Haven't Seen Any Dingoes Yet

Pop quiz: where are you when you wake up and it's 369 degrees, 246% humidity, with absolutely zero breeze?  Chris Taylor's apt. in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. I was shocked to find out that it's not typical to have A/C (they call it "air con" here) where Chris lives.  Newer houses less than 15 yrs old or so come with it standard, but for everyone else it's open windows, ice baths, and fans in the tropical climate.  My first morning there was the hottest morning of the summer so far, and of course it came after a long night of enjoying Toohey's Extra Dry and Great Northern beers.  Tuesday in Brisbane included lunch at the famous Queen Street mall and a walk around the city.  I bought a new pair of "sunnies" since I'm pretty sure I left mine at LAX.  I was happy to get them since I was squinting in the sun all morning.  I was shocked that I didn't see any flooding in Brisbane at all.  Nothing even looked like it had been flooded, even though some of it had been the week prior.  There are heartbreaking ads on TV showing flood victims.  I heard there was a "queue" a mile long of volunteers turning up for the cleanup efforts.  Some of the top names at the Australian Open (including Andy Roddick) played in a tennis event called "Rally for Relief" to help raise money.

Chris and I left for the airport around 4:15pm to jet set off to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.  Never before have I experienced such pleasant, outgoing people working at an airport.  We got upgraded to an exit row at no charge, and the ladies working security were ultra friendly!  I didn't have to get out my liquids from my carry-on, just aerosols which surprised me.  Security in the US is outrageous compared to Australia.  Once we landed, we got dropped off at the Melbourne Central Sky Lounge Apartment Hotel by the Sica bus and went straight to sleep.

Wednesday was a day of exploration in Melbourne.  The city has a free tram that we took to the Carlton Gardens...

Exhibition Centre...

Melbourne Museum...

Melbourne Park (where the Aussie Open is happening)...

Melbourne Cricket Grounds...

and the Eureka Sky Deck. 

We ate at the World Bar and Grill by the Sky Deck where we enjoyed some food and James Boag's draught beer.  The Sky Deck was 88 stories high.  On the clear and sunny day we had, we could see the South Pacific Ocean.

Walking back to the hotel we stopped at Aldi (yep, they have Aldi here) to pick up some bacon and eggs to make in our room for "brekkie" the next morning.  We needed a good meal to get us going for the Australian Open on Thursday!

We went to Rod Laver Arena within Melbourne Park around 10am the next morning and savored the atmosphere.  This was my first tennis Grand Slam event (but certainly not my last!).  We saw #3 seed Kim Clijsters from Belguim win...

and first ranked in the world, Rafael Nadal, beat American, Ryan Sweeting. 

If you watch that match, you will probably hear me rooting for Ryan when the rest of the crowd was silent just before a serve.  You'll also appreciate, if you've been following the Open, the fact that I was there when the commentator asked Kim Clijsters if she was pregnant after her match .  It was hysterical!  We were also there for the night matches to see Australian, Samantha Stosur, and Marco Baghdatis from Cypress win.  Marco's fan section was huge and loud.  By the end of the match I was tired of hearing Greek chants for sure.  It felt like a soccer game, the way they were cheering!  The fastest serve I saw was 213km/hr (132mi/hr), and it came off of Marco Baghdatis' racket.  On the day though, I was most impressed with Nadal's consistency and hustle.  No wonder he's number one in the world.

As for future plans, I'm about to go to Victoria Market in Melbourne to shop a bit.  Meanwhile, Chris is doing his own thing. Tomorrow we're going to the horse races in Melbourne, and then Sunday morning at 6am we're flying to Sydney.  (That'll be about 2pm EST on Saturday.)  I'm having so, so, so much fun, and I'm learning so much!  The weather has been terrific so far, so fingers crossed and lots of prayers it stays that way!