Home Sweet Home..
So we arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon, had a late lunch and walked around. It was like a furnace down there, I am not kidding. It was just craaaaazyy!! The next day we read all the newspaper reports, how it was like 61C on court and some players like Sharapova and Nalbandian had to keep playing regardless... just craaazzzyy! Seems like the Australian Open's getting some bad press this year with the fights, the heat, and the assault.
It was so hot on Tuesday that we decided to just walk around in the major shopping centre in the city, Melbourne Central. One of the pros of Melbourne was this shopping complex. It was sooo cool and hip and young, you kinda felt like you were in indo, you know EX? So it definately beats Centrepoint, Sydney Central, Pitt Street Mall, QVB, TGV, etc.
We spent Wednesday walking around again.. bought the daily travel card (called a Metcard over there) so we could travel on any trams all day. Now trams.. pros and cons. They look cool and all, and they're pretty handy... but you have to catch them in the middle of the road so you have about a metre to stand between yourself and the tram.. and when it's hot and humid (which it was the whole time we were down there).. it gets pretty hot and crowded. Hard for the drivers too because the trams take up half of the street.
So we went to St Kilda Beach, had breakfast, went to some other places, including Chapel Road which is sort of like Paddington here.. a lot of shops and boutiques. The whole city of Melbourne seems pretty arty.. a lot of the people dress really nice and fancy... alot of good looking people down there =P
For dinner we caught a tram up to the 'Leichardt' of Melbourne and naturally, ate Italian. After we went back to the hotel and I checked what I got offered. Guess it's official.. I'm going to UNSW.. yay! Pretty happy about that.. means that I'm not so nervous about starting uni coz I already feel at home at UNSW.
Thursday, we walked around a bit more (man, there was a LOT of walking.. I got to the hotel every night in a LOT of pain!) and then by 5:00pm we were at Melbourne Park, just a short 5 minute tram ride from the CBD. That's another thing that's cool about Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena is like just around the corner. So we walked around, went to the souvenir shop and I got a few things. Then we checked out some of the players who were playing on the outside courts. We just popped in to a few games, like Nalbandian versus someone, and Grosjean versus.. that other guy.. and... some other people... lol. Ok so I don't remember their names exactly! Then it was finally 7:30 and the night started off with Samantha Stosur versus Jelena Kostanic Tosic. It was an alright game, Stosur had her moments but she just wasn't good enough. The atmosphere was amazing though! The Arena was alot bigger than I expected and when it was filled and the lights came on... it was so awesome! Also sitting on the edge of your seat in quiet anticipation, and then cheering with the crowd when Stosur won any points was really cool.
After that the big guns came out. Rafael Nadal versus... some German dude (lol cmon, it was a weird german name..). Such a better game then the one before. Pretty different watching it in person than on the tv. There's no commentary for one and the shots somehow seemed so much faster and impressive. We were pretty tired so we left before the game finished, which was already like 1am so by the time we'd had dinner it was 2. Pretty buggered the next day. Really cool experience though, I really enjoyed it. Anyone interested in going next year?? =P
Went to the Queen Victoria Market on Friday. Walked around abit, and bought a ring (been wanting to get one lately). It was really hard to find one that fit properly, but I found one eventually. Then my dad had to go to the airport because he had a job the next day but my Mum and I were going to catch a flight the on Saturday. So we sent him off, then my Mum and I caught a train to the suburbs to visit my cousins who'd just moved there from NZ. They used to live here for a few years, then they moved, so I hadn't seen them in like 6 years. Three boys, 9, 11, and 13 years old.
So went to their house, and played basketball in the backyard, 2 again 1. The two youngest boys against me... and they totally smashed me! Like 10 to 4 or something! Lol but they were sooo cute! Wish I could see them more often. I was watching them play together and realised that I want two boys and a girl, so I can play basketball with the boys in the backyard hehe.
Saturday, walked around in the city again. I bought two books from Myer because they were having a 40% discount! Pretty good! I got Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly, which I've been wanting to get for a while because 1) I've read a few of his books before and they were really good and 2) because it's got stuff to do with ancient history, which is cool. So yay for me, I got to get that and enjoy it all the way home to Sydney. Also Got The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, which is apparently the No1 New York Times Bestseller (don't all books say that?!!?) but yeah, I saw it all over Borders and every other book store and the story seemed interesting so I got that too. Also bought a bag for uni.
Okie dokie.. here are some photos.
It was so hot on Tuesday that we decided to just walk around in the major shopping centre in the city, Melbourne Central. One of the pros of Melbourne was this shopping complex. It was sooo cool and hip and young, you kinda felt like you were in indo, you know EX? So it definately beats Centrepoint, Sydney Central, Pitt Street Mall, QVB, TGV, etc.
