lectures.

I’m sort of in the market to buy my first home and Gerald basically gave me the fright of my life. Prices for inner city Melbourne apartments are high, and will remain high, although the market is currently ‘calming’. No, what I want to hear is that there will be a 50% ‘correction’ in the market! No chance. Oh, and apparently more property is sold at public auction in Melbourne than any other city in the world. Grumble, I do not enjoy auctions.

Lucy then presented on her journey as a blogger, from her start in 2008, the turning point when she went from 500 to 7000 visitors in one day thanks to a mention in uber-blog Design*Sponge, and where she’s going now with her 10,000 daily readers, five days a week. As a result of the blog she’s been offered writing and styling work with magazines such as Inside Out and has just been asked to contribute a design column in The Age’s Melbourne Magazine, and she earns some money from advertising. Along the way she’s met many amazing well-known and unknown creative talents and she now receives somewhere between 20-100 submissions a week for mention in her blog. For someone with that much clout she’s very down to earth, friendly and relaxed and her blog ‘voice’ really is how she is in person! I like Lucy’s blog a lot and now that I’ve met her in real life I’m even more impressed.

The last of the series will be on Thursday 1 July, with William Mora of William Mora Galleries and Amanda Henderson from Gloss Creatives presenting. RSVP to or phone .

Coco Republic Lifestyle Lecture Series, 500 Church St, Richmond

HOT Spots Winter 2010

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Jetsetting Joyce

P1050628v1 Once again the City of Melbourne have produced a free pocket-sized booklet full of lots of ideas to inspire you to get out of the house and enjoy winter in Melbourne. This is a post to bookmark!

I sat down with a cup of tea and flicked through the booklet, which you can pick up at many inner city shops, cafes and bars, as well as the Melbourne Visitors Centre, NGV and ACMI. It covers new places and old classics split up into five geographical sections, some of which have been reviewed on the blog before and some of which I’ve earmarked for a visit. Here are my highlights:

Central

The Wheeler Centre. The new heart for Melbourne’s literary culture, the Wheeler Centre holds frequent author’s talks, some of them free. I’m going to hear Ayaan Hirsi Ali speak on Thursday 29 July.

Melbourne International Film Festival. I look forward to MIFF every year – for three weeks I get to hibernate in the city’s cinemas and feast on great films. Last year I managed to get to fifteen of them!

Previously blogged Izakaya Den, Tessuti Fabrics and Movida Aqui get a mention and I’m aiming to hit pizza specialists Barbagallo, new bar 24 Moons and hot new Mexican eatery (again, with better lighting).

Northside

The North Melbourne Market has become a regular event held every two months. So many new options for me here – cheese galore at La Latteria, take home cassoulet at La Parisienne Pates, authentic Indian food at the Classic Curry Co, browsing vintage furniture and bric-a-brac at The Junk Company and having a pub lunch at Hotel Lincoln.

Cultural

I’m not going to see Mary Poppins the Musical because I saw it recently in London, and it was one of the most magical, fun and joyous theatrical events I’ve ever been to. When Mary Poppins flew into the air the whole crowd spontaneously broke out into cheers! Highly recommended.

And I’m definitely going to try Tsindos, a 30-year old stalwart of Little Greece in Lonsdale Street and I’m told home to great mezethes.

Westside

I was excited to hear about Urban Reforestation, a community garden, eco shop and educational centre in the middle of concrete-and-glass Docklands. Their aim is to inspire urban farming for sustainability and food security (they’re currently investigating the possibility of rooftop farms!) through consultation with corporates and for helping individuals with gardening lessons and cooking classes.

I think I’ll combine a visit to Urban Reforestation with a stroll around the Docklands Sunday Market and maybe a late lunch as part of Slow Sundays, where you get a $15 tasting plate with beer or wine between 2-6pm every Sunday from 20 June – 29 August.

Southside

I’ve just renewed by NGV membership so I will be heading to NGV’s Winter Masterpieces 2010 European Masters: Stadel Museum 19-20th Century between 19 June – 10 October.

ACMI is hosting a huge Tim Burton exhibition direct from New York’s MOMA from 24 June – 10 October which I’m quite excited about.

State of Design, Victoria’s design festival, is happening between 14-25 July and once again I’ll be immersing myself in all things design for two weeks. As part of the festival Melbourne Open House is on 24-25 July where lots of heritage buildings will be open to the public – a great way to learn some of the stories and history behind the city.

