A day in Melbourne - 20th Dec

We were up early-ish as we had to give the car back by 9am. We awoke to a beautiful dry day.

After dropping off the car we headed straight for the free tourist bus around the city. The plan was to get off at the first stop, the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). I had persuaded Emma to go on the tour around the ground and secretly I think she was looking forward to it!

The tour ticket itself included entry to the vast national sports museum also within the ground. The ground itself was situated in an area called the Sporting District which held no fewer than 6 sporting venues for Cricket, Rugby, Aussie Rules Football, Tennis, Swimming and Soccer.

The 75 minute tour was conducted by a rather enthusiastic 'member' of the club. Members, in exchange for their yearly subscription and their patience of a 25 year waiting list, have access to all games the ground holds (which includes Aussie Rules football as well as cricket). Noel was the member who took our group around and despite being able to wax lyrical about the pitch, changing rooms, stands, members bar, the famous Long Room etc. he was not to keen to engage in too much conversation about the Ashes, including the upcoming boxing Day Test at the MCG.

Even before the game there was an inclining it was
going to be a disaster for the Aussies

We then spent an hour or so in the museum,talking to Wally, a 50 year member (what he did not know about cricket was not worth knowing), before walking the 15minutes walk to Federation Square for a spot of lunch. In the square itself there was a brass band playing Christmas carols... it was a strange mix with the heat of the day.

 

We spent the rest of the day travelling the free loop tram, visiting the observation tower in the Eureka Tower building (92 floors, 300m high), the largest residential building in the world according to the guide book*, and wandering the streets of Melbourne. Occasionally we would wander into a shop to try and find Yahtzee – but no luck.

The Melbourne F1 race takes place round this lake

*According to our guide book there is actually another tallest residential building in the world in Surfers Paradise (80 floors, 322.5m high)!?! Even though it is 1200 pages long you would expect a discrepancy like that to be picked up by the editor. I bet neither are the holder of this claim now anyway.

After a day on our feet we then headed back to the YHA for something to eat, laundry to do, further searching on the internet for more campsites and another episode of Only Fools and Horses.

Melbourne at night from the YHA

I liked Melbourne a lot, and can understand the appeal of the place to the many people who live here. It was a shame we did not have longer as it would have been good to explore more of the 'laneways' (back streets with cafes and restaurants) that the locals rave about.