Tom's big weekend!!!

While its time for another update, our little touring party has no dwindled down to just 2, as Loeffler has headed up the towards central and western Australia in search of Adventure. As for Tom and I will are living with the boys in Artarmon and sharing a room at least for the time being. We are both currently searching for work, as our dream jobs of working on the grain farm seem to have fallen though. Due to a lack of funds we really haven’t been up to much recently but we did go on a Road Trip to Mudgee, which is in Central New South. It’s about a 3 hr drive over the Blue Mountains to get to Mudgee. At first Tom wasn’t going to attend the 7’s tourney as he had found employment as a laborer, which happened to start on Saturday. Just about 5 minutes before we were heading out on the road Tom decided he couldn’t miss out on the fun and excitement. Tom then proceeded to ring his new boss and explain he had to attend the 7’s tourney and wouldn’t be able to work on Saturday. This of course is after he has called the boss three times asking if he needed steel toe shoes, and that he would have to start an hr late because of some problems with transportation. Tom’s new/old boss said this upon learning about the latest setback “Don’t ever call me for work again.”.

We arrived in Mudgee around 8 pm Friday evening, and quickly headed to the local pub for a refreshing beverage. There wasn’t too much excitement happening on the eve of the tourney but the team did manage to tie one on. Tom did meet a lovely young midge girl, whom when he ran into her on the Saturday evening when she asked “Do you know my name?’ Tom says “Elaine”, “No its Kelly” and she walks away. We woke up the next day and headed down to the pitch nursing our hangovers. Our first game was friendly and we lost 24-12 to the eventual tourney winners. We won our second game 12-5 much to the surprise of everyone in our party. Our last game of the round robin was again Penrith and we proceeded to win 31-5, proving an even bigger surprise. We then qualified undefeated for the championship round, we lost the game 20-15 but all in all pretty successful given we had no team speed and were quite hangover. One of the teams had a giant kiddie pool filled up at the end of the pitch where they were watching the matches, and a few try scores received the chant in the pool, in the pool. The boys jumped in the pool, and once out of the pool preceded to skull a beer.

There has just been a federal election called in Australia in about five weeks to time, so the politicians we out in full flight. The deputy prime minister attended the matches. As he was heading around shaking hands, he met one of our players asked he “So what do you do with yourself John”, and are you gone have a run. He then proceeded to skull a beer provided by the kiddie pool team. I would definitely like to see Jean Chrietien do that.

That evening Tom tells me that he did a strip tease on the road for a local hens party, quite sexy I’m told at for an Irish guy. While I had a sneaky little nap at the bar around 2 AM. One of the boys who had been drinking all day in the hot Aussie sun decided to have a little nap before we headed out on the town (actually passed out), we proceeded to pile all the garbage in the caravan we were in on top of him.

Tom sent an ill advised SMS text message to a young lady he had be courting in Sydney after he had pick up his nice Mudgee lass. The SMS was meant for Mark, but was instead sent to the girl in Sydney, who has since said she isn’t quite so keen to date the Irishman any longer. The message was sent at 6AM, after the Mudgee girl left.

Tom had a pretty big night Saturday, on his way home from the bar with some more nice Mudgee girls when they were pulled over by the local police. The driven then received a breathalyzers test; upon its completion Tom decided he two would like to have the test done. He blew a .135 blood alcohol level; the policeman informed him the machine wouldn’t go any higher. Tom had max out the machine.

Dan our English friend decided to have a mid morning (about 3 am) stroll around our caravan park in the nude, why he wasn’t wearing any clothing remains a mystery.

On our way back through the blue mountains on a very hangover Sunday we stop at the tourist site the three sisters which are a rock formation up in the mountains. Not very excited but it doesn’t revolve around alcohol, just so everyone knows I do other things then sit in pubs.

Congrats to my brother Queen’s rugby team who beat Western at Western a few weeks ago. They remain undefeated 4 games into the season. That’s about it for this week.

Then there was one!!!

Time for another update from the land down under, and thank you to the spelling police for pointing out my complete lack of spell check knowledge. I guess the big news right know is the boys are on their way home Court left yesterday at around 1pm for his 26 hrs of flying fun, while Lee leaves tomorrow the 27th.

For the last week we were all up in Byron’s Bay, which is about a 12 hr bus ride north of Sydney, I guess the boys wanted one more little Vacation before they get back to the real world. We didn’t complete a lot of activities well expect for surfing and drinking, but what else do you really need. Being it was my first time on a surfboard there was bond to a few bumps and bruises along the way. First we got out on Boogie Boards which were cool seeing as it was my first time on those as well, not to mention the first time in the Pacific Surf. The next day I graduated to a 9fr 4 in board, which was for learners, the boys each took out 7fr 4in boards. So with my extra long board I was off to become a surf champion. (Well standing up once would have been good). While I only maybe stood up a couple times for a few seconds I was a lot of fun and I will by trying to conquer the surf again. Our week of drinking in Bryon’s saw the little fella (Court) become as smart as a post by the end of the week. Top off incident was keeping one of our hostel keys, in his toiletries bag. (Cost was $10). Tom became a Casanova of sorts over the week using the following pick up lines “What shags like a tiger and winks” (then gives the lucky girl a wink). “You look like a girl a use to date in college”. “What is French, has two thumbs, and thinks your hot (point your thumbs at yourself and say moi), and “I may not look like it but I can run really fast.”, these are the only ones I can remember, but there are unconfirmed reports a couple may have worked. Court also had quite a big night (very very loud) the night we all tried Mexican wine (Shangredina). We also took a roll of pictures while surfing so we will have to see how they turn out.

The trip back from Byron’s was less then enjoyable will the 400 lb retard sitting beside us for the entire trip. We could figure out if he was drunk or of minimal intelligence. But he did manage to snore very loud, spit and slobber all over for the entire bus ride, which started at 7 PM until 7 AM. At one point a lady a couple of rows up threw a pop can at our sleeping giant, hit him square in the head, but only stopped the snoring for about a minute. The same girl shook the giant later on in the trip, only to get a response of gibberish. The best part as he was sitting beside us with his leg out in the isle covered in open sores. Ah the joys of discount travel.

We finally moved out of place in Bondi and are now living in Chatswood with some rugby boys while we plan the next stages of the tour. Mark is off on Saturday to travel the interior and west coast of OZ. While Tom and I will look for work, before out big tour of the east coast in January. We managed to get most of our bond back from the slum lord, only a couple hundred bucks shy, but the guy at the bond office told us we were lucky at that because the guy never gives back full bonds. Not to mention the fact it took us two full days to finally get it back, not a happy oz experience. Well we did get a couple of free weeks rent along with the fact we put bear labels all over the walls, and stuck change to the ceiling with surfboard wax, not as bad as it could have been. We also had our very first squat, we handed in our keys but kept a couple and continued to sleep at our place until we got our bond back, Im sure our parents are quite proud.

Dan and Jim’s Party was the next event on the social calendar (two weeks ago), BBQ, cricket, and sitting poolside. (Kiddie pool). Turns out Im not that bad at cricket with a tennis ball (although I cheat because I throw the ball like it’s a baseball, not like Im bowling). 5+ men in a kiddie pool is not a good idea, if anyone was going to try. Skulling bears out of an IV bag is not a good idea, especially after drinking all day in the sun (Sean had a sneaky little puke, as Tom would say). Mark decided to go home at 9PM, with his girlfriend Rachel (who has since left Sydney with a broken heart Im told) only after being sited trying to use Tom’s pickup lines at the BBQ. Court’s Rachel finally got a flight home the Sunday following the party, so the little fella came to join us at the recovery part (Very Big with the Rugby Boys), were he proceeded to get quite pissed (he to had a sneaky little puke, unfortunately it was in a Taxi).

Finished my Lawn care job for Marks boss the week before I headed off to Byron’s, no major incidents to report, although I did find a snake in the wood pile, again not really happy about that.

Court’s Rachel flight was delayed by about five days because of the Terrorism that has been happening. Was to leave Tuesday, ended up flight out the Sunday. I must say it was pretty scary from this end, especially being so far from home. Lets all hope the world becomes a much safer place because of it.

My football pool has started, yes being the football fanatic that I am Im running a team from down under. Which is not easy given the 14 hr time difference. I can’t seem to catch games or even highlights on TV, but the internet is helping a bit. This year’s Phat Bosie starting line up is

QB – Philadelphia QB – Baltimore RB – E. James – Colts RB- W. Dunn – Tampa Bay RB – T. Henry – Bills RB- J. Redmond – New England WR- D. Alexander – Chiefs WR- D. Terrell – Bears WR- T. Mathis – Falcons WR- K. McCardell – Jacksonville TE – B. Franks – Green Bay TE- A. Blecht – Jets K- J. Hanson – Lions K- T. Seder- Cowboys

We are 1-1 after two weeks, seems my wide receivers don’t really do anything ever, I think I have about 7 points in two weeks from all of them. There may be a free agent pick up in the coming weeks as I drop receivers to try and win some games.

I think I will be playing in a sevens Rugby Tournament in a couple weeks, should be fun. I kinda miss rugby plus it will give me something to do. Speaking of Rugby Pat’s Queens team (yes my brother is in Year 6), has started the season at 2-0, and he even has a couple of tries.

Court, Lee, Rachel and I all had a TAB night while there we here (Betting on the horses at the bar), we actually won some maybe we think. But we did have a blast, picking greyhounds by name only.

That’s it for this week.

Lee's first Update!!!

Our latest adventures starts with working manual labor as gardeners at Mark’s work. This type of work was welcomed by Sean and myself at first until we started digging up the local wildlife…..This was very interesting and included blue tongue lizards, spiders, huge centipedes and other things that we were not quite sure of……most of which after describing to our boss and others had the potential to make us very ill. Upon finishing the gardening they asked Sean and I to cut down a tree as we did this it fell over the fence and into the next-door neighbors yard. Lucky that it missed everything and no damage was done. Next I had to go over to the victims yard and own up to our stupidity. Lucky again as no one was home. The only thing to do was to cut the tree up as fast as we could throw it back into the proper yard and pretend that it never happened. We managed to do this in record time (about 10 mins) for fear of the neighbors coming home for lunch. Mark was there for the entire situation and found this very amusing.

Next Sean was instructed to trim the hedges. Out come the electrical hedge trimmers……10 mins in the cord gets cut….a flash some sparks…very funny…They had to reset the circuit in the office and Sean got a crash course on how to rewire the hedge trimmer cord…

Last Saturday was the rugby award night which we all attended and had a grand night out. The beer was flowing freely as it was $65 for dinner and drinks….we managed to drink ourselves blind. Our Irish roommate Tom stumbled upon a clever plan to score more food. Tom simply ate his meal quickly hid his plate and proclaimed that he was in the washroom and he was wondering where his meal was. This worked 2 times for the main course and 3 times for dessert.

On Sept 1st Sean, Tom and I went to the Bledisloe Cup Australian Wallabies vs New Zealand All Blacks. We did end up with an extra ticket which is too bad because it was an excellent game….Of course the Wallabies won 26 to 23 with a try in the very last mins. to capture the win. The test was held at the Olympic stadium which was a sight to see in itself….attendance at the stadium was just under 91000 people.

Court and Rachael should be returning from there vacation up the east coast in the next couple of days. We are all cleaning up our current residence and planning to leave our humble house in Sydney.

Court will be heading home on Sept 25th and myself on the Sept 27th (Sept 27 is also our roommate Tom’s 23 B-Day) Sean will be staying in OZ and continue to keep the stories rolling in…..We all plan to head up to Byron Bay for a week after we move out next week….Till next time….

Stories, and more Stories

Well it Im sorry I haven’t updated the site in awhile but hey Im on vacation, plus only one person (my brother) seems to miss the updates. We as a crew have been up to quite a few things over the past month. My Job has finished so Im semi retired again at least for this week. Im currently looking at my options for further career moves. Rugby has finished as well with two wins in first grade to finish up the year.

Even more Aussie Pics

Rugby

The second last game of the season was against Linfield, we the first grade side still playing well the side was kept the same, so I kept my place at outside center. The Chatswood boys did not disappoint with a stunning 55-17 victory. Although I didn’t score any tries on the day we won and won big, what a great feeling. The victory assured the club of staying up in the second division. Second grade tied on the day, while third and fourth grades fell to defeat. The next game was the last of the year against Blacktown. Again I was choosen to play first grade again, but this time on the wing due to some players coming back into the squad. The guys came up with a big win 20-19 and finished up the season ranked 7th in the division and going 4-1-1 over the last six games. The club also finished up strong leap frogging over top of Lindfield into 7th in Division two, not that bad considering where the club stood only a month or so before had. So that ends my Australian Rugby career at least for now, I think Ive learned a lot about the game and improved alittle(although Mark might beg to differ on this point). So hopefully I will be able to take back a lot of this knowledge to Canada, and I guess I will always have the experience. The last little bit of Rugby for the next little while will bit the Bledisloe cup game on the weekend between Australia and New Zealand, should be good as Mark, Tom, Lee and I all have tickets and we be on our way to Stadium Australia on Saturday.

