Australia - Nation of Sports

Australian cities Melbourne and Sydney have become in recent years tourist hotspots. With Sydney being voted as the most popular city in the world. These two beautiful cities have everything holiday makers could ever dream of. Australia makes for an unforgettable holiday for families, singles or couples looking for a perfect dating experience. Australia is ideal for a singles getaway where the dating and singles scene makes for an unforgettable holiday. If you are a sporting fanatic and visiting Australia, be sure to visit when the aussies host one of their many international sporting events.

Melbourne Australia is highly regarded as the sporting capital of Australia. In fact Melbourne has recently been named as the the worlds top city for sporting events. Australian cities are a popular choice for hosting sporting events, with Sydney Australia being named as the worlds second best city for hosting sporting events.

Research has shown that Australian cities have great accommodation facilities, ideal weather, government assistance and world class sporting venues.

Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympic games. The Sydney Olympics is regarded as one of the most successful games ever hosted. Sydney Olympic Park is a 640 hectare site in Sydney. It was purpose built for for the 2000 games which continues to offer sports and cultural events. Sydney Olympic Park hosts events such as The Royal Easter show, the Big Day out, and numerous world class sporting events. Olympic Park can easily be accessed via ferry and rail.

Sydney hosts the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race which departs from Sydney harbour each boxing day. Sydney boasts the most beautiful city harbour in the world. Thousands of locals and tourists gather around the harbour shores to witness the spectacular start of the yacht race each year. With good weather permitting, this truly sets the scene for a stunning day out.

If you like to participate, Sydney hosts a traditional event called the Sun-Herald City to surf which sees 60,000 people compete in the worlds largest fun run. Starting at Hyde Park sees the finish line 14 kms later Bondi Beach. After the race you can enjoy this iconic and world famous trendy beach suburb.

In 2006 between March 15 and March 26, Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games. This was the largest sporting event to be held in Melbourne, surpassing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of how many teams were competing. Like Sydney, Melbourne was unrivaled in its success of the games in terms of efficiency and style. The Melbourne Cricket Ground was the main events arena which also saw the opening and closing ceremonies.

Melbourne also hosts The Australian Open tennis grand slam event annually. This annual event sees the very best in world tennis descend on Melbourne for arguably one of the most popular sporting events Melbourne hosts.

Without any hesitation, the Melbourne Cup is Melbourne's most famous event on the sporting calendar, in fact this stands for the entire country. "The race that stops a nation" Young and old, experienced and occasional punters down tools across the nation to place their bets on the most famous horse race in the world. Horse race aside, Australians see this as a day to get dressed up in their finest frocks and suits and head to the local race track, pub or luncheon.
Australians have always loved sport, and have a reputation for being very competitive and hate to lose. Australia is a nation of world class athletes excelling at cricket, rugby union, basket ball, boxing, swimming, rowing, netball, hockey and swimming.