From Peaceful Mountains to Footy Madness

23-31 March, 2007
I already noted my arrival into Melbourne (b-o-u-r-n-e does not sound like "born") when I actually arrived in Melbs. To be honest, there wasn't much going on so I shipped out two days after getting in. Well, there was heaps going on, but I wasn't interested. I took a train, a bus and then a smaller bus to Halls Gap, Victoria. This is the town for the tourist centre of the Grampians, the southern end of the great dividing range, which starts in Far North Queensland. Halls Gap has a single road running through it, with one grocery store, one bakery, one petrol station, one...well you get the idea.

I had read about the hostel I wanted to stay at in my guidebook as this "eco-lodge." It had solar power and water conservation practices in place. This place turned out to be one of the best hostels I've ever been to, and not only that but is probably one of the best places of accomodation as well. Solar power heats the water and provides electricity (not completely off the grid though) and a first of its kind water recycling system re-uses the gray water from sinks and showers to flush the toilets. There are free range chickens roaming the hostel grounds so every morning we get fresh eggs to use. There is an herb garden. The owners put out baked goods. The facilities are first rate. There are bicycles available for free use. What pushed me over the top for this place was when I showed up without a booking and there were no dorm beds left, the owner opened up one of the family rooms so I was able to have a bed, at the cost of a dorm, and I wound up with the room to myself and a double bed. This place, Grampians YHA Eco-Hostel is first rate, and I'm done plugging for it.

The point of going to the Grampians was to do more bushwalking. Little did I know that a massive bushfire from the previous summer burnt out all the trails. So much for that. I hiked all the trails that I could in one day and set off to camp for the night about 9km south of Halls Gap. Since the trails had all burnt out I walked along the side of the highway. Fun times.... After camping out I wandered down a 4WD track in hopes of finding a new way back to Halls Gap. It didn't happen, however, I did have a huge group of Emus run right infront of me on this expedition. That was pretty cool. There were also some large animals hopping around in the forest. I'm pretty sure they were kangaroos, but the fur was black, and I never got a very good look at the whole animal. Maybe it was a rock wallaby? I don't even know what those look like. Either way they scared the shit out of me because they would only hop away if you walked right past them, and they weren't quiet about it. I also saw lots of colorful birds and had great views from the mountain tops.

After 4 days in the Grampians I was ready to get back to Melbourne, AFL season was about to start after all! The only reason I went to Melbourne in the first place was to see an Aussie rules match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Here are the basics: started in 1858 as a way to keep cricket players in shape during the winter. My how it has evolved! Football, or footy, is an ambiguous term in Australia. In New South Wales and Queensland it refers to Rugby (usually leage, the NRL) In Victoria, South and Western Australia and Tasmania it refers to AFL. There are 16 teams and most of these are located in and around Melbourne, specifically the suburbs. It is a major sport in terms of attendance, but not on a global scale. Gaelic football is the only sport that is similar- hence the International Rules matches played between Ireland and Australia. It consistently draws 30,000+ people to matches, putting up it there with English/European Football Leagues and American Football. It's life for a lot of people in Victoria. As a spectator sport I would rank it as one of the best. There is a reason it has the nickname Aerial Ping-Pong. I won't go through all the rules and scoring system so I'll say that watching the footy match while eating a 4 and 20 pie and drinking a Carlton made me feel very Australian, or at least Victorian. What I like about AFL most is that you are immediately pulled into barracking (rooting, just don't say that) for a team. It makes the entire game exciting, and understanding the rules and what makes a play spectacular (a spekkie) is even better. I saw two games: The Melbourne Demons v. the St. Kilda Saints and the North Melbourne Kangaroos v. the Collingwood Magpies. Both games were very intense and each team kept going ahead of the other. AFL and the trams are probably the only things that would draw me to live in Melbourne.

I saw my second match on saturday afternoon and afterwards went straight to the airport to fly up to Cairns. I didn't arrive in the city centre until about 1 am and seriously considered sleeping in the park. As it was a new city to me I decided against, though in hindsight it wouldn't have been a problem. I had just gone from the state most affected by drought to a tropical rainforest where it would bucket at the drop of a hat, and sometime for days on end. Cairns and the Atherton tablelands are coming up.