A day at the "G"

Saturday was a big day for us, we went to see our first AFL (Aussie Rules Football) match. It was a cool and drizzly 12 degrees out, but we weren't going to miss this for anything. so we rugged up and caught the train into the city. 

Having an AFL team to support is as important as having an NHL team at home only a lot safer. Nobody gets beat up for picking the wrong team! Tyler and I barrack for the Richmond Tigers, so this was a great game for us since Richmond was playing Adelaide.  Scott has jumped on the Geelong Cats bandwagon and Hannah being ever loyal to her favourite teacher Miss Lively goes for the Carlton Blues, but both were happy to support Richmond for the day.

We were at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), the famed home of the AFL and Australia's favourite stadium.

This was an event organized by the International Teachers Federation, so it was another great opportunity to get together with the other Canadian teachers and their families down under.

This game is fast paced and exciting. These guys are fast and talented. There's a lot of testosterone on the pitch so of course there's a little pushing and shoving between the players, but since the clock rarely stops counting in this game there's not time for a pissing match fight. For more details on the rules of the game click here.

One of the best parts of the game is the spirit. Absolutely everyone comes dressed up. The 20 Canadians in the crowd were some of the only ones not dressed in team colours! There are hats, scarves, footy socks, jackets, pom poms, and signs. Saturday was a sea of yellow and black!

And last but definately not least each club has a song. One of the most widely recognized theme songs in the AFL is that of the Richmond Tigers. And everyone in the stadium knows the words! Richmond won the match, and 1000s of fans stood up and sang this song:





Oh we’re from Tigerland
A fighting fury we’re from Tigerland
In any weather you will see us with a grin
Risking head and skin
If we’re behind
we’ll never mind
we’ll fight and fight and win
oh where from tigerland
we never weaken til the final siren goes
like the tigers of old
we’re strong and we’re bold
oh we’re from tiger
-YELLOW AND BLACK-
oh we’re from tigerland

(To the tune of ‘Row, Row, Row’)

We had a fantastic day, and I'm sure we'll be back again. It was too much fun not to!

Yay for long weekends!

This past weekend was a long one for us with the Aussies celebrating the Queens Birthday. We originally had plans of leaving on Friday and driving to Canberra to see the nations capital, but with all the other travel planning we were doing for our winter break we didn't manage to get any accommodation booked. So home in Melbourne we stayed. Hannah and Tyler made the big decisions of what to do for the weekend, and they made some great choices!

Saturday morning was a leisurely and lazy start to our day, and then the kids decided we should check out a place called Scienceworks that they had heard about from their friends. It's a science museum with a hands on approach for the kids. There wasn't one exhibit that they couldn't touch and try out. They had so much fun checking out all the exhibits that we didn't even have time to check out the planetarium. Good thing we bought the family membership so that we can go back!

Since when do telephones have a cord and a dial?

Can you find the banana? 

My strongman ;)

Sunday started off slowly too, but once we got ourselves moving we decided to head into the city to the South Melbourne Market. Not as big as the Queen Victoria Market further into the city, but just as fun.  The markets here are amazing, I'm not sure that the Byward is going to cut it after this!

We bought some lovely crisp green apples and Hannah helped me to make them into an apple pie. 

Monday was the public holiday which saw most of the city closed down. Tyler was keen to see some of the dinosaurs he's been reading about in a new book so we decided to hop on the train and head into the city to the Melbourne Museum.

Walking in this city always provides material for great new pictures. There is always so much going on and there's a great mix of space for people, cars, trams and nature. Some of the trees in the city are even showing the autumn colours. 

The dinosaurs were exactly what Tyler was looking for. I always forget how big they are until I see them up close!

This is the ant dome. Since when do ants have iPods?

Heading back to get the train back home.

I thought that I had seen most of the train stations on our line, but this was a new one for me. The Melbourne Central Station has 3 floors of shops on the way down to the train lines and it has the most amazing ceiling! I try hard not to look too much like a tourist, but I just couldn't resist a picture of it.

At the end of the weekend we were glad that we had stayed home instead of travelling. There are still so many things in our very own city that we haven't seen!