Sunday, March 14, 2010

Days 194-197

First, some catching up on videos:






It was on Day 194 that I woke up and decided to just take it easy. I started the day by taking care of some business, then finalizing a game show application for a show that I probably can’t get on, but having watched it for over 15 years and this being the first year that they have opened it up to civilians in quite a long time, I’d be silly not too.
I also enjoyed my quest to get a phone card at Telstra, followed by lunch of meat pie.
I wandered over to Federation Square to check my email and saw a charity fundraiser going on. Sure, why not, I’m not going the whole hog, but I will do a bit…

It was call Shave for the Brave (or something similar) and I decided not to go the whole hog and got my hair coloured. Stripes!

In retrospect I should have got the whole moptop clipped off if only it was a cheaper haircut than normal! In any case I had a nice chat with one of the organizers and was happy that I could help.
I headed back to the guest house and had a quick supper before heading out to my evening’s activities. It was a good thing that I took the tram for a bit as it ended up being a long walk even still!
I arrived at Circus Oz just ahead of the start time of 6.30 pm. Years ago when I started looking into universities to study at in Melbourne I stumbled across this organization. Now although I didn’t end up studying over here (don’t really want to talk about it!) I still wanted to come to a class and they did allow me to drop in to “tumbing/acro class”.
Here’s the thing. I consider my flexible to an extent. I have some circus skills – juggling, unicycing, clowning. However it turned out this was more like Cirque du Soleil – very much based on the physicality of the body. Which is where it started to turn funny, as in “what have I got myself into?” funny.
We did about a half hour of warm up – a variant on ulty which my team got killed at, followed by a ton of stretching and bending my body into ways that I can’t even dream of.
Then we got into the real thing. I wish I had pictures to show you of my progression during the class. I’d like to preface by saying everyone else was on night four. That being said, I did complete my first ever series of handstands with the help of an assistant and one of the teachers. It definitely does make the blood rush to your head.
Next they started doing tumbling. Again, a disclaimer: I haven’t done a correct front roll/somersault since I was about five. But with a mat that looked like a wedge of cheese, I got going pretty well.
Furthermore, I was able to do some motions that will one day lead me to doing a cartwheel.
All in all I didn’t think it was that bad for the first night at it. I did get a picture of my instructors, Dottie and her husband (I think) whom I will call Mr. Nonchalant as I never got his name and he seemed to do everything with the greatest of ease.

And prove that I didn’t make this up:

Part of the hilarity of the evening was that as I was sweating profusely (there’s really no denying that, frankly) the hair dye from earlier in the day was bleeding out. So it ended up all over me and a good chunk on Dottie as well. I got back about an hour later to the guest house, took a shower, and then headed to bed.
On Day 195, my penultimate day in Melbourne I finally got over to the Melbourne Cricket Ground stadium. Which is used for cricket, Aussie Rules Football and European football among other events.

It was an interesting tour but when it wrapped up, we were invited to stay for the match that was in play, part of the Sheffield Shield tournament that was going on between Tasmania and Victoria. Now I’m not going pretend that I know anything about cricket – because I don’t. However I was amazed at the crowd in the stadium…
… and the fact that they still actually ran the game! Thankfully a nice English couple I met on tour was nice enough to explain the nuances to me. Before I knew it there were some wickets and overs and bowls and innings and a couple of players scored four runs by getting it by the boundary but didn’t score six as they didn’t hit it out of the stadium.
Simple, right?
Lunch was a great sandwich at the player’s café at the Rod Laver Arena for which I would visit the next day. It was getting late in the afternoon so I had to hop back to the guest house, freshen up, and then meet Liz and Hannah, friends of mine from Queenstown that live in the city. We had a quick party on Brunswick street with visits to Grilled:

And followed up by Trampoline:

I very much enjoyed the quick visit and wish that it could have been longer! However I had to get back to the Flinders Street station clocks for seven to meet up with Katja.
Katja was a student at work when I was a faculty assistant, way back in 02/03. She now works in the fashion industry in Melbourne as I was thrilled that we were able to meet up as it is coming up to Fashion Week in the city. She tells me that her job is slightly like what you see on Ugly Betty but not entirely.
We had a great time catching up with everything and anything and I am thrilled that things are going well for her! It was also funny trying to remember specific events from our year together at PC – things like that infamous rafting trip at the start of the year.

Again after a busy day I headed back to the guest house to get some sleep, which is what usually someone does, I suppose!

Day 196 and it was time to do the final sweep through Melbourne. Chris phoned me up in the morning and we set a time to meet for lunch. In the interim I hopped back over to Rod Laver arena, where the Australian Open tennis tournament is held each year to get a guided tour.
I do play tennis now and then but also one of my roommates is a massive tennis fan so I figured I should check it out! I was not disappointed!

We first started in the mens’ locker room and got to see where they prepare before a game. This is a picture of Roger Federer’s locker:

Number one as you can see – everyone is allowed to pick a locker based on their seeding in the world rankings at the time of the tourney. We were told Rafael Nadal picks one very far away from Federer and if you don’t rank in the top 87, you only get a half locker!!
Next it was into the actual centre court itself which as you can see isn’t there, as they’re in concert season. Tom Jones had been there two nights before and other artists such as Kelly Clarkson are on their way there.

We also got to tour hall of champions, see the trophies, visit a superbox (which at a cost of $180K a year I think I will have to pass on) and go into the media interview room. Guess who was first up to be interviewed?

I actually had someone from the crowd ask me a question about my shoes which I was quite quick witted in answering. Drama teacher in me I guess. All in all a great tour!
I met up with Chris for lunch and following our meal of baguettes and ice chocolate we toured around a bit, especially in Federation Square where they were launching a festival for the new students… something that I should have been part of if universities had given me the time of day…

In any case shortly before 4.30 pm Chris and I parted ways as he was rehearsing for a concert that evening. I was hoping to go see it but by the time I got back to St. Kilda I had taken a bit of a scenic route and I was quite bushed.
Day 197 and it was on the train.
No, seriously, that’s about my day! 12 hour train ride from Melbourne to Sydney, which was quite nice, very peaceful train ride. Plus the food prices were reasonable and the scenery was great. I even had Devonshire Tea in the morning – your choice of hot beverage plus warm scones and jam! Yummers.
And please, how can you not enjoy a train that stops at Wagga Wagga:

Now safely ensconced in Sydney it’s off to see the sites!
Cheers,
Vick.
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