Today was an awesome day. We started out the morning by not having to meet up with the group until 10:30 a.m. This enabled me to again, get plenty of sleep and fix myself some breakfast before getting ready to go. We had a planned visit to a jobsite in an area of Melbourne called the Docklands. This was a 21 story urban apartment complex. There were one and two bedroom units and all of them were absolutely tiny. The project manager said that the average living space was about roughly 50 square meters (538.2 sq. ft.) which is very small considering these units cost around AUD$500,000 (about $514,000 U.S. because the exchange rate is horrible right now). For those of you that are wondering these are lower middle class range apartments. They were in the process of pouring the slab for the final floor when we were there and it was really cool to see to be on top of this big building in the middle of downtown Melbourne. As far as the construction practices are concerned, there really wasn’t anything different than back home in the states. It was a simple concrete structure with post tensioned slabs and precast walls that allowed for a relatively fast track contract duration.
 |
|
After visiting the jobsite we headed back home to change clothes and to get ready to go to the Australian Open. We had tickets to see the first big night matches of the tournament in Rod Laver Arena. I got to see Roger Federer beat Alexander Kudryavtsev and then the first set of Caroline Wozniacki’s match against Anastasia Rodionova. This was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity that I am so thankful I got to experience. Being there really got me excited about playing some tennis this spring back in Auburn.
 |
| The grounds as we were walking in |
 |
| Our view was awesome. This was taken as everyone was taking their seats. Notice that the roof is closed |
 |
| Some famous Australian musician performed before the first match. It was either Jimmy Barnes or Daryl Braithwaite. |
 |
| Federer serving |
 |
| Wozniacki getting ready to serve on the closer side of the court |
I was not expecting to get to see two of the world's greatest tennis players play at all, but it was an unbelievable experience that I will never forget. Until next time, cheers!
I just love that you got to go to the Australian Open and see Federer, in addition to many others, play! With your tennis background, I bet you had a blast. Also, how cool is it that you saw a tennis tournament like that in person? I'm so used to just watching it on TV in our living room at home. Looks like such a good time.
ReplyDelete