I visited Australia in the 90s and have always wanted to go again, specifically to the Australian Open since I love tennis. This year was perfect, so I planned a few days in Melbourne during the tournament, followed by a few days in Sydney.
The trip exceeded my expectation! I attended two fantastic matches (men's semifinals), and Rod Laver even sat right in front of me for a short while during one of the matches! Tennis aside, I biked around Melbourne using its efficient Bike Share program, had fantastic wines and seafood (hurray for screw top bottles, can have wine all the time easily!), swam in saltwater ponds at Bondi Beach and Manly Beach, swam in one of the indoor pools at the Sydney Olympic Park, and tasted great coffees daily (they take their coffees very seriously, my new favorite is the flat white). During my last trip, I didn't get a nice photo of Sydney Opera House because it was a cloudy day; I thought my fate would be the same since it rained everyday while I was in Sydney, but luckily on the last day, the sun emerged just long enough for me to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and I finally got the photos I wanted! I also took the ferry many times across the harbour, such a nice way to get around.
You know the silliest thing I did? Free wifi was hard to come by in Sydney, but I found a way ... Apple store! Even after the store closed, people would stand at the bus stop just outside (the stop has a "shelter" so it's not so obvious) with their laptop, so funny. I joined them one night when I had to check-in to my flight, which I couldn't do until midnight. Yes laugh all you want, teehee.