Last but not least, Melbourne Design Market is happening at Federation Square carpark again on Sunday 11 July. This year will be extra special for me because the lovely Kath and Ben from Jellybean Bikes and my new cycling clothing and accessories business CycleStyle will be setting up a cycle-licious stall at the market! Come and say hi.

For details and more winter ideas, check out That’s Melbourne.

HOT: Lost & Found Hotel Room, Little Collins Hotel, 27 Lt Collins St, Melbourne

Posted on June 1, 2010 by Jetsetting Joyce

I live and breathe Melbourne almost every day of the year and this blog is my way of sharing a bit of Melbourne with my local, interstate and international readers.

However, I think possibly an even better way to share the best of the city is to create an experience which is all about Melbourne.

The Lost & Found Hotel Room is a novel concept from Right Angle Studio, the people behind the Lost & Found e-newsletter for Tourism Victoria. The premise is fabulous – a hotel room at the rather shabby 70s style Little Collins Hotel which has been especially appointed by curator Georgina Hobart with all things Melbourne – from the bathroom products from Aesop (each lucky guest receives a Jet Set pack, one of my favourite Aesop products) and ceramics by Shelley Panton…

….the Miranda July pillowcases from quirky Fitzroy store Third Drawer Down, bed linen from Linen & Moore and bedside lamp by furniture makers Pierre and Charlotte…

…a cosy reading chair and tripod lamp by Temperature Design…

…and assorted artworks from gallery Utopian Slumps.

If you’re feeling peckish as you listen to the curated collection of vinyls of Melbourne bands (including , My Disco and ) or flick through the culturally enriching reading material, you can delve into the nibbles from Mount Zero, pour yourself a glass of red by King Valley’s Pizzini Wines or sip tea from Brunswick specialist tea purveyors Larsen and Thompson.

Two of the four walls comprise floor-length windows streaming sunshine into the room and provide expansive views of Little Collins Street and the succulent balcony planters built by Flatland and planted by Melanie Stapleton from Cecilia Fox (who also changes the interior flower arrangements once a week).

If you fancy leaving the room (and I’m not sure I would, it’s just such a relaxing city sanctuary) then the cultural concierge is there to help you make the best of Melbourne. Before you check-in you are asked to complete a questionnaire to provide some information about your interests, and the cultural concierge will give you a list of suggestions and ideas for your stay.

Guests are also invited to contribute to the guest book by taking the provided camera and to uploads snaps and descriptions of the places they visit.

What total bliss. And the price for such a wonderful stay? It’s free!

All you have to do apply for a reservation between 1 June and 31 August. The only catch – as it’s ultimately a tourism promotion you probably have a better chance if you’re from interstate, have a strong social media/online presence and work in the creative industries. They’ve received 2500 applications for every week, so competition’s tough!

Thanks to Lost & Found Hotel Room for allowing me to access the room before it was open to the public. Note that I didn’t get to stay there (my application has been rejected twice, boo) so I can only vouch for the beauty of the interior decoration and can’t attest to the comfort of the bed or whether it gets really cold at night. I got to stay! Here’s a review of my mini-break in the city.

Blog birthday giveaway winners!

Posted on April 17, 2010 by Jetsetting Joyce

Kitchenaid Thank you to everyone for your entries for the Blog birthday giveaway!

I’ve dipped into the Kitchenaid of Fortune and here are our two winners:

TruffleMe
Louise

Please send your postal address to to collect your prize and have a great weekend!

Thanks again to Lonely Planet for sponsoring this giveaway.

HOT: Blog birthday giveaway!

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Jetsetting Joyce

one planet As I said recently, it’s been one year since I welcomed my first readers to MEL: HOT OR NOT.

Traditionally the first anniversary gift is paper. So today I have a fabulous giveaway for you thanks to Lonely Planet – one of two copies of Lonely Planet’s beautiful hardback coffee-table book, One Planet (RRP $24.95).

Awesome landscapes, intimate rituals, extreme adventures and moments of connection – One Planet is a celebration of life, curiosity and the experience of travel.

To be in the running, all you have to do is leave a comment by 5pm next Friday 16 April (sorry Australian residents only). I’ll be holding a random draw and will announce the winner on the blog next week. Good luck!

HOT: Dining with Davids, David’s Restaurant, 4 Cecil Place, Prahran

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Jetsetting Joyce