Friday
We were up at 6 as we needed to get showered, eat breakfast and take everything back down to the car before leaving. We just about managed to do all of this by our deadline of 7 but then we had a panic. We'd looked for our ticket for the ferry on our emails but we couldn't find it anywhere. The only one we could find, was the one we had used to come from Melbourne. This was a little bit of a worry. We were convinced we had booked it but the emails wouldn't lie, there wasn't a ticket there. We even went through the companies website to try and retrieve the booking and it was only the outbound journey, not the return one. We attempted to book it online before leaving the hostel but we couldn't find any available sailing until Sunday. That wouldn't do, as we had tickets to go and watch the Aussie Rules Football on Sunday and we wouldn't be back until Momday morning if we took that sailing. We were a little bit stuck. We decided to leave for now as we needed to get the car back to Devonport for 8 o'clock and fill it up with petrol beforehand. The roads were pretty busy but we made good time from Penguin and we were parked up outside the car rental place before 8. We emptied our belongings out of the car, with the lady behind the desk saying we could store them in the office until it was time to go. I asked to use their phone in attempt to find out about our ferry issue and she put me through. It turned out we didn't have a booking, which was weird, as we could remember booking a return trip but we had no choice but to try and book it once again. The lady on the phone originally said nothing was available at first as she assumed we had a car. There wasn't space for a car for another month! Fortunately, we were just foot passengers and only needed a seat rather than a cabin. There were seats still available and we managed to book a couple for a cheaper price than we had paid for the trip out. With that sorted, we could relax for the rest of the day. We walked down to the riverside and enjoyed a coffe at the Harbour Master Cafe. After that, we also managed to pick up a pin badge from the information centre. It was still only 10 o'clock, so we decided to pass some time by sitting in the library and using the free wifi that was on offer. In our time there, we managed to catch up on some blog writing and get some photos up. For the rest of the day we were in and out of the library and visiting the supermarket to buy some supplies for lunch and dinner. We went with the old favourite of wraps, with ham and cheese that we could make last though to dinner in the ferry as well. When the time came, we picked up our bags from the rental office and thanked them for all their help and then walked down to the riverside to catch the ferry across the Mersey (I knew we'd get there eventually!). Unfortunately, the song wasn't playing when we crossed. There was actually a button you can use to call the ferry if he is on the opposite side of the river and I reckon they should play that song when you press it but I'm not giving them that idea. Anyway, we paid our fare and we were dropped to the side of the river we were after. The walk round to the ferry terminal was excruciatingly long and was made worse by the cool bag of food we were carrying seeming to be full of lead. We struggled across the line and collapsed in a heap on some seats and waited until boarding was called. We were sat in the same room as when we went out but we were further back this time. This meant we didn't have a fire exit sign illuminating us while we were trying to get a good nights sleep. We found our seats and sat in them and didn't move for the rest of the crossing. We had some food but didn't bother with the wraps as we were still pretty full from the ones we had eaten earlier. Before trying to sleeps, I wrote up some blogs but Charlotte was out like a light. We had been dreading this part of the journey. The trip out was incredibly, with 8 metre swells in the Bass Straight. It was so far so good for this trip though, it seemed quite calm out there. We had seen on the weather the day before that they were only forecasting 0.5 metre swells, so that may have come true and made the crossing so smooth. Sleep was a struggle, despite the darkness in the seats.
Saturday
The lights came on well before the announcement was made that we arrived in Melbourne. We still had an hour before we could depart, so we stayed in our chairs underneath our blankets until it was time to depart. We retrieved our checked bags and then lugged ourselves to the tram stop. We were incredibly annoyed with ourselves that we had hardly eaten anything and the cool bags still weighed an absolute ton. The tram pulled up and as it was the end of the line, it was empty and we managed to get a seat. We rummaged for our transport cards we had purchased on our brief visit a few weeks before and paid our fares. This is when we found the fault with the Melbourne tram system. They don't announce most of the stations they are stopping at. I'm sure that's fine for locals who are used to them but for tourists who haven't got a clue it makes life a little bit awkward. We eventually got off one stop too late and had to walk back to the stop we were after and pick up a different tram to get along to our hostel. It was right outside Flinders Street station, so it was well placed and easy to find. We walked through the door at about half 7 in the morning, so we understood when the receptionist told us we wouldn't be able to check in yet. To pass the time, we found a quiet seat in a lounge in the basement and sat around there until the time came. We were surprised when we walked into a 4 bed dorm as we had been expecting a 6 bed but we'd take it. Our first port of call was the showers, as we stunk to high heaven and were in need of a fresh set of clothes. Afterwards, we walked to the supermarket a few doors down and picked up some lunch and dinner for the day. We were exhausted after an almost sleepless ferry crossing, so we treated ourselves to an afternoon nap, got ourselves some dinner and then went back to bed for a proper night sleep.
