Day 87 Melbourne

We woke early again today, and tried to wrangle the kids into some sense of order, but Rowan was too tired and refused to get up. The goal was to get to the car to the service centre, and get onto the train into Melbourne as early as possible. We didn't end up leaving until 0830, so it was always going to be a rushed day. 

Toyota were kind enough to drive us to the train station after we dropped the car off with them, and I was stoked that the Prado was finally going to get a service. She has been dragging badly to the left, squeaking and groaning, and just been generally a bit down on performance.

The train into Melbourne didn't take us long, and we emerged at Flinders Street station where we had to get a photo under the famous clocks. This hasn't changed in all the years I've been in or coming to Melbourne. 

Our plans had us jumping on the city loop tour bus, but as we were crossing the road, the bus came and went. The bus runs every 30 minutes, which was fortunate as Rowan needed the toilet, and I was on a bit of a mission.

We walked up Swanston street to our nearest Krispy Kreme Donut outlet for some super dooper Krispy Kreme Donutty Goodness of the Gods.  The special they had on meant that we were able to get 5 donuts, a coffee and a hot chocolate for the same price as 3 donuts...SCORE! 

It was here that we re-assessed our options and tried to figure out how to organise the rest of the day.  Rowan was dancing around, so we had to go on a bit of a search to find a public toilet

Lisa and Emma tell me that there was a border collie in a hand knitted jumper tethered to a bag in their toilet.  I guess you can see anything in Melbourne.

The face of the city has changed remarkably since I was living here, and Swanston Street is now completely closed off to traffic except for police cars and trams.  It is much nicer for the general public as a pedestrian thoroughfare.

Back at the corner of Flinders and Swanston, we were looking at Federation Square, and standing in a line about 40 people deep for the tourist bus.  We are a little fed up with a particular form of rude, loud and obnoxious tourist so we decided to walk to the "G" instead.

Federation Square is awesome.  It really is the arts and entertainment capital of Australia.  They had a display of Elephants throughout the city to celebrate 150 years of the Melbourne Zoo, and the elephants were all life size replicas of Mali the first elephant born in the breeding program here. 

From Federation Square, it is only a 15 minute walk to the MCG along the Yarra.  The riverfront had changed massively as well with all of the old warehouses gone, and public open space in its place.  The sun was still out shining, so the walk was very pleasant indeed.  They have this series of bells set up which were playing tunes composed for a competition.  The people here were judging the finalists whilst we were there. 

Our goal though was the MCG which we finally arrived at.  I've never been to the ground mid week, so it was eerily quiet there when we arrived.  We booked onto the next tour, and also got our tickets for the National Sports Museum.  One of the things that we were to learn on the tour is that there are at least 1500 people (Staff) at the ground every day of the year, let alone event days.  At first that is a bit hard to believe, but as you walk around, you get the true feeling of the size of the place behind the stadium itself.

Our tour was to take us not only through the stadium, but to all of the weird and obscure places to be found inside.  It all started though down on the turf, so I can now add the MCG to my list of hallowed grounds which include Lords.

They were doing a lot of ground work, and it looked like they were replacing the entire forward 50 ark at the Southern end of the ground.  Today being Wednesday, this has to be ready for Saturday's game.

The curators are amazing.  Out in front of us were banks of grow lights trying to repair the grass which is almost constantly in the shade of the grand stand.  By some great feat of planning, all of the interchange boxes are on this side of the ground, so the grass here sees the most wear and tear. 

Where we were standing is directly in front of the Members area or roughly centre wing. 


We were then taken back up the stairs and through a small doorway which led into a plush lounge viewing area.  At first I didn't recognise it, but then I looked back towards the ground and the view instantly materialised the significance of this lounge.

We were standing in the Batting Team Lounge for the cricket.  In front is the carpeted walkway where the incoming batsman would enter the field, and just off to the right is the tunnel where Ponting walks every time he scores a duck.  The stairs at the back of the lounge lead down to the change rooms.

Just thinking about the names that have graced the chairs in here was a bit awe inspiring.  Right next door to this lounge is a much smaller one which is for the fielding team...Coach, Trainers and 12th man.


From the players lounge, we descended into the bowels of the MCG (To the Collingwood rooms...BWAHAHAHAHA!)  The tour took us past the practice pitches, and through the parking area below the stands. 

How much Gatorade has this floor seen?

I don't know if Lisa or the kids understood the significance of this room, but this is the warm up area outside the change rooms, physio rooms and the Ben Cousins wing (Drug testing laboratory) which is now labelled as a women's toilet...

