Dave's professor (Dr Fuss) gave him two free tickets to the opening day of the Aussie Open. Dr Fuss also said to take the day off, and enjoy Melbourne during the day. Nadine spoke to her professor, and he also said it was okay to fully enjoy the day in Melbourne. So with sunburn faces from the weekend inTorquay, we hopped on the train in Geelong (heading towards Melbourne)....also with Dave's bike so he could finally get it to his place inBundoora.
We arrived into the main train station, and locked up Dave's bike (hoping no one would steal it!). We then headed towards the Costco in Melbourne, to see what they had, and to see if Dave could use the card his Dad had lent him to borrow. We found Costco initially to be a welcoming stress-free place, as they had everything you'd typically see a Costco in the states (even some free samples!). We then did a test purchase with Dad's card...and were caught! The Aussie cashier noticed I wasn't Edward Krzeminski and called over his manager. We had to 'fib' and say "our father just dropped us off to get a few groceries" in order to let us buy the $10 in food. They sternly told us that next time, the card will confiscated. (Never had this happen in the States!)
After Costco proved to be a no-go, we walked to a Botanical Garden/City Park, and ate a peaceful lunch overlooking some beautiful flora. We then hopped on a Tram to take us to Melbourne Park, the home of the Aussie Open.
We got there with the excitement in the air that comes with any Major sports event. This was the Aussie Open! The blue courts, the hot January weather, the rowdy Aussie fans! We walked around the 20+ courts, and found a women's match with an American playing a Frenchie We were surrounded by others cheering "USA" and it felt great to be among others just like us. The American women won in a match that went into overtime (aka, 3rd set tie-break), so what a great start to the evening!
It was then time to head into the arena where our actual seats were...and WOW! We had seats to the main court...where Roger Federer & Maria Sharapova would be playing their 1st round matches. What a treat! For both of us, it was our first professional tennis match, so we took it all in. Just amazing to see two of the best in the world...and we had great seats.
We got out of the Park late, but it was well worth it. Just as we were leaving, a Mens match with an Aussie going for an upset was going late, and the crowd was going nuts! The cheers echoed throughout the Park as we left! Very memorable
We got back to the train station & Nadine took the train back to Geelong. Dave grabbed his bike (it wasn't stolen...phew!) and then he proceeded to find out you can't take bikes on the city Trams bc the Tram operator yelled over the loud-speaker "Will the person with the bike please get off the tram!!" YIKES! After talking with an unhappy security officer, I found out bikes are only allowed on the subway (not the trams). So I walked back into the main train station, and caught the next subway. Unfortunately, that meant I would be let off about 4 miles from my apartment, around midnight. Long story short...I made it home safely on my bike, in the dark. What a day! What a weekend!
Lunch at the Park
Beer Prices at Costco...beer is so expensive in AUS!
Walking to Aussie Open
Cheering on the US woman to beat the Frenchie!
Up Close Action around the park
Sharapova Serve
Day 20 (Tues & Wed)
We each recovered from our late night returns from the Aussie Open & finalized our day-to-day plans for Tasmania! And did some research too ;)
After a full of work on Thursday, we would meet up at the airport and fly to Tassie for the Australia Day weekend!
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