Harbour Cruise

After the Lindfield game all the rugby boys got together for one of the last socials of the season a harbour cruise around Sydney. So the whole gang (Court, Lee, Mark, Tom and I) plus many other from the club, and Mark’s friend Jess who was over for a couple of weeks. So everybody started to drink copious amounts of alcohol, as you do on a boat cruise. Lets just say the evening just went down hill from there, all the booze on the boat was drank about 20 minutes from shore. The only thing left was the few bottle of wine some of the girls were carrying around with them whilst they drank straight out of the bottle. (Quite the sight). After the cruise we were off to one of the local pubs, where somehow I have a picture of myself wearing a tiara from a bacheloret party. So we were on our way home soon after that, with far fewer brain cells then we had started the day with.

Last Game of the Year Party (Kareoke)

After the big club win against Blacktown all the boys were on there way out for a final year end party. So off to the local waterhole (the bridgee) for a couple of beers some Kareoke, then off to one of the guys house for a kegger into the wee hrs of the morning. Of course there was some stripping by the boys dys uring Im so sexy (15 rugby boys taking there cloths of f to right set fred, must have been a site. (Even I got into the act). After a few more bad songs, everyone was off to the kegger. At the kegger, I was choosen to BBQ up a feed for the hungry masses (well Tom and I, and no it wasn’t a good idea), so we proceeded to cook up fast fry steaks and some stags (sausages). I promised I tried my best but I did lose a couple to the ground (but they weren’t wasted, as I feed them to some poor bloke Mark). Being as the boys partied well into the evening we decided to stay at the boys house until the trains started running Sunday. That leads us to our next story.

The Recovery Party

Just like the title says the boys who stayed the night decided a couple more beers the next morning wouldn’t hurt anyone. So the search was on for a couple of beers to ease the hangovers. So a couple of beers turned into many, and the party was one which include dancing on the garage. Tom and Mark tried to earn some extra beer money by playing a guitar in the streets. Tom earned $0.20 while Mark did quite manage anything, a shirt may of helped his cause. The boys also tried to pick up girls by getting them to take photos of us dancing around on the garage, I must say it did work a couple of times, and a few of them even stayed around for a couple of drinks. A couple of even came back and partied well into the evening. The only true casualty was I lost an eyebrow while I was having an afternoon nap, I woke up none to happy but Im over it now. But Tom and Mark better sleep lightly for the next few years, as I will have my revenge.

Streakers……

Last Saturday (August 25), we decided to go watch the colts (the only Chatswood team to make it to the playoffs). So we were up and out of house by 9AM and off to the pitch for some sunshine and some beer. The colts lost a close one 8-7 and by all counts should have won the game. Some the boys decided to stay and watch some of the other grade games and have a couple of cold ones. At one point Tom decided he wanted to tackle Mark and get it on film, it was a really good hit. The other great event of the day was Mark streaking the pitch in the new Chatswood colours. The plan was for me to walk over Mark and Rob (the other gent in on the streak) cloths over to the other side of the pitch. Well the boys had to walk straight back across the pitch (sans cloths),. I could be heard on the sidelines when asked why the boys never got their cloths “Screw that they shaved my eyebrow”. Hopefully the pictures come out.

Rachel and Rachel

Court has headed up the coast with Rachel aka Princess, she was in town for a couple of days. We didn’t get to seem much of them as Rach took a couple of days to get over the Jet lag. So they are somewhere up the Australian coast as we speak. They are coming back to Sydney some time after the 10th of September. We also have a new roommate for a couple of weeks. A girl mark met up the coast is going to stay with us for a couple of weeks while she explores Sydney, her name just happens to be Rachel.

Other News

I finished another book (first one in awhile), book was called Omerta by the same author who wrote the Godfather, Mario Puzo. Quite a good little read.

Tom and I are looking into working on a grain farm for a couple of months (good to get away from Mcdonalds).

Thanks to Steph for sending me Sport’s Illustrated’s from home. I can’t find SI’s or ESPN’s in OZ, so every once in awhile she sends me one. Thanks a million, I miss Football and other North American sports. Anyone wanting to earn brownie points send to this address 1/32 Curlewis St Bondi Beach NSW 2026 Australia.

Starting in September I will try and run a football pool from the land down under. Hopefully I will be able to get all the info I need off the internet to win the pool for the Phat Boise’s (Team name). Hopefully I will be able to post my weekly picks ect. Not that anyone cares, but its for the memories.

That’s about it for now I try to get more updates on, well as long as we are doing something, been pretty boring as of late. Well soon enough the website will just be Sean’s adventures as Lee will be heading home with Court at the end of September.

New Pictures!!!

There are some new pics up on the site from the last couple of weeks. I haven't had time over the last little while to update you are with a couple of stories but I promise I will. The harbour cruise, 2 more first grade games (both wins), karokee (half naked), a great recovery party, tickets to wallabies vs all blacks (Sept 1), and a couple of other things. But until then see some picutures of our trip down under.

Even more Aussie Pics

Man of the Match!!!

Well we had quite the interesting weekend, or at least I did. Chatswood had to make up the rainout game from last weekend on Sunday so it meant there was going to be a lot of rugby played. At Thursday's practice I recieved the call-up to first grade for the weekend (three games inrow), and with away on his romantic (drunken) getaway I would be the lone Canadian Represative on the top side. Saturday's game we had to play Waverly (which was alright as it was only a 10 min walk from the house). All the sides put in Valient efforts only to come away with losses, our first's side lost 19-12 on a couple of last minutes tries as results of some dubbious refing. All in all it was a great effort because the Waverly side is near the top the table and we could and should have beat them. Lee and Court, along with irish Tom due to lack of employment came along to take in the game. The boys were quite impressed the way I finished off my tackles (although they had to ask Tom why I kept throwing guys down after the whistle or when they didn't have the ball anymore). Saturday was quiet as two games in two days doesn't need to hurt anymore by throwing alcohol into the mix, although we did have a couple after the game (including lossing at boat races). Sunday we had a game against Newport, and with a couple of regular first graders out including Loeffler, we were going to be in tough, the colts won, while most of third grade had to play both 3rd and 4th games. So for the second day and game in a row I lined up at outside center for first grade. The first half saw a tight contest with chatswood holding a slight 6-5 leed, then the woodies busted lose in the second half for a 33-5 win. Scoring almost at will in the second, include an intercept try by yours truely. It was a huge win for the club inching up the standings away from the basement. I played well enought to earn my first man of the match while over in Australia (It may be my first man of the match ever), and my first beer mug. Sunday night the rugby boys and I went out for a celebratory evening of, you guessed it beer. A trip to Coogee, and Kings cross (you remember the cross the sesspool Lee and I lived in our first week in Sydney).

Tom arrived back from Ireland and his sisters wedding last week, having travel via air for 36 plus hrs, via London, Dublin, San Fran, and more. As of today he finally feels like he is over his jet leg, and is now keen to get back working.

Last night with practice cancelled due to the two games over the weekend, the team got together for a swim, sauna and a couple of beers. At the bridgie (the team pub), we bet on some dog and horse races. I picked the winner my first time up turning $4 into $12.10, by picking the winning dog (Punch the Air). We ended up losing all our pooled winnings, but what's $5 anyway.

Only two weeks left in the Rugby season, we are having a boat cruise this weekend after the game, should be alot of fun. I think Im going to have to buy a new camera to catch the kodak momment. Plus gather proof that a girl actually stayed with Loeffler for 2 solid weeks (the poor thing). I must say the house has been really quiet without Mark around for the last week and a half. (both good and bad).

Congrats to the Nomads on your sucessful Nomads night (touch tournament). The pictures look great, looked like it was a great time. The dresses were a nice touch, as were the cougars (so true!!!).

As for the two other midlanders hangin out at Bondi, Court is getting excited about Rach coming to visit and is counting the days, and is currently working as some internet portal sales job (I think). Lee is just hangin out with Tommy boy, and still trying to surf, I guess he had quite the wipeout last week cause he was limping around for a couple of days afterwards. That's about it for those two if you want to know more send them an email. That's about it for this week, Im sure next week will be fun of stories as boring as they may be.

Three drunken idiots in Sydney!!!

Well it may be winter in the land down under but it's raining like spring. For the past week it has rainned cats and dogs down on the city of Sydney, I believe I have become sunshine deprived from my lack on natural sunlight. With all the rain in basically washed out all the games, as most of the parks are government run and the parks are closed up after the slightest drizzle. Tuesday practice with a bit a of weak turned turned into the chatswood mud bowl touch-game which was really wet and slippery, but a lot of fun.

Wednesday night Mark and I caught up with a couple of English boys and another Canadian and headed off to a beer promotion at fox studios. Nothing like the call of free beer and scantelly glad women, and of course there was the bowling.. We had to bowl in our bare feet but that didn't stop the beers from flowing and the balls going straight into the gutter. Most of us were struggling to crack 100 (for 10 pin), saw a pretty sad overall scoring average for the group. Next we were off to another bar downtown Sydney, Mark and the other Canadian Austin never showed up downtown, so with work the next day I packed her in at 11 and headed back to Bondi. Mark on the other hand was no where to be found, I guess he and Austin headed to Scruffy Murphy's in quite the state as Austin was denied entry to the all night Irish Pub. Mark decided to stroll on in a 3am, only to falling all over the house trying to stay upright.

With Saturday's game all washed out and Court and Lee's polling jobs completed (terminated is more the key word here). We had the whole day to waste, so with transit passes in hand, a yellow bouncy ball, we headed off to downtown Sydney to see some sites. Once we arrived downtown we wreaked some havoc with the bouncy ball almost taking out a young couple making out, and narrowly missing a couple a cars as well. (Court is very dangerous when not supervised by adults). As a group we decide to head down to the Star City Casino, to maybe play the slots and have a couple of beers. Once inside the local Casino we decide it would be fun to maybe bet on the horses or perhaps play Keno. We decide that Keno is the game for us as the Horse betting seems to be way more complex and expensive. A trial game is trying and we end up ahead $6. So the games continue as do the pints, until we realize we have been playing for more then 2hrs and drank quite the amount of alcohol. (Court is pretty smashed at this point, and Lee and I are quite tipsey). We decide it may be time to leave but not before we play the slots we our left over winning from Keno (we ended up ahead about $10). Lee plays his first $1 and Wins $35, so we decide to quit while we are ahead and leave the casino. On the way to a pub in the rocks where the rugby guys are suppose to be metting up, hijinx insues as we almost lose the bouncy ball twice (once over a bridge, and the other time across a 4 lane highway). Court also became friendy with a huge palm tree branch and carried it the 3+ miles to the next pub.(which he used to try and style our collective hair). Lee on the other hand did manage to pee off a brigde and throw out his back trying to steal a 25 Kg bag of sand. We finally made it to Australian pub, only to find the rugby boyz had already left, we did however see Colleen from the first Survivor, and the movie Animal (starrring Rob Sneider), Court being full of liquid courage and the promise of some free drinks headed over to her table for an autograph. (We will scan it later this week). Within the 1/2 hr Rob Snieder walked in an joing their table (they are all in town promoting the movie), we are happy to say Bussy is taller then Rob, as he stands about 5ft tall. After the excitment of meeting the celebrates we finished our drinks and headed off to another pub, on the way to the other pub we did scale a 50ft fence, after Court and Lee sent a barrel from the bar rolling down some side street, (Caos I tell you, Caos). We soon decide the Rocks was a bit to pricey for our budget and headed home to drink in the comfort of our own home. We picked up a bottle at the local bottle shop, and headed home to harass our neighbors and Mark who happened to sitting in. (I know wonders never cease). We ended up heading to a local club in Coogee (the next beach over), where we lasted until about 12 pm), then headed home for some food and a wee bit of a rest. Interesting occurance on the way home was Lee decided he had lost his sweater and Jacket and the Casino (just clicked in on the way home from the bar 6 hrs later), he swore he had lost both items, and no matter how much Court and I told him he hadn't he swore they were lost (oh woh is me woh woh woh is me). By the end of the Cab ride he had told me I could have both the sweater and the coat if I could locate them. By the time Lee entered the house I was wearing both my new sweater and coat (Lee had left them on the couch in the apartment).

Needless to say Sunday was not a big day for us, just some TV a couple coffee and a few naps. Plus a bunch of laughs about what we had got up to the night before.

Mark has left of his romantic gettaway up the coast. Updates on the coming nuptial to follow

Australia lost to South Africa in their first leg of the tri-nations. Didn't see the game as it was on at 1am. They didn't replay the game as the Australian lost.

Swimming World Championship have been on for the last week, and the the Australian's ended up winning the meet. So the paper's have spewed Australian sports propaganda for the last week. If they lose they win here (part of the reason the Aust vs. SA game wasn't replayed the following day). Its actually quite riduclus at times, Pat Rafter syndrome I will call it.

Tom arrives back from Ireland this week. But other then that not much is going on. Until next week.

First Grade Debut!!!

The big news for this week is that I made my debut with the Chatswood first grade team on the weekend. For only the second time this season I shared the field with the Great Loeffler. The even better news is that we tied the game 16-16, Mark was the man of the match. I was playing outside center and by all accounts even Mark’s I played well. The other grades didn’t fair nearly as well as 4th grade forfeited, thirds were thumped 69-0 (only 11 players to start the game), 2nds losing 19-7, but the colts won and look to be only woodies side heading towards the playoffs (winning 8 of the last 9 games). Next week is a we play Newport at home, and I have no idea which team or which position I will be playing.

Other then rugby life in Australia has been pretty slow recently with everyone trying to save a little money for the trip once we decide to leave Sydney. Mark is heading off next Sunday up to Brisbane and a tour up to Cairns. Our other roomate Tom is going back to Ireland for a week to his sisters wedding, so our house will be down to for a few days next week. The good news is I won’t have Mark waking me up in the middle of the night with his crazy sleep talk in the middle of the night.