The lights came on well before the announcement was made that we arrived in Melbourne. We still had an hour before we could depart, so we stayed in our chairs underneath our blankets until it was time to depart. We retrieved our checked bags and then lugged ourselves to the tram stop. We were incredibly annoyed with ourselves that we had hardly eaten anything and the cool bags still weighed an absolute ton. The tram pulled up and as it was the end of the line, it was empty and we managed to get a seat. We rummaged for our transport cards we had purchased on our brief visit a few weeks before and paid our fares. This is when we found the fault with the Melbourne tram system. They don't announce most of the stations they are stopping at. I'm sure that's fine for locals who are used to them but for tourists who haven't got a clue it makes life a little bit awkward. We eventually got off one stop too late and had to walk back to the stop we were after and pick up a different tram to get along to our hostel. It was right outside Flinders Street station, so it was well placed and easy to find. We walked through the door at about half 7 in the morning, so we understood when the receptionist told us we wouldn't be able to check in yet. To pass the time, we found a quiet seat in a lounge in the basement and sat around there until the time came. We were surprised when we walked into a 4 bed dorm as we had been expecting a 6 bed but we'd take it. Our first port of call was the showers, as we stunk to high heaven and were in need of a fresh set of clothes. Afterwards, we walked to the supermarket a few doors down and picked up some lunch and dinner for the day. We were exhausted after an almost sleepless ferry crossing, so we treated ourselves to an afternoon nap, got ourselves some dinner and then went back to bed for a proper night sleep.
Sunday
We were really looking forward to Sunday. We had booked a couple of tickets to see Hawthorn v West Coast Eagles in the AFL (Australian Football League) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. That wasn't until the afternoon though and we still needed to get through the morning. We didn't rush out of bed, instead letting ourselves wake up naturally. We had some breakfast in the kitchen and then got ready for the day. At first we walked to the MCG just to have a look around. It was about 25 minutes away and we got to walk along the Yarra River on the way. We passed what looked like a huge graffitied giraffe on the banks of the river but as it had 2 heads, we weren't sure. Again, we took this for modern art and moved on. The MCG was as big as we had expected it to be. For the annual Boxing Day test, they regularly cram 100,000 spectators in to watch the Aussies get a whipping. The AFL Grand Final (Aussie Rules Football) is the highest attended grand final of any sport in the world, which is absolutely incredible, bearing in mind the sport is only played professionally in Australia. We needed to pick up some tickets but when I looked at the email, it said the kickoff wasn't until 3:20 (lack of 24 hour clock again!!). It was only about midday, so we still had plenty of time to spare. We walked back into town and got some lunch and then picked up some more food and drink from the supermarket to take into the game with us. By the time we had walked back to the ground the gates were open and people were heading in. I wasn't sure if I was more excited about seeing an Aussie Rules match or just going to the MCG. We found the reserved ticket booth and picked them up. We had struggled when booking them to know whether or not where we were would be a good seat but we eventually gave up and just booked the best available. We needn't have worried as our seats were spectacular. From where we were sitting, it looked like there wouldn't be a bad seat in the house but there must be one somewhere. The ground is so big there's a pretty hefty nosebleed section, so the pitch might be pretty hard to see from up there, particularly cricket. We were pretty happy with what we had been given. The seats were padded leather, which was a nice touch for stadium seats (although, I think that tends to be the trend with modern stadiums) and we were sat behind and at a slight angle to one set of goalposts. The jumbotron opposite us told us we still had 1 hour and 40 minutes until kick off, so we kept ourselves busy by taking photos of the tickets and watching the players warm up. It flew by and before long the players were coming out on to the pitch ready for kickoff. Hawthorn Football Club had been AFL champions for the previous 3 seasons and West Coast had lost to Hawthorn in the previous years Grand Final and from what we could gather from pundits they were expecting good things for the away team this season, so we expected it to be quite a close game. Not that we'd know if it was close, as we had absolutely no idea of the rules of the game we were about to watch. We reckoned the best way to learn would be to watch but it quickly became apparent that that wouldn't work. 6 points would be added to the scoreboard and the crowd would go mental and then 1 point would be added and the crowd would barely register that it had happened. To help ourselves out a bit, we looked up the game on Wikipedia and read through the basic rules:
• 6 points for a goal between the 2 central posts
• 1 point for hitting the post, a goal between the outer posts or the ball crossing the goal line having been touched along the way, this is known as a “behind”.
