Upon arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open we quickly realized that people here don't watch tennis, they watch "the" tennis.
Well, we really enjoyed the tennis. I was actually surprised at how exciting it was to see such a high caliber of players battle it out on the court. The first day we had tickets to Rod Laver arena and watched some highly ranked players like Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray...we also got a peek of the Williams sisters playing doubles! The second day we bought grounds passes for $20 each and ended up seeing some great tennis PLUS Roger Federer warming up. It was also a fun atmosphere with beer gardens, live music and sponsor tents everywhere. This whole experience is making me want to see Wimbledon..hmmm.
A lot of our Sydney friends were actually in Melbourne as well - some for tennis and some for other stuff. We had fun during the evenings going to dinner and bars. We even got to celebrate Jess' Dirty 30 at Coda Bar + Grill followed by karaoke in Chinatown (which I think the girls enjoyed more than the guys).
The last day we were in Melbourne was Australia Day, which appears to be a day off from work for people to be patriotic, BBQ, go to the beach and do other Aussie things. Officially it commemorates the first explorers to arrive at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia. We didn't really have a typical Australia Day as we were busy exploring a few other parts of Melbourne including St. Kilda and Chapel Street. Oh well, 4th of July is still better!
Jan 27, 2010 at 7:01 AM Australia Day is still better! LOL!
Mar 16, 2010 at 8:34 AM Hi, my husband and I moved to Sydney this year to experience living abroad. We are both from SoCal (I, from L.A., he, O.C.). Found your site from a search for other American expats making a run at living in Australia. I enjoy your site and reading about your excursions and plan to use them as a guide for our own get-aways. Anyways, I read this entry about watching 'THE' tennis and it hits on the question I've had since we arrived here, that is, the Aussie use of the article 'the'. They will say 'go to hospital', without the use of 'the', yet they watch 'the' tennis. Is their use of 'the' without rhyme or reason or is there some logic behind use or absence of the article? Just curious if you knew.
Mar 16, 2010 at 9:27 PM Hi Liz - I'm glad you enjoy our blog! As for the question about 'the,' I'm not quite sure. I've only heard it in front of sports like the tennis, the cricket, the footy etc. Sorry!
Apr 12, 2010 at 10:15 PM The Australian Open seems way more fun than the US Open. Interesting that Audi is the sponsor there...perhaps Lexus will pick up the Australian Open so I can spend a month in Melbourne instead of Queens :)
The pic of you with the stilt walker is ex-cellent!