It's mad how you lose track of time when you're travelling. Apparently the last time I blogged was 8 days ago and every time I write one of these things I struggle to remember anything I did within the last week.
With Tuesday and Thursday being the cricket semi-finals I found myself at my usual spot by the river in the CBD to watch two games that I couldn't call in the slightest. Unfortunately both days were English-type weather at its finest so I've had to buy another hoody because the other one was getting too much use.
The first semi-final, New Zealand Vs South Africa, was one of the best games of cricket I've ever seen with no exaggeration. It's pretty unbelievable that after watching a game for 8 hours you still cannot tell who's going to win. The former finally managed to bring it home and with Australia winning their game against India pretty easily in the end it meant that I'd get to watch the two home nations play at one of the best stadiums in the World - I kinda like this whole travelling thing yanno.
In between all the cricket was a trip to the moonlight cinema in the Botanic Gardens. It's a really well run event which see's an inflatable screen blown up and a projector every night during March and showing a variety of films. Kate will be jealous to hear that Mean Girls was the film of choice - a personal favourite of mine and being one of the many chick flicks that I embarrassingly love. It was a really great atmosphere even if I was ridiculously cold and I still loved the film despite having seen it dozens of times (again without exaggeration).
Friday saw a few drinks at a friends apartment as they had only moved in a few days prior. As its mainly family members who read this I shan't go into much detail.
Saturday saw a friend from back home (It hurts to call Dartford 'back home' but in context I suppose it's close enough) touch down in Australia. This meant that I used the walking tour that I went on over 2 months ago and showed her all the sights around the city along with 1 or 2 facts that have stuck with me - I rate my abilities as a tour guide I won't lie. It was nice seeing all the sights again and it amazes me that I haven't got bored of seeing all the sights and I'm still as in love with Melbourne as I was when I first got here.
I also see my free tour as giving me good karma. It turned out that my friend is staying with family friends in the city and so we headed there and it was an unbelievably nice building with views of Albert Park (where the Grand Prix was) and the sea. As if the lovely apartment wasn't enough, it then turned out that the roof had a jacuzzi with a phenomenal view of the city and it's sights. We got a cheap bottle of champagne/fizzy wine and had a barbecue while the sun sets - one of my favourite nights in Australia yet.
Sunday was the World Cup final, something I can tick off my bucket list and I will guarantee that it will not be my last. The anticipation and atmosphere was spectacular - even if I did have Stan moaning the whole time about how he wasn't included in the attendance figure which was a World record for a One day game in Australia (93,000). The happiness of the Australian fans and players was so special and I'm so glad I was part of it all. With the rugby World Cup in England this year, the European football championships in France next year and the Cricket World Cup in England in 2019 I think it's safe to say that I'm going to have to start saving.
Monday was a long and hard day which all came good in the end. After buying tickets to see Ed Sheeran (a music artist) a couple of weeks ago, I messed up with my address details due to moving in and out of hostels etc and so to cut a long story short: the tickets didn't arrive. After begging the ticket office etc and ringing the company there was nothing that could be done. Eventually we got a refund and so, not being deterred, we hung around the Rod Laver Arena for 2 and a half hours trying to find some going spare. 10 minute's before it was all due to start we ended up getting tickets that were much cheaper than what we had paid originally (I'm going to try and claim that this is my good karma again) and I think the whole scenario made me enjoy the gig even more than I would have originally. Ed Sheeran really is great live - I'd strongly recommend it.
This brings us back to the present. Today saw a sharp improvement in the weather so of course I went running back to the beach while I still can.
Unfortunately my time in Melbourne is starting to run out and I think it's safe to say that it is the best city that I've visited in my life so far. Its the perfect size for me and as I've said before there is always something to do. The thought of living here has seriously crossed my mind - but it's something that would require far more thought than I've already put in. Tasmania is the next stop and so the next couple of days will probably spent trying to sort plans out and get myself back into the mindset of travelling.
It's nice to have so much to write about again after a slight lull over the last couple of weeks - well done if you've managed to finish this without falling asleep!
Happy Easter!
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