Last Sunday, I woke up early to try and learn the rules of Aussie Rules Football. I was expecting it to take a while, but there are honestly only a about 7 rules to the game, it's pretty much a professional version of “kill the pill” with some elements of soccer added to it. We met up with Brian and Vanessa at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG) to watch the Collingswood Magpies play the Carlton Blues (Aussie Rules is played on a cricket ground). The MCG is enormous, it seats over 100k people. There are about 18 teams in the AFL, 12 of them play out of Melbourne. AFL in Melbourne, is like High School Football in Texas, IT'S INSANE. Well, we walked into the stadium wearing our standard issue Magpie black and whites and were seated promptly behind the Carlton Cheering Squad. No, that is not the Carlton cheer leaders, it's basically the black hole at a raiders game for Carlton (the Magpie's cheering squad was at the other end). The only difference is less costumes and better insults made towards the other team. Like I said, this stadium will hold 100k people, but what is awesome about AFL is there are only 2 types of tickets. 1 is premium members, which puts you into your selected cheering section (with all the other crazies). They other is general admittance, and the earlier you buy the ticket, the better your seat is. Tickets always go on sale 2 Wednesdays before the game, so if you get up early and buy right away (like Brian did), you get awesome seats for the same price as people in the nose bleeds. It wouldn't be football with out a little rain, so of course the downpour happened half way through the first quarter. Like champs, Kelsey and Vanessa stuck it out and we watched the game (thankfully it let up by the second half). It was a great game, an awesome experience, and the good 'ol Magpies pulled out the win in the end. Thanks to Brian and Vanessa for putting this together for us.
On Monday, we decided to follow
Vanessa's advice and take the train to Ferntree Gully, about an hour
out of the city. We did a hike called 1000 steps kokoda walk, which
is in the Dandenong Ranges National Park. The hike is pretty intense,
but nothing too overwhelming. It's not quite 1000 stairs, but I
believe it is somewhere around 770. When we needed a break, which was
way more often than we'd like to admit, we just stepped to the side
(let the grandma in the UCONN Basketball shirt blaze past us) and
looked over the valley. If you are down here, it is definitely worth
a trip. After a quick shower back in Melbourne, we decided to take
advantage of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival that is
happening right now. This is the 3rd largest comedy
festival in the world, which lasts 3 weeks (I know, awesome). They basically rent out
literally any venue they can in the city center (from Civic Centers,
to High Schools, to Restaraunts) and have dozens of acts happening at
all times of the day (similar to sun dance festival), so for a guy
like me that loves live comedy, there's a lot to look forward too. We
saw a guy named Jack Druce, who is up and coming and pretty good
(youtube Jazz Walrus and Speaking German), and also went to a late
night show called Late O'Clock with Rob Hunter, where we saw a handful of comics back to back (keep on the lookout for Johnny English and his song Dancing
God). Needless to say, it was a great time and fun way to cap off
the night.
On Tue, we went for a run through the
botanical garden and then on to Queen Victoria Markets (largest
market in the southern hemisphere). The market is like a farmers
market, meets a swap meet, meets the SF Ferry building. You can get
anything from fresh produce from fruit stands, to used car mats from
some guys rickety table (seriously), to gourmet cheese/meats at 120 year old
permanent stone kiosks. It was a pretty cool experience. We topped
off that afternoon with a steak sandwich at the top rated cafe in
Melbourne and got ready for what turned out to be an amazing dinner
(not that we ever doubted it would be). Vanessa's family, who lives
about an hour train ride from Melbourne city center, invited us over
for a home cooked meal. We had the privilege of meeting them a few
months ago at V&B's engagement party in San Francisco. We met V&B
at the train station and rode home with them, and then were welcomed
in with literal open arms. Vanessa's parents emigrated from Macedonia
in the 70's to Australia and have been there ever since. Vanessa's
entire family was able to make it; both her parents, her older
brother Peter and younger brother Alex. Vanessa's father welcomed us
with some home made grappa, which was sweetened with home made pear
flavoring, it was delicious. Vanessa's mother prepared an amazing
spread of stuffed bell peppers, roasted sweet pepper, some sort of
pastry bread (forgive me guys, I can't remember the name), spicy
pepper relish, and breaded chicken. IT WAS AMAZING!!! Literally one
of the best meals I've ever had. To top it off she made my favorite
dessert of baklava (I missed out on it back at the engagement party
in SF, but I heard about it from EVERYONE). I can tell you right now
it was worth the wait. It was incredible getting to know the Milevski
family, as if Vanessa wasn't enough reason, we now understand why
Brian had no choice but to move down here. Congratulations to the
soon to be parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle. Another
congratulations to Brian and Vanessa on their upcoming wedding, we
couldn't be happier for you. We want to say thank you from the bottom
of our heart to not just Brian and Vanessa, but to the Milevski
family for making us feel right at home and part of the family and
for making our time in Melbourne one to remember forever.
Brian and Vanessa
First Aussie Rules game
Go Magpies! Yep that farmer's tan runs in the family
View from our seats
About to take down a Meat Pie (kind of the hot dog of an Aussie Rules Game)
A block away from where we stayed, it's like they knew we were coming
The whole family enjoying dinner, thanks again guys
OMG - It was impossible not to know that Colin wrote this entry. It was so exciting, especially the part about Jack Druce. You paint such a brillant word picture of Melbourne that I am going to get the first flight out tomorrow. Keep up the good work Colin, we are so proud.
ReplyDeleteKelsey- How many times do we have to tell you to keep the computer away from that guy. I would have saved the $99 and gotten him writing lessons. I feel so sorry for you, what a boring life you must be living.
ReplyDeleteHey maybe you could buy him pen and paper. Then he could mail the letter home, and we could throw them away when they arrive.
It was our please guys! Safe and happy travels :)
ReplyDelete