Today is a public holiday in Melbourne, a once off holiday as the National Day of Mourning for the Queen’s passing.

We have been having awful weather lately with lots of rain so when the sun came out today, it felt like all of Melbourne was out with us too. Tomorrow is another public holiday but for the Grand Final Parade. We must be the only city in the world to have public holidays for sporting events: for the footy and for the horse races.

My nephew was down here for the Grand Final on Saturday. The entire country (in particular, our state) stops to watch this Australian Rules Football. It’s safe to say that footy here is a religion. It’s just a part of life to the point of obsession. Certainly my husband Andrew and our nephew talked about the ins and outs of the game and the players on the entire river cruise.

While they were talking game play, I took some video footage and enjoyed a bit of sunshine on my face.