We spent Wednesday walking around again.. bought the daily travel card (called a Metcard over there) so we could travel on any trams all day. Now trams.. pros and cons. They look cool and all, and they're pretty handy... but you have to catch them in the middle of the road so you have about a metre to stand between yourself and the tram.. and when it's hot and humid (which it was the whole time we were down there).. it gets pretty hot and crowded. Hard for the drivers too because the trams take up half of the street.
So we went to St Kilda Beach, had breakfast, went to some other places, including Chapel Road which is sort of like Paddington here.. a lot of shops and boutiques. The whole city of Melbourne seems pretty arty.. a lot of the people dress really nice and fancy... alot of good looking people down there =P
For dinner we caught a tram up to the 'Leichardt' of Melbourne and naturally, ate Italian. After we went back to the hotel and I checked what I got offered. Guess it's official.. I'm going to UNSW.. yay! Pretty happy about that.. means that I'm not so nervous about starting uni coz I already feel at home at UNSW.
Thursday, we walked around a bit more (man, there was a LOT of walking.. I got to the hotel every night in a LOT of pain!) and then by 5:00pm we were at Melbourne Park, just a short 5 minute tram ride from the CBD. That's another thing that's cool about Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena is like just around the corner. So we walked around, went to the souvenir shop and I got a few things. Then we checked out some of the players who were playing on the outside courts. We just popped in to a few games, like Nalbandian versus someone, and Grosjean versus.. that other guy.. and... some other people... lol. Ok so I don't remember their names exactly! Then it was finally 7:30 and the night started off with Samantha Stosur versus Jelena Kostanic Tosic. It was an alright game, Stosur had her moments but she just wasn't good enough. The atmosphere was amazing though! The Arena was alot bigger than I expected and when it was filled and the lights came on... it was so awesome! Also sitting on the edge of your seat in quiet anticipation, and then cheering with the crowd when Stosur won any points was really cool.
After that the big guns came out. Rafael Nadal versus... some German dude (lol cmon, it was a weird german name..). Such a better game then the one before. Pretty different watching it in person than on the tv. There's no commentary for one and the shots somehow seemed so much faster and impressive. We were pretty tired so we left before the game finished, which was already like 1am so by the time we'd had dinner it was 2. Pretty buggered the next day. Really cool experience though, I really enjoyed it. Anyone interested in going next year?? =P
Went to the Queen Victoria Market on Friday. Walked around abit, and bought a ring (been wanting to get one lately). It was really hard to find one that fit properly, but I found one eventually. Then my dad had to go to the airport because he had a job the next day but my Mum and I were going to catch a flight the on Saturday. So we sent him off, then my Mum and I caught a train to the suburbs to visit my cousins who'd just moved there from NZ. They used to live here for a few years, then they moved, so I hadn't seen them in like 6 years. Three boys, 9, 11, and 13 years old.
So went to their house, and played basketball in the backyard, 2 again 1. The two youngest boys against me... and they totally smashed me! Like 10 to 4 or something! Lol but they were sooo cute! Wish I could see them more often. I was watching them play together and realised that I want two boys and a girl, so I can play basketball with the boys in the backyard hehe.
Saturday, walked around in the city again. I bought two books from Myer because they were having a 40% discount! Pretty good! I got Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly, which I've been wanting to get for a while because 1) I've read a few of his books before and they were really good and 2) because it's got stuff to do with ancient history, which is cool. So yay for me, I got to get that and enjoy it all the way home to Sydney. Also Got The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, which is apparently the No1 New York Times Bestseller (don't all books say that?!!?) but yeah, I saw it all over Borders and every other book store and the story seemed interesting so I got that too. Also bought a bag for uni.
Okie dokie.. here are some photos.
The non tennis ones are just shots of the city.. a laneway with cafes and stuff, kinda Rocks style.. trams and people walking, Melbourne Central.. that big tower thing with the pointy glass ceiling is actually part of Melbourne Central.. pretty cool.. Yarra River and buildings, and the city at night. The tennis ones are just of some of the outside courts, a ball girl who twisted her ankle during play when she slipped and had to be carried out of the arena (which generated a lot of applause for some reason), Rod Laver Arena from inside and out, Nalbandian, and the Nadal game. Btw if you didn't know, we couldn't see who was playing before we booked the tickets coz the line up only came out later and if we waited we probably couldn't get good seats. I would've liked to have seen Hingis or Sharapova live in action (instead of Stosur -_-;) or the Roddick and Safin game (damn that was good!) but "that's how the cookie crumbles" ladies and gentlemen =P
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