Opera Anyone?

Opera Anyone? The Mikado …. Starring Anthony Warhall
Tracie did it again, she surprised me with an amazing experience. Six months ago she booked tickets to one of the world’s most famous opera houses, The Sydney Opera House which was featuring Andy Warhall in the Mikado. Brian and Jean drove us and looked after our kids while we went and then picked us up afterwards. We didn’t go straight home but rather sampled some of the bistro’s and bars that Sydney offered. We met this crazy but nice guy from South Africa who obviously had a very colourful past. As the evening progressed he began to get a little disturbed. This marked a great time to leave. When we looked at the time we noticed it was after 3:00am and all the kids were at Sinclairs rooming house watching scary movies. They were all awake when we arrived but the girls were thrilled we were home because I think they scared the heck out of each other.

Ferry to Manly

Ferry to Manly Beach
Sydney is huge. Larger than Toronto but more disjointed sprawling over one beautiful picturesque Bay after another. With 4.5 million people at its core and transportation challenges beyond the scope of most municipalities, Sydney has done a remarkable job in dealing with it. From the development of an extensive subway system to an intricate tunnel system incorporated into the roadways to the public ferries that use the main waterways.
We decided to try to take the Ferry from downtown Sydney to Manly Beach. The Ferry cruised the main Sydney harbour and was 19 dollars return for the family opposed to hiring a charter and spending $200 dollars for the same route.
Manly is the competitor to Bondi surf beach. It is quaint and definitely a tourist beach town. I would have to say the beach is nicer in Manly but the surrounding area of Bondi and its proximity to the core make it a more attractive spot for us.
The culture, festivals and Arts are abundant in Sydney. If you were traveling without kids you could really take in the nightlife and the sights which would be impossible with a young crew.

Brian and Chris make a run for the medal round

Brian and Chris make a run for the medal round- 4th Place

Damn Asians! Just kidding! These folks are so talented and amazingly graceful players. We got knocked out of the medal round today by 2 points. So close, but we vowed to try again in four years in Torino Italy, the next location for the World Masters. An amazing experience that we will not long forget. It is so rewarding living life to its fullest opposed to watch it and criticize it as it hurries by. There were a million reasons why we should not have done this from family to work and everything inbetween and I am so glad we did not pay heed to any of them. My advice, not that you’re interested, is to Live Boldly and you won’t regret a thing.

Meeting up with the Johnsons

Meeting up with the Johnsons
Tracie and I are finished our event. I am going to meet up with Brian Johnson who has travelled to Australia with his family to compete in these games. His mixed partner dropped out at the last minute and so he and I decided to compete in two doubles events ( 35-40 and 40-45). We see former world champions from all over the world participating but mostly they are Asians. We are truly a minority being some of the only white people here.
Brian and I run into each other and quickly decide to get the families together. His wife Jean has much in common with Tracie and their two boys Matt and Jack are 13 and 12 and got along with our kids like a glove and hand. The girls were evaluating the Johnson boys as potential futures and the boys were only interested in playing rugby, surfing, swimming, and reciting Russel Peters comedy routines to each other. In short, they are a great family, great people and great kids and a pleasure to get to know them a little better as travelling with people can only do.

Manly Beach

Best ways to see the Sydney Harbour
If you want to save 200+ dollars when you are in Sydney, then instead of taking the harbour cruise, jump onto the public transit ferry which goes to and from Downtown Sydney to Manly Beach. It’s a great ride and it will only cost you about 4 bucks.

Giuffre Mixed doubles team tear up the courts

Giuffre Mixed Doubles team tear up the courts

Squash is now over and time to switch to Badminton. Tracie and I stand in awe at the registration table as we see the teams from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, China, India, New Zealand Britain and Denmark flock around the registration people, jockeying for position. Crap! They are even competing for a time on a court before the play has even begun. We are a little nervous. We have to play a mixed team where the man is from India and the gal is from New Zealand. We lost the match 2 games to 1 and we were proud that we didn’t embarrass ourselves and actually came close to winning. The next team from Tasmania barely beat us in points and our final game was lost in a tie breaker. I couldn’t be more proud of the fact that we were the only husband/wife team at the games and we had a good showing. It is a little surreal to ruminate on the fact that we are traveling the world on a sabbatical year with our family and threw in a World Masters Games which only occurs once every 4 years as a side bar. I am so lucky to have a wife that was willing to “give it a go” after learning to play badminton in a high school gym in Swift Current by an Art teacher who knew the theory and not the game. She joined Ladies league 4 years ago at the Glencoe and here we are at the worlds. Quite remarkable!