• If a pass is made of more than 15 metres, then the catcher can take a kick at goal or play on to use the advantage
Once we'd got that, it was fairly easy to follow. The pundits had been wrong (when aren't they?) and Hawthorn were all over West Coast like a cheap suit. West Coast didn't manage to get a goal on the board within the first 20 minute quarter. Another rule, is that only the referee knows the exact game time due to stoppages in play. The time put up within the stadium and on tv is a guess and the siren to end the half could go off anytime. We seemed to be surrounded by West Coast fans who weren't too happy with their teams performance but it was quite funny to watch them get so frustrated. By half time, West Coast had regained a little bit of pride but Hawthorn were well on their way to winning the game without really breaking a sweat. The men sitting next to me were West Coast fans and they moaned from the start of the game all the way through to the final whistle. I did agree with some of the things they were saying though and there were a few questionable refereeing decision made. Just before the game finished the attendance flashed up on the screen and showed the only downside of playing games at the MCG. Greater Melbourne has about 9 Aussie Rules teams. Many play their “home” games at the MCG. The attendance was just over 40,000 in a stadium that holds 100,000. If 2 Melbourne clubs were playing then the attendance might hit that and the Grand Final gets it year in year out but when a Melbourne club are playing one from Sydney/Perth/Adelaide etc it doesn’t get that full. This effects the atmosphere a little bit, which was good, the fans were very passionate and loud but in a half empty stadium, their cheers fell a little bit flat. Games such as the one we attended would be better played at a smaller ground of 40-50,000, where the atmosphere would be fantastic. I will say that playing in such a large stadium, makes it very easy to get tickets if you aren't a member of the club or cricket club. It was still great entertainment that lasted for almost 3 hours, so it was well worth the entry fee. In the end, the West Coast fans had a long flight home to Perth, with their team having lost 99-53. The stadium emptied rapidly and we were amongst a large crowd heading back towards the city. We crossed a bridge that had speakers installed in the walls that played creepy music. Every speaker was playing something different over the one next to it. It was all in various languages and was a little bit eerie. As we left the bridge, there was a number of rickshaws lined up ready to peddle the fans to nearby stations and beyond. They seemed to be doing a good trade and there were a few coming back for more revellers. As we were walking up to Federation Square, there was a slight incline. One of the cyclists was really struggling to get up the slope with 2 people in the back. Rather than encourage her, the 2 were shouting at her and moaning that there were people walking faster than they were cycling. If they had a problem with that, I don't know why they didn't get out walk, the poor lady was trying really hard. Some of the passers by and other cyclists were giving her the encouragement she needed though and she made it to the top of the slope and sped off into the distance. We just hoped that the lazy slobs in the back gave her a good tip when they arrived, no doubt they didn't though. The game had lasted longer than we thought and by the time we got back to the hostel it was getting dark and we were pretty hungry. We cooked ourselves some dinner in the kitchen and tried to catch up with a bit of blog writing. I'd done so much catching up recently, that I was almost up to date with writing but we never seemed to get good enough wifi to upload the photos.
Monday
Our ultimate goal of New Zealand was edging ever closer now and we spent most of our day preparing for that. We hunted down the library to use the wifi that was on offer. We managed to get a few job applications sent off as well as writing up a CV for myself. We found one job on a Macadamia Farm that was after a couple and came with accommodation and pay. We wanted that one desperately but weren't convinced we'd get it. We sent an email anyway and kept our fingers crossed. That was our day, a thrilling one spent at the library but we needed to start getting things ready.
