Aug 6 - Mine! mine!

Started off this morning close to usual sleep wise so maybe the delayed plane we needed from NYC to LA was in our favor. Thought it was weather delayed from Melbourne , but flight attendant told us the NYC reason. Still, put us in Melbourne close to 6pm local time Saturday which gave us plenty of sleep time until Sunday morning.

When we finally get enough consciousness back in our heads, we get going and make our way out in daylight in Australia for the first time! So wild! Melbourne weather wise is in 40° to mid-to-high 50’s and it’s been dry since we got here. Felt like better spring days in Seattle or even times we visited San Francisco in January, but less wind than SF.

Got turned around a couple times trying to figure which tram was heading the way we wanted cause the Aussies drive like the Brits on the opposite side of the road than we’re used to. Even walking have to remember " go left! Go left!" Cause they’re all used to that here but instinctively I’m going right and want to yell at them like Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda.

Get to fan fest and score some WWC merch before looking around. Melbourne is so far seeming very laid back and we both get good vibes from it, which is nice considering it’s a much bigger city than Seattle.

Find a place to sit down and have food brought to us that also serves iced coffee and Maryke is sooo happy. It’s also close enough to the fan festival we can see/hear what’s going on between the Netherlands and South Africa. Good game despite ref and (spoiler) congrats to the Dutch who advanced. We’ll actually see the Netherlands in their next game live v Spain later this trip.

Couple of the other best parts aside from Holland advancing: 1-finding out more on local birds and B- nearly FIGHTING off same birds from just jumping on our restaurant table while servers weren’t around to stop em. There were a bunch of seagulls, tho smaller than ones weve seen in Seattle, plenty ready to steal food from tables. Felt like Hitchcock’s the Birds was a documentary we shoulda heeded more closely.

Had a few braver birds nearly get on our table but luckily a young local Joey was ready to chase em off the restaurant area so we could finish eating without protecting our plates like lions having just killed a deer and saving it for themselves.

We also saw and heard what we believe was a magpie lark and it was really cool! Great markings and the call from it sounded like the referee’s whistle at times. Sharp, short bursts that got your attention.

Also, we’ve come halfway around the world and the first other fans we spoke to at the fan festival? Recognized our Seattle Reign gear and commented on it to where we found they were Pdx Thorns fans. We may all be Americans for tonight but if things go badly it’s gonna be a battle post game.

Maryke or I will be back to update on USA v Sweden. Gonna be tense. Hearing that USA kinda offended local Melbournians by calling Melbourne “Melby”. Seems they don’t like that at all. Getting more locals maybe to root against the red white and blue. Nothing like slapping the hand of your host and trying to apologize for it. Ah, public image..