MELBOURNE, Australia -- We saw some cool animals when we went to a sanctuary after practice Wednesday. Zebras. Giraffes. Hippos. Antelopes. The rhinos were right there when our bus drove past.
Of course, we saw Australian animals too, like kangaroos and koalas. Kangaroos, I'd seen before. But koalas? Never.
Thursday was a day off for the team, so we played golf at one of the nicest courses in Australia. I didn't play well, but it was awesome. We had a group scramble, and I played with Mikey Anderson and Viktor Arvidsson. Great competition. We had a good time.
After practicing at O'Brien Icehouse earlier in the week, we had an open practice at Rod Laver Arena on Friday. You watch so many tennis matches on TV here, and you can really feel the arena was built for tennis. The fans are close.
I am from Switzerland, and Roger Federer has won the Australian Open six times here. It's cool to skate in the same building.
Then I got to trade jerseys with Trent Cotchin, who just retired as a midfielder with the Richmond Tigers of the Australian Football League. He was a three-time premiership captain. I asked him a lot of questions about Aussie rules football, because we're going to watch the Collingwood Magpies and Greater Western Sydney Giants play in the AFL Preliminary Final at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground tonight. That's the semifinals in that league.
I've never seen that sport before, so it's going to be special and very exciting to see something like that. It's very passionate here, 100,000 fans, and it's a good game as well, so I'm excited.
