Cricket, Kangaroo Steak and a missed flight... Melbourne

We arrived in melbourne dazed and tired having missed a nights sleep and left three days later n much the same state- only this time it was self inflicted!

We had just three days in Melbourne to explore and its a shame we didn't have longer as we both really loved the city.

We were staying with Lodge's friend Steve in his apartment in St Kilda and it was so nice to be in a home rather than a hotel/garage/shed/cell for a few days.

We spent our first day exploring St Kilda, which is about 5km from the city centre and right on the beach- where they hold the Formula 1. We took a wonder along the pier and the beach but the weather was a little overcast and so we headed to the pub for a glass of wine and the biggest piece of carrot cake I've ever seen !

On the Thursday we ventured into the city with Steve's housemate Trish and she showed us some of what Melbourne has to offer. This included Federation square- sort of like Covent Garden- with bars restaurants and a museum. Trish also took us to some of the hidden graffiti laneways which are in the city. These are basically side roads and alleyways which are covered in grafitti- not just scrawl or mess but amazing art work- some of it is pretty unbelievable. Many of lanes have hidden bars at the end too. One if the alleys we went down had a hidden bar which was in a former mental hospital. Unfortunately (or probably fortunately knowing us) it was closed and so we weren't able to go in but apparently it has much of the original layout and things from when it was a loony bin and is pretty creepy!

Our day was topped off with a home cooked meal- and in the true Aussie spirit we had Kangaroo!! Normally sausages are as adventurous as I go with meat-wise. I gave it a go though (wasn't a massive fan).. But it was nice to prepare and eat a home cooked meal after seven weeks eating out 3 meals a day. And we had our first taste of 'goon' (basically wine in a box!) which we got from a drive through bottle shop- yes they have drive thru wine shops and yes this excited us A LOT !!

Our last day in Melbourne we set off to see the city on our own, expertly figuring out the tram system and finding our way to Southbank where we went up the Eureka Sky Tower. From the top there were amazing views of the whole city- which was much larger than it seemed from the ground. The weather was absolutely stunning too so we could see for miles. After that we made our way to the sports precinct which is literally packed with stadiums. The Rod Laver Arena- where they have the Australian Open- is next to the MCG which is across the road from the Olympic park, National Rugby and Football Stadium and Collingwood- the biggest AFL team- ground.

We took a tour round the MCG (That's the Melbourne Cricket Ground Mum!) Which I really enjoyed and Lodge, well I'm not sure enjoyed is the right word, but she did well pretending to understand and be interested while Bernard (our 82 year old tour guide who had a tendency to talk to our chests) spurted out an array of cricket stats and facts. Actually I don't think she found it as boring as she'd expected.. Her initially worry was "what are we going to do for an hour an a half.. Look at grass??!" Thankfully there was much more than that !!

Our time in Melbourne ended with a rather messy night out with Steve, Trish and their Friends in St Kilda, which in turn resulted in us missing our flight to Sydney. We'd planned to leave for the airport at half 8 but didn't wake up until half 9, hastily packed our bags and headed to the airport (in last nights clothes! Mingers!) in a taxi, which had to make a 'sick stop' enroute. Needless to say arriving at the airport at ten to 11 when your flight is at 11 is not sufficient time to check in and board ! Oops! Luckily we managed to get on the next flight, an hour later, which we boarded still a bit merry and set off for 4ydney..our hangovers kicking in just as we landed!!