Aussie Rules, Common Wealth Games and a Picnic at hanging rock

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The last few days in melbourne were pretty cool but a while ago now and I'm tired so I'll keep this blog brief. Basically I went to see an Aussie Rules match, watch England vs Scotland in the hockey at the common and went to see a place called hanging rock, which featured heavily in a film I like called 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'. Around all that I managed to fit in a fair bit more sightseeing, another cricket game (Andrew's housemate Greg plays for Melbourne Uni) and a couple of BBQ's.

The Aussie Rules match was a pre season practice match so the stadium was pretty empty but it was great fun. Adam came with me and was there to explain everything for me so it all seemed to make perfect sense - contrary to what I was expecting from what I had read and been told about it. I don't think it is quite as full on contact as rugby but the game moves very quickly and there is a lot of skill and tactics to it.

The common wealth games hockey match was really good too. This time both Andrew and Adam came with me and we took a dinner of choc cross buns and m&m's with us so we ate well during the game. It seemed the whole crowd where I was sitting apart from one or two people were supporting Scotland so I was really glad that England managed to win 3-1 and chucked in the odd 'come on England!!' for good measure every now and then.

The highlight and final day of my time in Melbourne was a trip to a place called Hanging Rock. I had previously planned to go to a national park about 3hrs drive away but decided it was too far at the last minute and while looking for other things to do I discovered hanging rock. Basically it's a huge pile of rocks (an old volcanoe actually) that sticks up out of the ground and has a labyrinth of tunnels and stuff running through it. It was made famous by a book and later a film called Picnic at Hanging Rock, which is based on a true story in which some school girls strangely completely disappeared on a school outing one day early in the 1900's. The film is both haunting and enchanting and I really wanted to see the place so packed up a picnic and headed off early in the morning. I arrived to find that there is a steady flow of local tourists that come to visit it but nevertheless it was a great place and I spent the day exploring, climbing up rocks into caves and lying in the sun with my picnic. Having seen the film you almost expect to discover the missing girls around each corner. Suprisingly I didn't find anything.

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Photos

Aussie Rules
It makes more sense than people make out and is a pretty cool game

Hanging rock
4 girls mysteriously disappeared here never to be seen again

Me
not much more I can say really

Farewell BBQ
Managed to squeeze in a couple of small BBQ's during my time there