We’ve just gotten back from 8 days in Australia culminating with a day at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament. It was a whirlwind trip seeing 3 areas in those 8 days, including travel by plane, train, bus, automobile, tram, boat, foot, and gondola! Internet connections were spotty and expensive when available, so we didn’t do any blog posting, but I’m hopeful that over the next few weeks we can fill you in on some of our favorite activities.
Probably the most remarkable overall part of the trip was the extreme heat and humidity. As the end of the Australian Open approached, temperatures soared to over 40 degrees Celsius (that’s 104 degrees Fahrenheit!!). On the day of the Women’s Doubles final and the Men’s semi-final between the two Spaniards, Melbourne experienced its third hottest day on record of 45 degrees Celsius (a scorching 113 degrees Fahrenheit!!!!!) Tournament officials implemented the extreme heat policy and closed the cover on Rod Laver Stadium for the afternoon matches. We expected that Cairns (in the northeast corner of the continent) would be uncomfortable, but had no idea that Melbourne would break records. The city newspaper reported stories of bush fires, power outages, and train delays due to warped tracks all caused by the high heat. Even our Southern California visitors, my mom (Rosemary) and her sister (Antoinette) were amazed by the heat. Luckily, we were able to ride out most of the sizzling hours by watching the tennis in our hotel room and in the Australian Open Member’s lounge adjacent to the tennis complex. We’re thanking our lucky stars that we heard about that option.
Any of you who know Mark will certainly realize that this made for a less than ideal trip for him, but he was a trooper and took advantage of all the a/c and water that he could. To tell about one place in this initial posting, we did visit a very unique location in Melbourne that was especially appropriate given the temperatures. Chill-On is a bar/nightclub by night, but during the day it is a tourist attraction for all ages. For thirty minutes, you enter a bar made almost entirely of ice
Probably the most remarkable overall part of the trip was the extreme heat and humidity. As the end of the Australian Open approached, temperatures soared to over 40 degrees Celsius (that’s 104 degrees Fahrenheit!!). On the day of the Women’s Doubles final and the Men’s semi-final between the two Spaniards, Melbourne experienced its third hottest day on record of 45 degrees Celsius (a scorching 113 degrees Fahrenheit!!!!!) Tournament officials implemented the extreme heat policy and closed the cover on Rod Laver Stadium for the afternoon matches. We expected that Cairns (in the northeast corner of the continent) would be uncomfortable, but had no idea that Melbourne would break records. The city newspaper reported stories of bush fires, power outages, and train delays due to warped tracks all caused by the high heat. Even our Southern California visitors, my mom (Rosemary) and her sister (Antoinette) were amazed by the heat. Luckily, we were able to ride out most of the sizzling hours by watching the tennis in our hotel room and in the Australian Open Member’s lounge adjacent to the tennis complex. We’re thanking our lucky stars that we heard about that option.
Any of you who know Mark will certainly realize that this made for a less than ideal trip for him, but he was a trooper and took advantage of all the a/c and water that he could. To tell about one place in this initial posting, we did visit a very unique location in Melbourne that was especially appropriate given the temperatures. Chill-On is a bar/nightclub by night, but during the day it is a tourist attraction for all ages. For thirty minutes, you enter a bar made almost entirely of ice
and kept at a cool -10 degrees Celsius. The staff provides visitors with a hooded parka, gloves, and, for those who came in with sandals on their feet, a pair of snow boots. For the price of entry you choose a cocktail for the older crowd and a mocktail for the younger set. These drinks are served in glasses made of ice! At first the 30 minute time limit seems a bit measly, but most of us weren’t able to last even that long! We all had a fun time carrying around our “glasses” after leaving Chill-On. They slowly melted and were the envy of many people on the street as we made our way to the tennis matches.
1 comment:
Cool! (pun intended). I've seen pictures of places like this... although after 3 winders in Siberia (oops, I mean Boston), I can live with just looking at pictures! I'm glad you got to experience that though!! FUN!!
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