MELBOURNE

I had some great days in Melbourne. Having been there 2,5 years ago- I definitely wanted to go to Melbourne during my stay here.
And I still think and got strengthened in my opinion: Melbourne is THE city in Australia (not a big fan of Sydney here….).

Isabella, Carsten and Vasu might remember THE CORNISH ARMS!? It is a little pub in Coburg and we went there a couple of times for the Monday special: kangaroo steak (Roo) with mashed potatoes and broccoli. I had to go back there and have it one more time. When I told them I wanted to have the Roo, I got a “Sorry mate, no 'Roo' today, we ran out” as reply …
Buffed as I was I could only stumble in my speech: “b-but that’s the only reason I came here for” and I told them my little story. The chef went back to the storage room and returned grinning with their last box of kangaroo and I had a really yummy dinner…

The weather was not like it was supposed to be for summer in Melbourne at all: it basically didn’t stop raining for more than 2 hours in a row… I flew to Melbourne to catch up with places I have been to, to see how the face of the town has changed, watch some tennis and do a little bit of shopping (in the end that part of my list was a “bit” more intense than anticipated)
I was there to see some tennis as well.

I got a ground pass ticket on Saturday which allows you to see all matched at the outside courts and in vodaphone arena (only Rod Laver Stadium= Court 1, is excluded). After having had a great party the day before (midsumma opening, went to bed past 4 a.m.) I dragged my lazy bum out of bed by 9:30 in order to be at the tennis ground on time.

First matches start usually at 11 a.m. and I wanted to see the German duel: Thommy Haas vs. Florian Mayer. As I mentioned above the weather wasn’t very nice and I just got in the tennis park (around 10:40a.m.) when it started to rain (again). I tried to make my way through down to the vodaphone arena and get a seat under the roofed shelter. Approx. 50 people were queuing in front of me when they announced that the arena was full and the only way-in is when other people leave. That doesn’t sound too bad, but no-one left!- people exiting the arena got return tickets and only when they didn’t want to have it another one could get in. What happened was many people were outside smoking, getting lunch, … and having return tickets. Inside it wasn’t really full at all but we had to wait and wait and wait…
After 3 hours we were told, the outside matches are about to begin: quick quick- Margaret Court: the German duel. I got to know another German (another Johannes) and a Greg - a South African - while queuing and we rushed to see that match. We got really good seats in the seventh row. People were cheering, clapping; the players finally entered the court, when it started to drip again. Head over heals with a lot of booing from the audience the players left again…We returned to Vodaphone arena, hoping the situation has changed with more people trying to see any of the outdoor matches. But NO!!… We could squeeze in to our old position in line, cause we haven’t left for more that 30 minutes and that was according to the (strange) queuing policy… But the match in there (Grosjean vs. Nalbandjan)was tight: the 4th set wasn’t finished yet. Nalbandjan evened out and they had to play a 5th …

By 3:30 p.m. I hit the critical point- Annoyed, mad, aggressive and tired I left. Ticket sellers would exchange your tickets for any other day. And I was about to do so and get another ticket for Sunday. Checking the forecast though, I got to know rain was about to continue. I went to the ticket sellers booth (bad karma points) and lied I was flying out tonight and exceptionally (as they made me understand by handing me the money in an envelope so no other in line could see it and whispering) I got a full refund.
A bit disappointed but still happy to leave I left and watched some DVDs later on...