Australia Adventures: 2. The Australian Open

Hello again from Melbourne, Australia weather is gorgeous here and very blue as the promotion for the tennis is everywhere. It is actually an ambition of mine being a tennis fan to visit all the major Grand Slam tennis tournaments in the world and the Australian Open is the last I needed to tick off.

Finally made it to the Australia Open!

Nancye Bolton.......Australian Open Champion...my great great great grandmother?

I got tickets to go and see the games Saturday Night in the main arena with my Aussie buddy from my time way back at Summer camp in the USA, Stevie G. The 'Australian Open' is a really cool atmosphere, that give out 'ice neck coolers' you can even get cocktails with the glass lighting up in the dark. I even noticed a bust of 'Nancye Bolton' a past Australian Open Champion in the 'Hall of Fame' and I'm convinced I'm her great great great granddaughter ha!. Seeing a night match is pretty exciting, Melbourne thrives on sport so when Lleyton Hewitt came out to play Marcos Baghadatis, it was quite entertainment...but unfortunetely was cut short when Baghdatis retired on the second set - major bummer as I was soooo looking forward to a riveting match....but.....the next match was pretty entertaining with Wozniacki vs. Wozniak - wouldn't you believe it with names like that and I don't even think they are related. Wozniacki had to face the embarassment of having points taken off her because both the pom poms on her socks tore off and disrupted play ha!

Also the giant moths get attracted to the lights of the stadium so they swarm over and then the birds fly in to try and eat them! I went back the next morning for a day session having woken up late and had to jump on a water taxi down the River Yarrra to the stadium which was cool, waving to the rowers and cruising by the riverlife of the Yarra. People just love to hang out by the river side, rowing, cycling, jogging, it's a really active city - thriving on it's sport, very environmentally friendly with the trams buzzing around (and theres even a FREE tram to the tennis too!)

Federation Square

So I've just been hanging out in Melbourne, enjoying the sun, music and tennis - perfect!. Adjusting to Aussie life - they're are very friendly and happy people. Down to road from me, there is a huge square called 'Federation Square' along the river, everyone gathers there to watch the tennis on the big screen (in Melbourne EVERYONE is given the chance to watch the tennis). I went to watch the Federer v Hewitt game for the atmosphere, pretty much half of Melbourne churned out for the match.

The Aussies love their tennis. That's pretty much what I do at night, go and watch Gram Slam Tennis outdoors with a drink!

With Lonely Planet Travel Guide Australia