I landed on time around 7:30am at Sydney. I had a connecting flight to Melbourne that departed in about 2 hours, and my plan was to then spend the day at the Australian Open in Melbourne. As our plane from Bali was landing they informed us that there was some disease in Indonesia and the Australian government was concerned it would spread to Australia, so we had to walk across some mats that had been soaked in a pesticide as we got off the plane. Then, there was an automated kiosk that arriving passengers had to use. One of the questions was "Have you been to Indonesia in the past 7 days" to which I answered yes, and then the machine immediately spit out a ticket that you had to take with you to present to the customs officer later on. I used the smart gate for immigration, and then because I had no checked luggage, proceeded right to customs. I haded my immigration form and ticket ot the customs officer, who sent me through on my way; I'm not sure if there was meant to be any extra screening since I came from Indonesia, but obviously the officer didn't really care.

I followed the signs to the Virgin Australia Domestic Check-in, but since I already had my onward boarding pass and did not plan to check a bag, this was just an unnecessary detour. The woman at the desk just reprinted my boarding pass, then told me to walk to the other side of the international terminal where there was a bus to the domestic terminal. At the Sydney airport, the domestic and international terminals are not connected, but there is a free bus that takes about ten minutes.

At the domestic terminal I had to pass through security again. This time they again wanted to search my bag because they saw my nail scissors in my bag. The security officer complemented me on how nicely my bag was packed.

I didn't have a long time to spend at the Sydney airport and I prioritized grabbing food. I headed to the main food court and got a bacon egg wrap and a small latte before heading to my gate. The flight boarded a bit late, but it was such a short flight that this wasn't problematic.

Before long, we had made it to Melbourne. At the Melbourne airport deplaning was conducted both through the front door via jetbridge and through the rear door via stairs, and since i was seated close to the back I was able to get off the plane quickly.

Since I didn't have any checked bags I was able to head straight outside to board the SkyBus, which goes directly from Melbourne Airport to the Melbourne Central Business District (CBD). Once arriving at Southern Cross Station in the Melbourne CBD I hopped on a tram to my hostel. The trams in the CBD are all free to ride.

Despite arriving at my hostel, Flinders Backpackers, prior to the scheduled check-in time, my room was already ready for me, so I was able to check-in right away. Flinders Backpackers feels like an office building that has been converted into a hostel: it has 8 floors, each with 10 dorm rooms. I dropped my bags in my room and took a shower and changed before heading to the Australian Open.

I had planned to walk all the way to the park, but it turns out they had also made trams from the CBD to the Australian Open free. After a short tram ride I was in! I had paid only for the Grounds Pass, which got me into the main areas and all the courts except for Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena, and the reserved seating in John Cain Arena. Because it was so early in the tournament, there were still opportunities to watch big name players. Many attendees who didn't have tickets for the big arenas chose to instead sit around and watch those matches on the TV screens.

The Australian Open also hosts well established restaurants from Melbourne who have opened food stands. I tried a chicken souvlaki from a stall called Hella Good, and a frozen yogurt from Peach Melbourne. Both were pretty good.

I was able to watch two matches while I was at the tournament. The first match I watched was on Court 3, The US's Mackenzie McDonald played against Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka. McDonald had a lot of hype because he had defeated defending champion Rafael Nadal in the previous round. The first set was really exciting, going into a close tiebreak that was also tied 6-6, but eventuall Nishioka won in three sets.

After that exciting match, I headed over to the Kia Arena to watch Cameron Norrie of the UK play against Jiri Lehecka of Czechia. We arrived towards the end of the second set, and Lehecka ended up with an upset win in five sets, which was also very exciting.

By the end of Norrie v Lehecka, the only matches remaining were in the big arenas, and the unreserved seats in John Cain were full, so I took the tram back to Melbourne CBD in search of food. I ended up at Hakata Gensuke where I ordered the black garlic ramen. It was served piping hot and really hit the spot after a long day.

After dinner I headed straight to bed, since I'd have to wake up early for a flight the next morning.