Melbourne Sports & Outdoors

I had the pleasure of catching a live Aussie rules football match. I was at the MCG stadium, which has a capacity of over 100,000 people! It is primarily for matches of cricket, but 4 AFL teams play here as well. This venue was the centerpiece for the 1956 olympics. The hometown Melbourne Demons defeated the crosstown rival Geelong Cats 87-81. It was awesome!! You gotta have a meat pie and sauce at a "footy" game sometime. It's the Aussie equivalent of having a hot dog at an American baseball game.

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Melbourne has a lot of top quality sporting events which include AFL, international cricket, Australian Open Tennis and Grand Prix Motorsport.

Equipment: Just bring yaself to watch these great events and maybe some binoculars and a camera.

If you are feeling athletic when visit Melbourne, one of the best places to get a little exercise is on the banks of the Yarra River. Winding all the way from the Docklands past the middle of the CBD and out into the suburbs, the Yarra is a long windy path.

There are some great views of the city to make sure you remember your camera when you are talking the walk, run, or bicycle.

This is also a great place to have a barbecue and watch the rest of the hard working Australian workout fanatics.

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If you are there in November, go to the Melbourne Cup!! This is the biggest horse race on the Australian racing calendar and it is known as 'the race that stops a nation' becuase no matter where you are at 3.20pm (the time varies year to year) on the first Tuesday in November, you will be watching or listening to the Cup. 2001 was my first year, and I have been back every year since - experiencing it from a punter on the lawn with plastic chairs to the Carbine Marquee. In 2001 my mum and I were among 110,000 keen racegoers, a new record crowd. Please see my travelouge for lots of photos.

Equipment: Binoculars, hat (if you are a girl it is a MUST to have a groovy hat or facinator) suncream, umbrella, depending on the day.

ace hi provides very good bush and beach rides. the toure gides are very nice and helpfull and the most important thing: the horses are very good. not that typical tourist horses, no there are in a good condition and you can see that they enjoy what they are doing.
the beach ride takes about 3, the bush ride about 2 houres.

as this is avery big ranch you can stay there over the night as well.

and for kids they have a special bonus: the wildlife park.

In january of each year the australian open tennis tournament is held in melbourne. It is a very popular event and finals tickets can be quite rare. It is a fantastic way to spend a day if you are around that time.

Equipment: sun screen

If you come to melbourne in winter go to a game of australian rules football at the MCG. You won't need to know the rules, just ask the person standing next to you what is going on and they will be happy to inform you, probably in a colorful way.

Equipment: Everyone knows the MCG. Make sure in winter you bring plenty of warm clothes and bring in some food. Inside it is really expensive.

We went to the first day of the Davis Cup Semifinal on the 19 September 2003. It was quite a chilli day outside of Rod Laver Arena, but inside was a different story, the atmosphere was electric. I would love to come back here for the Australian Open one day.

Equipment: Some binoculars would be handy.