Living in Melbourne

Melbourne truly is the sporting capital of Australia, with a huge variety of sport to watch or take part in. Yearly events in and around Melbourne include:

• Australian Open Tennis (Jan/Feb)
• Formula 1 Grand Prix (Mar)
• The Rip Curl Pro Surf & Music Festival at the world-famous Bells Beach (Easter)
• Australian Rules Football Grand Final at the MCG, Australia's favourite sporting ground (Sep)
• Phillip Island Motorcycle Grand Prix (Oct)
• The Spring Racing Carnival featuring the Melbourne Cup, a horse race famous around the world (Oct/Nov)
• Cricket test matches and one day internationals, in particular the Boxing Day test (Dec)

Melbourne has even been rated as the world's best city to hold a sporting event in a SportBusiness/ArkSports industry analysis.

While several codes of football are played in Melbourne, Australian Rules is by far the most popular. Mid-season matches regularly attract crowds of up to 100,000 passionate fans. Soccer is also gaining in popularity.

Melbournians keep fit by cycling, jogging around "The Tan" (Botanic Gardens), kite boarding, rollerblading, swimming, practicing martial arts, yoga, visiting one of the many well-equipped gyms, rowing, surfing, or hiking through one of the many nature reserves.

All photos from Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons for commercial work. Credits top (left to right): Rick212, jimmyharris, emilgh, jimmyharris. Credits bottom (left to right): Paleontour, absolutwade, mugley, arriba