Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
are the ones to look out for; “Test” games take several days to complete. Buy
tickets at the gate or in advance from
Ticketmaster
(
&
13 61 00
in Australia;
www.ticketmaster7.com).
Tours of the MCG and its museum leave every half-hour daily from 10am to
3pm. The Australian Gallery of Sport and the Olympic Museum are also at the
MCG. The Olympic Museum traces the development of the modern Olympics
with individual display sections for each city.
FOOTBALL
Melbourne's number-one sport is
Australian Rules Football—
or simply, “the footy”—a skillful, often violent, ball game the likes of which
you've never seen (unless you have ESPN). Melbourne sports 10 of the 16 Aus-
tralian Football League (AFL) teams, with the others coming from Adelaide,
Perth, Sydney, and Brisbane. The season starts on the third weekend in March
and ends with the Grand Final on the last Saturday in September. The most
accessible grounds are at The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)—take tram
no. 75 along Wellington Parade—and the Optus Oval at Carlton—take tram
no. 19 from Elizabeth Street. Entrance tickets cost around A$16 (US$10.40) per
person, or A$30 (US$20) for a family. For game information, call
AFL Head-
quarters
at
&
03/9643 1999.
Buy tickets at
Ticketmaster
(
&
13 61 00
in
Australia; www.ticketmaster7.com).
HORSE RACING
The
Melbourne Cup,
on the first Tuesday in November,
has been fought for by the best of Australia's thoroughbreds (and a few from
overseas) since 1861. Melbourne society puts on a show when they dress up for
the occasion, and the entire nation stops in its tracks to at least tune in on TV.
The city has four race tracks:
Flemington
(which holds the Melbourne Cup),
on Epson Road in Flemington (
&
03/9371 7171
);
Moonee Valley,
on
McPherson Street in Mooney Ponds (
&
03/9373 2222
);
Caulfield,
on Station
Street in Caulfield (
&
03/9257 7200
); and
Sandown,
on Racecourse Drive in
Springvale (
&
03/9518 1300
). If you're staying in the city center, Flemington
and Moonee Valley tracks are the easiest to get to. Take tram no. 57 from
Flinders Street to reach the Flemington racetrack, and catch tram no. 59 from
Elizabeth Street to travel to Moonee Valley.
TENNIS
The
Australian Open,
one of the world's four Grand Slam events,
is played during the last 2 weeks of January every year at the Melbourne Park
National Tennis Center, on Batman Avenue (
&
03/9286 1244
). Tickets for the
Australian Open go on sale in mid-October and are available through
Ticketek
(
&
03/9299 9079
) and also on the Open's website, www.ausopen.org. Guided
tours of the center are offered from April through October, Wednesday through
Friday, when events aren't scheduled. Tours cost A$5 (US$3.25) for adults and
A$2.50 (US$1.60) for children. To get there, take a train from the Flinders Street
Station to Richmond Station and catch the special Tennis Center tram from there.
7 Shopping
Ask almost any Melbournian to help you plan your time in the city, and they'll
advise you to shop till you drop. All Australia regards Melbourne as a shopping
capital—it's got everything, from fashion houses to major department stores and
unusual souvenir shops. If you're coming from Sydney, I say save your money
until you get to Melbourne, and then indulge!
Start at the magnificent city arcades, such as the
Block Arcade
(running
between Collins and Little Collins sts.), which has more than 30 shops, including
the historic Hopetoun Tearooms (p. 547), and the Royal Arcade (stretching
