My Time in Melbourne - Treated like a King (or Queen)

As a wake up on my final morning in Melbourne, and realize it has been quite a while since my last post, I want to get my moments down before I forget the incredible experiences that this city has provided. The easies way of explaining things would be if I was whisked into a dream, and I was a professional tennis player.

The experience had me fully immersed into the Australian Open. With my entry into the Glam Slam tournament I was basically given a full players pass. This entitled me to a daily grounds pass and the ability to watch any match I wanted to see until the semi-finals, where all matches became sell outs. I attended more than 20 matches, and have seen enough tennis for the next few months. Last night’s players dinner had a special guest Sam Stosur, who was once the number 1 ranked doubles player in the world, and she was #4 in singles, including a US Open Championship where she beat Serena in the 2011 finals. She talked about that victory among many other things last night and was a pleasure to meet. An hour after our dinner she was interviewing Madison Keys after her amazing victory last night.

My tournament this past weekend allowed me to play tennis at Melbourne Park at their National Tennis Center. What an amazing experience. Friday, me and my partner played great tennis and we advanced to the quarter finals. Our opponents were a bit too tough for us and we lost 3-6,3-6. My tennis partner Tomek is now a friend for life. A wonderful Polish guy who I met several weeks ago in Canberra. We are very evenly matched players and we teamed up well.

Most importantly, he is a great guy, and we were able to find time to practice with his great coach Monica during this past week and also enjoyed many of the other events of the week together.

I now get to put my tennis stuff away for the next 5 weeks and just be a traveler and seeker of beauty, companionship and adventure.

My pass allowed me free transport through the city, and traveling through the city with a players pass created many great moments of meeting locals that were fascinated by meeting me. Australians really want to engage with travelers. They are all very friendly to folks from the USA, even though the current administration has brought economic problems to their country. I have not met a single person here that likes our new President, and for that, they have my appreciation.

The last 2 weeks I have stayed at an Air BnB and I can say I would rather stay in hotels while traveling. My place was fine, located in South Yarra, a lively community, but lacked a soul. As with many places in ArBnb, places are bought to rent, and no real thought behind what it feels to live in such a place. Missing things like reading lamps, or having a TV so complicated that a technologist struggles to turn it on are some things that I found frustrating.

I also hit that travel wall while here. There were a few days I did not want to get out and do anything. So I did nothing for a few days and that made me feel ever worse. Having my tournament start was the kick in the ass I needed and once I got moving again, the cloud seemed to part.

I was deeply moved by the passing of my friend Jim Brown. Jim was a wonderful man I met through Jim Zagres. He was kind, funny, mischeovous and giving. He was very helpful to my nephew, that moved to his part of the world in Alabama. He met my nephew and my sister Caroline during her visit to Huntsville and opened his home to them. Jim’s work brought him back to CT a few times a year and I will greatly miss our required dinners at Consiglio’s. Rest in Peace Jim.

I had another bad attack of gout yesterday and last night. I had been adding meat back into my diet this week as I have been getting frustrated by my food choices while here. Unfortunately this lead back to incredible pain. Back to my vegetarian diet now. Already feeling better this morning.

Today I will be packing and getting ready for my departure to Tazmania in the morning. I get to pack my tennis bag with all my rackets and gifts (and trophy from Canberra) and leave it packed for the next 5 weeks. It gives me the opportunity to simplify my travel, something that is important.

A special call out to David Hall, my travel agent, for helping to book my Tazmania travel. I look forward to meeting David during my trip to New Zealand in a few weeks. I was struggling with next steps and David was able to take action where needed.

For now I’m heading to Tazmania, then back to the main land to visit some of the National Parks and also get out to see the Great Barrier Reef, before returning to Sydney for a few days. Australia is an amazing country to visit. They have a very high class of living here. Things are beautiful and clean, people are friendly, crime is low, and the weather is fantastic.

Regarding work… I have not missed it AT ALL. I’m waiting for the day that I feel an itch to go back, but probably wont happen until I realize I’m broke. Which is going to be sooner than I thought at my current spending rate!! For someone that defined themselves by what they do, this was the fastest transition.

I’m going to post a bunch of pictures at the end of this post. I miss being home, but am still quite excited to continue this journey.

One last thing…It has been horrific reading the news about the new administration and everything they are doing. Do not think for a second that I am not standing in solidarity with those that are losing their protections, and seeing what terrible atrocities are taking shape back home. May God part knowledge to those that voted for this man to show them he is nothing more than a lying dictator. May God find ways that we can engage with these folks to rediscover the USA. May God find ways that we can see where their anger and frustration comes from and we can meet them half way to lessen their fears.

As my vail of sadness has lifted here is Melbourne I promise to pick up the frequency of posting and share the beauty of my travels in more real time.