ROAD TRIP TO THE AUSTRALIAN TENNIS OPEN (January 2013)

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.

In total, the trip was about 4,500km, just about the same distance as Dennis took (4,700km) during his 11 day trip into the outback while I was in the States.  We made it back to Bundy in 11 days – we needed to cut our trip short and skip Brisbane (which Dennis and I had already visited) as Cyclone Oswald was on its way.  So we put the pedal to the medal and made it safely back to Bundy, hours before the cyclone hit.