NCAA Tourney Kicks Off / Surfest

3AM Friday Morning as the first games tipped off

Adding a little Bailey's to the coffee (ok, it's just milk)

This is why Drew's back still hurts and his sleep schedule is just now getting back to normal - he would get up at 3AM every tourney day and spend 8-10 hours a day hunched over the laptop.

The Waves n Wine "Festival"


The live entertainment at the "festival"

Surfest 2009

There was no swell the days we attended Surfest (2 foot waves at best)

More tiny waves

Even though we are across the world, we refused to pass up on one tradition - the NCAA tournament. Drew was up at 3AM to catch tipoff of LSU/Butler, the official kickoff of the first round, and Melissa followed about 30 minutes later. That was the first of several middle of the night alarms, followed by endless hours in front of the laptop and numerous cups of coffee. Even though Texas was knocked out the first weekend and Louisville followed the next weekend (to all we haven't talked to, nothing was thrown or broken by Drew - he handled it maturely), we don't regret screwing up our sleep schedule for about three weeks and using up half of our internet download capacity (yes, they cap internet over here).

The upside to getting up early to watch the games was that they were down by early afternoon, and we still had the rest of the day free to do what we pleased. The first weekend of the tourney we spent our afternoons at Surfest, Australia's largest international surf competition (past champions include Kelly Slater). Big wave surfing was few and far between (the swells died down the weekend of the finals, and of course the next weekend there were 8 foot waves crashing the shore), but we still enjoyed watching some pro surfing, knocking back a couple of cold ones and enjoying another beautiful day at the beach.

Melbourne

Flinders Street Train Station

Thanks for the book Mom

Federation Square

Rialto Tower

Federation Square, Part Dos

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

All time leading rusher in the Crown Casino

This is what Melbourne weather does to you

Docklands

View of weather from hotel room - reminded us of the Ghostbusters movie

Little Italy (and one of the two times the sun was out the entire weekend)

Remnants of chocolate crepes in Little Italy

Queen Victoria Market, home of the Meat Auctioneers

Guy at the Docklands playing acoustic guitar for a crowd of zero - that's how awesome the weather was

Observation Wheel - closed due to high winds

Telstra Dome

Docklands

A cow in a tree is art? Really?

St Patrick's Cathedral - built less than 10 yrs after Melbourne was founded

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Gelato shop shaped like ice cream cone

Melbourne Fashion Festival

Two guys who founded Melbourne

View inside Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Babe Ruth of cricket, whatever that means

Home of the Australian Open where Serena Williams dominated

Olympic Park

Court 2 at the Australian Open

Albert Park, home of the Formula 1 Racecourse

F1 Course

Our only trip to the beach (hard to believe that it was 115 degrees six weeks earlier)

Rialto Tower Overlooking the City

Carlton United Brewery - not quite the Clydesdales

Freshest beer in the state of Victoria

We spent the past weekend in Melbourne, where the saying is "All 4 Seasons in One Day." Now we know where the saying comes from, and it's absolutely positively true. We have never experienced so many weather changes in one weekend, and hope we don't see it again anytime soon. Over the span of the 20 to 30 minutes, rain/wind/40 mph winds would give way to sunshine and cloudless skies, only to return to a downpour by the time you took your rain jacket off. It was insane. That being said, we love the city of Melbourne (sorry Sydney residents, we would choose Melbourne at this point given our two 3-day tours) and wish we could visit again.

What Melbourne lacks in significant and historical landmarks (Sydney Harbour, Harbour Bridge, Opera House, etc.), it makes up for with its cafes/restaurants/shops and overall cultural scene. I thought Sydney was culturally diverse, but it has nothing on Melbourne. Food and drink are amazing (despite being ridiculously inexpensive - it honestly seemed like the worse the place looked from the outside, the better it ended up being; we suggest anything hidden in a back alley), and vintage shops were endless. Skinny jeans (for both male and female) have made a hideous comeback in Melbourne. If it spreads, blame it on them.

Pros and cons of the trip:

Cons -

The weather prevented us from seeing an Aussie Rules Football match and the Sound Relief concert for Victorian bushfire victims (we actually flew in over the earth scorched by the bushfires - the destruction was quite sobering).

We went to the Carlton United Brewery for a tour, and we happened to show up on the day that workers were on strike - so no tour.

Unrelated to Melbourne, but our digital camera died so we had to fork over for the most expensive disposable camera ever. We'll put those pics up when we get them on a CD

Didn't get to see the Arctic penguins (from Melissa)

Pros -

Breakfast in Little Italy

Dinner in St. Kilda at Dog's Bar

Dinner in Little Vietnam - Pho has quickly become one of Drew's favorite dishes

Lunch on Brunswick St. in Fitzroy - We had two large pizzas (the one with smoked salmon, spinach and alfredo was the best pizza I'ver ever had) and beers for $15

All of the secondhand/vintage clothing shops.

Seeing the meat aunctioneers at Queen Victoria Market - the most aggressive butchers I've ever seen.

Public transportation (buses/trains/trams) was extremely efficient

Workers at Carlton Brewery took pity on us, so we got all kinds of free beer stuff (thank you very much)

Bird's Eye View of Newcastle (from Fort Scratchley)

Newcastle Swimming Baths

Nobby's Point

Volleyball Tourney going on at Nobby's Beach-Not quite as competitive as the Lucio Easter Olympics

Newcastle Harbor

Two Sundays ago we went up to Fort Scratchley, the highest point in Newcastle (also where the Australians fended off Japan during WWII). The helpful tour guide also informed us that Nobby's point actually used to be an island - they cut the elevation in half and used the rocks to connect the mainland to the island. Mother Nature took care of the rest and added the sand to create Nobby's Point.