Day 101 - Saturday 8 April - Fun at the Footy

Day 101

Saturday

8 April 2017

Dandenong - Moorabin - Abbotsford - Richmond - MCG - Moorabin - Dandenong

Today is our last day visiting Melbourne City and it was another great start to the day. The night had been really warm, not dropping under 19 degrees. We got up at 8.30am to get our day underway. I finished off some things I didn’t do last night with the blog, then got myself sorted and we were on the road at 10am.

We needed to return to the motorcycle store to exchange the boots Paul bought yesterday, as they were too small. That was an easy job.

We then made our way back to Moorabbin Station, where we eventually found a park down the street. They need more parking at train stations, they either have 20 bays or none at all. Seems ridiculous if you want to encourage people onto public transport.

We rode the train to Richmond station, along with the footy fans dressed in their team colours. Once there, we were off to Mood Dog Brewery in Abbotsford, a stroll down Punt Road and then into little Asia. 

When we had completed our 3km walk, we were greeted by friendly bar staff who set Paul up with plenty to taste. This was going to have him charged up ready for the footy. I busied myself with the photos and tried their raspberry beer, which was much like a cider and something I could drink if I had to. 

Once Paul had finished his reviews, he was given a couple of samples to take with him and then we pounded the pavement once again, following the trail of Tigers supporters to the MCG.

I took photos of the interesting street art along the way. We poured into the forecourt MCG grounds and were met by a little Richmond supporter querying his father as to why we weren’t wearing Tiger Land gear. It was so cute.

We picked up general admission tickets for $25 a piece, managed to make our way through security, keeping Paul’s bottle of beer under wraps. Phew.

We navigated our way through the increasing crowd, found an usher to point us in the right direction and then made our way to some free seats in M1 section. The seats were just behind the goals at the Punt Road end on the lower level and far enough under the above grandstand that we would be safe from the impending weather that was forecast.

I went off to get us food for lunch, which was surprisingly reasonably priced and then we settled in watching the pregame warm up and the rising of the banners. Unfortunately, the Eagles one ripped in the wind before the players were even on the ground.

We made ourselves comfortable as Richmond’s Trent Cotchin won the toss, choosing the Punt Road end to start from and we were off. The game wasn’t pretty scrappy, but the Eagles managed to keep themselves in front, with some interesting umpiring and a Richmond team who wanted to kick everything to an Eagles player.

By halftime the Eagles were in front and the fans around us were whinging or silent. I was happily smiling to myself. We both went off to the toilet during the break and commented on how black the sky was beginning to look and sure enough, half way through the third it began to bucket down causing those at the front to come scurrying for cover. We remained dry and relatively warm where we were. You could see the wind swirling, picking up bits of litter and twirling them into the air and around the ground, all the while the rain persisted, getting heavier and turning the game into a wrestling match. From here it was hard for the Eagles to maintain their lead and once Richmond were in front they didn’t relinquish their hold and continued on, taking the game by 11pt. The crowd erupted into the theme song, which Paul was happy to sing along with and then they began filing out of the ground. 

I took some final photos, before we donned our wets and made our way out with the sea of people. Thankfully the rain had stopped and we made it to the train station without becoming drenched.

We crammed ourselves onto a train, finding the smallest of spaces to stand, Paul hanging onto the rail above while I grabbed him for support. We chatted to the other footy supporters on board, most of the happy for the “Tiges”.

Once at Moorabbin, the train stopped and we got off, heading for the final time to the Grape and Grain where Paul could once again have a pint of the Renaissance Tribute beer and chat with the owners and brewers.  We then returned to the car and made our way up Nepean Hwy looking for a place to eat.

We spied a Thai restaurant across the road, did a U turn and made our way inside, ordering our dinner and then waiting for it to be cooked and served. It wasn’t long before we had our meal in front of us and it was devoured. We didn’t hang around, eager to get back to the van and make sure it was still in one piece and water tight.

We were back by 7.30pm and all was good. Paul packed up the getz ready for our move tomorrow. I sat in my usual spot and worked on the photos and the blog, ensuring it was all up to date, as it could be a while before we have net coverage again.

By 9.30pm it was all done and I was once again battling to keep the eyes open so we both of us beat we opted to call it a night.