Redemption

A very fortunate chain of events had us back at Sydney Olympic Stadium (aka ANZ Stadium), but we actually caught a game this time.

We knew that there would be an Aussie-Rules Football game tonight (and we were pretty sure that we knew where), but we had been debating about whether or not to go. The weather had been crappy, but I was still looking for a way to make up for taking Tim to Yankee Stadium to watch the Knicks play.

After vacillating back and forth all day, we decided to head down to the stadium and see if we could get tickets at the door. We knew that the weather was keeping people home, so we were pretty confident that we'd get in.

While waiting for the train, we noticed some guys in Sydney Swans jackets, and asked them how to get to the game. They recommended another train that we ended up switching to. (Don't worry, I'm not wasting your time, this is an important detail.)

The train that we were recommended was actually much faster than the one that we took the night before. When it arrived at Olympic Stadium, we heard an MC, of sorts, directing people to the event. As we were walking, the MC asked if anyone needed a ticket (for free). Someone apparently had an extra, but no one took it, since everyone at the park already had theirs. But we didn't. So we gratefully accepted the ticket, and thanked its prior owner. (So it's a good thing that we took the train that we did, or else we would have missed the free ticket offer.)

As we were walking to the stadium, Tim noticed that the ticket was in the premium section. It was the most expensive class of ticket, and much nicer than the budget tickets that we were planning on buying. So our new plan was to just buy one cheap ticket, and then show the nice one to the usher, who would hopefully assume that our other ticket was just as good. We knew that the rain would free up a lot of seats, so sitting together would be no problem.

Turns out that if asked nicely, the woman at the box office can give premium tickets at severely discounted prices. Especially to friends trying to sit together, when one of them already has a nice seat.

So, armed with one free premium ticket, and one budget-priced premium ticket, we made our way to the field. About 20 rows from the field, to be exact. Right on the center line, to be very exact.


The game was great. Aussie Rules Football is a religiously popular rugby derivative that is played on a huge field. The point is to run the ball across the field and kick it though two field goal-like pylons. It's very fast paced, and had me jumping out of my seat throughout the game.

ESPN I'm not, but here's a clip of a jump ball followed by a quick goal. There are probably better clips online, and they're worth seeking out; the game's brutal.




By the way, Sydney won, again.

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Oh, that Sydney Football Stadium

I've outdone myself.

Tim and I spent today rounding out the Sydney attraction package with two tower tours. They were both nice viewpoints over Sydney, but the cloudy weather didn't lend to any amazing pictures.

The highlight of the day was supposed to be a rugby game. I bought the tickets a few weeks ago, to celebrate Tim's birthday. For whatever reason, I was absolutely positive that the game was at Sydney's Olympic Park. I was wrong. However, we didn't realize that until after we had a handful of beers in the pub across from the main Olympic stadium. By the time that kick-off was scheduled, there were only about 30 people at the pub, and no one at the stadium. Tim kept telling me that something was off, but I just assumed that the crappy weather was the reason for a low turnout. But when we got to the ticket counter, and found all of the windows closed, I came around.

There was an adjacent stadium (there are many in the park) that had its lights on, so we walked in to see if that's where the game was. There actually was a game going on, so we were getting closer, but it ended up being a youth game between a couple of local schools. When I realized that we were 0 for 2 on the stadium picks, I asked a pack of dads where the Sydney Roosters played. The told me that I was about 45 minutes away, and the stadium was surprisingly close to our hostel. I told them that I had tickets to the game (which was already underway), and they said that we'd have a pretty tough time making it. So, I decided to cut my losses, and I asked which high schools were playing where we were. At least we'd be able to catch one game. They that that I was hilarious. Tim didn't.

We decided to take our chances, and hopped back on the train. Not surprisingly, we were the only ones on the train. We should have been suspicious when we noticed that we were also the only ones on the train to the stadium.

Here's a quick run down of our journy. We started at A, went to the Olympic park at B, but should have gone to the Sydney Football Stadium at C.


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Oops.

By the time that our train arrived back in town, the game was nearly over. We decided to have a beer at a pub by the train station. They happened to have the game on.

Sydney won.

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That's a liter?!

Well, the good news is that I made it to Sydney. Let's hear it for discount airlines. I booked the flight two days ago,

The (bad? Well, let's just say "other") news is that I rekindled my affair with the bottle. Last night (my first night in Sydney) was the birthday of an Irishman that Tim and I met at our hostel.

And about that hostel. So, Tim and I had left it pretty open when it came to meeting in Sydney. We figured that we'd just email each other when we knew more. However, I left Melbourne before any of the internet cafes had opened, so I was pretty much flying blind. And to make it worse, there were no internet cafes in the Sydney airport, so I had to hop on the train without knowing where I was going. (Well, in all honesty, there was one internet terminal in the Sydney airport, but it was on the other side of security, and I didn't want to risk declaring Yaqona, again.)

Anyway, I took the train to Sydney Central Station. I figured that any "central" station couldn't be too far from wherever Tim was. I arrived at the station about 20 minutes later, and I found a nearby internet terminal. I had an email from Tim that told me to meet him at Town Hall by 4pm. It was 3:30, so I had about 30 minutes to 1) figure out where Town Hall was, and 2) get there. I felt like I was in a spy movie, racing against the clock. But then again, I always like to pretend that I'm in a spy movie.

