We woke up the day after the Australian Tennis Open had
started, feeling a little sad about our
decision not to go to this grand slam event as it was simply too expensive to
travel in Australia. But it was on our
bucket list to attend at least one grand slam so we cratered to our feelings
and decided that we had to go to the Aussie Open, a decision that we did not
regret. It was the Aussie Open or bust
and we camped at free campsites and showered at gas stations along the way.
Our friends Jenny and Randy on Mystic who also had
benevolent feelings about whether to attend this event, spontaneously decided
to come along for the ride. So within
twenty four hours we were on the road to the Australian Tennis Open. We took the fastest route down from Bundaberg
(Bundy) to Melbourne – a three day route through the Australian outback. We did our best to eat lots of ice cream and
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Along the way we saw wombats (cousin to the
Koala bear), kangaroos, wallabies and many exotic birds including the emu, kookaburra,
crimson rosella and long billed corella.
Another interesting attraction was the communication “dish” that saved
our American astronauts in the sixties when all of the US communication devices
had failed.
The trip was made using the “Free Australian Campgrounds”
book we had bought just before leaving. All of the camps we stayed in were
remote from habitation. We usually had
to go 10-25km out of our way to get to them.
They were all great campgrounds in more remote areas, and included plus
items like wombats and good birding.
Many Australians have never seen a wombat……at one campground we saw 5 or
6!
After three grueling days of traveling in the sizzling record
breaking Australian heat as well as dodging wildfires and road closures, we
reached Melbourne – the home of the Australian Tennis Open. What a
reward for all us to finally achieve a lifelong dream. We got to see tennis legends such as the
Bryan brothers play doubles (they won the Doubles Title) and Maria Sharapova
and Venus Williams warming up. We also
saw Wawrinka defeat Sam Queery, French player Marion Bartolli, the Aussie women
doubles team who made it all the way to the finals only to be defeated by the
Italian team, Nestor/Bhudpath – a famous doubles team, Tipsarvic defeat
Benneteau and many other tennis champs. It
was a happening to attend this event and we loved the crowd enthusiasm for
tennis.
The Australian news coverage of their grand slam event was
terrific – generally at least three pages dedicated in the newspapers and big
screens conveniently located in plazas of every major city. The Aussies loved the young upcoming American
tennis darling Sloane Stephens and booed Azarenka for her questionable medical
timeout conveniently timed when Sloane was making a comeback in the second set
of the semi final match.
After two days of attending the open, we toured the
beautiful city of Melbourne. Melbourne
has it all – a great downtown area situated on the river and close to the
tennis complex, efficient train service, beautiful parks, Chinatown, government
buildings and lovely beaches. Jenny and
I did most of the touring while the boys planted themselves in front of the
wide screen watching the open in federation plaza.
We said our goodbyes to Melbourne and returned to Bundy via the
slower route along the coast taking us through Sydney. This was a great way to return as we got to
see the fabulous Sydney Opera House. The
Opera House is situated on the Harbor with breathtaking views of the city. The Aussie cities all seem to be nicely
located on either rivers or bays and are all very beautiful.
