We'd talked about it for many years - going to Melbourne for the tennis. Finally it was here.
Hamish, Elijah and I flew down with Rex for the first time - basic but smooth flight, and they even threw in a packet of biscuits. Our first Didi trip too - with a driver who spent 2/3 of the trip complaining about how little he gets after all his costs. We wondered whether he had the same conversation every trip!
We arrived at our Airbnb and eventually managed to overcome the geocache-like key finding procedure.
Our flat was in a great location in the north of the city, 29th floor out of 52, adequate inside except for the lack of hot water which didn't actually get fixed during our week-long stay.
We came for the tennis and we certainly saw plenty of it.
3 full days starting at 11am and finishing sometime between 10 and 11pm; plus an extra night. All up we saw 18 different matches. Most memorable were the matches with Aussies when the crowd went wild, especially on our third night when Aussie players (Popyrin & De Minaur) won both matches.
What did we do the rest of the time? Some highlights:
Morning runs (Shaun and sometimes with Elijah) to Carlton Gardens, Fitzroy Gardens and the Botanical gardens
Botanical gardens together on our last day
Australian Centre for the Moving Image - a fabulous exhibition on the history of film, including a story-boarding pitch for a scene from Shrek:
Also, Hamish and I saw 'Friends & Strangers', a typically quirky Australian movie parodying modern responses to the history of white treatment of Indigenous people.
Old Melbourne Gaol - a very well-presented history of a jail based on the idea that some people (unlike the rest of us) are born criminals and can be reformed through isolation and abuse.
Chinese New Year celebrations
The Shrine of Remembrance
What a joy to spend a week with two of my precious boys - something I realise even more now after my dad's recent death.
