On day 02, our luggage still hadn't arrived. I played golf with a bunch of poker players and then finished off the day with a sunset cruise up the Yarra River. While I was hitting the golf ball around, Amber and Truman went on a much-needed shopping spree and picked up some clothes and toiletries so we could actually be presentable on the cruise. It was insanely hot but I enjoyed the cruise. Then all the traveling caught up with me and I collapsed into bed around 10:00.
Day 03 was Friday. I cabbed over to the Queen Victoria Market and picked up some fabrics from Thailand and a few other random touristy trinkets. One thing I didn't buy was a neon green "Mankini" (think banana hammock from the movie Borat). They had several for sale at the market and I was tempted to buy one and place a little bet with Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith at the Crown bowling alley. Loser would wear the Mankini for the main event. Of course even degenerate gamblers like Joe, Gavin, and myself don't have the stones for a prop bet like this so it never happened. And honestly, no one wants to see any of us in a Mankini.
I followed up the market experience by heading to the suburb of Brunswick, to a Lebanese restaurant for some shwarma. If you've never had shwarma, you're missing out. Along with avocados, shwarma should pretty much be considered one of the major food groups. This place had the goods. Horrific service but great tatziki. Melbourne really is a wonderful city for restaurants. They are all over the place. I'm not sure anyone actually cooks in town because it seems like there are more restaurants than locals. It seems like all I ever do is talk about restaurants but when you have just flown all the way around the world, all you can do is really lay low, hydrate, and eat. Anyway, a few hours later I had a great steak dinner at one of the Crown's nicer restaurants. I ordered a dry aged Wagyu beef tenderloin and I have to say, it was extremely tender. Definitely one of the top five steaks I've ever had and that's saying a lot. Our luggage finally arrived and that made the trip go even better.
On Saturday I got up early, rented a car, and drove down to Port Phillip Bay for some scuba diving. The drive was supposed to take 2 and 1/2 hours but even though we got lost for 30 minutes, it still only took me only an hour and forty-five to get there. Australians don't speed at all and the highest speed limit I saw all day was 100 k/h, which is probably about 60 mph. Needless to say, I might have exceeded that number a little.
The dives were great. On the first dive, with no warning whatsoever, our guide headed back to the surface, leaving just Amber, myself, and Truman on the bottom. It was Truman's first dive and none of us wanted to call it quits so we just followed a few other divers from a different group and then did our own thing online poker. The boat crew wasn't thrilled but Truman was. His first dive ever, and that successfully done without a guide. The water was significantly colder than in Belize but we had thick wetsuits and the fish were plentiful. I kind of freaked out when I saw a jellyfish but by the end of the dive, I'd seen quite a few and since no one else seemed particularly concerned, I didn't worry about it. The highlight of the first dive was seeing a 2 foot long "banjo" shark sleeping on the bottom. I hoped he'd wake up so I could see more of him but I was content to let sleeping sharks lie.
The second dive was even better than the first. We dove on an old man-made rock wall, which has become a perfect spot for aquatic life. Basically the rock wall was C-shaped so we'd swim against the current, around the outside of the wall and once we'd reached the end, we'd let the current carry us back down. Then we'd do it again. There were tons of fish swimming around the rocks and to be honest, the coral and plant life were more exciting here than in Belize. After the second dive, the boat took us out to a seal colony and we snorkeled with a bunch of seals. Pretty incredible. I could barely stay awake on the drive home but with a lot of speeding I made it back to the hotel before my eyelids fell shut. I was so exhausted that I crawled in bed at 7pm and slept like a babe.
The next day and a half was pretty much entirely consumed by football playoffs interspersed with room service visits. Yes, I got up at 8 am to watch football. The following day I got up at 5.
On Tuesday I entered the main event.
