Antipodes Greek Street Festival

This was a free festival organised by the City of Melbourne and it was quite fun. It was for two days and it featured lots and lots of greek eating and dancing. I really enjoyed watching the zorba dance even though I didn't participate as I was too full from dinner.

The rides looked expensive and I'm not really much of a rides person. I saw some people get free soccer balls. I got a free hat from Delphi bank.

I also tried the watermelon pieces and some people bought huge ones for $2. I just could not have a huge piece.

Greek game

Popcorn

Water for sale

Crafts on display

Entertainment

More drinks on sale

Halva ice cream from 196 Below

What also looked fun was the loukemedes (Greek doughnuts with honey) eating competition where someone won a $250 Hellenic Republic dining voucher.

I really wanted to drink lemonade but I was on the last day of the challenge and the beginning of a new one I could not. I would have also liked to have bought some loukmedes and gelato but I remembered that I am on a new diet.

But having said that the chips at Kara's Kalimari truck were lovely and I tried their $6 chips with feta cheese. I didn't eat all the cheese though as I would have been way more stuffed. But the cheese was creamy and great for my liking. I was going to get a souvalaki but I remembered that I have to save some meat meals for at home and I brought a salad with me to keep my vegetable intake up.

I loved watching the wedding dance on stage. It was so good.

Drink prices

At the coconut bar

After sunset I enjoyed the music from the DJ and sitting in the Ozueri bar listening to the music and enjoying the big party. That's where the fun started for me.

Do visit next years one

Burger Edge via Eat Now

Eat Now is an online ordering site where you can order food. You can use it for free and every time you order something and review something you get points. Once you have enough points you can redeem a badge or two.

It is easy to use.

I ordered a Fish and Chip pack from Burger Edge via Eat Now. You have to enter in your mobile number and they will send an SMS when the restaurant confirms the order. For a first order there is a 10% discount.

It was small but great. It took a little while for it to be fried but I didn't mind having to wait a while for it to be done. The chips were nicely fried and so was the fish.  It was moreish.

The lady was rather friendly whilst there.

I would definitely come back 

Camberwell market

The Camberwell market is a trash and treasure market with a lot of things sold for under $10. It is run by the Rotary Club of Victoria and its a gold coin donation to enter. This helps the rotary club with things like social events among other things.

It is a Sunday market with many people and dogs. And some lovely buskers in which I gave them a gold coin for their performance. The market is across the road from the train station

There are 370+ stalls and you can have a stall for the day. All you need to do is sign up for one on their site and its $60 just to have one and if you need a tressle table its another $8. The market starts from 6am-12:30pm and they cease trading 10 days before Christmas and on Public holidays ( if a Sunday falls there).

Everything here is so cheap. You can buy things for $1-$10 and some things are a little bit over. It is a trash and treasure market where heaps of vintage stuff is sold. You can easily find things for the house for as little as $0.50. At around 11am some of the stallholders start selling things for a discount as they want to get rid of them before 12pm.

Crockery

I bought a collector item spoon for $1 and a brooch for $5. I also sampled their doughnuts and it was just good.

Not only do they sell collectors items, they also sell plants as I saw on my way out.

Do visit the Camberwell markets for things for your new room.

Able Baker Charlie and Macchinetta in Melbourne Airport

I had breakfast at the airport this morning in the Virgin departures area. I had a bit of time and my shift hadn't started. I had been wanting to try these two places for some time and I have read that Macchinetta does great coffees and Able Baker bakes their own bread.

I love places that do their own bread and I love the open and clean décor of the place. Its not often in an airport that you see things like this. I had to refrain from ordering sweet treats after seeing the banana bread and cakes and danishes.

The interior of Able's reminds me of Movida in the way that the bar is organised.

It was really relaxing in here and it is great for all the Virgin customers as they can hear their announcements.

The staff in there seemed relaxed during the morning rush and they were happy to serve customers.

So instead I went for the egg and bacon roll (sans bacon of course- $8.50) and a long black ($3.50 to sustain me throughout the day). The long black was great. It was not too bitter and burnt. I didn't need to add sugar into it.

The sourdough bread that they use is great. It is crusty and I enjoyed their eggs. But their eggs were a little too salty for my liking though. The saltiness from the canned tomatoes should have been enough. The canned tomatoes is from an Italian brand.

Rating: 14/20- do stop by for a coffee and breakfast to go.

Students entering Australia on false documents and financials

In a report by the Australian and published this year, many students are entering Australia on false documents, such as false English language tests and other documents. Universities hate this. We talk about this controversial issue.

Students from India and Nepal are doing such a thing. There has been a lot of problems in the past year with many documents and visas being cancelled by Immigration. In the last year alone more than 7000 visas had been cancelled due to the fraud. In 2012 about 1978 visas have been cancelled and in 2014 about 4093 visas were cancelled. Navitas (a private college) cancelled 40 agent partnerships when they found out they were sending non genuine students

Some of the students ghost hop from one course to another which is cheaper and maybe from an unregulated place. The practice is illegal. These students come to Australia on a streamlined visa, only to find a cheaper course or to work. Last year alone about 1000 students did do this illegal thing.RNIS met CISA some time ago and they share the same concerns. In fact this is in "The Australian". Meld also had similar concerns.

One thing which is partially to blame is the unregistered migration agents who knowingly prepare documents for non genuine students. Also universities should lift their game and their English language score requirements.

Another thing which might be partly to blame is the unregulated course attendance which all students have. Universities should be doing more to monitor course attendance.

Australia earns about $15 bil per year from International students from both tuition and living costs, according to a report by the Group of Eight. Living costs are already quite high and as such there is a huge lot of poor students. Many of them come to the Couch for a free feed each day. Education is Australia's fourth biggest revenue thing to date.