Interesting sighting over the weekend was an event called Sexpo, which was I am told (by unkown sources)was wall to wall porn. Vidoes, magazines, and other unmentional items adorned the venue inside fox studio’s. I am told the event was pretty sleazy and wouldn’t fit in the box I call my life, but I have been told it was a good laugh even if some the the material and people were a little over the top.

This weekend saw the opening of the tri-nations tournment between New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. The opening match saw NZ vs. SA in a low scoring defensive minded affair, which saw NZ win 12-3. Next week its Australia vs SA.

The boyz continue to surf, and work at the call center. Court did get in a fight with his surf board and needed to make a quick trip to the local dentist. It wasn’t too bad just a little chip, which was quickly patched up by the dentist. That’s it for this week.

A Lions Tale

The following is a column writtin by British Lions player Austin Healey at the end of the Lions Tour. He had written a few articles for his home newspaper (in Britain), scathing both the Lions Coaches and Australia Players. Here is his final Lions column (quite funny actually). Below is the last weekly update (week of July 16,01)

By Austin Healey. Rugby Union - THE ACCUSED - I'm sitting in the bunker, not daring to go out at the moment. I'm the Ned Kelly of the hour. Public enemy No1. Just get me home... Ozzer and the Aussies. It seems we don't get on. It all began on Friday. That stuff about the Aussie male and their newspapers and my mate Justin Harrison. It was a bit cheeky, I'll admit. But what do you want? Thursday: went out and hit 250 tackle bags. No87 was a real beaut. Friday: went out and hit 250 tackle bags. Left shoulder drive not quite right. I know that's what we've been doing all tour, but is that what you want? By the way, I was lying about the left shoulder. The Aussies whacked back my comments on their males, their country and my mate Justin and here I am. In the bunker, the doghouse, bad books, all in one go in this country that may have uranium and opals but hasn't found the irony mine yet. Why can't they find their own Ozzer? Could I charge them for using all my Guardian stuff? If I put a bill into the Sydney Morning Herald for ... what's that word? Plagiarism, is it? Would they pay? I think I may need it. I feel a fine coming on. The thing is that when Matt Dawson wrote his Bridget Jones on the Bounty, we won. I suppose I could say I was doing my bit for the cause. Up yours, I said. Now we've lost, it's bound to be used as the reason. Austin's column cost us the tour. Up mine, I suppose. I don't think I'm to blame for the defeat, or third-world debt or the Olympics going to Beijing, but it's been a weird time and anything is possible. So, here I am, lying low. Pass the valium. I mean it. I'm on the hard stuff. I've got a bulging disc in my back. Facet joints T6 and 7, so they say. It started as a stitch on Wednesday but had moved round to my back on Friday. Sorry about the details. I know it sounds a bit like tackle bags and a No87 cruncher. But when it's your own back you tend to get a bit more interested in the boring details. Anyway, they gave it a scan and the physio gave it a click on Saturday morning. That helped a bit but I was in no shape to go 12 rounds ... sorry, play 80 minutes against Justin. So, here I am in the bunker. Bad back, hangover, the lot. What's left to do? The good bits? The win against ACT. I loved that game, even if I picked up the injury that made me miss the second Test. To score in injury-time and for Matt to be the one to kick the conversion was just brilliant. And watching the first Test was pretty good. Just the way the lads forgot about game plan, game plan and let their heads do the guiding. They went with their instincts. I know that can get you into trouble, but you've got to gamble sometimes. Well, you've got to gamble a lot, I always say. I've had a good tour playing cards, by the way. The bad bits? Losing the series. I could start again on the Aussies here. But now is probably not the best time. In fact, I could probably start on our approach to the Tests. But that might make the fine worse. I just feel that we went for a rigid approach. Set piece followed by drives. That's what the homework showed would work, apparently. Well, the Aussies did their own homework. They stopped our lineout and even did well at the scrum. And that left us with ... well, it left us losing. Sour grapes? Possibly. But I tell you this. My mate Justin had a bit of a game, didn't he? Of course, he had the freedom of the park without me there to irritate him. Well played, Justin. Wow, that didn't hurt too much. Not like this back, this head. So, what now? Please take me away from anything to do with rugby. I know there'll be an element of cold turkey. No tackle bags, no cones - we'll be shaking and screaming in the night. But I think we may have earned ourselves a break. And Australia? Funnily enough, I can't wait to be back. In an England shirt. I know Iain Balshaw can't wait either. There, you knew I wouldn't be down for long. Round one to the Aussies, but there's a long way to go yet. I don't know about doing a newspaper column again. Mind you, I seem to appear all over the place here. Perhaps the Sydney Morning Ferret might sign me up. God, what am I saying? It really is time to go home.

Chatswood Sweep!!!!

Another weekly update, big news on the rugby front as we had the Lions game on Saturday and Big games against Canturberry. First off, Chatswood really need to sweep the Canturberry side for the club championship points (to avoid relegation). The day started of great with the 4th side winning by forfit, and colts pounding the Canturberry side . Next up was 3rds side reinforced with some touring Lions supporters, and they won going way 45-10. I was again playing for the 2nds team, this week on the wing (I have officially become a utillity back, playing wing, full-back, outside center, and wing over the past month). We scored on the opening kick-off when our 8 man ran 50 meters after taking the kick-off. We won the game 45-5, I also got in on the action scoring a try in the corner. After last weeks pounding it was great to get back in the winning swing of things again, especially by such a huge score. We scored 9 try’s all uncoverted. (the coach let who ever scored kick for goal as we didn’t have our regular goal kicker). The 1st also won, with Mark lining up at outside center for defensive reasons. The first’s won on some great goal kicking and a couple quality tries. After the game Mark swore he would never again line up in the backs, because he thinks all backs are pouffs. We had to leave the game quickly in order to get to Olympic stadium for the big lions match.

We caught a train at central station out to the big match @ homebush (Olympic stadium), we was a sea of red Lions supporters. Although I have driven past the Olympic park a couple of times, the facilities were wonderful. It’s a real pitty that Toronto lost its bid for the 2008 games, it would have been great to host the Olympics. Back to the match details, because I was only able to get one lone ticket in a sight restricted area of the stadium (perfect view lines in the end), I left Tom and Mark at the gates and headed to the bar then to my seats. I did buy my second piece of Lions memorablia (a touque). The Stadium was electric for the decider of the three game series, with sections of the stadium blocked out in Red (Lions) or Gold (wallabies). It was a great game which saw the wallabies take there first ever Lions series with a 29-23 victory. After the game we were off to the homebush pub, to have a couple of post match scooners. (In case anyone was wondering we (the boys) won the bet with Mark regarding his sober month).

As for Court and Lee they continue to work in the call center in the evenings and surf during the day. Lee has purchased his own board. They also went to see the movie evolution on the weekend, which they have told me was absoluty the worst movie they have even seen. Other then that they haven’t been up to much.

Good news on the work front I will be able to stay at my current job until 21st of August at my current job, so I probably won’t have to get another job while Im in Sydney.

Pretty short update, although I am going to the dentist again (for the 5th and hopefully finally time) to have my front tooth fixed again. Turns out the first dentist I went to was as good a dentist as Im a nuclear sub driver. So I have decided to try another dentist to fix my troublesome tooth. The good part is I again look like Theo Fluery during a playoff run (play-off goatee and all).

Im going to the Lions Test!!!!

Well I have great news Mark, tom and I have managed to secure Lions tickets for the third and deciding test in Sydney this weekend...Sweetas!!! So I decided to have a little web update to rub in our good fortune. We didn't even have to pay scalper prices. The tickets would be like getting Super Bowl tickets, very hard to come by. With a little bit of luck, and help from the internet. I will be sure to have a full review and some pictures of what will surely be a wild night.

Family of Five Again!!!!

Check out our new pics!!!!

Aussie Pics

More Aussie Pics

Another week has past and its time for the usual update and dribble about the past week. The week was much more exciting at home I reckon, as I missed my first friends getting married all on the same weekend. If I had have been at home it would have been one killer weekend. On Friday, my roommate from university Dougie got married, and on Saturday Stan and Jane tied the knot. I do apologise to both couples for missing their weddings. This week saw Steph leave and head back to Canada, Lee and Court continue to work at the polling center (doing less then ethical work).

As for me it’s was pretty much another boring week. (in terms of stories). Rugby this week saw Chatswood get thumped in three grades (we forfited the 4th grade). This week I moved back into the centers after my week at fullback, and played well enough to earn 3rd star of the game. We were missing a lot of players (including Mark, who was in Melbourne for the Lions test), but the guys who were around played their hearts out and no one was dissappointed with the outcome. (maybe a little).

Saturday night we were off to watch the Lions test at the pub, Tom (our irish neighbour). First off we went to speaches after the game, with only a couple of players remaining Tom and I were recruited for the boat races. We lost the boat races too, but did manage to get a bunch of free beer. By the time we left the Rugby club, Tom and I were about three sheets to the wind, and late for the kick-off to the match. The Game saw the Wallabies even up the series at 1-1, the lions pretty much self destructed in the 2nd half to see the match sent to a tie breaker this coming Saturday. After the game Tom and I left with South African Sean and headed to see a local band play at a club in North Sydney. The band were really good, Tom even got up on stage at one point yelling into the microphone “Go you Lions!”. After their band finished their set we were off to another pub to catch up with some other Pom’s, and a Canadian. The night just goes down hill from here.

Tom has moved into our little apartment and we are a family of five again. His other roommates headed off to Thailand so we decided to take in the younge irishman.

Tuesday we watch the back up Lions take on the ACT brumbirs, and win on a last second try. It was probably one of the best games of the tour. Rugby practice was cancelled after only 8 people showed up.

This week we are chasing after tickets to the final Lions test, and have a big game on the weekend. Plus three practices this week. Should be a great week.

Fullback and a game of Trivia

It’s time for another update, first things first Lee has arrived back for his travels in Northern Australia. He has forwarded a storyline from his trip which will follow my updates.Please click on the link to some new pictures from Australia

Aussie Pics

More Aussie Pics

It was another big week for all things rugby as Saturday saw 10hrs of live rugby on TV, with the focal point being the Wallabies vs. Lions test match. This week say my promotion to second grade, and my first ever game at fullback. On Thursday at practice I found out about my promotion to what I thought was winger for 2nds, then on my arrival to the game on Saturday I was told I was playing fullback. After the coach gave me 2 minutes of pointers on how I should play the postion. Which was kick in our end, attack in theirs. Simple stuff, I guess, amazingly enough I played one of my best games in Australia in my new position, and not looking out of place despite my rookie fullback status. We did lose the game however, which was due in large part to a shocker of a ref, who kept us in our own end for most of the 2nd half. Next week sees the club short players due to the Lions test series and the upcoming test in Melbourne, so I may get a second start at fullback. Mark will be taking the week off and heading to Melbourne for the game. Upon his return to Sydney he starts a month long dry period (No booze), with a $100 on the line. But he tells us it has nothing to due with being dragged down the street by an angry cabby.

Wednesday saw us head to our very first Trivia night down at the pub. (Yes I know we spend a lot of time at the pub, you would too if you lived at our place). Tom our irish friend was quite keen, so off to the pub to test of weakening brains. Our trivia prowess was slightly lacking, we did however each pull a couple of rabbits out of hats while coming up with answers. I believe we placed 5th out of 10 teams (Middle of the road), we did win however for best team name (Womb raiders). We also helped out with a tie breaker situtuation, where two teams had to quess our tables combined weight in Kg’s, one team guessed 480kg, while the other guess 400kg (actually 380kg), we did get paraded around to show off our beer soaked bodies. Just after Trivia ended court showed up and bought us some Tequilla shots, and the bender was on. After an improptu pub crawl we ended up back at our apartment and began harrasing our new Australian neighbours, who were silly enough to invite our drunken asses in. Probably not a good idea because within two minutes in the kitchen Captain Destructo (Me) has broken a coffee pot and 3 coffee mugs. It wasn’t on purpose or anything just an ill placed fridge, a stumble and things were breaking. The boys also abused the inflatable giraffe again. At around 3AM, we ended our improptu bender and headed off to bed, again work on Thursday was a barrel of laughs. (Damm these hangovers).

Friday was just an easy night, where court and I decided to head off to the movies to see Swordfish. It was actually really good, and was a little like the usual suspects, with its plot tricks. Great special effects, and of course Halle Berry breasts, which were worth every penny of the $500,000+ they paid for her to uncover. All in all a pretty quite night, but a very much needed night.

Saturday night we decided to take in some of the 10hrs of Rugby on the tele. First game up was New Zealand vs France, the All blacks seeking revenge for their world cup defeat trouned the vistors with a wide open attacking style, and won quite easily. The next game up was Lions vs. Wallabies Test 1, with injuries the Lions we suppose to be in tough against the home side, but from the opening minute the lions punished the Wallabies who looked quite ordinary and had some serious tackling problems. The final score was 29-13 but the Wallabies scored two tries while the lions had a man in the sin bin, so the game was actually much farther our of reach then that. Our Irish friend Tom was quite please as irish center Brian O’Driscoll won man of the match. The next test is this Saturday in Melbourne.

Sunday was a day of recovery after going out on the piss with the irish lads to celebrate to big lions wins. We watched the state of origin on tele, and had a huge roast beef feed, a dinner for 7 people. Mark again decided to cook it up, although the funniest part of the evening was cooking the big roast, which he tought was roast beef and turned out to be Ham. The ham was left in the oven for a couple of extra hrs because it was still pink, thinking it was Roast beef and just not cooking up proper.

