Australian Open 2008 - Day 18

Time to shut everything down.  Time to break it all apart and call it a tournament.  I am so ready for this one to be over.  We got through fairly early and it left a good part of the day open to our own devices.

I started out just hanging out in the room doing laundry.  It was nice.  I just hate having to take home dirty laundry when I have access to a reasonable laundry facility.  I do hate the dryer.  It is quite lame actually and requires WAY more time than it should to be able to dry the size of the loads I was running.

After I got done, I decided to head down to St. Kilda Beach.  It was roasting hot, but it was nice to walk along the ocean and I got to snap some photos.  I stopped at a bakery and had a very gooey Baklava and a bottle of water.  It was pretty tasty.  I wished I was able to enjoy the beach more, but it was later in the day than I should have gotten off to explore.

I will take a moment here to diverge.  Tram rides in Melbourne are very much on your honor.  I hopped the tram (after being at a dead run to catch it) and discovered the ticket machine was out of order.  I couldn't buy a ticket, but I didn't want to wait for a working tram.  That meant I wound up taking the ride for free.  I don't know what risk I had run of getting busted, but I assumed it was low.

Got to the tram station and I was early.  So, I thought I'd take a moment to have a pint at the closest pub.  I was off after all.  Of course, it took longer than I had wanted, and I missed the next tram, so now I had to wait even longer.  Got the call on our farewell gathering and wanted to get back to the room to collect my beer and camera for the party.

On the way back, I did purchase a ticket and since it only validates on the return trip, I considered myself square with the tram service.  I paid for more than I used, and in the end did pay for a trip out and back from St. Kilda.

The final night was supposed to be a pizza party on the deck of the hotel.  Once again, the Medina really let me down.  They seemed to be quite uptight about IBM and our assault on the sensibilities of their other patrons, so they shooed us off the patio before we could even get started.  It raised some hackles but in the end, we chose to host at BJ and Mike's room.  Especially since it was the Penthouse suite, there was plenty of room.

Pizza in Australia is very unusual.  Not in the shape or style, but in the toppings and flavors.  I can always eat pizza though, so I didn't complain.  No one knew where we ordered from, so I can't give a plug to anyone specifically.

The party looked to be running late, and I wasn't really all that interested.  I wanted to get finished packing and figuring out how to stuff all my gear into this too small bag.  It worked out for the best anyway as some of the folks partying had decided to raid the mini-bar in a room that was not their own, and I felt it time to excuse myself. :-)

I got back to the room and saw I had almost everything done.  I hate feeling rushed the day of a flight and missing this one isn't really an option.  I can't wait to get back home!  I miss Colleen.

Cheers!