Today we treated ourselves to a lay in before heading out on the free City Tram to Federation Square - the home of free WIFI!! After checking emails and eating our healthy breakfast of a 7-eleven muffin we walked along the river to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground for all you non Cricket fans).
This was Ben's request of the trip, a tour of the MCG, and luckily as we were YHA card holders we got free entry to the Sports Museum. Our tour started at 1pm, and was an hour and a 1/2 of facts and info from a well knowledged guide; Ian was a club member who volunteered on a Thursday to do tours around the grounds, his passion for sport and the ground was clearly evident.
He told us many interesting facts about matches played there, key scorers and also the history of the grounds. He took us from the stands down onto the pitch itself; pointing out a patch of railing still there from the 1800s stand, stand 13 which apparently is notorious for its drunken trouble makers and also a white seat in the 2nd tier where the furthest 6 was hit to. We went behind the scenes, down to the teams restaurant, into the away teams changing rooms and briefing rooms. Then up into the members stalls; the dark mahogany interior was stunning, with old memorabilia and photos from the clubs founders to star players lining the walls (the Long Room is photographed bottom right). Ian then explained that if we wanted to become members the waiting list was currently 192,000 long, and estimated at a 14 year wait! He explained that he put his Granddaugter on it when she was 2 days old.
As our tour ended and we headed down to the Sports Museum another treat was in store...even Nicola has to agree that this museum that was one that beat all others! We hurried around in 3 hours as the sheer amount of exhibits to look at were amazing, and it closed at 5pm. The MCC (Melbourne Cricket Club) room was huge and explained through old paintings, photos, Uniforms, Bats, Cups etc the history of the game at the MCG. Any cricket fan would have been in their element as it truly was fascinating, neither of us had ever been to a museum with so many exhibits.
The Shane Warne room, where a holographic talking image of the man himself was displayed onto a replica set of the MCG dressing room let us listen to his story of how he came into cricket, and how he went on to be a star player.
Next was a whirlwind trip through the history of Cricket, Formula One (where every programme from every Australian Grand Prix was displayed), Golf, Netball, Tennis, and then the huge AFL room. Now not knowing anything about Aussie Rules Football we were strangely enthralled by the exhibits - again taking you right back to the origins of the game, and displaying some great artifacts! After that was the hands-on exhibits where we were able to act like kids and have a go at a bit of netball and Aussie rules football and race each other round a virtual velodrome !!
Last but not least was the Olympic room, again displaying medals, programmes, posters, kit from every Olympic event since it's creation.
On leaving the museum we headed back into town (City skyline right photo) to have a wander and search out the State Library, where we now sit typing the blog. Tonight we are off to find a supermarket to stock up for our 4 days in Melbourne.
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