Melbourne Park - Rally for Relief!

Melbourne Park - Rod Laver Arena

Rally for Relief! - We were so lucky to get tickets to a sold out Rally for Relief as part of the Australian Open to raise money for the floods in Queensland. We had been looking so forward to the Australian Open this year after becoming total tennis fanatics last year during the Australian Open here in Melbourne. I heard that the players had decided to repeat the event that had orginally started last year with a Rally for Relief for Haiti earthquake victims and that tickets were going on sale in the afternoon. I kept my eye on the clock and pounced onto the internet right at 3pm and got seats. Good thing, tickets were sold out by 8am the following morning.




Waiting to be let in to claim our seats!!

We were super excited, looking forward to seeing all the stars on the court together! We got there 2 hours early and had to line up before the doors opened but it was so worth it as we got really great seats!!

We were disappointed that Serena Williams wouldn't be at this Grand Slam! She injured her foot and didn't come to Melbourne.

Melbourne Park is really a world class facility. I had never visited a indoor/outdoor tennis complex like this, having only seen live tennis on outdoor courts in the summer back home in Canada and Wimbeldon, the US Open and Grand Slams on television. Rod Laver Arena is a purpose built tennis and entertainment facility that has hosted more than just Grand Slams and larger concerts, such as ACDC, Pink, Justin Timberlake and Santana but it has also hosted large international sporting events such as the basketball champinonships in 2006 and the gymnastics events for the commonwealth gamesl, boxing events, among others.

The first phase of the complex was built in 1987 and like all of the other Melbourne sports facilities was well planned and sited. In 1985 the Victorian Government put aside areas of both Flinders and Yarra parks in anticipation of the facility. The complex is integrated into the city less than 1km from the central business district, easily accessible. We walked home from the event and made it to our neighbourhood in less than 1/2 hour with quite a few stops as we walked through 2 parks on the way.  

 

Roger Federer, this was warm up time..a rare sight to see him out practicing before the match!




 

The bleachers were packed to the rafters with many flags and signs for the favorites such as Federer and Nadal as you can see in this picture.


Novac Djokovich was such a character, I didn't realize he was so funny...at one point he went and sat in the camera pit and borrowed a photographers camera and took footage of the game. It was hilarious!!




Garden Square, at Rod Laver Arena. This square was part of the second phase of the complex which has a large screen to host the thousands of people who can watch the event without going into the stadium. Also a place for concerts!!!

 

The grounds at Melbourne Park, this statue is of Rod Laver. The Arena was named in recognition of Rod Laver in 2000 as he is an Australia tennis champion winning 2 Grand Slam titles. Prior to naming the arena after Rod Laver it had been referred to as Flinders Park, the National Tennis Centre or Centre Court








Rafael Nadal and Kim Clijsters

 







Serving Nadal!!





Centre Court at Rod Laver Arena



What a line up!! Nadal, Federer, Stosaur and Clisjsters!!! The girls did awesome against these bigshots!!

Andy Murray - The Scotsman representing the UK



Enjoying the grounds at Melbourne Park



My favorite team- Nadal and Federer

The 2 Andy's - Murray and Roddick!

Andy and Victoria - Team Green  vs. Novac and Anna - Team Gold



A word from Rod Laver himself







The guys in yellow shirts on the court behind Brian are security - they have to guard the court until everyone leaves!



Rod Laver from the other side of the river - we walked home and it was a beautiful walk




Walking home along the river...we walked through three parks on the way home, but I'll leave that for my next blog entry!!

  





Heritage Monitoring at Wattle Park

A VISIT TO WATTLE PARK



As part of monitoring of commercial heritage propreties managed by Parks Victoria, a condition report is conducted at the beginning and end of every lease period. Once a property is up for Expression of Interest for a lesee, a survey of the condition based on the results of the previous condition survey is conducted.


The Commercial Services Branch informs the Heritage Branch of the end of the lease period and Chris, Heritage Planner,  visits the site and conducts the survey. Lucky for me I got to accompany him to do this at one of the heritage resources at Wattle Park,  which has a very interesting history.