If you haven’t seen the quest book yet, Mark has a link to his site with pictures from our 90th ball, and other interesting photos from our adventures.

That’s it for this week, please don’t forget to sign the questbook or send us some emails to catch up.

Lee's Adventures with Stephanie

G'day all, sorry for the delay in the update about our adventures.....Stephanie and I travelled up the east coast starting in Brisbane. Brisbane was very beautiful along the water and had some very nice restaurants, but not too much else to see.

After a couple of days in Brisbane we headed to Fraser Island for a 3 day 2 night stay on a Wilderness adventure tour. Our first day was a trip inland to Basin Lake and Lake Mckenzie. We were transported on a 4WD bus to the lakes. On our first trip on the bus we were lucky enough to see a dingo.

Our second day was a trip to 75 mile beach which doubles as both the highway and landing strip for small planes. Later in the day we were transported to Eli Creek, Mahino Shipwreck ( a large vessel cut lose during a tow in the early 1900's and used as a bombing target on fraser island). That day also included a trip to the coloured sands of the Pinacles, climbing Indian Head and the Champagne Pools (small pools pocketed in the rock from the tides)

Our last day was the most eventful.....Another trip to a fresh water lake (Lake Wabby), and a walk through a eucalypt forest and rainforest. The huge sand blows which we walked on seemed to go on forever.....and was like walking through a desert until reaching the ocean. Stephanie and I also managed to go up in a small plan for 20 mins to catch an arial view of the island. Our last day also included a game of soccer on 75 mile beach.....Only the guys were playing but Stephanie was brave enough to play. This of course did not end without an incident as the soccer ball was bounced directly off her nose....this left quite a nice bruise for a couple of days....I also encountered injury...as no one was wearing shoes when kicking the ball feet would often clash....this left me with a bruised foot and a lovely hobble for a couple of days.....with a bruised nose and a foot we were quite the couple...... During the soccer game we saw yet another dingo who decided to watch our game of soccer and serinade us by howling.....very amusing.

During our bus ride on Fraser Island our driver told us of a true story......In March an english man went missing at Lake Wabby on Fraser Island...He told his guide that he needed some time alone.....the guide gave a time to be back and that was the last anyone ever saw of him...the authorities believe that he faked his death.....while some believe he was eaten by a shark.....We were asked to keep a eye out for any trace of him while at lake Wabby. Nobody knows for sure what happened to him.

Our stay on Fraser Island was an excellent experience. The food was buffet 3 times a day and the bus driver brought snacks all day long we must of had 4 to 5 meals a day.....which made me a very happy man!!!

The wildlife on Fraser Island includes two of the most deadly snakes in the world....the Tai Pan and black Adler....The funnel spider on Fraser Island is also one of the most dangerous in OZ. We did not see any of these during our visit.

The night before and after Frasier Island in Harvey bay was a Hostel called Koala's.....While the atmosphere and food was good our room was less than desireable as it smelled of bleach and needed to be aired out before entering.......We were also graced with the presence of a mouse in our room which made a quick escape when I opened the door.

We then headed up to Cairns and checked into the All Seasons....much better than the hostels....our first day was a walk around the markets. At the end of the day the birds collect in the trees in the city centre... these consist of mostly small parrots....as I was admiring the colours of the birds....I was blessed with some good luck on my arm, pants and shoe.....lovely.....after this incident I hate all birds now. It was then determined that today was laundry day.

The next day we checked into our hostel (Calypso) and then spent the day snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef we went to the outer reef (norman reef and some other small reefs). The trip out was also was not with out incident as the waves made us both turn green....though we were not sick......the poor guy from england who thought it was a good idea to go on a bender before our trip to the reef was very ill for the entire day and ended up feeding the fish on several occasions. All and all the trip to the reef was amazing. The colours of the reef and the fish was quite the sight to see.

On our next day it was a trip to the Cairns Zoo....this involved most of the day feeding the Kangaroos...we also held a Koala. The Kanagroos would hop up to you seaching for food.....very funny some were very aggressive and overwhelmed us at times. (Stephanie was quite taken with the Kangaroos and was sizing up her backpack for one of the joey's)

Rafting down the Tully river was our next adventure....The rapids were an amazing time the people on the front of each of the several rafts that we were with got thrown into the river on several occasions. The english gentlemen in front of me was assisted into the water quickly as I was thrown foward by the rapids, still holding on to my paddle I promptly crossed checked him in true Canadian style into the Tully rapids. A camera man was recording from the banks of the river and did not catch this blunder. (I was extremely thankful during the viewing of the video at the end of the day)

Our next day was a trip to the rainforest via the skyrail. This took us above the canopy of the rainforest for a birds eye view. We had 3 stops along the way for a lesiurly walk through the rainforest. After the rainforest was a 2 hour scenic train ride through the hills back to Cairns.

The next morning was a half day trip to Green Island which included a glass bottom boat and submarine view of the reef. Forgeting the sea sick feeling from several days before in retrospect this half day adventure was not such a hot idea....thought we were not sick we both played which colour will we turn next game....quite funny!!! The view of the reef was once again beautiful.....

Our last day was spent looking for the famous Didgerdoo....after looking for several hours we finally found the one we liked and after about an hour or so learning from several of the local shop keepers I was able to play this instrument.

After this it was back to Sydney and a trip to the Opera House and the Bridge......Stephanie leaves tommorow (July 2).

Some other notes to mention.......The bus drivers on the east coast tried to kill us several times...seems that yellow lights are ignored and it is common practice to wait until the light turns red and then put on the brakes......This brought us to a screaching hault with more than one bus driver....

And last but not least in my quest to try Cheeseburgers around the world in true Jughead style I attempted a Kangaroo burger.....Very tasty!!!

Lions,Lions,Lions

Its been quite the week, so I better get on with it, after our trip to zoo last week, Tuesday was our trip to the British Lions game up the Australia coast in Gosford. The game which was billed as the fourth test match between the wallabies and Lions. With permission from my boss I left work early around 2pm and headed off to the pub and meet the bus that would take me the pitch. First off it was $100 for the bus, tickets to the game, and free drink too and from the game. (What more could a guy ask for). The bus trip very much reminded me of my trips to Detroit to watch the lions game. (A bus full of guys getting pissed going to watch footy). The bus then drove us up to a bar up past Gosford to some town whos name I can't remember, where more drink was consumed. Then it was off to the mighty match, our seats where in the upper grandstand where a full view of the pitch could be had. The game has very little positive to write about as Australia "a" won the contest which was a pen elty filled affair with very little of the open style of play many of the fans had come to see. Most of the tries were scored in the second half (I barely remember them as I was quite pissed by the closing minutes of the game). Despite a frantic comeback the Lions lost 26-23. After the game in my quest for a souvenier I bought a Lions hat (woo woo I know, but I was quite proud of it at the time, damn booze). I have searched all over Sydney for a Lions jersey and unable to purchase one as all the POM's (Prisoner of Mother england) seemed to have bought them all. Work the next day after the Rugby was well, PAINFULL, and Long.

On thursday I was off to training to test my wonky knee, fortunatly I suffered no setbacks and was set to play a little rugby on Saturday, quite happy I only missed one week with my injury. Saturday saw me playing outside centre again for the thirds, and to be honest I showed a little rust from my week off, and the month of playing of the wing. Our team had way too many mental breakdowns and gave away a multi-tude of soft trys, and we lost by a considerable margin. But this was not to be the end of my Rugby for the day, the 2nds were in need of a winger and I was their man. I played a splendid half on the wing, and sub out at half tired from my game and half. The 2nds won a close scoring game and I was able to savour victory on the day. Watching the firsts saw the boys lose another heartbeaker 12-9, with a missed drop goal to end time. Mark played well again, but his body seems to be wilting with the stress of playing firsts. I think it may be his stressfull training routine. < p> Saturday night saw us off to the Gorden Rugby club for the 90th ball, for Chatswood. It was a black tie affair with saw both Mark and I dress up in tux's. Mine rented Marks borrowed, my friend Kristy agreed to be my date for the evening as well. It was a great night with dancing and off coarse beer, the highlight of the night had to be the video shot by one of the players but included a half dozen wallabies, and even a former wallabie Dave Campo. I will try to obtain a copy as it has to been seen, and I can't verbally do it justice. We also have pictures which I will try to get up on the site soon.

On Sunday will had a little improptu party with our irish friends, and our new australian neighbours. Beer Can pyramids, and the demise of a inflatable giraffe, were the hightlights of a Sunday evening.As well as our friend "Rasta" Tom (the irishman from upstairs), trying to fit into a bra meant for a much smaller woman.

Lee is still on his romantic getway with steph, but will be returning to Sydney the end of this week.

Court remains in bondi, but has been working long hrs trying to save money, for one of his adventures. Although he is having moral issues with his government survey job, the following is a sample of the current labour party elections survey,

Hello

My name is court and Im calling from blah blah blah

Do you feel gas prices are to high?

Are gas prices so high because of taxes?

who are you going to vote for in the upcoming elections?

goodbye

Needless to say not really ethical.

Not too many news and notes this week as I haven't read anymore books as I have been hung-over and unable to read. I did however see Tomb raider on the weekend, which was entertaining. That's about it for this week.

Injury, Injury, Injury

This week there is very little rugby to report as I didn’t play due to injury. Seems my little smash to the knee last week may have done a little more damage then I first thought. I may have strained or slightly torn my MCL (inside of my right knee), the swelling has subsided, and now just wee bit of bruising remains. So I tried to test it at Thursday training but after about 20 minutes it was clear I was sitting out the weekend games. I probably will also be on the sidelines for the up coming weekend, but I will have a little run come Thursday again just to tester out. As for the results from the weekend my team (the 3rds) were the only victorious side, as 1st,2nds, and 4ths all lost. I didn’t actually witness any of the games as stayed home rather then make the 1hr + drive out to blacktown. So Saturday night was rugby night on the tele, I believe rugby here is like hockey at home, so Saturday become Rugby night in Australia. Fox sports was carring the Samoa vs. New Zealand test @ 5:30pm and the Lions vs. Queensland Reds (Super 12 team) @ 7:30pm. While enjoyable to watch neither games was close as New Zealand thumped the Samoa team 50-6, and the Lions easily outlasted the reds 42-8. The Lions easy victory has somewhat scarred the Australian team and the local papers are abuzz with articles and editorials predicting the outcome of the upcoming test series.

Our dear friend Michelle has left Australia and is now bound for Canada after a year and a half of schooling and fun. So on Thursday night we had to have a fairwell party which lasted well into the evening. ( I believe I got home around 3AM). So some pictures and tears, we have said good-bye to our dear friend and no continue our Australian adventures alone. Needless to say my work suffered slightly on Friday, as I don’t think I sobered up until well after noon, and a healthy dose of burger king.

Sunday saw a group trip to the zoo. My friend Christy scored some free passes through work. So Mark, Court, Mali (marks friend from Toronto), Christy, and myself all piled into a little hundyi, and were off to the zoo. We saw lots of local animals including Wallabies, Roos, and Koala Bears (who Im told actually sleep more then Lee does, at 18hrs a day). We did miss the platapus exihibit, and Court was rather disappointed in not seeing the platapus. As for myself I was disappointed will the lack of activity in monkey cages. With our fill of local wildlife, we headed home for a feed at charcol charlies. (A swiss Chalet style chicken, with all the fixins, pumpkin, carrots, peas, potatoes and stuffing).

Lee has left on a two week tour of northern australia with his girlfriend, I believe this week they are off to fraser island, I make sure lee gives us a full report to update the site with once he returns to our little home.

Mark has a friend visiting us for a couple of days, so Im now bunking in with Court for the next couple of days. I really hope she doesn’t mind snoring or people who talk in their sleep. As Mark has full blown conversations with himself while he sleeps, not to mention belting out some tunes, his favorite bing comma Kameleon by Boy George.

I finished another book this week Tom Clancy’s Net Force:Point of Impact, I have no read the entire series and must try and read something above a grade 5 reading level.

Happy Fathers day to all our Dads, even though this is posted just a little late. It’s the thought that counts. Even in Australia fathers day isn’t celebrated until mid August.

Congrats to my brother’s rugby team on their first win vs Markham over the weekend.

That’s about it for this week, next week we will have lots of events including a ball, and Australia A vs. Lions….Take Care

A Real Rugby International!!!!

It was a busy busy week so there is lots to update. First and foremost its been a big rugby week, with the British Lions tour kicking off this past friday and the Australia vs. Maoris on Saturday night, and finally State of Origin on Sunday (Rugby League). In the middle I had a game on Saturday vs Waverly. We did manage not to lose by 2 points this week and streched the losing margin out to 20+ points. We basically played a "Shit game" and we out played at almost all aspects of the match. To make matters worse I smashed my knee subbing in for the 4ths game, and was hobbled for the entire 3rds game. My knee seems to be alright now, although its a lttle stiff and will cause me to miss practice tonight. After drowning our sorrows will a couple VB's following the games, we were off to the New Zealand Maoris vs. Australia rugby game. I have to say that this was the greatest game that I have ever witnessed live, the pace of the game was unbelievable, and the hits very violent in nature. The crowd was made up primarly of Maoris and native New Zealanders rather then local Australians, so the home team faced a fairly hostile crowd. The final score (I believe) was 41 -29, although the game was alot closer, and only questionable calls from the South African ref, who disallowed a Maoris try in the dying minutes. After having the try dissallowed on a shoulder charge they also went a man down (sin binned). We did get to the the traditional Maoris Haka before the match, I think I have seen this performed before but never live (Im not sure if I did witness that Haka at the Chiefs Super 12 game, too many beers affects the memory some). A native Maoris also performed the Haka inside the pub across the road after the game, to the pleasure of the pub patrons.

