Melbourne – A Week of Sport

Saturday 11 January – Friday 17 January

We arrived safe and sound in Melbourne and managed to find a parking spot fairly close to our hotel. Although the hotel has parking, our Land Cruiser is too high for it so we had to unpack the car before taking it to Fitzroy to park it for the week. With the Victoria Markets just nearby, parking was at a premium and we struggled for a while before paying $5.50 an hour for street parking in Victoria Street. We unloaded our bicycles, set them up and put them into the hotel’s secure storage area.

By the time we had unpacked, Azba had arrived from her place in Richmond and we all set off in the car to her friend Simon’s place in Fitzroy with Azba perched on a crate behind the cargo grill because we have removed our rear seats. Simon had bagged us a free parking spot on the street, across the road from the Lord Newry Pub, so with the car all locked up, we headed across the road and settled in to sample a few jugs and an assortment of finger foods. The area has ambiance plus and sitting at a window watching all the strange people passing by was great entertainment. By the time we had consumed enough calories, we decided to walk the 3.5km back to the hotel in Carlton, Azba parting ways with us along the way to head back to Richmond. It is a fun way of seeing Melbourne and we never seem to tire of walking here, there is always so much to see of interest.

Sporting Events

ODI Australia vs England

We came to Melbourne for sports. The One Day International on Sunday night between England and Australia was a rather lack-lustre affair, with Australia winning with ease. England seemed to totally lack interest in the whole thing. However, anything at the MCG is an exciting event. At the 38,000, the crowd was not great by Melbourne standards but still enough to create atmosphere. It was advertised as a dress-up day and the array of costumes worn was wonderful. Between overs, the cameras roaming the crowd would highlight groups in costume and show them on the big screen, promoting plenty of dancing and frivolity. Interestingly, we saw none of the drunkenness that so mars some WACA matches. Our seats were excellent, facilities unbelievably good and movement in and out of the ground went without a hitch. We’ll be back for some footy later in the year.

Centre Court Rod Laver – Hewitt vs Seppi

We bought a 3 Day Ground Pass to the Australian Open, giving us access to all courts except for Rod Laver Arena and HiSense Arena on any of three days. We went to the opening day and settled ourselves in to Show Court 3, finding a well shaded spot. Fortunately, we managed to catch the Mathew Ebden match, which he won in 5 sets, but provided some wonderful tennis. By Tuesday, the 40 degree plus heat wave that had caused so much distress in WA and SA had caught up with us and Melbourne was gearing up for three days of heat into the forties.

On the Tuesday, to provide some escape from the heat, we bought a ticket into Rod Laver Arena and watched a couple of Aussies in action. It seems amazing that with the temperature at 41 degrees, they still played with the roof open. Not only were the players cooking, a lot of the crowd (many sitting in very expensive seats) was equally hot. We had cheap seats right up the back and totally enjoyed the shade.

Over the course of the week, we got to see:

• Hantuchova(Slovak) d Watson(GBR)
• Ebden (Aus) d Mahut (Fra)
• Nishikori (Jap) d Matosevic (Aus)
• Federer (Swiss) d Duckworth (Aus)
• Seppi (Italy) d Hewitt (Aus)

Technology is certainly changing tennis. At one point, I found that I had been watching the big screen for three points instead of the actual play. After each point, the eyes have to flit from the electronic scoreboard, the service speed readout and the iPhone to see if any messages have come in. During the Leyton Hewitt match, during one particularly boring period (and there are usually quite a few), I was reading my email and looked up to find that 5 others around me were doing the same thing. It was almost like being on a commuter train.

The intrepid cyclists outside the tennis

The “Fanatics” are an annual feature at the Australian Open. A dedicated group of young guys make sure they follow all the Aussies around and put on a real show, with lots of clever calls and chants. During set breaks, they organise wonderful beach ball games and lead the crowd in renditions of Ozzie songs. Not content with ordinary Mexican waves, they orchestrate the “slow wave” and the “quick wave” clever variations on the old theme. These guys are seriously good value. It sure beats the cow bells at the Hopman Cup.

Cycling in Melbourne

We have our little folding bikes with us. We bought these on a whim at the Dowerin Field Days some years ago and they have spent most of their life under wraps in the shed. They fit in the back of the car easily enough so we thought we’d try them out. What a success! Melbourne is so bike friendly, with excellent cycle ways everywhere and preference given to them over cars in the CBD. The only real issue is the trams but it didn’t take us long to come to grips with the rules regarding interaction with trams and alighting passengers. Basically, when a tram stops for passengers, we stop behind it and wait. Once mobile, we are free to pass the tram.

Christine catches up after missing the lights in Swanston St

It is a real hoot sharing the cycle ways with so many skateboarders. Skateboarding is a serious form of transport here and it is so funny to be cycling sedately along enjoying the view and be passed by a tall skinny guy with dreadlocks who appears to be just standing upright doing 30km/hr. The ride to Melbourne Park in the morning for the tennis is a real breeze, it being downhill along Swanston St to Flinders St Station then past Federation square and along the Yarra banks to Rod Laver Arena. We hardly have to pedal. The return journey needs a bit more effort but our little bikes are very well geared and it is not much of a strain to climb the long steady hill.

On Wednesday, we had a break from tennis and cycled over to Fitzroy to check on the car and to remove the fruit we had remembered before it turned into wine in the 40 degree heat. We did well on the way over, finding good cycle ways and enjoying the fun of passing all the jammed up traffic on Brunswick Road. We took a different route on the return and found that cycling on a road with no cycle lanes (Lygon St) is no fun at all. Despite the extreme heat, we had to spend a few minutes sheltering in the car to avoid a short sharp thunderstorm. Crazy Melbourne weather!

We are certainly sold on bikes in Melbourne. In future, if we fly over, we’ll hire a bike for the stay.

Out and About

We really haven’t ventured out much, mainly due to the terrible heat and our level of exhaustion each day on our return from the tennis. On our rest day, we did catch the No 16 tram from right outside the hotel, through the CBD and on to Acland St in St Kilda, where we wandered for a while and window shopped, before stopping for a jug of beer and a feed of fish and chips in a local pub. St Kilda was quiet by any standards, the heat keeping people inside, although there were a lot of bather clad people got off the tram near the beach areas. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were done again and had to spend more time in front of the air con watching tennis. We spent another lovely evening in Richmond with Azba at a local Turkish restaurant. We had a wonderful array of exotic finger foods and dips with lashings of Lebanese beer.

The famous Luna Park in St Kilda

We also explored the CBD a little more and found lots of previously hidden arcades and shopping precincts underneath office blocks. Everywhere we went, the city was alive and being used, even on weekends and into the night. The central city is an integral part of many people’s lives, a stark contrast to Perth where the CBD seems to have become the province of a few and somewhere that many people seldom visit. Melbourne is such fun.

Not all trams are this old