Last Day

To start the morning we made our way to the Melbourne cricket grounds for a tour of their facilities. The MCG hosts a variety of events like AFL, cricket, soccer, concerts, weddings, etc. In fact next Thursday they will be hosting Argentina and Brazil soccer teams. To be a member there is a fee of $740 a year. Cricket grounds all over the world have certain color blazers to represent their facilities.

For the first part of the tour we went through the stadium. The stadium holds 120,024 people, however our tour guide said people figured out if you stood up more people would fit; so the max crowd has been 130,000 for Billy Graham (American preacher). Because of being in the Southern Hemisphere, there are parts of the stadium that don't receive sunlight during the winter so they have artificial sunlight to help the grass grow. Interesting enough; the first cricket game ever played was against Canada and US in 1844 at the St George's Cricket Club in New York . In 1956 it was used during the Olympics for athletics(track and field). Even though we got to go out on the grass a little, to get onto the actual game field is a $9,000 fine. More than in Sydney when it was $5,000.

After touring many stadiums, we've noticed it is normal to see a sign in the team rooms that prohibit the use of cell phones so there is no chance of gambling and keep the players focused. It is common for AFL  and Cricket fields to be different lengths bc there is no national standard of how small or large they must be. In the ice bath room they have 2 customizable ice baths that can fit about 15 people combined between the 2. There is a road that goes around the whole stadium underground designed to keep the work unseen and for the teams to get into the locker rooms without being seen. From the Olympics they have on floors the longest high jumps. The first international cricket match in Australia was on New Year's Day in 1862.

 Throughout history, both the US Army and Marines came to the MCG to train for various little battles in the early 1900's. With the frequency of our military over here the Australian military began to see that the Americans were taking their women so apparently there was a brawl. The US then hosted a BBQ and the bond between the two forces have since grown. During the time of most artwork done in the grounds; the US military was in Australia so it is common to see the US flag scattered throughout the art. They actually have a remembrance for 9/11 because one the tapestries was in the process of being done when it happened.

For the second part of the tour we got to go into the National Sport Museum. It has an interactive part called 'Game On' similar to when we went to the AIS. They had a bunch of interactive games like netball, soccer, rugby, cycling, handball, archery, etc. We then continued onto the memorabilia part. There was a section discussing the international success of their Paralympic  teams, also highlighting the 1956 Olympics held here and much more. There is a taxidermy race horse and some equipment that you can try on from various sports.

After the tour some people went to an Italian restaurant on a cute little alley way for lunch and others got a sushi. Tonight is the first night of The Night Market; which consists of food vendors and other little vendors in aim to get the Melbourne residents out in the winter.

Tonight is our last night and as some get on the plane to go to home, a couple will be flying to New Zealand and a couple to The Great Barrier Reef. All flights are pretty early in the morning so some have plans of staying up to sleep on the plane.

As I am the last blogger, I think myself and everyone on this trip can agree that it has been a life changing experience and could not thank Leanna and Lisa enough for this opportunity. Also on behalf of everyone, thank you all who have taken the interest in following us through this journey! 

-Alyssa