Our next stop was over at the media centre where the coaches and players give their conferences on game day.  The winning coach is to be available 20 minutes after the final siren, and the losing coach 40 minutes after the siren.  I asked if they had the SGIO banners, commenting that they wouldn't get much use here.  The two Freo supporters called me a typical whinging Eagles fan, but I was able to retort by letting them know they get used during finals!


Next stop was to be the top of the Northern stand, and we emerged to see the stadium in all of its glory.  The MCG ranks in the top 10 in the world for capacity at 100,000 seats, but is listed in the top 2 for cleanliness, facilities and charm.  Perth needs a stadium like this, and the Dockers can stay at Subiaco.




Down through the levels we walked, past the press boxes on level 3 and all of the corporate boxes on level 2, until we emerged on the terrace bar behind the members seating.  The tour had been going for over an hour and the kids were getting a bit restless, and took the opportunity to run about the Terrace Bar and hang from the balustrades.

I don't know who said a picture tells a thousand words, but it just wouldn't be a day complete if Rowan hadn't smacked his head on something.

We had asked him repeatedly to stop mucking about and then Karma intervened. 

No ice pack today, just a nice lump to remember the MCG by.  Pity for him that we chopped his hair off earlier in the week, or there may have been more cushioning for him.

The view off the Terrace bar over Rod Laver Arena, and Olympic Park was very pretty. 



From here we walked back around through the Members entrance, and into the lounge area.  This is the Members Long Room which is based on the Long Room at Lords.  There is split level dining with views of the ground from all tables, as well as the bar and seating at the front for esteemed, elderly and infirm Members.  There is etiquette, dress code and a lot of Pomp here.

We were to walk through the Long Room to a similar room across the next hallway which is a bar.  In between the two, is a series of sculptures and this fantastic tapestry which depicts the history of the MCG.  From the very first game of cricket played here, through the changes including the construction of the grandstands, to the light towers being erected (With Dean Jones slogging underneath the light) to modern football.  If you look closely, you can see the drop in cricket pitches, the 3 tenors, and tributes to the Olympics in 1956.  There is even Glen Jakovich on the right hand side which I thought was pretty cool.

The tour had finally come to an end, and we decided we would have a quick bite of lunch and head into the national sports museum.  The museum is separated into MCG History, The Olympics, Cricket, Football, Horse Racing and Other sports with an interactive zone for the kids.

Lisa and I went to have a look at Cricket, Horse Racing and The Olympics.  The cricket stuff was interesting, and they have a 10 minute hologram movie of Warney talking about his career and his relationship with the MCG. 

We then looked through the horse racing museum where they have the fully articulated skeleton of Carbine, and lots of racing memorabilia.  We had only just entered the Olympic section when Emma found us and said that they were all in trouble for being unsupervised.  Parents of the year again. 

We left what we were doing and went downstairs to the Interactive Zone where the kids wanted to play.  They had some great activities.  From fielding a ball to throw down stumps for a run out, to cycling on a road race against a human and computerised opponents.

There were a couple of compound bows to do archery on using a laser pointer (instead of arrows) and agility testers. 

There were also a bunch of different AFL simulators. 

I had several attempts at kicking a goal in the simulator, but only managed 3 points.  BOO!  I also had a go at sharking the ruck from Big Cox, and hand-balling out to the midfielders. 

This was much harder than it looked.  If you got good at it, you had no sooner hand-balled than another ball was coming down from overhead.

Rowan loved playing the hard ball get simulator that sent a ball down a ramp from the left or right hand side, and you then had to pick which team mate to hand ball to.

In the end, we were starting to run out of time, and there were probably a dozen different school groups all fighting for a turn at the activities. 

On the way out, we had a look at the history of AFL football, and spent a bit of time at the Eagles display.  It is cool that the club song that they have on file for the public here is the original 3 verse song.  We lined it up to play 4 times in a row.

There was also a display of premiership cups, and guernseys used in the modern game.  The Eagles jumper in the cabinet was worn by Bluey (Guy) Mackenna in the 1992 Grand Final.  It is interesting that this was still the old wool blend knitted guernsey.  Very different to the Polyester blend, skin tight, aerodynamic, waterproof, tackle resistant jersey's worn today.

Also very interesting is that even way back in 1992 the Eagles jumper was made of two fronts with no neck.  They breed em strange in the West.

We had to rush back to Richmond station to get the train though or we would miss out on collecting our car.  Toyota were lovely and sent two cars to collect us from the station...I should have guessed the size of the bill with that kind of service.

With pockets lighter and the car running better, we called it a day.  Hopefully we wont be too tired to write tonight as we have been a day behind now all week.  Tomorrow is a fully sanctioned rest day.  Lets see how long that lasts.