musopantz

This post is a part of a series: V Festival 2009 Australian Tour. Plenty of photos of all the bands from all the shows!

A quick detour from your usual rock band posts. You can’t have a tour without travelling and accommodation!

I thought I’d start off with the best hotels. Pictured above is the view from my 19th floor room at the Mantra Lounge hotel on the Gold Coast. I’d like to thank the floor-to-ceiling windows for letting me take this spectacular shot! You like the early morning surf? Man, I so wish I was down there at 5am.

As much as I’d like to gloat about these uber-luxurious hotels that I stayed in, the reality is that I never had the time to make use of them. In the Mantra Lounge Gold Coast hotel, I spent (at most) five hours staying in it. That’s coming straight after (free drinks at) the Gold Coast V Festival and leaving early in the morning to catch an early flight back to Sydney. This room had a kitchen (unpictured: with a microwave!) and… I can’t get over the views from my window and the balcony! I don’t think I saw my spit land from this height.

Most of my time was spent in Sydney at the Mercure Sydney hotel, right in Central. Before the V Festival I was in the above room on the 5th floor. In-between V Festival shows I was in a mirror image of the room on the 12th floor. And, imagine it a bit more messy - I did stay in that room for five days. It was a very conveniently placed hotel, almost right on top of the bus station on Broadway and easily accessible Central train station.

At least the views got progressively better… the 5th floor view was almost in-line with the massage parlour in the opposite building. Whereas on the 12th floor, you could probably spot people “gettin’ jiggy wit’ it” on the balconies below. Sexy times! Though, it was bucketing down half the time I was in Sydney, so I say… WET sexy times!

Of note, here’s a photo of the Mercure Airport hotel, just after the Sydney V Festival and before flying to the Gold Coast. I don’t really have a lot to note about that place… the view was a bit meh and I think it smelled a bit funky too.

The next best hotel was the Vibe Savoy in the middle of Melbourne, and yet another hotel I did not stay in long enough. But… look at the views! It’s like… Melbourne at night, but AWESOME!

After a quick drive through Melbourne from Tullamarine Airport to the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds, I really would like to spend more than a day in this fine city. It looked absolutely gorgeous.

Finally, back home in Perth was the Parmelia Hilton hotel just off the Esplanade/Mounts Bay Road. Yes, I stayed in a hotel when I was home. You would too if it was all paid for, right?

Myself, Noodlez (pictured), Courtney and Grum and sufficiently defaced the room… I guess? While we almost used room service for a pizza, we ended up going for a nice stroll to Fast Eddy’s for a bite and then off to Deville’s Pad for the V Festival After Party. 

Pity the view though… blocking the Swan River was some construction site and another building. Apparently, most of the bands were staying in this same hotel. We were woken by workers, so I’d imagine everyone would have too! I’m also kicking myself for not being able to spot bands checking-in and out of the hotel!

Anyway, that’s about it for a bit of a filler post about my V Festival tour. You may look at more hotel photo (if you wish) on my Flickr photoset of the V Festival.

Stay tuned for more exciting band photos!