Posted by Going to a major tennis event like the Australian Open is a great experience, a privilege! But it also means mostly sitting down from late morning to late night or even past midnight. And if you have a kid with you, it could spell tantrum.
Although our 10-year-old, Joaquin, loves to play tennis, we weren’t sure that he’d be able to sit through the matches till night-time. And so when we brought him to Melbourne for the Australian Open 2020, my hubby and I had to check, what else is there for kids?
Lucky us! The event was organised with kids in mind! Part of Melbourne Park, where the tournament was taking place, was turned into a big playground- the AO Hilltop with a 34m Skyflyer ride for older kids, and the AO Ballpark with wall climbing, a Zipline and car racing for younger kids.
Melbourne Park is at the city centre and so it’s convenient to go to some of the city’s attractions from there. For example, the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium is just a few tram stops away. Joaquin had a fantastic time there. Read here about his afternoon at the aquarium…
The seaside of St Kilda is popular with locals and tourists who wants to chill out in the beach. It’s merely a short taxi or tram ride away from the city centre. Joaquin didn’t find the water inviting but he surely had fun running around the beach.
But the real reason we went to St Kilda was to see if we could have lunch again at Donovan’s. My hubby and I went there before in 2012 and we have always considered it one of the most memorable restaurants we’ve had the privilege of dining in.
You’ve probably read in my previous post that were in Melbourne for just 8 days and most of which we’ve spent watching tennis. We would have loved to take Joaquin on a road trip to the Great Ocean Road but there was no time. Hubby and I, with some of our friends did that back in 2012 and it was truly unforgettable, and highly recommended for kids too. Read about it here…
Joaquin wanted to join a night tour to see the penguins at Phillip Island but we didn’t have time. It was either the penguins or Roger Federer, so tsk… Anyway we promised Joaquin that next time we’d really try to see the penguin parade.
There are a million and one awesome things do in Melbourne with kids and we couldn’t wait to go back and do them all hahah…
Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with some links that you might be interested to look at:
We Travel Happy 
Looks fantastic!
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It was a happy experience for our kid, he loved the Australian Open and Melbourne a lot!
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It’s great for kids to experience different things isn’t it.
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I do miss going back to Australia but with covid is everywhere now it’s best to just reminisce the past. The last time we were in Melbourne was before covid came July 2019 and January 2020. It was a good memory.
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Oh wow we were there January 2020 too! Yeah I like Melbourne too. Always a relaxing place, di ba.
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