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Published: March 20th 2010
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We arrived in Melbourne early Friday afternoon without a hotel reservation. The only place we could find in downtown only had an opening for that night and we took it. We got checked in and started searching for another hotel for the next couple of nights. The beach area of St. Kilda seemed like an appropriate place for a couple of beach bums and we booked a couple of nights at an apartment building in that suburb.
We spent the rest of Friday touring downtown Melbourne - Chinatown, Docklands (yep, that’s where all the docks are) and various eateries. The major downtown area focuses on the Bourke Mall, similar to a pedestrian mall in many major cities (e.g. Nicollet Mall - Minneapolis).
The city is full of interesting artwork on the streets as well as parks, bridges and promenades. One of the interesting street sculptures is this grouping of three ultra-skinny businessmen standing on a street corner. Some wise guy put a cigarette butt in businessman #3’s mouth and Loren had to take his picture.
Once we checked into our apartment on Saturday, we took a stroll down to St. Kilda Beach for a look see (or is
that look sea?). The beach is rimmed by palm trees and features a pier out to a cottage with snacks, soft drinks, candy and souvenirs. From there we have a commanding view of the Melbourne skyline.
The beach itself is pleasant enough. It is often filled with families just enjoying the late summer days. It by no means compares with the fancy beaches of Phuket, Thailand or even the nice beaches of Vietnam, but it’s a pleasant, family-oriented place to while away an afternoon.
On the way back to our apartment we stumbled on a cricket match at a public field. Er, that is a public cricket ground. Cricket is all the rage in the land down under. It is tops, or a least a close second to “footy” - Rugby. I really don’t really understand Rugby. I know that Loren’s eldest son is or was a Rugby player. However, Loren is only of minimal help when it comes to giving me an understanding of those rules. Come to think of it Loren is only of minimal help, period. Besides, he has no hair!
I found a lone spectator watching the match on this beautiful Saturday afternoon.
Cricket Match
Now the guy with the ball is the bowler, and the guy with the stick is ... He was kind enough to explain to me some of the basic rules of cricket. The two sides have at least two chances to be the batter while the other team is in the field. Using a baseball metaphor, a cricket match consists of at least two innings. The offensive team brings each of its 9 or 10 players up to bat in turn. They stand in front of the “stumps” - a group of three poles in the ground about 3 feet high and about 6 inches apart. There is a board balanced across the three stumps and if the ball knocks the board off, the batter is out. The other way a batter can be out is if he hits the ball and it is caught in the air.
If the batter hits the ball and it rolls all the way to the fence, he automatically scores 2 points. If the ball sails over the fence he is awarded 4 points. If he bats the ball on the ground, he can run to the opposite goal and score a single point. He can run back and forth between the two sets of stumps as many times as
Melbourne Skyline
from the end of the pier at St. Kildas Beach he chooses before the defensive team throws the ball back in and he scores one point for each traversing of the distance, or wicket.
The defensive team brings each player in turn to “bowl” the ball at the batter. Each bowler is given 6 times to bowl and is then replaced by another player on his team. Defensive players, who are not the bowler, play in the field and attempt to catch the ball on the fly or retrieve a ball hit on the ground back to the wicket in order to stop the scoring for that play.
The bowler runs from one set of stumps about one-third of the way to the other end of the wicket and throws the ball at the stumps. The ball often hits 6 or 8 feet in front of the batter and has spin on it to make it jump toward or away from the batter. The batter then often becomes almost a defender in that he must keep the ball from hitting the goal, knocking the board off the top and ending his turn at bat.
And no, I never did get a satisfactory answer as to what is
Art Museum
actually the Australian Centre for Moving Arts -- kind of reminds me of the new Walker Art Center in Minneapolis a “sticky wicket.” We’ve asked several people what it means, but have yet to get a satisfactory answer.
On Sunday I went to church at an Anglican (like Episcopal) church for the 8 AM service. Other than the vicar, an assistant/usher and one other man, I was alone in the congregation. I come from a low church tradition at home and was a bit confused by all the trappings of the Anglican Mass. With only four of us in the building for the service, the vicar had a chance to practice his sermon on us. I suspect that he really didn‘t need much practice as it was all written our for him an he merely read it. Anyway, it was good to get back to church again since in the other countries we’ve visited the services are few and far between and even fewer and farther for one in English.
In Melbourne on Sundays they have a special deal for an “all you can ride” ticket on the public transportation system. We took advantage and rode all over the city on trains, trams and buses. We had a chance to take in various sites and enjoyed them all.
Street Art
If either of us smoked, we would have probably put the cigarette butt in this guy's mouth, but we don't.
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