Mel-burn!

I’m back! I shan’t bore you with the details of getting to Brisbane Airport, but I will mention that on passing through the city, it was easy to see the damage left by the floods. Fortunately, wasn’t as bad as I’d hoped, and I was able to get away with only an hour’s delay on my flight. A first visit to Avalon airport ensued, before making it to my hostel, Vic Hall Accomodation.

Now, I’ve been to Melbourne countless times (at least 5) now, and am happy that I’ve done all I want to do there. Even if I haven’t, I’m coming back at least twice, so I’ll get another chance. With that in mind, I won’t worry to inform you with what I got up to for quite a few of my days there, as it mostly consisted of relaxing, enjoying being in one place for more than a week, and taking to my favourite spots of the city.

There were a couple of notable mentions though – let’s not forget Stadium #9: Etihad Stadium! The original home of Melbourne Victory before they moved to AAMI Park alongside Melbourne Heart, they still occasionally use this venue for high-interest games, or when they have a home match against Melbourne Heart.

Etihad Stadium
Attendance (Capacity): 32,231 (53,347)

Melbourne Victory 2-2 Melbourne Heart

Along the stadiums I’ve stopped at so far, I’ve bemoaned the lack of away support to these games, and the lack of deep pride that you get with English football fans. I’m pleased to announce that Melbourne are doing a good job of remedying this. This is the first intercity rivalry since the formation of the A-League, and it did not disappoint: a good crowd of over 32,000, passionate fans, goals, and a red card to boot.

The Etihad stadium differs from other stadiums around Australia as it isn’t solely a football stadium – it’s prime use is as a Aussie Rules stadium, which needs a pitch roughly the same size as a cricket oval, meaning the regular football pitch looks mighty small. It’s also the first stadium I’ve been in with a closed roof, which gives the rather bizarre experience of no breeze, but does help raise an atmosphere.

While the fans might not yet be at the crazed level of West Ham against Millwall (home and away fans are still allowed in without segregation), they do seem to be aiming high, modelling their pre-match cheering on something akin to Turkey, both home and away fans unveiling increasingly insulting banners, before lighting a number of flares and smoke-sticks. The sight was really something, but it seems no one had considered that in a stadium with a roof, the smoke does take the best part of 40 minutes to clear.

The game was really something though – the Victory raced into a deserved 2-0 lead (cue more flares), before a host of individual errors allowed the Heart to find a way back into it, and level it at 2-2. 37 year old Kevin Muscat, Victory captain, and probably the biggest culprit for allowing the Heart equaliser showed his frustrations 10 minutes from the end, throwing himself into the kind of tackle to you only get in local derbies, and earning a red card for his troubles. With both sides convinced that the game was there to be won, it was a cracking finish.

But how could I forget! Strolling around the Etihad stadium, just before the game, I bumped into the promotion stand for the upcoming Melbourne GP in March, complete with Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren (or replica or whatever it is). I entered the draw to win something (I think it was a fancy meal), and naturally, had a photo took.

Melbourne prides itself as the sporting capital of Australia, and given how many sports I’ve now seen there, I would be inclined to agree. Two football matches, a game of amateur cricket, and professional tennis! The Australian Open is on in Melbourne at the moment, and meeting up with someone else I know travelling round Australia, I spent a day there.

Enjoying the laidback atmosphere at a Legends Doubles match on the morning as Woodbridge and Woodforde (both Aus) beat Forget and Wilander (Fra and Swe) on a tiebreaker to please the home crowd, before heading to the singles court to see unseeded Chinese player Shuai Peng take on #12 seed Radwanska. With Radwanska receiving strong backing from a noisy Polish contingent sat behind the umpire, the rest of the court soon started cheering Peng, inventing simple chants for Australians and Chinese fans to join in. This had the obvious effect of provoking the Poles into upping their game, but by the eventual end of the match, Peng seemed to have 75% of the fans on her side. As it was, it wasn’t her day as she grew tired towards the end of the game, and was narrowly beaten 7-5 3-6 7-5. Despite that, it is still her best ever showing at a Open event, and her opponent admitted that, had Peng not had such long, tiring games in the previous rounds, she may have won against Radwanska.

Another moment that swung support in Peng’s favour was Radwanska returning a serve straight into the side of the head of one of the ball boys. Interesting social divide, who in the crowd gasped in sympathy, and who laughed at the comedy of it… Needless to say, I thought it was right funny.

We took in one final professional doubles match, before leaving for the day. On the evening, we went for a snack to eat, met up with yet another ANU student travelling Australia, and had a game of bowling. My final score of 59 is being blamed on the beers, and the rubbish lanes ;).

Marvellously, I almost entirely avoided sunburn apart from a centimetre wide band on my upper arm where I clearly hadn’t quite applied sunscreen to the edga of my sleeves. It looks ridiculous.

The other big event in Melbourne was of course Australia Day. On the 26th January, Australia celebrates the anniversary of Captain Cook landing on the Aussie shores, and claiming it for England. I took in a parade celebrating the diversity of Australia on the morning, a procession of Australians and immigrants celebrating their cultural heritage in traditional clothing, and a couple of Chinese dragons thrown in for good measure.

From there, I wandered on down to the Victoria Gardens, where there were stalls of worldwide food, classic cars from all over Oz, some sort of dog relay-race, local charity stalls, and live music throughout. It was fun, but it did feel uncannily like a summer fair. As it was, I had been handed a leaflet about a traditional Aborigini celebration going on just a short walk away, so I headed to Treasury gardens to enjoy some traditional Aborigini performances, and some more modern performers. They also had a few stalls out, which seemed to be full of far more interesting and genuine handmade items.

Back through Federation Square to grab a couple of lamb skewers (apparently lamb is the meal to have on Aussie Day), before returning to the hostel for a short rest. In the evening, Federation Square held a performance celebrating the “Waltzing Matilda”, complete with every type of horn known to man. The Waltzing Matilda, for reference, was the nickname given to packs carried by German soldiers many years ago (this isn’t particularly accurate, but I promise there is some truth) to their packs. When they attended dances, the lack of women meant some soldiers danced with their packs, or maltidas, hence, the Waltzing Matilda.

The next day, I left Melbourne to fly out to Perth, and as is almost tradition, I shall leave this post as I head towards a brand new city. Expect the next post regarding the incredible heat in Perth soon.

And finally, I shall leave you with this bizarre piece of art I spotted by the Etihad Stadium. It is described simply as “a cow in a tree”. They certainly call a spade a spade in Australia.