Ok, wow, so before I revealed my inner 12 year old, I think that I was talking about an Irishman. His birthday had us drinking beers at a local pub. And drinking, and drinking, and drinking. (For the record, every time I've used the toilet lately, I check to make sure that I haven't crapped out my liver yet. It's only a matter of time.)

By the way, Tim and I also played tourist yesterday, and took a tour of the Sydney Opera House. You may have heard of it.


Thank you, thank you.

The rest of the photos were taken up close. Notice the individual tiling on the outside. The television shots don't pick up the grandfather's-bathroominess of the place.


Inside, at the intermission bar.


Me taking a picture of Tim taking a picture. Deep.


Another late night gem, taken from the Opera House grounds.



And that brings us to today. First stop: Sydney aquarium. Some highlights: The Eastern Long-Neck Turtle. Aka The Eastern Way-Cute Turtle.



I love this sign. Only in Australia.


And these are the f'ing pigeons. I love this place.



Our next stop was a harbour cruise. It was part of a package of attractions that we purchased (like the aquarium, etc.). A surprisingly filling fish and chips lunch left us both too tired to get a lot out of it, but I did get a photo to prove that I was here.



The evening was capped off by a pub crawl in The Rocks, Sydney's semi-touristy drinking district. We chatted with some of the bartenders, after noticing that most of them had an Irish accent. Turns out that they (and 13,000 other Irish 20-somethings) were on work-holiday visas, like Shawn, my non-kleptomaniacal roommate from the last hostel.

One of our stops was a German-owned, Oktoberfest-themed booze barn. They happened to sell one-liter beers.



Sigh.

My birthday present to Tim is a ticket to tomorrow's Sydney Roosters rugby game, so if I don't post again for a while, it's because I'm hungover.

M

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What tunnels?

Melbourne's a great city, but I felt like leaving it for a day to see some of Australia's famous coastline. I picked the Mornington Peninsula region to visit, since it was easily accessible by public transportation (it took a few hours, but the trip was well worth it). The drive down there felt a lot like San Diego, by the way, but it was still very impressive.



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I went to the visitor's center of Point Nepean National Park, my destination. I asked for some directions, and the park ranger told me that there was a 6km walk along the coastline to the fort.

"Wait, there's a fort?!"

Turns out that, despite a beautiful coastline, the main attraction was actually a fort that was build in the 1880's to defend Melbourne against whoever the 1880 Aussies were worried about. Who knew?

Nature, Schmature; I spent 2 hours crawling through underground tunnels!

The fort was based around two huge cannons that were intended to punctuate any invading ships (but, of course, never were). Here are the remnants of the cannon's shield.

But the scenery really was amazing.

Notice how the sky gets progressively more ominous in those photos. I got caught in a nasty thunderstorm 6km from the visitor's center. It also happened to be a Tuesday during the off season, so I was the only person walking though a huge network of tunnels. Semi-creepy, but fun.

I made it back to the hostel, and managed to book a cheap flight to Sydney. More in the next post...

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Boomerangs, kangaroos, and women's dormitories

Must...fight...urge...to...open...with...G'day, mates.

Alright, I'm sitting in an internet cafe after a day of walking through Melbourne. It's a great city, and I've got a bit to say about it, but I'd better start with last night.

I arrived at the Melbourne airport around 11pm, so I had to book it through customs to catch the last bus into the city. Australia, by the way, has the toughest customs regulations in the world. It didn't help that I had to do a little tap dance to explain that the large, unmarked paper bags that I was carrying contained an acceptable chopped green herb. (There was no way that I was going to leave Fiji without a bit of Yaqona.)

They did eventually let me pass with almost all of my possesions. I used the airport info desk to find a hostel, and then I took the bus into town.

The hostel that I stumbled upon didn't seem that bad. I figured that there was only a 50/50 chance of waking up with mysterious skin bumps. Not bad odds, compared to some of the places that I've stayed.

By that point, it was a bit after midnight, so I crept in as quietly as I could. I found an open bunk in the back. I unpacked a few things, and then left the room to brush my teeth. I came back a few minutes later and continued to arrange my area, until I heard a very soft voice in the darkness.

"Excuse me"

Now, I had been moving around like a ninja on cottonballs, so I thought, "No way, is she really going to tell me to be quiet!"

"Excuse me"

"Hi," I said.

"Hi. I think that this is a women's dormitory."

"Great. Good night."

Well, actually I used my conversational muffler to curb that response. It does work occassionally. But I did say that I'd go downstairs and find out. Turns out, it was. The clerk felt really bad, but I told him that this wasn't the worst predicament that a traveller could be in.

My second room assignment was with Rocky, a young Chinese architect, and Shawn, a South Korean on a work-holiday visa looking for farm jobs. They were friendly, and most importantly, didn't steal my stuff while I slept!

Ok, on to Melbourne. It's another green city that has great public transportation, and a lot of city parks. It's an interesting blend of Victorian and modern architecture, that will probably be clearer through pictures.

I'm going to head out to a coastal preserve tomorrow, and then meet Tim in Sydney on Wednesday. I'll probably check back in again after the preserve.

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