Tuesday
This was our final day in Melbourne, our final day in Australia after over 2 months of sunshine and sweating. It had been excellent, with Uluru and Tasmania easily sticking out as the best things we had done or seen while in the country. On the other hand Darwin had been the biggest disappointment. After the sweatbox that was South East Asia, we were relieved when we hit Perth and it wasn't so humid but when we got up to Darwin, it started all over again. Anyway, rather than loaf around for the day we decided to see a little bit of Melbourne. After breakfast we headed out and about. We walked along Flinders street towards Southern Cross station, where we could buy our bus tickets for the journey to the airport the following day. We managed to pay for that with the last $38 we had remaining on our Thomas cook Australian dollar cash card. After that, we only had $20 to our name that we would have to make last for the rest of the day. From the station, we walked across a bridge that went over the station and led us down past Melbourne’s Etihad stadium to the docklands area. It was like any other docklands areas big cities, modernised and made up of posh apartment blocks. We walked along an abandoned tramline and then took a right up to a park called Flagstaff Gardens. In the past Flagstaff Gardens had a very similar job to that of Mount Nelson in Hobart. On top of the hill is a flagpole that was used to send messages between the dock area of the city and the city centre. Where the flagpole stands is a small memorial about the history of the hill. Next to the Garden is Victoria Market, which is a huge, covered market selling anything anyone could ever need. Fruit and veg, meat and fish, souvenirs, clothing, watches and more. We took some time to wander around, keeping an eye out for a pin badge but well aware there were numerous souvenir places in the centre of the city. Along the way we were offered a free sample of a caramel covered macadamia. We thought we might as well try one seeing we'd applied for a job picking them (I shouldn't tempt fate like that!). It was really tasty but not good enough to draw us back to buy some (Macadamias are expensive after all!). We left the market and attempted to head towards the MCG but we got hopelessly lost. We were after a road without a tramline down it but wherever we went there were tramlines. We decided to just go for it but when we couldn't find ourselves on our map we took a left to try and find somewhere that was on there. We were standing on a pavement when a man walked by and offered us some help. We'd been heading in the opposite direction to what we wanted, which made us feel a little bit stupid but it has been caused by not knowing where we came out of Victoria Market. Rather than go the fancy way round, we cut a line right through the centre of the city until we hit the Yarra river and then followed that along, we couldn't miss it now. We'd seen a couple of statues at the ground when we had been to the football the Sunday before, so we decided to walk right around the stadium to see who they all were. Cricketing greats Dennis Lillee and Shane Warne were closest to where we approached from. There was also a statue that commemorated the invention of Australian Rules Football (turns out an Englishman invented it). There were various other statues, none of which we had heard of. They were mostly notable Aussie Rules players and a few Olympic athletes. We did find one of Don Bradman tucked around the back but the gate he was in front of was called the Don Bradman gate, so it seemed a pretty fitting place to plant a statue. We continued round, ending up back at the statue of Bill Ponsford, whose stand we had watched the football in a few days before. That was us pretty much done for Melbourne. We did have one final visit to make on the walk back to our hostel though. When we'd arrived in the city, the receptionist had told us there was a graffiti event taking place along a few backstreets. We hadn't made it out to see it that day but we stopped by one particular road that was on our way. It just happened to be a road named after the Hosie's too, which made it extra special. The graffiti covered every wall available and was quite impressive. The toxic fumes of the paint made it quite a struggle to walk down the road without your head spinning. We were surprised to see lots of children down there. We didn't stay long and were really more interested in getting a photograph with the sign. Now that was Melbourne genuinely finished. We headed back to our hostel, got cleaned up and packed our things away ready for the big off to New Zealand. Unfortunately, we don't really feel as though we did Melbourne justice. After what was a big last hurrah in Tasmania, we had little energy to do anything. We loved the footie and saw a little bit of the city, so we're fairly happy with our achievements. Going to sleep the day before our flight to New Zealand was like going to sleep on Christmas Eve, we just couldn't wait.
James and Charlotte
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