Hello! So whilst Marie has been busy working in Sydney I continued galavanting with a mini break in Melbourne. My friend Heather flew from Brisbane and met me in Melbourne where we stayed with some friends from Wigan. In Australia there is a big rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne so I was keen to see what all the fuss was about. In my opinion, both cities are very different. Whilst Sydney has an iconic feel to it, Melbourne is an eclectic mix. There are the streets with continental cafes and quirky bars, reminiscent of the back streets of Barcelona. There are the high rise city apartments and offices, which are just like any other major city. Melbourne is situated on the river, and the southbank area is not to dissimilar from it's London counterpart with street entertainment, sculptures and restaurants lining the water's edge. The east of the city is full of old Victorian-esque buildings, including the Victoria parliament. So as you can tell there was plenty to do, and I feel in 3 days I barely scratched the surface.
Our first evening was a balmy warm night and we just wandered around the town, ending up in Federation Square with it's big stage and screen where they show the tennis and have live music. On Wednesday we had booked tickets to go to the Australian Open. What a great day it was! We had tickets in the Rod Laver arena (the equivalent of centre court) an enjoyed watching Kim Clijsters and Rafa Nadal. These games were over pretty quickly so we just mooched around the outer courts, and managed to get to see the end of a doubles match involving Australia's ageing golden boy Lleyton Hewitt. The set up at The Open is great, and it's got a very different feel to Wimbledon (perhaps due to the absence of all night queuing, Pimms, strawberries and rain!). In the evening we headed down to the Queen Victoria Market with its array of live music and worldwide food stalls to join our hosts and their friends for a beer. It reminded me of the food markets in Thailand.
On Thursday we took the train out of town to the suburbs to the famous Neighbours set 'Ramsay street'. It's pretty much a normal street with a security guard and some token English travellers, but now we at least we can say we've been! In the afternoon we stopped for a Pimms break and just wandered around the city. In the evening a big group of us (inlcluding one of my friends from primary school who has just moved out to Melbourne) went to watch 20/20 cricket of the Melbourne stars (including a rather orange Shane Warne) versus Adelaide strikers. Quite a different experience from the test match with lots of catches, fours, sixes, stumping out, nail biting finish and fireworks! As the stadium geek that I am I found myself marvelling at the MCG and it's 100,000 capacity. I don't think I've ever been to a stadium with escalators and such luxurious bar area and toilets. All lit up it is quite a view as it sits alongside the tennis arenas.
On Friday we just had the morning before we flew and the weather wasn't so good so we got the tram to St Kilda. This has a studenty beach town feel and although it wasnt warm enough to sit on the beach it was great to wander along the pier soaking in the sea air. All in all I loved Melbourne and my mini sports fest (I am my father's daughter). I'm very tempted to head back over to watch the grand prix in March. It was also great to catch up with friends and see another part of this wonderful country.
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