Melbourne ..........finally a victory

So the fourth test would take place in Melbourne.

I was travelling from Adelaide by the Overland which is one of the four tourist trains run by Journey Beyond. The others are longer and are sleeper trains, whilst this was just a full day. I had previously had an enjoyable trip between Perth and Adelaide in 2010.

These are prestige trains, looking to represent the glamour of historic train travel. The Overland was enjoyable but felt a little less classy than my previous trip – Journey Beyond is now owned by a US private equity firm so you fear slightly they are cutting back on investment and certainly the train carriages could do with some TLC.

The test match started on Boxing Day. I had been to MCG before but it was not at full capacity then as it was being redeveloped for the commonwealth games. It’s a mighty impressive stadium and had a great atmosphere with over 93,000 in attendance ( a record for a cricket match). The cricket itself was similar to the rest of the series – mental and manic. Over in two days, and whilst the Curator (or Groundsmen as we would call it) probably did not quite get it right both sides batsmen did not really cover themselves with glory. It was almost a replica of Perth with this time England ending on top and getting their first victory in Australia since 2011.

So once again this provided more time for sightseeing! This is not a burden in a city like Melbourne, which is easy for a tourist to get around, has lots of interesting areas and places to visit. So during my stay I managed to fit in visits to a few museums, visit the beach at St Kilda,  take a river cruise and take a guided tour of the MCG. All very enjoyable.

New years eve not surprisingly saw an impressive fireworks display against the city skyline.

My trip now takes me to Canberra for a couple of nights before final stop for the last test in Sydney.