On Friday I went down to the local pub to catch the opening match of the British Lions Australia tour. The Lions were playing a team made up mostly of non-professionals from Western Australia, so their was no real chance of any type of upset but local skipper was hoping to keep the score within 50-60 points. Alas this was not meant to be as the Lions absolutly pummelled the locals 116 -10. The 10 points scored occured once the lions were up 70 points and were in cruise control. Then they made a couple of subs and started to pour it on, and were above the century mark at looking like a very tough test for the real Wallabies,. Tongiht I will be watching the Lions take on a Queensland side, and I imagine the result will be fairly similar, and a bit of a wash. We are actually going to a Lions game next tuesday vs. Australia A, in Godsford. We still aren't sure whether or not we will be able to get Lions Test Tickets for Sydney, as they are in pretty high demand.

State of Orgin II, well not that we are big league fans or anything I actually find the game of league a little boring, but each season they have 3 state of Origin games. This is where players from Queensland vs. NSW play in a league all-star game, actually its a series three games. In Orgin ! Queensland won in walk, while Orgin II saw NSW take the game, so its on to Orgin III to deside the winner. I saw the orgin players for the Queensland team playing cricket down at Bondi Beach Sunday Afternoon. I saw one young fan bring a cell phone over to one of the players and have him speak with some one on the other end.

Finally got my tooth fixed, well I actually had to have it repaired again. What happened was the new tooth only last 24hrs before I broke it off again, basically in the same place the first one broke off. (I guess one of my bottom teeth was grinding in on the top tooth in a weak point of the tooth, thus cracking it again. So back into the dentist I go to have my repaired tooth repaired, finally after some extra grinding and extra glue the tooth is repaired. I believe however I will have to have the entire tooth overhauled once I return to Canada. I think I will be applying to be a dental test patient I have the extrodinary ablity to break teeth at an alarming rate. (Im a dental freak).

Lee continues to work hard at his two jobs in preparation for his girlfriend flying into Brisbane this Saturday. Then its off touring the north part of Australia where its considerably warmer. Lee however did claim this weekend to pocessing the skill of hot wiring a car.(later proved to be a wee bit of a lie).

Court has purchased a surfboard and wetsuit, and continues to work at night at the government polling call center. He has claimed to see somthing big and black swimming under his surfboard one day last week, almost scared the little fella out of the water.

Finished a couple more books in the last week, really quick reads Tom Clancy's Net force series Breaking point and Night Moves.

I would like to wish my mom a happy birthday (JUNE 7), hope you had a great day.

My brother's rugby team the lost again this weekend but they did manage to score a try, and only lost in the dying seconds, things look to be turning around for the young team.

Well that's enough dribble for this week...Take care everyone.

Then there were 4!!!!

Our little family is now down to just 4 again as our South African friend has moved into more plush accomodations. Court and Lee continue to work weeknights doing phone surveys for the up coming Australian federal election. After speaking with them, you come to realize that the results of the surverys are quite skewed and shouldn't be trusted. This is mainly due to the fact that most of the people involved in the survey's are not australian and do not know the first thing about politics. I continue to work in the call center during the day. I would say more about may current role but I wouldn't want to put anyone to sleep. Lee has also taken a day job as a greeter in a local bank, he finds this work quite rewarding and believes he may have found his new career on return to Canada. (Walmart is the wave of the future).

As for rugby this week we were playing Lindfield and the 3rds, with me as their ever speedy winger lost by 2 points. 8-6 this is our 4 loss of the season by less then 3 points. This may be due to the fact we have no try scoring ability as our wingers seem not to have the speed to turn the corner on the opposition. Mark even told one of the Canadian wingers that he had a "SHIT GAME". With these types of comments my days on the wing seem to be numbered. As for Mark and the firsts they actually managed to win a game, and quite handily at that. Mark didn't quite play as well as he did last week as he is nursing a shoulder injury. It was ladies day at the pitch, and an abnormal amount of females showed theire face around the park. (I think it may of had something to do with the free booze).

Other News and notes

I have finished another book. Actually I finished it last week just forgot to tell you all about it. Its was The Silicon Boys, a history of Silicon Valley. Actually was quite good, learned alot about Oracle, Netscape, Intel, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Im ready to make my first million. (after I get back).

Michelle is heading back to Midland in the next couple of weeks so we have been out a little bit more with her, to make sure she gets a proper send off.

Australia is starting to get pumped up about the British Lions tour which starts in about a week, hopefully we will be able to come by some tickets.

Court finished his surfing school and spends most of his days trying not to ingest too much sea water and sand.

Pretty boring week when all you do is work and play rugby, but Im sure I will have more stories next week. Take Care everyone!!!!

A Family of Five!!!

One more week means one more housemate. Court aka the little fella finally found his way to Sydney on Tuesday morning this week. With only a few horror stories for his 24+hr flight, we have since been told he even had to pay for the beer on his flight (at $4 a pop), they were free on AIR New Zealand. Our week involved getting caught up on the events of the last few months, stories about the boys from the big smoke of Midland. We also began to help aid the LF with his assimalation into Australian Society, we introduced him to VB, and meat pies. Explained the difference between tomato sauce and Ketchup, among other things. So the new house mate also meant a few bowls of load mouth soup to celebrate.

As for Rugby this week we were playing out at Newport, a suburb of Sydney located on the up the north shore (heading towards Brisbane). You could actually see the surf from the pitch, and surfers kept walking by throughout the game (only in Australia). Again we had a tough result losing 7-6, and missing numerous kicks at goal. I again found myself out on the wing for the 3rd grade the last line of defense and ever present scoring option (with a one game try scoring streak, which has subsequently been broken). While we did out play the opposition we didn't score the required points to get the victory, and scored another mark in the loss column. As for the other Mark "I think I am adonis" Loeffler he got his shot at 1st grade and played quite well earning man of the match for the losing side despite having gone out on the piss the night before. The first grade however lost another heartbreaker and extended their losing streak to 4 games. I suspuct with all grades except colts losing this weekend practice on Tuesday (tonight) will be no picnic. The Saturday night brought the Super 12 final the Brumbies vs. Sharks, will could only watch the game on the tele as Canberra was much to cold and way to far to travel (Plus tickets may have been difficult to come by). The game saw the Australian side soundly thump the visiting South African side. I must say I will miss all the rugby that is available to see once I return to Canada, its much more exciting then baseball, and on par with hockey expecially live.

I have started my job in the call center and Im actually taking calls today all by my lonesome (hee hee I knew someone would let me back on the phones eventually). I was training all of last week, where I did learn quite alot about the Australian financial system. Including their pention system which is called Superannuation, and if anyone bitches about filing taxes in Canada who should read up on Australia and count your lucky stars. Although everyone here gets 4 weeks vacation as soon as they start their jobs, and not after 40 years of Service like back home in Canada.

Bits and Pieces!!!

We have started wallpapering our walls with beer labels and have almost finished the living room. (two months the the walls will be completly covered with green VB labels. We will be sure to take lots of pictures to show our proud accomplishment.

Court and Lee started surfing last week they have been out twice now. They get to use padded boards as to not hurt themselves. Court has managed to get a couple of rashes which he says have come from surfing.

Our South African housemate will be leaving us the end of the week, I guess sleeping on the living room floor didn't seem like a long term option for him. He acutally cooked us dinner last night (only because the Sharks lost the Super 12 game).

Michelle our other Midland friend has come over a couple of times this week including last Sunday for our large Roast Beef dinner, and quite enjoyed herself. Including the 3 slices of chocolate cake she took home with here. She did however leave us a box of wine. (Mom I do have to apologize other people do drink wine out of a box).

Saw the Mexican last week at the movies (everything is about 3 months behide), it was ok...but I would have to say it is a renter.

That's about it for this week. Although just to update you my brother new rugby team the "Academy", has lost their first two games. The Nomads are 1 - 1 with a big win over Lindsey in Week 1 and a tough loss to the Welsh this week. There is also a big week on the Rugby front in Canada with the upcoming English team tour, if you can get down to fletchers to watch it would be will worth your while.

Last but not least we had our apartment broken into, we didn't lose that much stuff just a couple of cameras, sunglasses, and various other little things. So I know can say I have tried out both the Australian Medical and Police service. I guess the luck of the irish doesn't carry along always. Not to worry and these things can be replaced.

Until next week.... A Rainout, and Old Friends!!!

A new week and new updates, on the rugby front this week, our games against Waverly were rained out. For most of the day friday and all Saturday morning, Sydney was in the grips of a monsoon rain storm. All the pitches are owned by the local government, and double as cricket fields, so the council's decided it was too much rain, and the games were cancelled. So everyone will have to go without any blood or game stories for another week. Mark did however get promoted to the first team for this weeks game. I remained on the 3rds out on the wing, to better use my blazing speed (or to keep me out of the way).

This week I had an old friend from Guelph stop by for a couple of days, and chaos ensued. Scotty aka Gaelith, one of my housemates from third year has been in Australia since January doing experiments for his masters. He is on his way home and thus touring all the sites of the land downunder. I recieved an email at the beginning of the week, that he and a friend would be arriving Wednesday night from Melbourne. On Wednesday morning another email arrived, they'd missed the bus, they would be arriving Thursday morning instead. I guess the bus driver wouldn't allow them on the bus, after they arrived a couple minutes late. Scotty almost got hit by the bus for his troubles. Then at about 7:30 AM the cell phone rings, I answer to a "Senile, What are you doing?"...Sleeping, like normal people I reply. We soon discuss details to meet up, and the boys drop off there bags at our place, and we are off to tour the town. First stop the Opera Centre and the Bridge thing, all very nice but not really exciting. Then we take a ferry across Sydney harbour, wooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww. About as exciting as watching paint dry. Next we check out Darling harbour and my favorite thing...Beer. After a couple of Scoonies I leave the boys for Rugby practice. After Rugger I have a team dinner with the thirds, end up missing the last train out to Bondi(Beer, food and chatting about rugby I seemed to lose track of time). On my arrival home I find we are having a little party but our guests of honour have passed out, and passed out hard. We continue to have VB after VB, and chat about all things rugby with our irish neighbour Tom. The boyz don't move not once, not even a little bit, we aren't even trying to be quiet, yet we cannot stir them. The next morning the boyz are off to the blue mountains at 7 AM, I decide to stay in bed and nurse my ragging hangover from the night before. However we do decide to meet up the next evening for a tour of the local pub scence, "THE ROCKS". That evening we meet up just after 10 PM, and head for a little Pub crawl, after touring a couple bars and chatting about the old days at University, I decide with a pending rugby game the next morning I need to be geting home, otherwise I may be on the Physically unable to perform list. The boyz are on their way out, when they decide to stay for a couple more, so we leave them at the last bar. The next day as I am meeting a friend to go to a rugby league game (more on this to follow), I run into Scotty' s friend Trevor..Uh, aren't you guys suppose to be on a bus..Yeh, we missed it...By a couple of minutes again...uh, no by 2 hrs. I guess the boyz found their way home just after 5 AM, and missed the bus althogher, and were just waiting to catch another one, that would let catch up to their tour bus. Chaos I tell you Chaos, booze and buses don't mix, especially with 8 AM departures.

This week I was invited to take in my first Rugby League game. Rugby League is somewhat similar to the Rugby I play, but in some ways alot different. The play downs (6 of them), and there is no rucking or mauling. There is alot less kicking (as you only kick on the your last couple downs depending on field position. It is more of an individual game compared to union, but alot of the same rules apply. Plus, its professional here, and the players earn anywhere from about $50K to $400+K. My friend Christy, took me to see Penrith vs Newcastle, her cousin Matthew plays for Penrith (which is about 1hr drive out of downtown Sydney) so we had reserved seats at about half field. Penrith look to be winning until the last few minutes, when Newcaslte came storming back, and won 19-12. I guess the Penrith side has been having quite a dissmal season, and sits 2nd to last in the NRL standings. The game was fun to watch, and my guide explained all of the rules I didn't understand (quite a few actually). Its hard to pick of the rules of some sports you have never scence just from TV (Cricket, women's Netball, and so on). I also managed to have some chips, beer and a Meat Pie (just like all the other Aussie Blokes), so all in all a great day. I even got to meet a player (Christy's cousin Matthew who was kind enought to give us some tickets)

The rest of the boys in the house were off to the back nine of the pub golf, this time set in Balmain. The boyz must of had a great time, as they came home steaming pissed about 4AM, wanting meat pies and more beer. They also fancied me as a trampoline, and decide since I had pouffed out (bailed on them), I needed to have a couple of beers with them. They finally settled down and went to bead around 4:30AM, and as I type this are still asleep at home well after 1PM.

We have a new roommate at least for a week or so, Sean a South African from the rugby club, also this week Court with be gracing us with his presence, Im sure we can fit him in a closet or something.

I start my new job bright and early monday morning, should be fun, Money is good. Plus I get to make new friends. weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I finished only one book this week, Fevered Pitch about a Arsenal Fan, he describes his life as it revolves around his english premiership soccer team (football), some crazy stuff. How his personal life follows the ups and downs of his team, they lose he break's up with a girlfriend. Really good explains the bloody english a little better.

