Walking Tour and Afl Semi

We started the day with a walking tour, we love a walking tour, we're always at the front so we can get the best out of it and often we make friends with the guide! Today was no exception! 

Edd bonded with the slightly geeky, international relations and history student over sport. The big AFL game is all that anyone is talking about today and we have tickets, in local language that means we are respected as tourist who know what they're doing!!

Before the tour we used the girls advice list to find Edd a coffee, he's asked me to mention it's the best yet! We then needed a good pastry to keep us going, we found the most mind-blowing pastry stand just opposite where our tour started, I can't describe it, check out the photos! I had banoffee and Edd had Nutella and banana. It definitely filled the hole to keep us going on the walking tour.

The tour was great, we learnt how a crazy man from Tasmania came over here and signed a treaty with the aborigines, in exchange for some basics- sugar, blankets, knives he could have 200 thousand acres of land. The reality is that the aborigines probably didn't know what they were signing and just thought he was a nice visitor bringing gifts whilst visiting their land.

We visited the prison where Ned Kelly was held before he was hung in 1880, apparently his famous last words were 'such is life'. Ned was known for stealing from the rich and helping the poor. Legend has it that he was once robbing a bank and found the mortgage agreements for all the local farmers so he burnt the lot.

We saw the oldest trade union in the world, Melbourne was the first place to bring in the 8 hour working day. The monument has 888 on the top, 8 hours work, 8 for rest and 8 for recreation. Thirty years later in Chicago 3 people were killed whilst protesting for the same working conditions so the people of Melbourne were pretty ahead of their time. 

They were also the second country in the world to recognise women were allowed to vote, second after NZ. For such a forward thinking place, aborigines weren't recognised on the census as inhabitants of the city until 1968. Melbourne was part of a larger New South Wales until 1851 when they voted to leave and create a new state, Victoria, named after the new queen of England. 

In 1853 the gold rush started, most the gold was found in Victoria and the people from New South Wales were not happy because they thought they had kept the gold a secret until they had separated from Sydney. This rush meant that Melbourne grew at a crazy rate and overtook Sydney as the biggest city in Oz. 200million ounces of gold (worth about 200billion dollars) were dug up in the chaotic years that followed and lots of beautiful building were built.

The guide walked us through modern Melbourne showing us how things had improved, the central business district is set out based on an American style grid with trams running through lots of the streets. The man who decided the lay out made it so it was one big street, followed by a little one so you end up wandering down little lanes full of interesting bars, restaurants and boutique shops.

The streets are full of graffiti, some great and some not so much but we went down a street of really great stuff. It's illegal in Melbourne but as a building owner you can apply for a permit to allow people to get creative. Interestingly the buskers on the main shopping street also have to audition to busk which means that the quality is fantastic.

He took us through an arcade called 'the block' that used to be the 'place to be' where people would dress in their best dress and parade around trying to meet their future husbands and wives, this was called 'doing the block'. Edd and I loved that area, full of interesting small shops.

Being tourists and exploring a new city is a lot to take in and we have a big night tonight so after finding a good lunch spot, another recommendation, we headed back to the hostel for a break. Lunch was a Chinese restaurant that specialised in dumplings, another recommendation! They turn my stomach a bit, white slimy, soggy balls filled with more anaemic meat balls aren't my thing but they tasted better than they looked and Edd really enjoyed them! 


We  stopped off after lunch to get wooly hats, Edd wanted a Richmond AFL one having seen the game in Sydney as a souvenir and I decided I would be cold tonight and might as well have a supporters hat to keep me warm in New Zealand (any excuse!) So from now on in I'm a hawks fan! 

I chose a Hawthorne Hawks hat as that's who Edd chose to sit us with for the match.

I have to admit I wasn't that fussed about watching another match, I'd had my fill of it in Sydney but Edd was very excited and of course I wouldn't let him go on his own. As we walked towards the stadium and joined more and more crowds the atmosphere started to build and I admit I got a bit of a buzz!

We were sat in the gods, mainly surrounded by Hawks supporter but the stadium was filled pretty evenly with both teams supporters. The Hawks were defending their 3 year title whilst the Bulldogs, who are also Melbourne team, were keen to get into the finals because it's been a while.

The match started and it was pretty clear that the Hawks were the stronger team and by the end of the first quarter I was ready to find some new entertainment as I thought it was going to get boring and be an easy win for my new team. I was so wrong, by half time there was one point in it and by the end of the third quarter it was looking pretty hopeless for the Hawks, the Bulldogs had a fantastic quarter and destroyed them! By the last quarter most the Hawks supporters were leaving early with their heads hung low.

It was sad being on the losing team but the atmosphere was brilliant, there were 87,823 supporters out tonight, most definitely the biggest crowd I've been part of.

We made it home soon after 11pm and nipped down the road for a pre bed doughnut to finish the evening off nicely.