There are numerous ways to open a new tab in Safari. You can right click on the tab bar, use the keyboard shortcut Command + T, or use the File Menu item.
Another, less known, way is to double-click the tab bar. Double-clicking will create a new tab and highlight the address bar so you can start typing right away.
Update: Apparently (according to Simon in the comments), this is a new feature of 3.1
Hat tip to my wife for letting me know about this one. 
