Summer sports travel

Sunburn at the Horse Racing this past week has been a gentle reminder that summer is coming. For the sports traveller that means motor sport and tennis. What about cricket I hear you say? Well the Ashes are being staged in England this time round so that means pride of place on the Australian sporting calendar goes to The Australian Open (on the turf) to The Australian Grand Prix (on the track).

At Sportsnet Holidays, ticket & hotel packages to both Tennis Australia’s 2009 Australian Open and the Melbourne F1 GP have been hot off the blocks this year with no sign that the economy is stopping sports fans from booking sports packages.

Although both events are in Melbourne and sports tour packages have been released for a while now, it should be remembered that for the tennis and motor sports fans there are lots of other events going on across the country.

Tennis travel to Adelaide, Perth and Sydney are as popular as ever. The Adelaide international, this year is called the World Tennis Challenge and is a great opportunity to take in a few stars, a few premium wine districts and a gourmet food region or two. If that’s not your style, try the beach at Glenelg or Victor Harbour.

Perth’s Hopman Cup is the slow burner of Tennis Travel, always popular and always excellent value. Hopman attracts great names and is an excellent opportunity to see Perth, take a dip in the Indian Ocean at Scarborough Beach, wander through Freemantle or escape the heat on Rottnest Island. For those with more time and a car there exist the delights of Margaret River and the tall timbers of the Jarra forests.

Although it is off topic, if you can’t make Perth for the tennis, the 2009 Johnny Walker Golf Classic is also in Perth and has a host of big names have signed up to attend.

For those of us who like our sport with lashings of noise and loads of torque, then aside from the Australian F1 GP there is the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. This is a massively successful event that has maintained its premier position among V8 Supercar sports fans as the other must see event after The Bathurst 1000. Another big V8 Supercar event worth travelling to in the near future includes The Townsville 400 where you can stay on Magnetic Island and take the ferry to the track every day - not so much “surf and turf” but more beach and bitumen. Don’t forget Hidden Valley V8 Supercars in Darwin which in 2009 comes with a Ford boat versus Holden boat fishing trip option. While the 2009 Darwin V8 with fishing trip is my choice I reckon the other half in my life is firmly locked into the Townsville 400 with Magnetic Island option…and my guess is she will not be taking the ferry to the track every day.

We’ve learned from all the sunburn so like last year, our packages will again include a hat and small tube of sun block in our tennis and grand prix tour packages.

If the dollar picks up I might review the great options for the 2009 northern hemisphere summer with Masters Golf, The Ashes Series, Wimbledon, The French Open and the Tour De France all being released between now and Christmas (and I didn’t say that word, it wasn’t me).