To kick off our 2017 travel plans we ticked one off my bucket list - the Australian Open tennis in Melbourne. Our itinerary was:-
- Sunday Jan 22 - fly to Melbourne + evening session at the Rod Laver Arena (RLA)
- Monday Jan 23 - day session at Margaret Court Arena
- Tuesday Jan 24 - day session at RLA
- Wednesday Jan 25 - evening session at RLA
- Thursday Jan 26 - Australia Day - day session at RLA
- Friday Jan 27 - back to Sydney
Sunday Jan 22
We flew to Melbourne on the mid-day Virgin flight so it was a leisurely start to the day. We arrived on time in Melbourne and jumped in a taxi to our hotel - the Quay West right at SouthBank and about a 15+ minute walk to the tennis grounds. On check-in we were upgraded to the “Presidential Suite” - a 3 bedroom penthouse on the 26th floor with sweeping views of the city. It was a hot day in Melbourne - sunny and 30℃
After settling in we had a bit of a walk around then an early light dinner at a close-by Italian cheapie - salad and shared pizza - certainly not one of one restaurants which made Melbourne a famous foodie destination. Then it was off to the tennis - an easy walk. We had OK seats in the RLA. The first match commenced on time at 7pm with Federer vs Nishikori - with Fed struggling to win in 5. Poor Nishikori only got 10% of the applause - poor form from the crowd.
This was followed by Kerber vs Vanderveghe - not surprising to us the number one seed was easily beaten.
We finally dragged our tired asses home at midnight.
Monday Jan 23
We had a sleep-in - only got up at 8:30am after our late first evening. We had day session tickets today. It was a scorcher - high of 36℃. Breakfast, which was included in our rate, was a bit of a zoo - it seemed everyone had the same idea - late brekkie before heading to the tennis. Our tickets were for the Margaret Court Arena from 11:00am.
First up was round 3 of the men’s doubles - we really did not know the players but it was a fast, close and exciting match.
Thank goodness we had great seats - not only could see the court perfectly but they were on the aisle and in the shade.
Next up was the first of 2 round 4 womens’ matches. The first was the “best” as Konta was playing and she looks to us to be a real hot contender for the championship. As expected it was a thrilling match was almost no unforced errors and loads of winners - both ladies were hard hitters with serves up to 190+ K’s per hour. Konta won out - the score line did not really indicate how great the match was.
We thought we’d take a lunch break and give the next set a miss but once we started to watch it we decided to skip lunch and just have a quick drink and bag of chips after the match. This match was 2 (unknown to us) players but it was also a very good match - the veteran a 35 year old won out over an up and coming 21 year old.
After a short break - it was Dimitrov against Istomin in round 4 - the match started at 5pm - the first two sets were very exciting then Istomin seemed to suffer a slight injury as his standard of play fell off - we left before the match finished as it was nearing 8pm and we were hot, tired and starving. The day had not cooled off at all - the only saving grace was we were in the shade all day.
We got back to the hotel, took desperately needed showers and had dinner at a local restaurant on Southbank (Pure South Dining) - it was a very good meal - then it was off home and to bed.
Tuesday Jan 24
Ah relief - it cooled off overnight and the high was forecast as 22℃ with partly cloudy skies. We had day tickets for the Rod Laver Arena. Our seats were not as good as the Margaret Court arena but we were in the shade (important even on a cooler day).
This session had 3 quarter finals on. First match was Venus vs Pavlyuchenkova - an OK match with some flashes of brilliance from both players - Venus won out in the end - great to see the veteran win out - still going strong at 37 years old.
Next up was Coco Vandeweghe (an real up and coming 25 year old) vs the current French Open champion Muguruza. Coco outclassed and over-powered Muguruza as can be seen from the score line.
After this we had a drink and chips lunch break so as not to miss any of the action as it was “Stan the Man” vs Jo-Wilfred up next. Fortunately this match started just after 3pm so it was not going to be as long a day as Monday. It was a close match but Stan won though and will play Federer in the semi’s even though Fed’s quarter final was yet to be played.
We got home still feeling quite refreshed and opted for a quick and early dinner at the local German Hop-house as we wanted to watch the Federer match on TV - see results below:-
Wednesday Jan 25
Another great day weather wise - cool overnight with a sunny and mild day - high of 22℃.
Today we had tickets for the night session at RLA so we had a bit of a rest day - all this sitting on cramped plastic seats is hard on the old body. We spent the day walking around the city and along the Yarra with a break for lunch at a river front cafe.
The much-anticipated night session (Nadal vs Raonic quarter final) was a bit disappointing - even though the score line and match stats make it look close we felt that Raonic was simply out-played.
Another quarter final was played in the afternoon - we saw some of it on TV - the results were:-
So it will be Nadal vs DImitrov (tomorrow) and Federer vs Wawrinka (tonight).
Thursday Jan 26 - Australia Day
It was another great day for tennis and just about anything else weather wise - cool overnight with a sunny and mild day - high of 22℃. We vegged out in the morning then had an early lunch before heading over to the RLA for the Ladies semi-finals. It was quite historic with the Williams sisters each winning through to the finals.
We arrived back at our hotel around 6:30pm so we had a quick snack in the hotel bar so we could watch the men’s semi’s - Roger vs Stan. When Roger was leading by 2 sets to 0, I decided to hit the sack - alas I missed Stan’s comeback and a thrilling fifth set with Roger winning out.
Friday Jan 27
Home today - met with Merry and Mark for brunch at Docklands.