Commonwealth Games
Last Wednesday I watched the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2006, which are held in Melbourne this year. Although the Yarra river is only a couple of km away, I didn’t go and watch on Federation Square but watched it on the telly instead. Partly because I’m simply not that dedicated to sports, and partly because I was hungry and decided to cook pasta instead (ya gotta have priorities, eh 
).
The Commonwealth Games have been all over the place since I came to Melbourne though. There’s no avoiding it. A few days ago the police stopped my tram because of a Melburnian athlete carrying the Queen’s Baton - which has travelled 181,000 km before arriving to Melbourne. It was very cool to see it.
And this Sunday most main roads in the Central Business District will be closed down for to the marathon. In fact, the athletes pass right in front of my place. I had a diving trip planned for this weekend and had hoped to miss the nuisance of not being able to leave my house without battling my way through crowds of sport lovers. Unfortunately enough, due to sub-optimal weather conditions for diving, my diving weekend in Wilson’s Prom has been cancelled.
I took a break from watching the opening ceremony broadcast when the fireworks started. From the roof I had a great view on the night skyline of Melbourne, being lit up by many sparkly colours. I tried to take a pic of it, but that didn’t work out too well unfortunately, as you can see.
It’s really good to see so many countries united over this event. Ozzies from all over the country have flocked to Melbourne. Boy, do Australians love their sports! Cricket, footie… I have yet to meet an Ozzie that isn’t active in at least one sport. Sport is deeply intertwined with the Australian culture, and I think Australia is one of the fittest and most health-oriented countries I’ve visited so far.
