{"id":1641,"date":"2014-01-26T08:40:56","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T00:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/?p=1641"},"modified":"2014-01-26T16:55:50","modified_gmt":"2014-01-26T08:55:50","slug":"melbourne-a-week-of-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/melbourne-a-week-of-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne – A Week of Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday 11 January \u2013 Friday 17 January<\/p>\n

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\u2019s secure storage area.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Sporting Events<\/p>\n

\"ODI<\/a>

ODI Australia vs England<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2019ll be back for some footy later in the year.<\/p>\n

\"Centre<\/a>

Centre Court Rod Laver – Hewitt vs Seppi<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the week, we got to see:<\/p>\n