Back to Melbourne and the G
I spent two weeks getting from Melbourne to Perth and three hours getting back again. How much do people miss when they fly around this country? I have one rule about this country, never fly anywhere new.
I awoke on Boxing Day with a stinking headache. Christmas day in Perth had been a fairly quiet affair for me. I had partaken of a turkey and ham lunch and a Barbie in the evening with a couple of beers to wash everything down.
The downside to the morning headache was that had to check-out of the hostel rather than stay in bed. The staff here at the Perth YHA have been good and they did give me an extra hour but it wasn’t quite enough. I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon napping in the TV room while others watched Hellboy II (great visuals, crap story).
By late afternoon I was fine again. One last coffee and cheap lasagne in the hostel bar and I had a few more hours to kill before the flight back to Melbourne.
The night flight back to Melbourne was a quiet one. At least it was once the bogans who had clearly never flown before settled down a bit. It must take real dedication to start every utterance with an “Oh my God!” A three hour flight and a three hour time difference brought me back to an early morning in Melbourne.
After a two hour nap on the couch Will and I headed out to the cricket. The traditional Boxing Day Test in Melbourne was underway and Pakistan were here again. They were visiting the last time I watched test cricket in Melbourne. A failure to catch the train meant getting the tram down Northcote High St and catching a train down to Jolimont from Clifton Hill.
As I found in Perth there are fewer better ways to have a relaxing day than watching cricket. I did take the odd nap throughout the day but generally it was a good day’s play. Nice to see a bit of both teams batting this time after the two previous days of watching only the West Indies batting.
Last time I was in the MCG it was being rebuilt. Now complete it is still a great stadium to watch sport although in future visits I intend to be here for the footy.
Back home and Xmas presents were opened. Having got a fun “I Love Northcote” t shirt for my birthday the Xmas present was Manning Clark’s A Short History of Australia, the ideal present for those like me who want to learn more about this country.
