Day 20: Site Visit & The Australian Open

After a day of catching up on work, it was time to get back to group activities! I slept until around 9:30am at which time I got up to fix breakfast and get my day started. I met the group downstairs around 10:45am and we headed in the direction of the RMIT campus a few blocks further in the direction of downtown Melbourne.

We found the correct building without difficulty and RMIT had a staff representative there to show us up to the correct floor. Once there, a few more introductions occurred, but conversation did not carry on too long, as lunch had been catered to the room! An assortment of sandwiches and fruit along with orange juice and water made for a tasty meal. Here's a few shots of the inside of their construction education building. It is quite "modern," but really neat-looking:

Student Lounge Area

Back of Student Lounge

RMIT provided each member of our group with a safety vest and hard hat and after a short meeting where the RMIT staff explained to us a about their university and how it operates (It is made for students to come a few days a week for classes and still hold a job part-time.), we were off to the first site!

The first site was a high rise apartment building that housed retail on the ground floor and sat adjacent to a massive stadium. The construction management team gave us a detailed tour of the building (under construction) and we were able to see several different floors - each at various levels of completion. As the tour continued, we learned that many people who live within the city of Melbourne choose to live in small apartments like the ones currently under construction. As far as the project we toured, there were very few options given to the tenants in regard to the finishes they could have placed in their unit. (All but 10 or so of 314 units had been sold before the project started.) The only color choices were light or dark. Everything else came standardized. Another important note is that many buildings in Melbourne (and Australia as a whole) are not air conditioned. As far as these apartments went, a small split unit air conditioning system was installed in each living room, but only to supply air to the main common room, not the bedrooms or bathrooms. Air conditioning is definitely something we have become accustomed to in America, but here in Australia it seems to be used minimally, with buildings designed to allow for more natural ventilation techniques. This helps to conserve energy, but also aids in creating a natural quality to the indoor living environment. Here are some pictures I took around the site:

View of the Yarra River from the roof

On the Roof!

After the interesting site tour, we headed back to the Village to clean up and get ready for an exciting evening - The Australia Open Tennis Championship! Anoop had purchased tickets our first day in Melbourne and tonight we would be seeing Roger Federer (A 3 seed in the tournament, but arguably one of the greatest tennis players of all time) and Caroline Wozniacki (Current #1 women's player in the world.) We left just before 5:00pm to head over to Rod Laver Arena to catch the action, though the match was not until 7:00pm. We spent the extra time wondering around the shops and eating places before the doors were opened in the arena for seating. Here's the view from our seats:

Today was actually the first day of the event, so there was a brief concert before Roger Federer came out for the first match of the evening. His opponent was a qualifier who perhaps only avid tennis followers would even recognize. It was his first Australia Open match, and he held his own against Federer in the first set, but Federer won anyway, 7-5. After that, Federer took care of business and won in straight sets. Here are some action shots I took during the game:

After Federer's match ended, many fans left, including a group of fans dressed in Swiss gear who chanted for Roger after every game he won. Entertaining! The fans that left missed out on Caroline Wozniacki's match that was played a few minutes after Federer's ended. She played a local Australian player, which aroused a continual chorus of cheers from the Australian faithful throughout the match. Their cheers did not will the Aussie on to victory though, as Wozniacki took care of business in straight sets, 6-2 6-1.

It was around 11:00pm when the matches ended and I found myself with a variety of transportation options. I could get in line and wait for the tram (a painfully slow wait), get in the line of 200 or so and wait for a taxi (painfully expensive), or take the short 30 minute walk back to the Village. I chose to walk, as did many other people. The walk followed the Yarra River bank for part of the way before I branched off in a new direction at Federation Square. I made it back to the Village safely, but completely worn out from the day's activities. I took a shower and fell asleep to rejuvenate for another day!