So back to work for two more weeks at Metro Trains. I probably could have worked at Metro longer but the Australian Open was just around the corner and I wanted to have two weeks off to watch the tennis. This was to be my last month in Melbourne before going back to Mooroopna to work at the Cannery again. I was determined to enjoy it and do as much as I can before I left.

I and a couple of friends did a day trip to Sorrento & Portsea, south of Melbourne. Sorrento is a seaside town on the Mornington Peninsula and both Portsea & Sorrento are home to the upper class element of Melbourne. Every house down here seems to be a mansion with a swimming pool and a tennis court. It is a beautiful area though. The coastline reminded me in some ways of parts of the west coast. If you are a Tina Arena fan (well, who isn't?) then you will remember a song called Sorrento moon which is about the time she spent on the beach in Sorrento. There's a useless factoid for you…..

Despite the fact that I had been in Melbourne for six months and it was one of the things top of my list of things to do, I still hadn't done the tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). I had been to watch the cricket and Aussie Rules there but not done the tour yet. So, one day I decided to go along and do the tour. It was an excellently run tour and I got to see behind the scenes things like the dressing rooms, press boxes and the museum, as well as walking on the hallowed turf of the MCG. Did you know that no-one has ever hit a six out of the MCG ground before, so there is a challenge for you Kevin Pietersen when England tour in December. Although, I think it is safe to say that the stadium is too big for that to happen. There were also some interesting photographs of the first Aboriginal team to tour England and all the Ashes squads to tour up until 2001. Funnily enough there was no photograph of the 2005 or 2009 Ashes teams. Just a strange coincidence perhaps? The museum is also very good covering many different sports including the AFL, Cricket and the Olympics. Of course Melbourne was home to the Olympic Games in 1956. There was also a excellent a 3D hologram of one of the greatest cricketers of all-time Shane Warne in which he recounts some of his tales of his career. If you are a sports fan the museum and tour is a must!

I had completed my assignment at Metro Trains Melbourne and the following Monday the Australian Open was to start. Last year was great and this was just as good with Andy Murray getting through to the final only to be outclassed in the final. His quarter-final defeat of Rafa Nadal will live long in the memory though. He took the Spaniard apart. I did the same as last year and bought a five day ground pass for 99 dollars. Outstanding value. A group of us also bought tickets for the Rod Laver Arena on the first Sunday (the equivalent to Wimbledon's Centre Court) and were lucky enough to see Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal play and both win to set-up their quarter-final match. I got to see Murray play twice in fact, as he played a match on Margaret Court arena as well. As with last year I saw some fantastic matches involving the likes of the Williams sisters, Baghdatis, Murray, Nadal, Gonzalez and countless others. Shame Murray didn't win it but he is getting closer…..there is always next year!

On my final weekend in Melbourne me and a mate had a joint leaving party / birthday party at a newly opened bar which was about to have a link up with Urban Central. I think they were pretty happy that we were using the bar as it was pretty dead most nights. On the night half the hostel turned up and I think they made a killing with the bar takings! As for me, well after about 10 Jaeger bombs and many pints I don't really remember much about the night! I fared a little better than Andy, though. It was Andy's birthday and he 'disappeared' halfway through the night. Too much alcohol was the reason. Not enough Scottish blood in him I suspect. It was a really good send-off though and a great way to say goodbye to all of the friends I had made in Melbourne. It was time to draw a curtain over Melbourne for now and head to Mooroopna to process tomatoes and save some money. I had seven fantastic months in Melbourne and Urban Central and will have some memories and experiences I will never forget.