Oz in Spain

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber test their cricket skills on St Kilda Beach in Melbourne.

An unprecedented six world champions will be on the grid when the new Formula 1 season begins in Australia on 18 March. Red Bull’s reigning champion Sebastian Vettel is pre-season favourite to win a third consecutive world title, with his main rivals Australian team-mate Mark Webber (career-best third in the 2010 and 2011 world championships), McLaren pair Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button (world champions in 2008 and 2009, respectively), and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (2005 and 2006). […]

Miguel Ángel Jiménez is not one to give up easily. As in previous years, when he caught up with Tiger Woods during the latest World Golf Championship event in the US, the Málaga-born star invited Woods to the Open de Andalucía event his promotional company Grupo MAJ has organised – and partly funded – the past six years. […]

Poster seen in the Santa Catalina area of Palma de Mallorca, imploring people to “Please, be responsible with your dog.”

It all essentially began for Victoria Azarenka in Spain last April. The then 21-year-old Belarusian confirmed her top seeding by winning the third edition of the Andalucía Tennis Experience to rise to a career best fifth in the WTA world ranking. She had dropped only 14 games on her way to the final at Marbella’s Puente Romano Tennis Club, eventually beating Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-2.

[…]

A friend “very high up in the media world who has been tapping the phones in Australia House for many years” gave Barry Humphries an inkling. “I can’t tell you his name; he is married to a Chinese girl. He said it was between me and Julian Assange and it turned out to be me.”

[…]

Providing home-buyers with an avant-garde design in a natural setting conveniently located not too far from the city lights is a difficult balancing trick, even in Marbella. But Meisho Hills has achieved the feat. Located in a privileged area on Marbella’s Golden Mile, the complex is surrounded by nature yet near the coastline and luxurious attractions of Puerto Banús. […]

One-time world record-holding boozer Bob Hawke (aka as Australia’s Prime Minister from 1983 to 1991) couldn’t resist the challenge. And, to be fair, what true blue Australian could! Hawke, who recalled in his memoirs that he had once set a world speed record for drinking two and a half pints of beer in 11 seconds while studying in Oxford, was walking through the stands during the second cricket Test against India in Sydney when offered a plastic cup of beer. “One for the country, Robert!” he was encouraged by a voice in the crowd, and the Rhodes Scholar patriotically obliged – the moment being caught for viral posterity on a mobile phone.

Tournament Schedule in Spain

European Tour

Open de Andalucía: Aloha (Marbella) – 15-18 March

Open de España: Real Club de Golf de Sevilla – 3-6 May

Volvo World Match Play Championship: Finca Cortesín (Casares) – 17-20 May

Ladies European Tour

Tenerife Open de España Femenino: Las Américas (Tenerife) – 20-23 September

European Senior Tour

Mallorca Senior Open: Pula Golf – 11-13 May

Benahavís Senior Masters: La Quinta – 1-3 June

Public holidays in Andalucía

1 January: New Year’s Day (Año Nuevo)

6 January: Three Kings Day (Epifanía – Reyes Magos)

28 February: Andalucía Day (Día de Andalucía)

5 April: Easter Thursday (Jueves Santo)

6 May: Labour Day (Fiesta del Trabajo)

15 August: Assumption of the Virgin (Asunción de la Virgen)

12 October: National Spain Day  (Fiesta Nacional de España)

1 November: All Saints Day (Fiesta de Todos los Santos)

6 December: Spanish Constitution Day (Día de la Constitución Española)

8 December: Immaculate Conception Saint’s Day (Inmaculada Concepción)

25 December: Christmas Day (Navidad)

Seasons

Winter (Invierno): 21 December-19 March

Spring (Primavera): 20 March-19 June

Summer (Verano): 20 June-21 September

Autumn (Otoño): 23 September- 20 December

(PHOTOS: IMAGEN©TURISMO ANDALUZ S.A.)

(IMAGEN © TURISMO ANDALUZ, S.A.)

…ACRONYM for Spanish Ministry of the Environment’s Planes de Ordenación de Recursos Naturales department, which looks after the nation’s natural resources: P.O.R.N.