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Published: January 3rd 2007
Brighton
A snip of a beach house - one a few doors down sold for approx AUD$188,000!!There was no need to dream of a white Christmas - Melbourne has just had the coldest Christmas on record. It was 35 degrees when we arrived from Tassie, but by noon on Christmas Day hailstones were pounding the city centre and those with more money than sense at the Barmy Army BBQ near the MCG - our own plans were a little out of sync with the weather too, as we tucked into our prawn and salmon salad.
The overseas tour of the OP squad came through with the tickets for Days 2, 3 and 4 of the Test Match and we met up with Graham for coffee and cake on Acland Street, before dragging his poor wife round the streets of Melbourne in search of a suitable drinking venue that matched our requirements i.e. open! We were joined by Phil, who we met in Sydney 4 years ago.
The elusive Boxing Day Test tickets proved relatively simple to acquire at face value outside the MCG - as usual with worldwide sports events, the main exponents of the touting were from a certain city in NW England. We therefore had a good view of Mr Warne's historic 700th
wicket in the 100th Test at the MCG in the crowd of 89,155. The second day remained competitive for the first session, before we were batted into submission by the Aussies with their new found enthusiasm to "tonkapom". Alas, we couldn't rely on Monty this time.
The actual Ashes were on display in the Melbourne Museum, so we figured we'd best put our noses to the glass. However as the curator of the exhibition from Lords was keen to point out to the displeasure of the Aussies present, no matter whether they win the Ashes into eternity the urn is coming back to blighty.
The weather remained decidedly nippy for the 3 days of the test, but was back to > 30 degrees once it finished. A full refund on the 4th day ticket enabled by our standards indulgence in a slap up meal on the Southbank with the Ticketmaster and his wife.
We joined the world party @ Fed Square for NYE - bands, dancing and the obligatory fireworks. The only snag was the alcohol free zone, but along with the free all night trams it made for a cheap night out.
We've utilised our
St Kilda
Luna Park weekly tram tickets from our St Kilda base and been as far as Williamstown in the west, Brighton in the east and all points in between.
Happy New Year to all.
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