Day 117: 27/4/13
The hostel have a short bus tour every Saturday morning and I decided to go on it this morning. They have about 3 different circuits they do so the next two weeks will be different if I decide to do it again. It mostly goes to various markets and apparently that's what a lot of Australians do on Saturdays- they buy most of their groceries at markets, rather than in supermarkets.
Our first stop today was Richmond food market. It had mostly fruit and veg. If you wanted fresh food it had good value but we didn't spend long there.
Next stop was Abbotsford Convent farmers market. There used to be a convent there. The buildings are still there and they call it the convent bit they use the buildings for various offices and the grounds for different events like the farmers market. The grounds looked like an Irish secondary school really! There were lots of different stalls with nuts, jams, cheese, dips, meat, etc. The best thing about this market was that you could taste everything- I'm sure they expect some people to buy things but not many from the bus did! There was a nice atmosphere here though. There were big gardens and some people playing music so it seemed like the kind of place that people came to pass the morning rather than mad shopping!
After that we went to an area of native bush along the Yarra river. There are lots of parklands in Melbourne but this was bush. The driver let us out at one spot, we waked through the bush and he picked us up at the other side. It was cool because there were loads of flying foxes, ie bats. You see lots of bats flying around at night time but these were all awake and fairly active even though it was day time. Their bodies actually looked like foxes and they had big wings that looked almost like plastic. They were screeching a lot- noisy beggars!! We all stayed a while there taking photos of them! We also came to a viewpoint looking over the Abbotsford Convent and the city, which was nice.
Our last stop was the Rose Street craft market near Brunswick street. This spot was really nice- all handmade items beig sold by the artist. There were soaps, candles, jewellery, cards, magnets, pins, etc. One set of jewellery was really cool. It wasn't something many people would wear as it looked quite childish. It was made of a plastic sort of material and was bright colours. Whatever shape it was had a few layers of the same shape which could all be moves to make different patterns. One was a heart, but when you moved the hearts you could make a butterfly shape. It was a cool idea. I bought a little handmade soap and a ring.
We were brought back to the hostel then through the city and the driver, who works in the reception of the hostel, pointed out a few little lane ways and places where there is good cafes. Apparently they are the real heartbeat of Melbourne but you just need to wander around and find them yourself! The driver was bringing another tour an hour later to an AFL game, or a footy game as they call it! I wasn't going to go because it was between Carlton and Adelaide crows and I didn't think Adelaide would be that good. Then I figured I might aswell as I may not get another chance to see the main stadium, the MCG- Melbourne Cricket Ground.
There were only about 10 of us going to the game. We drove to the bridge near Flinders Street and walked along the river and over a pedestrian bridge to get there. From the pedestrian bridge you could see the Rod Laver arena which is where the Australian open, tennis, is held. There were a whole load of tennis courts there, one with seats around it and then one inside the arena.
The MCG is pretty big. It holds 100,000 but when they put up the attendance it was only 44,711. It didn't look that empty though as most of the lower sections were full. We had fairly good seats, a little to the right of one of the goals and the big screen was opposite us. The supporters were fairl mixed although there was a big gathering behind each goal and our side was the Adelaire Crows side. When the players came out they ran through a big poster, specifically designed for them to run through. They warmed up then and generally people in the stands were all sitting waiting for the game, unlike other sports where they are more concerned with food and drink! Our tour guide/bus driver was telling me that 42 for Carlton was an Irish guy called Zac Tuohy. He didn't know where he was from but apparently he's properly Irish, with an accent and everything! He is the only Irish guy starting on a team over here. The guide was telling me about Setanta O hAilpin and I was asking about Tommy Walsh and he said neither of them are making regular starts, they just get on now and again. I don't know if there is much hope for GAA players if they aren't making it!
The game wasn't great anyway. Carlton got two or three goals in the first few minutes and it was really all over from then. They were leading by about 30 points after the first quarter. The quarters were 25 minutes each so it was longer than I was expecting. A lot f the goals were on our side of the pitch so that was good. Adelaide did get some goals and in the fourth quarter they got three reall quickly and there was only about 3 more goals in it. So the crowd started getting excited at that stage which was good. But, Carlton just pulled away again and won by about forty points or something.
The stadium is impressive and the atmosphere was cool so I'd say if you were at a close game it would be amazing! I was surprised that there wasn't much off the ball activity or fighting or anything. Maybe there would be if it was two Melbourne teams or something. The players are obviously for and fast but the game is quite broken up with the stoppages for the marks every few seconds and very time there is a goal they bring the ball to the centre to bounce it up again. That allows for the ads on tv of course! There were 26 goals in the game so that was a lot of stoppage time! Ill have to get to know some players and teams and things if I'm going to go to another game!
We went back to the hostel after that. Mam had text to Skype while I was at the match and when I got back and skyped there was no answer! I rang Shell though and was chatting to her for a good while instead. Then I was talking to Mam on Skype afterwards.