Mark baked us some cookies from scratch this week, they were actually really good. He will make a nice wife one day.

Lee, Mark, and I went to see 13 Days this week, the Kevin Costner film about the Cuban Missle crisis, very educational. Not a bad film once you get passed Costner's bad east coast accent.

Lee had some more work this week doing the federal election call outs, more crazy call center stuff

That it's it for this week, Im sure more mayham with happen this week with the addition of another Canadian, and my new job.

A Job, Date, and Try all in the same day!!!

Its hard to imagine but I had the luck of the irish for about a 24 hr period beginning Friday at around 3PM. Friday began innocently enough, a cup of coffe at the local american embassy while reading the local scribe. I have discovered while probably not the greatest coffee in the world (its really not even good), it is the cheapest on the beach, and thus my favorite kind. I have an interview at 11AM with a local bank, this is probably the best lead on work either lee or I have had since we began our job search. As it turns out, I wow them with my charm, and qualifications, or it could just be the lack of any other qualified candidates. The interview is quite informal, much like the ones I would have conducted while at CT. I start to weave my tales of customer service, blah blah blah. Sometimes I am a wonderment to creative writing, my three years in the call center has prepared me well for the interview process. The interview ends with a pleasent handshake and a smile. At 3 PM that afternoon, I recieve a call from my temp agency I have nailed the interview and have been offered a 3 month contract. With work now under control, I decide we need to have a drink to celebrate my good fortune. So we are down to the local pub for a couple of scoonies of VB (this is a pint of Victoria bitter for you kids at home).

Now phase two of my day begins, I am lucky enough to have been granted a date with an Australian girl named Christy I had meet the week before (I know wonders never do cese). So we are off first to the CBD (central business district) for a drink, and dinner. Dinner is in Darling harbour, I don't know anything about dinning out in Sydney so my date chooses all the venues, which suits me just fine. I get to have geloppo (not spelled remotely right) which is ice cream of sorts (not as much cream or something like that). I am told all the sites I should find my way to while Im in Sydney, and some outside of the City as well. All in all a pretty good date, I think. (ignorance is bliss). I find my way home to find my flatmates, on my way home I find Mark in a drunken stumble back towards the beach to meet lee at the local pub.

To my amazement Lee and Mark in their state have managed to make friends with some British folks, and the bunch of them are a site to behold. I stick around for a couple of shouts (rounds), and then decide its in my interest to head home before I become yet another drunken fool at the bar. When Mark arrives home he decides its time for a little pay back for our irish friends who woke us up with a rousing version of Oh Canada the pervious sunday evening. He decides to buzz their apartment, but in his confusion buzzes us a few times. He finally manages to rouse them out of bed (and us as well), and comes within seconds of having a bucket of water dumped on his druken head.

The next day is Rugby Day, we are playing at home against Oatley. Once again Im playing on the third team. It has been decided that I will be playing on the wing today (I tell you my speed is decieving). I think I have just managed to decieve them, speed (not bloody likly). Though I am afforded very few chances on the day, we are in tight with a close scoring game. The back line is playing well getting a lot of penetration over the advantage line. We finally make a break down the sideline (without me as I have been sucked into the bottom of a ruck), with some nifty inside passing, we score one under the posts. We are finally in front, and looks like I will my first win in Australia. With about 5 minutes left in the game, we make another break, this time I manage to stay out of the ruck. Our scrumhalf, darts across the field just slightly ahead of me, he throws me a neat little inside pass. A little gap opens up after breaking a tackle at the line, there it is the try line. Running hard I drive for the line, the line draws closer two meters, one meter, try. My first score on Australian soil (even before Mark), I am told later I dragged three guys over the line with me, sometimes the extra beers come in handy I guess. We win 17-8, feels great to get a win after three weeks of defeats. Off to the change room for a rousing rendition of the chastwood rugby song. The 2nds are up next, they win (two in a row), however Mark has played better games (sorry to say, but it is the a result of the night before.), I catch him dragging his ass around the field, seagulling out on the wing. Mark however does get into the first grade game (An act of God I do believe), his play has risen to the expected level. He believes the improvement is due to the couple of beers he had prior to entering the game. The first however lose again, this time by a much closer margin then the pervious two weeks. The ref may have cost them the game, because at one point our fly-half and fullback were into he sin bin. I however don't get to see most of this game as I have canteen duty, serving beers and meat pies to the hungry fans, I take great pride in my job. I do however encounter a few rough points, the first being the Aussies speak a wee bit fast for me. I have trouble with the slang for the beer names, after about an hour I have picked up the lingo and become a service machine. The years of playing around at my grandparents feed store serve me well, as I serve beer and food a fevered pitch. The speaches and boat races insue, we lose again but only because the Oatley blokes dump most of the beer on themself's and thus finish almost a full cup ahead. Mark has become an intrugel member of the Chatswood Races team, however they have lost the last two races I have witnesses, Next Week perhaps.

The evening finds us at yet another Super 12 game, between the Waratahs and the Queensland Reds. Unlike the week before the stadium is packed and a good sight line is hard to find. So we turn our attention to the drink, and socializing with the other clubs members in Attendance. We do manage to watch portions of the game, which is a close scoring affair. The Reds manage to come out on top and thus earn a birth in the Super 12 Semi's. The Waratahs are eliminated, the local fans show there support with a standing ovation at the end of the game. We then off on another pub tour of Sydney, we end up at a bar watching the final of the FA Cup between Arsenal and Liverpool, this is the extent of my knowledge and interest in Soccer.

Other New and Happening of the week!!!

We were all good little sons and called our mothers on their special day.

My brother Pat had his first game for the Kingston Academy rugby club, they game out on the losing end to the Yeomen 22-0, probably not the start they were looking for.

Our week was pretty boring as it monsooned here in Sydney for four days the beginning of the week, a months worth of rain in three days. All the rain caused us to be trapped indoors, and thus we watched our fair share of Aussie TV.

Hopefully I will be getting my new tooth sometime this week, so I can lose this Canadian Hockey player look, although it may have been instrumental in getting me my date with the Aussie.

I only finished one book this week, as my reading pace has slowed a little. Celtic Childhood, the book about my irish friends. This has to be one of the funniest things I have ever read, I found myself laughing out load on more then one occassion.

Lee finally tried the McOZ burger with the same outcome as the Kiwi burger, Not very tasty, terrible in Fact.

Court contiues to email us reminding us he is on his way to vist us downunder, I believe its only one week until his departure.

The Dentist and all things Rugby!!!

As of this morning I have had my first experience with Australian Dentisty, all for the bargin basement price of $740 Australia Dollars. The good thing is my tooth will be fixed in a week, and there was very little pain involved (although I did have to have a bloody needle). The best part was getting to the office for 7:15am Monday Morning. (Who the @#$@#$@ starts that early).

It was another exciting week on the pitch, as Mark and I had games against Cantaburry this weekend. I was playing for thirds again, which is good as I still haven't played that well since I arrived(But Im slowly improving). We took it right to the large coconuts (Islanders as the Australians call them, Fijians, ect), and were leading the entire game. With a 10-8 lead, with less then a minute to go, a questionable try was given to the opposition and the loss ensued. Again we managed to snap defeat from the Jaws of Victory. On a side note, a couple of us backs were almost hit by lighting. The game was played in a blinding rain storm, and in the last few minutes lighting hit the goal post. The shock could be felt by everyone in the back line, and even made my hair stand up on end. In the 2nds game, Mark played an excellent game and was awarded the first star of the game from the coaching staff. The 2nds also came away with a victory which was just as important as individual awards, regardless of what Mark thinks of his personal performance. The 1sts game was again played a miserable conditions, and our speedy lineup came in tough agaist a very large coconut side. The wet field, and large pack caused problems all day for the 1st team who ended up with yet another lobsided loss at the hands of the home team. The 1st and 3rd team losses will mean another very hard training session on tuesday and probably a bit of a shake-up in the lineup.

After the game on Saturday Mark and I were lucky enought to get a pair of free Super 12 tickets for the Waratahs vs. Crusaders. The game was a close played affair with the Waratahs pulling out the victory in the last few minutes with a 25-22 score. The Rugby boys showed us another great time, as we managed to tour around the local pubs again. As with the beer at the Super 12 game in New Zealand , you again had no choice but to buy 4 beers each time up to the consession. One of the funniest parts of the evening game when a female some how associated with club, began telling me that I looked like her 3 year old son. I guess we had the same eyes or something silly like that. I told her this was probably a good thing as her son would grow up to be a good looking young man (this is after a few too many pints and a shot of burbon). Thank you Jim Bean!!!

Lee and I are finished our first temp assignments, mine was pretty boring but $$$$ is $$$$. Lee was assigned to one of the federal political parties doing a phone survey for the up coming election, something like an angus reed survey I think. Just like any other call center job he got to speak with his own fair share of nuts, including a 90 Year old women who only reads the paper for the footy scores and not the politics. Hopefully we will be getting a little more perminate work in the next week or so.

The weather at the beach has been down right terrible the last week, raining cats and dogs. I see why there are so many english here, because it must just be like home. No sun and tonnes of @!@$@$@$# rain.

I have remember the other book I finished it was Resurection Day, which tells a story about what would have happened had the Cuba Missle crisis actually caused Nuclear War. Very Good. I currently reading a book called Celtic Childhood, about growing up irish. I really just trying to find out more about my irish friends, and to seem witty for the irish girls at the Cock and Bull (Irish Bar).

Other News and Notes

Lee is quite disappointed with the Mcdonalds cheeseburgers here is Oz, I will have to agree with him as they seem stale and have little taste. This was not just a one time sampling, took a few dozen trips to determine this.

Mothers Day is very soon, I believe next Sunday. Lee and I would like to take this chance to wish our Mom's very special days. Thank you for all your support while we take our adventures. The Cards are in the Mail, we promise, but we can't be held responsible for Australian Post.

Happy Mothers Day to our lovely Grandma's as well, Mrs. Battrick, Mrs. Brooks, and Mrs. Park, we miss you. Have a great day!!!

We forgot to tell you all about drunken Remberance Day, which is called ANZAC day here in Australia. It much resembles our November 11, with the exception that the whole country gets pissed and remembers the fallen. On a side note I did learn that Australia was actually invaded by the Japanese up in Darwin, and boats were sunk in Sydney harbour.

I think that's it for now. Till next time. Jobs, Rugby and Bondi Beach!!!

May 3, 2001

Im sorry that I haven't been able to update the website in the last week or so, as I have had more pressing matters (Sleep, Beer, and Rugby). The biggest news I have thus far is Lee and I have actually found work, while only temp stuff for a couple of days a week, it is work. Both of us have been doing (or will be doing) call center type stuff (I guess you go with our strenghs, although Im not sure working a call center is one of mine). I was working in a document management dept for a couple of days, and Lee will be doing telemarketing this weekend (desperate times call for desperate messures).

Rugby is going pretty good although I did get dropped to 3rd team last week. (My dreams all came crashing down in one week, back to a call center and running with the 3rds). The games was not without some excitement as a player on the other club 4th team had to be airlifted to local hospital with a spinal injury. Im happy to report that the player was up and walking around by Tuesday of this week. The 3 other games weren't without their own drama as our Chatswood club dropped all 4 games. The 1st game was by far the ugliest, with at least 4 blood subs and a couple of trips to the hospital after the game for stiches and concussions. Mark did however get into the 1st games for about a half all told, and performed fairly well. He would probably be playing 1st this week if he hadn't of skipped out on practice on monday (He says he wasn't feeling well, poor little baby.....I think he wants his bottle if someone could talk to his mommy and have it sent to us at 32 Curlewis St Unit 1, Bondi, Australia NSW 2086). The only problem with losing in consecutive weeks is Tuesday practice was all about fitness, and was probably the hardest rugby practice I have ever been too. Hopefully we will be ready for this weekends game and have a more positive result.

On another note I will be seeking the services of a local dentist, as I have broken off yet other one of my wonderful caps (Not playing Rugby, but eating a sandwich). I guess when your dentist tells you they are good for 10 years or so, he must mean that for six of those years you can't chew or use any of your replacement teeth (If you haven't guessed this is a very sore point with me, as I had to have two replaced before I left home). So right now there would be no mistaking me for a Canadian as I look like Theo Fluery on Game night missing a huge chuck of my front tooth(But damm I look mean).

Seems where ever will go we run into polite Irish folk, as we have met a whole slue who live above us in Bondi. They were kinda enough to take us to the local Irish Pub (Cock and Bull), and then down to Scruffy Murphy's (All Night Pub). So we were out till 4AM on a Sunday, which I might bet is the lastest I have ever been out on the holy day.

Other News and Notes

I would like to wish my brother a happy birthday, it was April 23, I know this is a little late. To my defense I did call an leave a message. Seems my little brother is somewhat of a social butterfly (Maybe Social Polar Bear is a better term). He has also started a new job in Kingston for the summer, and has finished Teachers College (Well most of it). Good Job Patty, Mom and I are proud of you. He is also taking part in the Eastern Ontario Rugby Development team based out of Kingston, so this summer with be quite busy for the big fella.

We have also found out our friend the little fella (Court), will be arriving in Sydney May 22, I guess all our great stories, and his @$%#@ Job drove him to do it. So we will be adding other memeber to our little household of three. So feel free to attack him in the guestbook as well.

