Episode VI: Return of the Gold Coast

Written Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 8:41pm local time

Day 6: Last day in Melbourne, and I woke up to the sound of construction work outside (the hotel I was staying at happened to be under renovation) and found that for some reason the power was out in my room. Had a peek through the blinds and saw that other rooms still had lights on, so I had no idea why the power outage chose me to be its victim. Somehow managed to have a shower and pack all my stuff in the dark, and went to check out and get my $50 deposit back (and boy did I need it). Left my backpack containing my clothes with the hotel as the airport transfer coach was picking me up from around the corner from the hotel at 5pm, and I didn't really feel like lugging it around with me all day. Caught the tram to the tennis, and quickly grabbed a bite before heading to Margaret Court Arena to watch Daniela Hantuchova, who has been elevated to the status of my favourite current female tennis player now that Martina Hingis has retired. Heaps of green and gold in the crowd, as Chris Guccione was playing in the next match, and it was nice to see a Mexican wave - haven't seen one for a while since they banned them at the cricket. Watched the first set before I felt I was going to pass out from the heat - unlike Vodafone Arena (and Rod Laver Arena), there was no roof above MCA and I copped the full force of the sun. I actually have a really bad sunglasses tan now, where my whole face with the exception of the area around my eyes covered by my sunglasses is sunburnt. Anyway, from there I decided a walk in the shade was called for. So I went autograph hunting, and was more successful this time around. Jessica Moore, Patty Schnyder and Paul-Henri Mathieu all had proper autograph sessions, and the queues were in the shade, so that was great. Also managed to get autographs from James Blake and Lleyton Hewitt the old fashioned way - shoving my ball under their noses and hoping for the best (also taking advantage of the fact that I had longer arms than most small children muahaha). However, I missed out on Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova, which was a shame. Waited over an hour in the hot sun for the attempt at Maria, but as usual I got smothered by some crazy fans from behind. Grabbed some food and an ice cream, and by this stage I was feeling extremely fatigued and so, after a final stop at the merch shop and buying a couple more souvenirs, I made my way back to the tram stop. There I met some random Chilean dude who was about to make his way inside, and, knowing that a Chilean player was playing this evening in Vodafone Arena, and considering the fact that I hadn't actually made use of my Vodafone Arena pass for the day, I gave it to him. On Monday some other guy tried giving his ticket to me as he left, but I already had one, so I figured I would be nice and do the same thing. I was disappointed to miss out on some of the matches that afternoon/evening, but I am now even more disappointed that I didn't get to see the whole capsicum spray issue - I would have been to that match if it weren't for my flight. I've always wondered what it was like to cop capsicum spray in the face...

Daniela Hantuchova in action.

Anyway I went back to the hotel, played around on the laptop a bit in the foyer and then caught the minibus from around the corner. After five minutes of looping around it stopped and I found that I was to get off at Southern Cross Station, buy a ticket and get on a bus to take me to the airport. Now, if you remember, Southern Cross Station was a block away from the hotel. I could have walked there in less time. But I guess that other people probably have more luggage than I did (especially the female ones...) and wouldn't want to lug it with them for that one block of walking. Oh well. Anyway, $15 later I was on my way to the airport, during which I fell asleep. Got there, checked in using some computer thing, dropped off my baggage and went to buy two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough cash and their eftpos machine wasn't working. There was some random ATM not too far away but last time I checked I only had just over $20 in my account and wouldn't be able to afford the transaction fee associated with an ATM not belonging to my bank. So I had to pass on that. Bought two DVDs to watch while waiting for my flight and on the flight itself. Found a seat in front of gate 10 and waited. Finished a book passing the time. The plane we were going to be on was coming in from Hobart but was running late, so that delayed my flight by a bit. I got a window seat though, with a terrific view of the left wing (I love watching the wings on takeoff and landing) so that evened things out a bit - last time I got an aisle seat which just isn't the same. I actually don't remember takeoff at all, as I fell asleep during the bit where the flight attendants told you where the emergency exits were etc. Woke up as we started to descend, so at least I got to watch the plane land. When I got my baggage I went to the minibus waiting outside with a few disgruntled people already on board (I'm guessing they were there earlier and had to wait for the rest of us to get there on our delayed flight). we headed off and it took over an hour until I actually got home - we weaved around to drop people off along the way, and I happened to be the last stop. Got home and, of all things I could have done, turned on the TV and watched the tennis as I had dinner. Went on the net and tried to catch up with the happenings of the last week and then went to bed. Woke up around 1pm today, bummed around at home, unpacked my stuff, went to the gym, and here I am now. I still haven't completely unpacked, and I also need to get ready for my first day back at work tomorrow.

The sweet view from my window seat.

In conclusion, Melbourne was fun. Will do it again sometime, but next time I'd like to explore more of Victoria that isn't the city. Though, in saying that, I wouldn't mind going to the tennis again and getting more signatures on my ball.