Back to Melbourne
& Australian Open

Week 521 — 10 years and one week after I moved to Korea and started this blog. 2014 was such simpler times. I finally got my visa sorted a couple of weeks later than planned — Australia basically takes off the period from mid-December to end of January and that was the primary reason for the delay.

I ended up flying over at the same time as Sharon, who had planned to stay in the US longer than me. Although the weather when we landed was cloudy and rainy, this is the first trip where the weather is better in Melbourne than in DC, where we left a snowstorm. And nice to return to long days — sun goes down about 8pm.

Sharon had purchased ground passes for us for the Australian Open back in 2023 — but since it was my first day back at work, she went by herself and I joined for the night session. She got to see a couple of matches in the stadium and Coco's training session. We both saw Novak Djokovic train later. It is a really good setup at the tennis centre — it is more like a festival than a sporting event. According to Google, it is the best fan experience of the Grand Slam events. The sun was out but it was breezy — most people were avoiding shade and wanting to sit in the sun. We found a great spot to watch a big screen, albeit in the shade. Then the sun went down and we about froze to death. But it was such a good experience we decided to go the next day (ground pass $20 USD).

Sharon waited for me this time — she was watching at a public viewing area in the CBD and we walked from there to the tennis centre. It was hot — above 90 degrees and much more crowded as Djokovic was playing an American who could supposedly challenge him. Today everyone was searching for shade. We failed to find any and ended up watching on a 19" TV from 30 feet away in the hallway of one of the arenas. We ended up finding a temporary bar courtside to sit in the shade and eat — couldn't see any TVs but watched a wheelchair match. By then Djokovic was in control and easily won. Overall a really good experience — notwithstanding predicting the weather.

My co-workers took me to "authentic" American BBQ to get my judgement on the food. They had a slow cooker and the meat was great — but I wasn't sure about their sauces. So I polled a group of Oklahomans who were pretty unanimous that "coffee and molasses" and "habanero and carrot" wouldn't be something you'd find at a BBQ shack in Tulsa.

One reason January is such a long holiday period is that they have Christmas, New Year's, their summer school break, and finish with Australia Day at the end of the month. I wished someone a Happy Australia Day and they said thanks — don't do that. You may get a bad reaction. It is not the independence day from Britain that we celebrate on the 4th of July. It is more like Columbus Day, as Australia Day celebrates when Captain Cook pulled into Sydney Harbour in 1788. So many people call it Invasion Day, and a statue of Captain Cook near our apartment was cut down.

But it is related to the 4th of July — Britain had to find land to replace the lost 13 colonies that we won. Another side note is that holidays celebrating independence from Britain are the most common non-religious holidays around the world. Done with Britain bashing for today.