My reading spree has continued since last we spoke, and I have finished a couple more books, High Fidelity (Really good, I may have to read the authors other book fevered Pitch), Net Force Hidden Agenda's (2nd in the series, nice quick read), and the Runner (Which is actually a really good book about Germany at the end of world war 2). Side note Mark is obsessed with books about Nazi's, I really don't know what to say about this. I think that's it but I may have missed one.

Like to give a shout out to the Nomads on their successful rugby clinic and the start of their season, in the next week or so. If anyone is interested I think they are still recruiting players. Click the Nomads Icon, and visit their site. Good luck this season Boys!!!

We have sent out some postcards to everyone back home, but I have no idea weather or not they have reached their destinations. But if you would like one from the three or us, or just me. Give me a shout and its in the mail.

This past week I had to have my mom mail me my dress stuff (Shirts and Ties ect), as it seems I may need them for any of the jobs I may be getting. I hope she found them, as I can't remember the last time I wore a tie to Waterhouse. (It was the trip it jaded my last few months (6)).

I can't say we have any food stories, although Lee continues to taste anything we are unsure of. On the other hand Mark has been doing alot of the cooking as his fancies himself a chef (Alright food, best part is he cooks it).

We have also almost figured out the Sydney transit system, which I have to say is somewhat expensive. It is similar to Go Tranist except is heads off it about 100 directions from the center of town, and by no means is in any type of grid system.

I thinks that's it for now, we are still having a great time, and miss everyone. Take Care.

Rugby and Living at the Beach!!! It's bright and early here monday morning, it rained for most of the weekend ( for all you whether buffs). We are actually moving into a more permenate home today, in Bondi Beach (Suburb of Sydney, for you geography buffs). So we are pretty excited, now we just have to find jobs and the future will be gloriously bright (least sunny!!!, livin at the beach).

Mark and I played in our first rugby game on Saturday, although we lost in the score 15-6. I played pretty well, but did show some signs of rust. It wasn't quite what I suspected, this being said I still have alot to learn, and will benifit from having a 3+ coaches. Pub golf turned out pretty good, except it was really hard to get under par, especially after Mark lost the scorecard and got us tossed from one of the pubs (To his credit it wasn't really his fault, damm egotisical bouners). That's the short version, of my first real night out in downtown Sydney.

We are glad to be leaving the King's Cross area, as it is a bit shady. We have seen some things I haven't ever seen living in TO for 3 years. Some of it was really actually funny, and sad at the same time. Today for instance at 8AM some hooker/Crack head flashed us her chest for no apparent reason at all (us at the 20 or so other people going to work). So I will glad to see surfers in the morning for now on. Mom don't worry lee and I can take care of ourselfs, but now I have a couple of stories for my biography about the time I spent a week in the getto. Take Care Everyone.

Sydney Updates!!!!

We are starting to get settled here in the land down under. We have been busy looking for some accomodations/Jobs for the next couple of months to further pay for our adventures. We have also met up with a couple of old friends from the frigid north.

Mark and I have joined the Chatswood rugby club, where we will probably play out the season until September. We are playing second grade this saturday, evidently they were short some backs, especially centers which works out well for me. Practices haven't been as hard as I suspected them to be, but I have only been to two. We had a team dinner last night, with all you can eat pasta (good when you live in a hostel). Saturday after the game the team is having a rousing game of Pub Golf, lots of pubs and beer's. I post the rules next week but some of the highlights are, eating is cheating (two stoke penalty), puking will also cost you two strokes, going to bathroom will cost you a stroke, getting lost between pubs is a 2 stroker, and this is how it goes. Should be alot of fun.

Wednesday our little posse of three (Mark, Lee, and I), took a trip out to Bondi beach to meet up with another friendly canuck, Michelle (another Midland girl, who we hadn't seen in a couple of years). She took us on a wonderful tour of the local pubs (Yes I do realize alot of our trip revolves around drinking holes, but we are just trying to fit in). We also got to see the beach, with some great white sand (I think it was white, it was dark and well we may have been a little drunk). Anyways it was a great visit, always great to see old friends especially in a strange country.

We have posted our rafting pictures from Queenstown, if you would care to take a peek.

We have arrived in Sydney!!!

We have now been in Sydney for just over 24hrs, and we are now on our second hostel. We are starting to learn, but maybe not fast enough sometimes. We managed to get a free ride from the airport, and a night's accomodation for $20. What a steal you might say, and I might say for $10 i'll give you a dumpster to sleep in. Last night we stayed in our worst hostel, a total dive, little did we relize it was so bad lonely planet didn't even rate it. We checked out first thing this morning and have found far better (clean) accomadation for at least the next couple of nights.

We are now in the process of trying to find something a little more permanent, as we are going to stay in Sydney for a couple of months (seems we such a great time in New Zealand, we need to pay for it). We have our first rugby practice tonight, that's right I said we. Seems Marc and I black balled Lee into trying it out. So I may have a story about the state of medicine in Australia.

Christchurch

Our last night in New Zealand was spent in the city of Ch-Ch, as the locals call Christchurch. At first we were going to be good little boyz and stay in. But a day of sitting on the bus, and a couple of crazy Asian bunk mates, made us rethink this strategy. A couple of beers, who could that hurt. Hmmmmmm...yet another flawed thought. We did have some trouble acquiring alcohol as it was easter sunday, I quess sometype of religious hoilday in some parts of the world. Turns out we had to eat food, while consuming our brews. Lee decided this wasn't a problem, due to his quest for the magical 200 pound barrier. Like the 4 minute mile, somethings just seem unreachable. I say dammit, reach for you goals however insane they are. This being said, one beer turned into many, and we arrive home at just after 12. So I think wow five whole hrs until we catch our shuttle to the airport. What if we over sleep, that would not be good...but it would mean more time in this great place. We decide to call the shuttle company and try to get on an early shuttle. We have a plan, sleep at the airport...can't miss the plane then. To our disbelief, seems our 5 AM shuttle is the earliest we can get....So we have to stay at the hostel...oh no. The story does have a happy ending as we managed to get our drunken asses out of bed and catch the shuttle, although I think we were possibly three sheets to the wind still on the plane.

Dunedin

Dunedin, is a student town plain and simple, much like Guelph or London. The students support it and thus own it. While we were their the New Zealand Student Olympics were on, thus the town now famous for student party riots had even more flying around the town. We walked all around the city, caught a field hockey game, and found the student getto. Much like the famous getto in Kingston, the street is littered on either side with emptys of all kinds, the house look to be one step from being condemed. Doors are left wide open, we saw an empty keg proping up a door. This must be a crazy town. Wish we could have stayed longer.

The good part about dunedin was we had to stay in a hotel, a little more expensive but worth it. No roomates, and the bonn de resistance...cable TV. Oh how I have missed TV. We spent at least 1/2 a day veggin out in front of the boob tube.

Queenstown

This may have been our favorite stop, the bars were top notch, and you had tonnes of activities to keep you busy during the day. We only stayed for two days, but our one full day there was a masterful full day. We started off the morning doing a little whitewater rafting, it was a tonne of fun. Because it is approaching the winter time, the river is low and the rapids weren't quite as raging as they could have been, but for our first time it was ragin enough. We have some pictures of us going over the rapids, we will be posting them shortly. Its hard to explain the rush of going down a river, with water rushing so fast if you fall out you would need a helmet.This was a great experience. Then we have time for lunch at the american embassy (McDonalds), before we were off to river surfing. This has to be the highlight of the trip so far, it was such a rush. We glided and surfed our way down the river on boogy boards. At one point I went down a grade 4 rapid (Lee decided this wasn't in his best interest). You can actually surf on certain rapids if they are approached correctly. I caught a couple of waves, I can hardly wait to start surfin in the ocean.

With mad amounts of adreline rushing through our veins, who could sleep. Who would want to, we decide to have another night out on the town. We catch up with some of Britains finest, at one of the local bars (The World), we engaged in some confusing drinking games, (never play a drinking game after you have already had one too many. For one you can't pick up the rules, and why the @$@#$# would you want to have more. Lesson learned). We have some pictures posted from our night at the bar. Finally at just after 2 AM our day ends, only to have to be up at 7AM to catch the bus to Dunedin.

A side note is we had a great Fatita dinner at a lone star restaurant, probably the best meal of the trip thus far. (Sometimes home tastes best, I have decided. Well maybe this is wrong after the Tartar de Bouef, I have decided to go with what you know. McDonalds here I come).

Queestown is famous for being the home of the first bungy jump, but we decide a jump off a 50 meter brigde may not be so much fun, maybe we should just watch.

This is a bungy story we heard, and believe to be New Zealand Folk lore, but it is a funny story. A girl gets up to a bridge a good 40 + meters above the river bed, she we assume is American (as the Kiwi don't care much for the @#$@#$ yanks.) As she edges up to the ledge for her plunge to the river bed. Its starts as it usally does..3 - 2- 1 bungy...she doesn't jump..ok then lets try again 3 - 2- 1 bungy...still stuck on the ledge. So this goes on for the next 5 minutes or so.. 3- 2 -1 bungy...still nothin finally the attendent decides to take things into his own hands..so it starts again 3-2-1 bungy...as he says 1 he gives her a quick shove in the lower back...over the edge she goes..Another Job well done.

Makarawa

This stop would have been pretty boring except because it wasn't really a town but one lodge, with just us staying there. One full bus of 20 somethigs all looking to have a good time. I almost forgot, a BBQ and a couple of Kegs too. The night starts out innocent enought some bad lamb bbq, and some really good keg beer. Its not till after dinner the real fun starts. More Drinking games, but this is the largest group I have ever played with 20 plus people in boat races, and some other game which I will never remember. But the end of it all, we are dancing on the tables, at one point I was involved in a full monty show (don't ask I have no idea why a group of 5 plus guys would start stripping and throwing cloths to the ladies from around the world, although if Im ever strapped for cash, Chippidales here I come.)This was quite a great stop, lots of beer and just a great ole time.

Nelson

The highlight of our trip through Nelson, was the sea kayaking. We went Kayaking through Abel Tasman national park, which could quite possible be the most glorious park I have ever been to, or will ever be too. Green water, white sand beaches, abundent natural wildlife, and great clean air. Lee and I got to bomb along in a two man kayak, Lee actually got to steer the kayak, which for most of you who know him, with probably think Im playing with you. Turns out he can actually drive, but only a kayak. We actually surfed the kayak at one point, this was loads and loads of fun .

We also sampled some of the local pubs, as we felt it necessary to stimulate all the local economies which we visited. After another night out with the irish lads, we had yet another hungover bus ride

Glacier Walk

We were fortunate enough to get to walk up on a glacier in Franz Josef, this was a great time. We got to put on little talons, and walk straigh up and icy surface. Boyz, Lee did manage not to spike anyone, or rip any of his own clothing with the sharp talon teeth. We could have gone swimming in the glacier pool with our guide and a couple of the other chaps, but alas I had forgotten my suit and thus unable to have the refreshing swim. (there was a 1/2 hr walk back down the glacier afterwords). That's about it for the major stories.

News and Notes from the South Idland

Food experiences:Kiwi burgers (@ Mcdonalds, lee tried a burger..and decided it tasted about the same as eating sand.

Vegimite:Again lee tried some of this famous fare, and again came back with thumbs down, and a clear path to the local lue.

Stonegrill:We were in neslon and had stonegrill, where you cook your own food, on a raging hot stone pre heated for your dinning pleasure. This one again a great meal.

Mcdonalds:In New Zealand like at home they have toys for there happy meals, but unlike at home where the lastest disney movie would be the theme. In New Zealand the toys are based on the Super 12 rugby teams. This is an obsession.

Other News

I have finished a couple more books, which I will tell you about (Just to prove that I can in fact read above a Gr. 2 Level, unlike other MSS graduates)I have finished the Train Man (Pretty good), the Brethran (OK), and Net Force (Good), Im now reading Trixie Trader (about Wall Street type stuff). So I do still need book titles as they don't seem to last more then a week.

congrats to the touring side that went to Cinny, and scored as Im told 11 Try. Keep up the great work guys

Sorry we haven't updated the site in awhile, seems my Grandfather has been waiting patiently for the next installment so I will try to update it on a more regular basis. Also if you would like a personal postcard from Lee or myself email us your address, and we will personally send something to you. I can only promise to personalize them with my charm and wit, as only I can. Until Next time take care of yourselfs. We miss you all.

Old Man Part 2

The story of the old man with war siren snore continued in Nelson. While I was at a local gym trying to work off some of the many pints I had consumed. Lee was trying to catch a couple of winks. As he was just dosing off who walks into our room. John the Kiwi, Lee's jaw drops and starts scraping the floor, oh shit not this @#$#@$ guy. The gods were smiling on us, as the only bunk left in the room was a top bunk. John says I can't sleep up there, Im a crippled old man. Lee, decides not to swith beds with the human fog horn, and our man John scampers back to the front desk for another room. Turns out they gave him the room right next to us. When we arrived home that evening, Lee says"Sean, be quiet and listen to the wall". To our amazement, who can we hear clear as a bell through the wall, our man John sleeping like a baby trying to wake the dead.

