We've been in Melbourne since Saturday, arriving after the short flight from Launceston to find that Melbourne had arranged White Night for that evening - celebrations and events from 7pm to 7am. We set out via a Hare Krishna Veggie Restaurant - soup, 2 curries, 2 salads, roti plus a pudding for less than £6. Kind of spoils you for other restaurants. There were art installations, projections, buskers and music - we listened to some classical in the cathedral, a rather boring blues guitarist and an excellent band - Lamine Sonko and the African Intelligence. However, later on things got very crowded and we decided to head back to the hotel - in the former headquarters of the Australian Railway Union.
On Sunday we tried out Melbourne's public transport, which is based on trams. All the trams in the central area are free, and they use the old historic ones to run a circular service with a commentary about the sights - though don't use it to get anywhere in a hurry. We finished up at the huge Victoria Market, though some of the hugeness came from lots of stalls selling much the same kind of tourist tat. In the afternoon we went to the Royal Botanic Garden, which meant we had to use our recently acquired Myki cards (their equivalent of the Oyster card) for the bit of the journey outside the free zone. Another cheap veggie meal in the evening, this time Chinese.
Today we started by having a tour around the fantastic MCG, or the G as they call it here. Our tour guide was John, a suitably blazered member of the Melbourne Cricket Club, who seem to follow a lot of the trends set by the other MCC. I'm not sure if you can get a tour around Lords which includes the opportunity to sit on the comfy benches reserved for the senior members in the Long Room. Neither do the Marylebone lot share their ground with four Aussie Rules clubs, which means the 10 pitches get lifted as a unit at the end of season to allow for the Footie. The only time the ground is full to its 100,000 capacity is for the AFL Grand Final, though they managed 93,000 when the Aussies beat New Zealand for the 2015 World Cup Final. There are 23,000 seats reserved for the members for the Grand Final, but there are 100,000 members - John (an Essendon fan who has missed hardly any of them) told us half are allocated by ballot and the members queue outside for about 30 hours for the other 11,500.
The Victoria team were practising in the indoor nets, which included a virtual bowling set-up where a video projector shows the bowler doing his run up and a machine fires the ball at the batsman. Apparently it can simulate both fast bowlers and spinners. Louise was mightily impressed by the speed which the pseudo Shane Watson was delivering, however I have sat behind the nets when Andy Roberts and Michael Holding were practising, so I was not so surprised. The Aussie lad seemed to be coping quite well.
Right next to the MCG is the Rod Laver tennis stadium, another Aussie Rules ground for Collingwood, an indoor arena, and a venue for "rectangular" sports like A League soccer, and both rugby codes, Melbourne Storm in the NRL and the other lot. A bit like having Wembley, Wimbledon, Twickenham and the O2 all on the same site.
In the afternoon we took a tram out to St Kilda, a former working class district/beach resort now a bit on the up, and a place where you can see Fairy Penguins.
Melbourne at night looking over the Yarra River
White Night - Lamine Sonko and the African Intelligence
White Night - Monkey climbing up the Town Hall
Melbourne Botanic Garden
Aussie buskers look nicer than some in Sheffield - I have her CD if you want to hear if they sound any better
Typical Federation architecture
MCG John explaining how much better it is than Lords
My foot on the sacred turf, not just the plastic stuff the tour walks on
Louse sampling the comforts of the MCG Members private box - not that one Nigel
Wicket being prepared for the final match of the Sheffield Shield
Louise sampling the bench "reserved by custom" for senior members in the Long Room
Looking back to the city from the St Kilda breakwater
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