Melbourne Long Weekend

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We went to Melbourne for a long weekend (Friday to Monday)and to meet a friend from England which was really nice. After having met up with Jamie, we did a few "touristy" things - saw a few sights & sounds of Melbourne and had a nice dinner and drinks. The following day, we caught the free city circle tram and jumped on and off at various places. There were some beautiful buildings to see, a nice boat harbour, a big sporting stadium etc. In the evening, we went to see an AFL match (Australian Football League) which attracted a crowd of 84,000 pleople! The teams playing were called The Collingwood Pies and The Geelong Cats. The atmosphere was pretty amazing, and un-like an English football match, all the fans mix together and there isn't any divide or different supporter sections.
The next day, we went to a really big market - apparently the largest in the southern hemisphere - and spent several hours looking around the stalls and the amazing veggies and meat markets. Lots of fresh fish etc. Following this, the sea-side was next on our hit list, so off we went on the tram to St. Kilda beach. A pretty little town attached the the city. Quite a cold day even though it was sunny, but the wind definatly picked up on the coast. A nice walk along the water front, a spot of shopping and lunch, and then bak to the city.
That evening, Jamie and I went up a "viewing deck" tower to over-llok the city at night time. Quite spectacular with lots of photo opportunities! Luckily, it was a clear night so the sparkling lights across the city lit up the sky.

Really lovely weekend, good to catch up with friends and nice to get away for 3 days. Flight to and from Brisbane was about 2.5 hours.

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