 


Wattle Park was established as a public recreation facility in 1916 by the Hawthorn Tramways Trust as part of the introduction of the Tram system in Melbourne. It was land established as a park for the purpose of a destination. People were encouraged to ride the Tram to this destination and it was and still is the last stop on the line. It was modelled after the American Trolley Parks.


It contains 12,000 Wattle Trees and other native and exotic trees that were planted by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria and the Wattle League.


What's a Wattle???
The Golden Wattle, was officially declared Australia's National Floral Emblem in 1988. A formal proclamation of the Wattle as the floral emblem of Austrlalia was first proposed in 1913 but had never been finalised.




These cable lines are from the original tram lines! A good recycling use and way to present history in the park.

Wattle Park is a beautiful park where I saw many birds and continously took deep breaths to savour the smell of the lemon gum trees. It offers many trails and many species of birds, frogs, butterfly, bats, skinks, ringtail and brushtail possums. There are also sports fields, and a golf course at the park.

Wattle Park was intended to be a 'great attraction to residents of the metropolis for outings and picnics' and to provide a magnificent opportunity for 'going to the country at cheap rates to breathe Heaven's fresh oxygen' where everyone could enjoy the great outdoors free from the 'rowdy customer' who frequented amusement parks.


Today it is no longer a park in the countryside as it sits within a city that has grown to 4million people. It is a park that everyone who grew up in Melbourne remembers. A colleague was telling me how in school all the classes would go to Wattle Park for physically fitness events, and he claimed there is an age group of Melbournians who would have all visited the park at least once as part of school.

We were there to mainly focus on the built heritage in the park so I didn't have lots of time to walk a trail, but I did get to see many birds in my short walk through the park.





An old tram car, kept at the park and maintained. It is open to visitor and picnic tables have been installed inside. You can have a nice lunch on this old tram or pretend you are the driver!




A commemorative Lone Pine in the Park.



These beautiful Lorakeets were everywhere in the Park!!! So lovely and quite the characters.



Chris inspecting this beautiful multi-pane leaded glass window.




Doors leading into the Chalet, beautiful wood and brickwork.




The Chalet was constructed in the Park in 1928 to provide meals and entertainment for the increasing number of visitors. It is situated on the highest point in the Park and designed by Monsbourgh in the English domestic style after Lutyens. It has a steeply pitched slate tiled roof and fits in beautifully to its picturesque setting.




Today the Chalet is leased out to a business that caters to weddings and events. The lesees are responsible for maintaining the heritage features of the Chalet and have done a great job. Mostly everything is authentic and the beautiful wood has stood up to the test of time and numerous dancing shoes! The dancefloor in the picture below is wood and has only had to have some minor replacements in all its years. I loved looking at all the scuff marks and just pictured people dancing away on its hard surface.


The interior of the Chalet




Another beautiful wood door.





View of rear gardens from the inside of the Chalet...I just loved these iron barred doors!!




 These Lorakeets became one of my favorite things in the park. I couldn't stop looking at them.



And the monitoring continues!!



The beautiful gardens at rear of the Chalet.





Rear of Chalet. This has a lovely garden and walkway trellis. You can see why it is popular for weddings!



This bandstand was modified recently and in fact I learned that my colleague Chris designed the shelter! You could just imagine in its day, The Tramways band with their stripes and straw hats and gleaming brass instrument. Still today there are concerts in the park on summer Sundays. It would be a great spot to listen to music amongst the lemon gum trees which I absolutely could not get enough of the smell. I still have a leaf in my purse that I picked so the smell could last longer!

I learned that this was a Crab apple tree!!! Not like the ones I'm used to seeing around home, this version is called a 'Ballerina' tree which is a dwarf crab apple tree developed from dwarfed roots to grow shorter, more compact trees for smaller gardens. I wanted to try one but they weren't ripe!

So pretty!!

I really wish I had time to walk this trail! Looks like you would come across lots of wonderful natural and cultural resources. I have put it on the list of things to do before leaving Melbourne.






An old tram that is still put to use and now has picnic tables for visitors to enjoy a picnic lunch.




Having a go at being a Tram driver!





As you may have guessed I have a thing for doorways. Love them! And this one was fabulous with multipaned leaded windows, an arch and thick harwood doors.


For more info on Wattle Park check out Parks Victoria Wattle Park page