Stories from Picton

The Story of the Old man in the dorm room

I would like to tell you a story about the old man and his stay in a dorm style room. The man stood well over six feet tall and hadn't missed a meal in any of his sixty plus years. He carried quite a belly, probably from years of drinking beer, and living the good life. He walked over and introduced himself, "Hi, Im John, and Im a kiwi were are you lads from?", oh were Canadian we said with our usually smirk. "Fist time on the south island?" Why, Just arrived today on the ferry from Welligton. Well Im showing my daughters around the south island, I haven't seen them in over 16 years, since they were knee high ." Oh, really that should be alot of fun I reply.". Then there is a erry moment of silence, as we for a reply. I quickly think, oh no are we going to get in throw down with this old kiwi. God, I hope not he's as big as house. The he lets out a quick laugh, to our relieve. "Well we off for lunch, it was nice meeting you.". As we are leaving the room he quickly says, "You boys don't mind snoring do ya?", Oh no I reply, can't be any worse then some of the other hostels!" I couldn't have been more wrong, If I was a cross dressed black man at a honky tonk bar.

Lee and I arrive home around 10ish, after some dinner and a tour of the local pubs. Well an early night it will be good to get some sleep. I nestle in with my new book, and soon Im fast asleep. At 2 AM im awakened to the sound of a fog horn. HOLY SHIT, what the hell is that, I look around no lights are on all the other guys are asleep. Oh it must have been a dream. Then it happens again, and again, what the hell is that noise. Oh I remember this is a little snoring. The old man is snoring, and its loud enough to wake up the dead. Like hell this is a little snoring this is @#$#$@ air raid. I decided I will go to the bath room come back and put it my head phones that should drown out the sound. Well it didn't, the old man is so snoring so load it drowns out my walkman. I so come to relize i'm not the only one up...Lee and the other 3 guys in the room are up as well, all wide awake listening to the old man sound off his fog hog. The rest of the night I get to listen to the wonderful sounds of the old man snoring. It doesn't let up, not once until the old guy awakes at 7AM and leaves...finally quiet I can sleep.

Lee and I get as we have a 10AM check out, and I have some laundry to finish. As we dicuss the events of the previous evening I find out from lee ( who was sleeping above the old fart), the the old guy also had a bit of a gas problem as well. Lee had dubbed our old guy Sir snores-a-lot. Later on in the morning I see Sir snores-a-lot outside the hostel waiting for his daughters to get the stuff together and jump in the van. As I pass by the old man yells"How did you sleep?" Oh pretty well, pretty well. He replies"That's great"....Who am I to ruin the old guys time, besides one day to I will be an old man.

Other news from Picton

We crossed on the ferry yesterday from Wellington, it took about 3 1/2 hrs to make the crossing. We couldn't have asked for a greater day to do it. Sunny and not a cloud in the sky (Although I do have a bit of a burn on my forearms and face). The last night in wellington was a bit eventful as well. The hostel had overbooked our room, and I had to wait up until 1:30am for a drunken Fin to come home so I could tell him he had to move out of my bed into another room. The only thing was he was pissed, but his english wasn't very good and he kept saying he wanted to move into the other room, when he clearly didn't. Another solid international encounter.

Our Irish friends did however manage to miss their ferry to the south island, and were stuck in wellington for an extra day. I see reasons why we get along so well with them.

We are off to Nelson today, for some sea kayaking and some mountain biking and all around outdoor fun. More News from Wellington

Last night we were out on the piss with a couple of irish lads. I have now seen the thriving metopolitan of Wellington on a Monday night. (Not much too see).So Im a wee bit hungover updating the site.

News and Notes

We would like to thank everyone who has signed on to our site and given us advice in a wide range of areas. But Please try to keep it moderately clean as my mother does read it. So if you wouldn't tell your mom, please don't tell mine.

I have finished reading the three books that I brought with me. The Old man and the Sea, the Catcher and the Rye, and the Celestine Proficies. All were pretty good, except the Old man and the Sea was a little hard to read for a boy from Midland. The reason Im telling you this is because I need some suggestions on some books to read in the future. (Swank and Penthouse do not count). So please feel free to flip me a couple of titles for my reading pleasure.

Check out the new Pics section...Updated

Wellington

We have just arrived in Wellington which for everyone at home is at the bottom of the north island in New Zealand. It is pretty miserable out today and has been raining since we got up, but we did drive through the northern mountain range. We also saw alot of sheep...hmmm.

Tarangi

We stayed last night in the town of Turangi, which is about 2 hrs south of Rotorua (our last stop). We had a BBQ and met all the other magic bus riders, and had a couple of pints from the mirco brewery on site. We also believe Tarangi to be the crime capital of New Zealand, as there were more then one specific warning to lock up your stuff. More so then any of the other stops.

Sulpher Springs

Yesterday, we also visited the geo thermal park, saw a giser and some more stinkin sulpher pits. The area around Rotorua will at one point smelll like rotten eggs, due to the sulpher activity under the ground. (All pretty boring, but it's not red meat).

Super 12 Game

As for Rotorua, will had quite a great stay, with of course the odd hiccup, but that seems to be the story of trip thus far.

We also saw one of the New Zealand All Blacks working out at one of the gym in Rotorua while we were there, we haven't quite figured out who it was but I am certain it was an All Black (really cool).

On Friday, we had tickets to the Super 12 Rugby game between the Highlanders and the Chiefs, being as we were in Rotorua will had to cheer for the cheifs. We first had to get ready to go to the game, which meant a trip to the local Sports store to pick up anofficial T-shirt and Jersey. Then we were ready to go to the game. There was a curtain raiser between the local boys high school and a touring South African side, which was a great game in itself to watch. Then on to the main event, and the home town chiefs didn't disappoint blowing out the highlanders 50-19. After the game we also got to rush down onto the field with about 10,000 other fans and rub elbows with the players and enjoy the victory. We have some really great pics.

Maori Dinner

Upon arrival in Rotorua we decided to head out for an authentic Maori dinner. We basically had food cooked in the ground (which was alot better then the tartar de beouf), and a tour of the village. The local natives were dressed in traditional garb, and performed many of what would have been the local customs hundreds of years ago. Lee managed to pick up some of the local language, but I on the other hand still am having trouble with a basic Maori hello. At the end of the evening our bus driver, who could say hello in over 100 different languages, and do a great Elvis impression gave us a traditional Maori goodbye. This consists of your left hand on their right shoulder and a gentle touching of the noses twice. All in all a pretty great experience all around. (The meal was buffet all you can eat, which is always a positive).

Glow Worm Caves

Lee and I decided a trip to New Zealand wouldn't be complete without a trip to the center of the earth, via some glow worm caves in a inner tube. First things first the glow worms are actually glow maggots, but deciding this wasn't good for tourism the name was changed. We doned rediculus wet suits and headed off with our redneck farm boys to the the caves. The boys were definately from the country, as the cave business doubled as the rugby clubhouse. As for the caves themselves at one point we were over 300ft below the surface, we glided with ease through the caves, but every so often the guide would set off a fire cracker, just to make sure we were awake and all. Again another once in a lifetime experience.

Things to do in Auckland

While in Auckland we took in some more of the local sites, which included the Skytower (mini-CN tower), a casino (which kindly removed me of $5), the Nautical museum, the Loaded hog (Bar, great fish and chips), Miss Conginality (IMAX), the local YMCA (we did some Lengths). The other crazy thing about Auckland is the way the locals cross the streets downdown, once the light changes they go everywhich way, including on a diagonal (You have to see it, its a little confusing the first couple of times you see it).

Other Information

our first bus driver with magic bus was banana boy. Dressed entirly in yellow. He also started and finished every sentence with Ok Cool.

Sizzler sucks, yet another venture into bad eating.

Do not give a bartenter a sideways peace sign, because Lee told a bartender in Rotorua to go @#$@#$@ himself, needless to say we didn't get any beer.

We stayed at two places in Rotorua Hot Rocks and Kiwi Paka, in Hot Rocks we were in Bunk beds over 7ft off the ground, fun to get in and out of. The Kiwi Paka had 10+ School buses of high school kids, (Court and Buss would have been in heaven).

Auckland

We have now arrived in Auckland and spent the day one recovering from the 3am flight and the tartar de beouf. Lee is still not totally well. We Just arrived back at the extremly hot hostel, after spending a few hrs harbour side sipping some pints and watching the unbelievable parade of New Zealand women walk by. You would have to see it to believe it. Tommorow we will be going on an America's Cup boat on a tour around the city, plus whatever other fancy strikes us. On Saturday we are going to a Super 12 game between the Cheifs and Highlanders...Should be alot of fun..Until the next Cyber cafe

More Tahitian Adventures

During our brief stay in Papeete Tahiti, we did have a number of interesting happenings. First being the "Trois Fromage Incident"

Lee and I decided we would like to taste some of the local fare and headed to a pizza joint just down the road from our hotel, once inside the place we encounter the first of what would be two major problems, one was a language barrier with the wait staff and second was the smell of death. We decided to tough it out and ordered a couple of Hinano (local beers) and Trois Fromage, believing with our limited french that meant three cheese pizza. It indeed did mean three cheese pizza but the cheeses were blue cheese, parmasan, and and unidentified third cheese. Trying our best to go with the flow, we quickly ate the fowl smelling pizza set in front of us, this would come back to haunt us later one that evening the what we would call the revenge of the Trois Fromage. So just because you think you know what something is does not always mean you do. This leads to the next story about tartar le beouf.

Lee and I on our last day in paridise and with a substantial amount of the local currency decided we deserved a nice dinner out and headed to a local place that looked like it would more then make do. Once inside we ordered a couple more Hinano's and what in our very limited french were a couple of steaks, or tartar de beouf. To our surpise Tartar de beouf turns out to be raw hamburger. Our first reaction was to just pass on the meat and chalk it up to a language barrier. Then the $2.75 reared its ugly head and a bet was on. So the raw meat was topped with a raw egg and some onions, and off we went to sure doom. It was has to be the longest and most painful meal of my life both lee and I managed to finish our dinners, but not before a number of very strong gag reflexes.

The story of the Tartar de beouf does not end here, as the meat sent lee's digestive system into a tailspin, and after 4+ trips to the local lue and the cold sweats his ordeal ended. After enduring such pain for such a stupied bet I decied he had earned back the $2.75, but as we sit and type this in a cyber cafe in Auckland, Lee's stomach is still kicking up a bit of a fuss, and he also swears that he is now a vegitarian.

The Bus stop incident

Our local tour guide told us that we should go to the other island across from Tahiti Nui, Moorea. So the next moring we boarded a jet boat and were off to the club med on the other island and what we hoped would a great day in the sun on a white sand beach. This was not meant to be however, as we missed the bus to our tropical destination. After waiting for an hr for the next bus to come along we decided that it couldn't be that far of a walk and off we went in the noon pacific sun. We could not have been more wrong. After about an hr we reach the local airpoint and decided to turn back, only after learning a cab ride to the club med would cost $45.

As we started back and realizing we were burnt to a red crisp, a nice island women took pitty on a couple of Canadian's and drove us all the way back to the ferry dock. Once back at the ferry dock we decided we needed to cool ourselves down with a couple of beers, and Heineken was the beer of choice, so here were are in a foreign paradise drinking beer at the local bus stop with the locals. On Lee's third trip back to the beer store, one of the local's offered him some Papakaye (Island weed), he off course declined decided we were in enough trouble just drinking beer.

We were then off to Mcdonalds for some familar food, and took the opportunity to have our picture taken with Ronald and a local native girl mopping the floors (Again the $2.75 was involved).

Our tour of the island

We did learn alot about Tahiti when we went on our day tour of the island. We saw the entire island included parts of Tahiti iti (the little tahitian island). We learned that the great french painter Paul Gauion (may not be the correct spelling ) died of Sypillus and not a heart attack as was reported. That Tahitian will keep their daughters out of school if they are too skinny, only allowing them to return once they have put on the prescribed amount of weight. Schooling and Medicare is free. We also learned that Weed is so abundent they give it away.

We did have a free lunch buffet where I tried a little Maui Maui, and some other local fare I can't remember the name off. Watched a local fisherman feed some Jackfish and a shark. Also the french gained control of French Polynesian only after getting the Tahitian King super bombed on wine to the point he had no idea what he was doing.

Other interesting Information

Lee managed to sunburn his hands.
Due to our problem with the local currency and the high cost of everything. We refer to the Pacific franc as the Stupied @#$W$%@ Money
Beer is amount $16 for a six pack (Heineken's)
Breakfast was our favorite meal of the day, it consisted of great french bread, crossients, and fresh local fruit and of course coffee, all for the bargain basement price of $30 (for two).
Old french men like younge french girls two guys at our hotel had mates with them at least 30 years their junior. Tahiti Treat

We have arrived in Tahiti, after 21 hrs of travel. We are now sitting in a cyber cafe in 80+ degree heat. These internet cafes are everywhere. Although I am having trouble typing on this french keyboard. So the spelling will be alot whorse then usuall.

We left Person to LAX where we were to have an hr layover, which was just long enough to have some burger king, US style. Then we boaded air new zealand (which had by far better flight attendants, then air canada). The flight was long, especially with the couple reclined in front of us for 9 hrs. Because sleep was in short supply, we went straight to bed last night.

We awoke to a sunny paradise, and had breakfast by our black sand beach underlooking the mountains of Papeete. We have now walked around the island, we did take a bit of a wrong turn and ended up in a less then favorable part of the city. We just now finished our first beer at 11 am local time, but the rest of the day seems to be open.

Last couple of things, we saw a stealth bomber while flying over the rockies. Seeing the grand canyon and the rockies were also very very cool. Thats it for now....surfs up!!!!!

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