Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Opinion was divided between various travellers we had met down the coast; some loved Melbourne, some loved Sydney. Spending around 2 weeks in both cities, we gave both a proper crack of the whip and...............Sydney won.
Maybe it was because we were there first, because we spent the only day of sunshine in the past month on Bondi Beach and probably because Sydney's also got the fantastic setting of the harbour. Nevertheless, Melbourne gave us a great final two weeks in Australia, even if a virus knocked Rosa for six in the final week. Luckily a lot of sleep, a few kiwi fruits and the odd meal has seen her back on top form.
The final Greyhound journey rounded off our 5,000km road trip down the coast, where we made our way to the our first hostel of the city, before heading off to take advantage of the free tourist trams and buses. We headed to Federation Square, the hub of the city and home to the jazz festival for the week. We caught the end of a set by a spanish band, San Lazaro, before heading back to the hostel for tea and a film. Oddly enough, we caught two other sets in the square that week and both were again San Lazaro, they must've thought we were big fans.
The MCG was undoubtedly my favourite place in the city: we managed to catch two Aussie Rules football games while we were here, which were great value at only $20 each for a great day at one of the world's best stadiums. Hawthorn v Collingwood, a crunch game between two of the biggest clubs in Victoria at the moment, saw a 76,000 crowd for our first game. We missed my adopted team, Essendon, although it was for a bloody good cause as we snapped up tickets for the Stereophonics on the Sunday night and capped off a fantastic weekend in which we had already been to Ramsey Street and the neighbours night, which was basically a gig by the world famous Dr K and his band 'The Waiting Room'.
We then spent two nights in the backpacker region of the city, St Kilda, where it was fairly cheap and cheerful. Without the sun, the place is seriously lacking, although we did manage to soak up some culture at the annual film festival while judging a set of seven new short films by local directors.
Saturday was our final night, so it felt only right for us to see the Aussie Rules Hall of Fame match, celebrating 150 years of AFL, between Victoria and the Dream Team (Rest of Australia) with 70,000 other Victorians, before our flight to Auckland this morning.
Kev
- comments