Thanksgiving at the rooming house

Thanksgiving at Sinclair’s Rooming House
It’s officially Thanksgiving here even though we are 17 hours ahead of you back home. Tracie has insisted on preparing a traditional feast and off we went to the Coles Market and bought 3 massive birds and a large ham and all the fixings and brought them back to the communal kitchen to prepare. We have received many weird looks as we have taken over the place and these long term residents are somewhat taken aback. Little do they know that it is for their benefit. However, right now, we are being dubbed as the garish North Americans who have mutinied the prized kitchen. A few of the German gals muscled their way in and Tracie killed them with her usually kindness and her graciousness which shocked them into submission. We invited the resident manager Glen to sit at our table and exchange old war stories of his years in Hospitality. He and Stan got more and more vocal as the port bottle was consumed with joy. As the other boarders who were also staying at Sinclair’s each arrived home, the children would greet them with a welcome and invite them to share our meal. Most were flabbergasted and yet delighted. They do not have a thanksgiving tradition in neither Australia nor Europe so it seemed strange to them but they were more than happy to participate in a free meal. Many went back for seconds and thirds. Afterwards they all wanted to bring out their special stashes of Booze and Chocolate and share them and everyone spent the evening conversing and sharing their points of view. The kids did not want it to end as they sat in fascination as 32 strangers came together one special evening in Sydney.

Squash at the Masters

Squash at the Masters – 6th Place

The last time I played squash competitively was 9 months ago at the Glencoe tournament and clearly that was a bad choice. The competitors here are fit and talented and obviously train daily. I may have to leave many skin cells and bloodspots on the court in order to retrieve their ridiculously difficult shots. Nonetheless, I am having the time of my life but my body is rejecting my positive mental attitude. I am stiff in places that I didn’t even know I had muscles. Thank god for the pharmacist and the makers of Advil. Bigger thanks to the tournament organizers who have chosen not to implement drug testing this year.

Our Sydney Rooming House at Bondi

Our Sydney Rooming house

This old Victorian home could tell a lot of stories I am sure and it was an unlikely place to end up but we seemed to make it work. There were two buildings separated by a courtyard. One of our rooms was in the main building which had Tracie and I and the two girls in bunks and our own private toilet and shower. The boys and Stan stayed in the other building across the way and trekked to us each morning to meet up for breakfast. The crew would then pile into the van and head off to the Masters venue to cheer on their old dad or parents whatever the case. It was quite cute to see the girls making go Canada go signs in crayon and pencil crayons. I am sure they riled our opponents with their devoted cheers.

Sydney and the World Master Games

October 10-18th Sydney and the World Master Games
Registering for the Games apparently 1 day late…Yikes
We were having a great explore of the wine region when we decided to pop on the news to find out that there have been some problems with the registrations at the games. We looked puzzled at each other wondering why people were registering ahead of time and sloughed it off that they were probable keeners. The complaints were abundant with stories of people waiting 4-5 hours in line. We did not panic as we were leaving in the morning the next day thinking that we were only 2 hours away and we will check it out as soon as we arrive.
Sydney is a beautiful but massive city full of causeways, bridges, tunnels and toll roads. Our GPS was an old out of date one and quit on us the moment we entered a tunnel. As some of the exits are in the GPS was “recalculating” (add British Accent) all our wrong turns. You know you are beginning to lose it when you start pleading with the GPS to please give better instructions or personifying the damn thing.
We were staying at Bondi Beach in what looked like an old Victorian home. Tracie wouldn’t tell me much about it ahead of time but kept reminding me of how great all our other accommodations had been thus far and I needed to keep an open mind. Looking back I was pretty good remaining calm after all of the warnings.
We finally located our house on Paul Street and met the resident manager who proceeded to show us the place. It immediately reminded me of a University residence which I attended 25 years ago. Complete with its common room and shared bathrooms. The kids were embracing the idea as soon as they entered and were greeted by a barrage of German, Austrian, French, Dutch and Swiss students all around the age of 20-26 who were in Australia on a sabbatical or going to school to learn English.
The resident manager was a right proper gay Australian chap who had spent the past 40 years in the hospitality industry working all over the world and had spend the past 15 years or so in Thailand before retiring. He returned to Australia battling skin cancer and a poor, if not, nonexistent, pension ( I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go- hum to Snow white and the seven dwarfs theme).
Anyway I digress, the masters, we need to get to the Masters to register and find out when we play. By the time we finally unload the van it is 6:00P and Tracie finds out that the games started early today in the morning. We begin to get that sinking feeling and yell at the kids and Stan that we need to leave to find the Olympic grounds and since it is night time and the GPS is questionable that we would take the train to Homebush Olympic grounds. A 15 minute jog to Bondi Junction, 20 buck and shitty directions where we have to take three separate subway trains and we were off.
We arrived at Homebush Station close to 8pm and raced over to the registration desks which you would be happy to know was not crowded at all. In fact I believe we were the only ones there. I first went to the squash booth and found out that I had missed my first match. The coordinator made some phone calls and reorganized the draw so that I could still play but I would have to complete an extra match. I happily agreed and then proceeded to the Badminton booth and Tracie figured out that the matches for the next 3 days involved teams only and individual events started after the squash finished on Wednesday. All is good and we didn’t let anyone down especially my doubles partner Brian Johnson who was meeting me in Australia with his wife Jean and two boys specifically to play in the masters.
I am stressed out and need a drink. I didn’t have to play squash until 8am the next morning.