Pictures and events from around Melbourne

The AFL parade happened around the corner from us! Check out the people wearing the big inflatable suits!

The two teams competing in the Grand Final jointly holding the trophy. (Spoiler alert! It would be the last time that the St. Kilda captain held that trophy above his head)

Our exchange student buddies Matthias and Kati showing some kids how MarioKart is played at the Australian Center for the Moving Image. They had this Matrix thing in there, where you could do your own Matrix scene. Check ours out. Crazy eh?

Laura boarding the free city circle tram!

Me boarding the free tram. (this was the first sunny day in a week)

The parliament building located right around the corner from us.

The Southern Cross railway station, where Laura took the bus to Philip Island (more on that later)

Shopping area on Bourke St.

Our little alley on Liverpool Street

Our apartment complex (the grey one) at 16 Liverpool St, Melbourne

The hustle and bustle on Swanston St in Melbourne.

This is Her Majesty's Theatre, which I walk past almost everyday to go to school. It is probably a block and a half from our apartment.

Our new apartment!

So after a week and a half of apartment searching, we were finally able to move out of our place at the Grad House, where we were sharing a bathroom and had no kitchen to speak of into a place right in the heart of the CBD in Melbourne. We're close to a lot of stuff, and definitely are much more comfortable. It was at the top of our price range, but we figured that we could suck it up for 3-4 months. We'll see how that plays out later, once all of the travel bills start coming in.

Here's some photos of the new place that came fully furnished!

AFL Semi-finals - Jetlagged!

So this is the day after we arrived in Melbourne, but we were told that we would not be able to get tickets to any of the playoffs after this round so we bit the bullet and paid $70 a piece to go see an AFL game even though we were still jet-lagged.

Aussie rules football is a HUGE deal in Victoria/Melbourne. It's a really popular sport, but most of the teams are found in the southeastern area of Australia. We went to view the match at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, reputedly one of the largest stadiums in the world, able to hold something like 100,000 spectators. We saw the Adelaide Crows play against the Collingwood Magpies in one of the Semi-final matches of the AFL playoffs.

The sport is awesome, and completely different from rugby. The only way to score points is to kick the ball through the uprights. There are two different scoring possibilities, you score 6 points for kicking it through the middle two uprights, and 1 point if you kick it through the outer uprights. (see photo)

Players can only run with the ball for like 15 meters, and then they either have to pass it, kick it, or bounce it off of the ground. This makes for a pretty fast paced game, since the ball has to move all the time. Definitely worth checking out if you're interested.

So in our game the lead changed about 10 times in the last three or four minutes of play, with the Collingwood Magpies coming out on top on a sketchy call. Check out the video showing some action starting after a stoppage with a goal at the end. The field is HUGE, and these guys are running full on from end to end for an hour plus. It's an impressive game.

Leaving Los Angeles!

Just one step in our days/weeks/months of packing and unpacking apartments and PODS!

A little sponge shark! Gifts from our going away party.

More gifts from our going away party. Harry Potter Jelly Beans and Chewing Gum!

Word to the wise, the Harry Potter Jelly Beans really do taste like booger, vomit, grass, and ...yes...vomit.

Maximum baggage allowance. I think we were actually 2.5 pounds under the maximum limit.

Jordan Vineyards!

Here's the Airbus 380 that took us over the ocean!