Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hey all,
When we got to Melbourne we could not belive how hot it was (43 degrees!). It was impossible to sleep or even move, hence we laid a foot from a fan for the first two days I think! Though on our second day we did manage to head over to the Australian Open tennis, which we had bought tickets for. It was still baking, but luckily it was so hot they put the roof on the stadium, which was amazing. The first match was the Williams' sisters versus Hantuchova and Sugiyama in the women's doubles final. It was fun to watch, and the standard of play was really good. The Williams sisters won, and then we went outside to watch the British girl, Laura Robson beat a Thai girl (number 1 in world) in her semi final, which was cool, especially because we got front row seats!
The best bit was last up on centre court; Nadal versus Verdasco in the men's semifinal. It started at 7 30pm, and didn't finish until 1 30am! Our seats were pretty far back, but we could still see them so clearly, which suprised us. The atmosphere was amazing, and by the last few sets the crowd were definately rooting for Verdasco to win, because he played the best and hit over 90 winners apparently, so the standard of play was immense! We got a few good pics, but we especially like the one of him plucking out his famous wedgy before a serve. We thought it was the best match we've ever watched, but figured it was just because we were there, but since the match loads of people have said it's the best match of all time, and it was the longest match in Australian Open history, which is cool.
Since then, the weather has cooled down a bit, and we've been able to see more of the city. Our favourite bits are Victoria market, which is a huge market that sells literally everything, and their fruit and veg is really cheap and delicious, and the meat is so good and cheap too. The Southbank area is nice, and has lots of cool restaurants and cafes (for us to look at). One thing we have enjoyed and been able to afford is Sushi, as they sell it everywhere, and for a big roll it's only about a pound. We went to the beach at St Kilda, which is bigged up by everyone, but we didn't find it that great. There wasn't much there, and the beach was pretty dirty and littered.
We came here to look for jobs too, but several factors apparently have caused there to be absolutely no fruit picking jobs anywhere. They are in a massive drought now, which has ruined loads of fruit, so employers are actually getting rid of staff now. Also, because of the recession, more locals are unemployed and are turning to fruit picking for employment, so for backpackers there's waiting lists of over a month to get a job, so we're going to see the East coast and if we can get a job, and if we feel like getting one we'll try later on.
From here, we're flying to Cairns tonight, which is suffering from flooding and thunder storms right now. The road South of Cairns which we plan to go down in a few days is blocked, until the flooding subsides, so who knows how long we'll be stuck in Cairns! We've seen on the BBC site about the snow back home, which we can't believe and it looks so fun. Especially right now, as the temperature has gone back to 44 degrees today, which supposedly makes it the hottest place on earth today. Great! Think we'll be sticking to air conditioned internet cafes and bars today. Other than that, we haven't been up to much, as there's more to 'see' than 'do' here, which is a change after New Zealand, and we're looking forward to getting back on the road again.
Speak soon, love Rose and Mike
- comments