Heading into Nadine's 29th Birthday weekend & Valentine's Day, we had plans to head back into Melbourne to catch a World Cup Cricket match...we also finally got paid for the first time on Feb 13, so we had $$ to do things again! Hooray!
Feb 14
So our Saturday morning started with a quiet plan to hit up Melbourne & then head to the Cricket match....but as Robert Frost once said "The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected".
We each boarded trains ~7am headed into downtown Melbourne (Nadine starting in Geelong & Dave starting in Bundoora). We each woke up to some heavy rain & we quickly found out that rain means delayed and canceled trains. Nadine arrived into downtown about an hour late, but that seemed tame compared to Dave's trip. For Dave, his 1st subway line went about 5 stops, then stopped b/c the line was shut down. They had courtesy buses to take people into downtown, but buses don't allow bikes (as Dave learned from his flat tire experience) so Dave then biked 4 miles over to the other subway line (inthe rain), hoping that that line was running. Sure enough, that line was shut down too. So Dave said "screw this" and decided to just hoof it downtown on his bike. He got another flat tire ~5 minutes away from the train station where Dave & Nadine were going to originally meet. So instead Dave headed to a nearby bike shop, and got the flat repaired. Nadine met Dave at the bike shop and then we gave each other a big "Birthday & Valentine's Day" hug after a stressful morning (public transit is great, but man, do we miss having a vehicle!)
After re-setting ourselves, we headed to the South Melbourne Market, less touristy & a little more intimate than the Queen Victoria market we had visited the weekend prior. We bought some food, had a little picnic, and just took inthe market. We then headed to a bar that sits under a bridge on the Yarra River & grabbed a pre-Cricket match beverage. We could see the MCG stadium from the pub & also the large crowds of locals wearing Aussie Yellow & Green.
It was then time to head our first Cricket match! And it was a World Cup match! AND it was Australia vs England!! These are loving rivals, like older brother (ENG) vs younger brother (AUS). The stadium was packed with 80,000 people! I can explain Cricket later, but after 7-8 hrs, the Australians won! The weather was great, the crowds were a hoot, and two sports engineers that arein love couldn't be happier spending Valentine's Day enjoying a new sport. I hate to say it, but we are now Cricket fans!
We then hopped a night train to Geelong, shared a pizza for dinner, and had a few glasses of wine & several laughs after a long day.
Our valentine's day picnic (with wine in a paper cup)
drinks at the pub under the bridge
view from our seats at the cricket match
we snuck down tothe lower bowl! the stadium is huge!
action shot!
Feb 15
Dave woke up early and headed to Torquay to surf for his 3rd timae in Aussie, while Nadine needed to stay back and finish some PhD work. Dave got back from Torquay in the afternoon, and then NaDave headed out on a Boat tour of the Geelong Bay (with a 2-for-1 coupon of course!) There were drinks, snacks, and a blues band that sounded great! The guitarist even started playing with an empty beer bottle!
We also got a recommendation from a local for a back-alley dessert shop, so on our way home, we stopped there and had some amazing Ice Tea & a sampler of their cakes. So Delicious!
Two drinks on the boat cruise (holding Nadine's drink, of course!)
Guitarist playing with a beer bottle
As usual, it was an eventful NaDave weekend, but another great one!
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