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Published: August 7th 2007
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We arrived into Melboune mid afternoon and caught a shuttle into town at just the right time to hit evening traffic. After some slow progress we were dropped at our hostel. Apparently it is the biggest hostel in the world in terms of beds. We got an idea of how they pull this off when we saw the 14 beds in our dorm nicely packed together. After a bite to eat Australian style in Hungry Jacks (Burger King), we went for a few pints in our soon to be local "The Oxford Scholar". We headed back for a nights sleep that we would unfortunately never get.
The fools in our room (A watered down version of how we really feel about them) kept us awake pretty much all night turning lights on, talking and banging doors so we took some pleasure in rising at five (just as they were starting to go to sleep) to return the favour. Much unnecessary door banging later, we met Brad at the front of the hostel with Tonya and headed off.
We were attending the dawn ANZAC day service at the ANZAC memorial on the other side of the city. ANZAC stands for
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and the 25th of April commemorates all those soldiers who died and fought for their respective countries during the wars Australia and New Zealand have been involved in. It is also a national holiday. The service was really moving and there was a huge crowd there. However this was only the start of a very busy day.
We headed to St Kildas with Tonya and her brother and his girlfriend for breakfast. After that we did a quick circuit of Albert Park formula one track including a blistering straight section from Brad through the starting lane straight. We headed back to the hostel and took an hours nap before Brad collected us again.
We had been planning this day for quite a while and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Since the mid 1990's ANZAC day has also been the day when the Collingwood Magpies take on the Essendon Bombers (Brads team) in the MCG in Aussie rules. This game is between two longstanding rivals and attracts close to 100,000 people. Brad had somehow managed to wrangle us tickets. We first met up with a bunch
of Brad's mates beside the amazing stadium and had a few beers. After that we headed over to soak up the atmosphere. The place is absolutely huge and there were tens of thousand of people milling around.
Our seats were in the very very back row of the stadium (Wouldn't be a good place to be if you suffer from vertigo). Brad preferred to watch from a mid level area where you could stand (Near the bar of course) and thats where we spent most of the game. A lot of his mates are Collingwood fans and the banter was hilarious. We soaked up the atmosphere of the game with a traditional pie and beer combo and generally had a laugh. The game was fantastic but unfortunately Essendon (Who led for much of the game) were beaten 95-79. Brad had to suffer a lot of abuse as did we (Apparently we are honourary Bombers fans). After the game we went for a quick pint but as Brad was back to work the next day we took a lift home to the hostel. We had a bite to eat and called it an early night.
After another night of
disturbed sleep we started our sightseeing in Melbourne proper. First stop was the Royal Exhibition Building and the nextdoor Melbourne Museum. The Museum was huge and we spent a good part of the morning and afternoon making our way around it especially the aboriginal exhibition. We also saw the stuffed "Pharlap" a legendary winner of the Melbourne cup and a kitchen from the Ramsey street Neighbours set.
After that we walked into town and took in the city library. It houses the original Ned Kelly armour and a very weird death mask made of his face after they hung him. The main reading room was spectacular. We made our way down to Federation Square and rewarded ourselves for a busy day sightseeing with a few pints. We arranged to change rooms and braved our last night in our giant dorm with the 12 noisiest people in the world.
Another early start and we headed to the MCG again to do the stadium tour. It was really good and we got to see just how many people were in there on ANZAC day with all the seats empty. After the tour we headed past the Rod Laver Arena (Home
of the Australian Open) and over to the the Shrine of Rememberance.
We hadn't been able to visit the shrine on ANZAC day as the crowds were too large. We walked around it and then into the shrine itself where we saw the Stone of Remembrance. The stone is aligned with an aperture in the roof of the sanctuary so that a ray of sunlight falls on the word LOVE on the Stone of Remembrance at exactly 11am on 11 November, marking the hour and day of the Armistice which ended World War I. After walking the grounds and seeing the eternal flame built to commmorate the fallen in World War 2 we made our way back into the city centre.
We were back in the city early and headed down to the Oxford Scholar for a pint celebrating our new and improved (Quieter) dorm. To celebrate further we had a sleep in the next morning. We arranged to meet Brad who was off for the weekend. We headed to Crown Casino (Melbourne's biggest tourist attaraction) and had a wander around there. After that we ducked our heads in the door of the National Gallery of Victoria and
the Arts Centre.
The only art we did manage to see was in a very famous Melbourne pub called Young and Jacksons. A long time ago they bought a famously controversial picture called Chloe which still hangs there today. After a couple of scoops of the pubs own brew we headed for some lunch in Flinders Street. From town Tonya collected us and we headed to Melbourne Gaol where we saw where Ned Kelly was hanged. We had another quick beer and Brad brought us on a short tour of pubs we could head to that evening (It being Saturday).
We had new roomamtes that evening when we got back to the hostel with fantastic Waterford accents. We wanted to catch the Man United and Everton game and after trying the Elephant and Wheelbarrow found the game on live in Bridie O'Reillys. After that we headed to a club called Icon. Good laugh of a night and only managed to get home at 5am.
We slept in the next day. We had a lot of arranging to do for Alice Springs and after that we headed to the internet to work on the blog and contact all
you lovely people. Got to sleep reasonably early that evening.
Back in the sightseeing mindset the following morning we hopped on the free city tram loop line and took it as far as the Rialto tower. It is 253m meters high and gives amazing views of Melboure including all the stadiums and the CBD. The view was really spectacular.
After that we did the golden mile walk taking in all the city's historical building and finished up at the old Treasury building which now houses the city museum. After wandering through the city's past we headed to Fitzroy Gardens beside the museum and saw the house Captain Cook's parents had sent over to Australia.
The main fountain like all the fountains in Victoia was switched off due to the drought. From there we headed to the main Catholic cathedral in Victoria - St Patricks which even boasted a statue of Daniel O'Connell outside it. We cooked ourselves dinner back at the hostel and decided to go to the cinema. Saw the movie Shooter which was better than expected.
Once again we were up early the next morning and we walked up to the famous Queen Victoria
Market beside our hostel. First held in 1857, it is the largest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. After wandering the huge market for a while we did a bit of shopping in the city centre before an evening on the internet. We again headed to the "The Oxford Scholar" for a couple of pints to round off a fairly relaxed day and our time in Melbourne.
Next stop Alice Springs...
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