Melbourne in the rain
Trip Start
Jul 16, 2007
1
117
139
Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Melbourne,
Australia
Monday, May 19, 2008
Saturday - I step out of the hostel to the shops and its raining. So disappointing. And then to finish it off my flip-flop breaks on my return. Not my Havaianas from Costa Rica :-( A little superglue for a temporary fix, but really need to go shopping now. Lucky Melbourne is meant to be Oz's best spot for shopping! Not in this weather though. Reading up on Melbourne in the kitchen Jeff suggests Ozzie rules as its undercover (for the crowd anyway). Great. Richmond are playing Geelong at Melbourne Cricket Ground so we head off for the 2.10 kick off at the MCG stadium. We follow the crowds to the stadium and are just about to queue for a ticket and there is a guy giving out free tickets. We look a little dubious and sceptical - why would he be handing out free tickets? However we take them, thinking it's a bit too good to be true, try them on the ticket gates and straight in.
Ozzie rules
Great - free afternoons entertainment! We are seated just in time for Kick off. The rain has barely let off, we may be undercover, but it is still FREEZING. It is at this point we realise that neither of us have any idea of the rules - nor do we have a team we are supporting. We are surrounded by hardcore, loud, dedicated fans; they must have been frustrated by our comments as we tried to learn the rules from observing. Richmond won the first 2 quarters reasonably comfortably. Half time ended and Geelong proceeded to destroy Richmond. Good game really. There were over 37k people there and parts of the stadium looked deserted - its huge!Frozen to the core I am quite grateful to be able to head off, grab some warm chips and take the tram back to our suburb to warm up before heading out to see what Melbourne bars have to offer on a Saturday night.
Sunday - its supersaver $2.70 for an all day ticket on the tram! Also the rain has stopped and the sun is almost out! Time to explore. First to get lost in St Kilda trying to find somewhere to buy the ticket - but it's a good way to explore the pretty beach suburb. Somehow I end up on the pretty beach by accident, so it's a nice walk back. I pass the amusement park looking remarkably familiar from a neighbour's episode and then find the tram to take me into the city centre. First stop the Victoria market. This is gigantic! It has everything you could want to buy (except olives). From fruit and veg, to trainers, to souvenirs. Perhaps I should have come here as my last stop of my days walking tour, not the first! Next stop the shopping streets and department stores as the apples are dropping out of my bag down the escalator! I need new trainers and flip flops - but being the start of winter here surprisingly enough there isn't a huge range of flip flops - how disappointing. I meant to get some in Argentina before I left :-( I do find some brown Havaianas to keep me going as I'm not sure how much longer the superglue will hold on this big walking tour.
On to Parliament house and the cathedral for more of the tourist sites! Then back round to the modern Federation building (which looks different with the sun shining unlike when catching the tram back in the grey drizzle last night!), past the other cathedral and the train station by the river, up to the old town hall and exhausted back to the tram to St Kilda! Time to book my neighbours tour for tomorrow - how exciting!
Monday - GUTTED! Should be neighbours day - but they double booked me can you believe it? Up at 7.30am for no reason. The only purpose for my visit to Melbourne cancelled. Well, postponed - I realise I can fit it in tomorrow morning. And on the plus side they offer me free drinks for the Carl Kennedy Ramsey street Quiz night tonight. So not such a big disaster after all! Think I'll go on a bit of a walk today instead.
