The Opera House and Harbour Bridge

Today we had the option included in our tour package to take a day trip out to the Hunter Valley wine country. My two roomies and myself decided to opt out and see some sites in Sydney we hadn't yet visited. This morning we caught a taxi to the Sydney Opera House to tour it. We paid $35.00 each and joined the 12:30 tour. I have to say I was very impressed by the history and details of this amazing building, as were my team mates. The tour took about an hour, and when completed, we stayed around for awhile getting some pictures.

Since we were down at The Rocks, we decided to walk over to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and at least go up in the Pylon. Well, I'm pretty sure we got in at least four miles of walking between the Opera House and the Bridge due to the fact that we were too smart to ask for directions. It was kinda breezy and cold as we walked on the pedestrian walkway to the pylon we could walk up. The long walk and numerous steps were well worth the effort as the views were amazing.

We arrived back at our hotel around 5:00 p.m. and hit the whirlpool again for a little while. Earlier in the week we had bought a Kangaroo roast at the grocery store and decided to have that for our evening meal. It was pretty good! The same day we bought the roast we had bought a case of beer. Since we will have little time over the next few days to empty the fridge we invited Clancy and Isaac up to help us get rid of the beer. Mission accomplished!

Friday is our last match day, followed by our team dinner in the evening. Saturday will be free during the day, with the closing dinner in the evening. So, much still to come in the next couple of days for us Dogs. Will update as often as I can!

Tuesday-Wednesday Update from Sydney

Greetings all! It is about 10:00 p.m. Sydney time on Wednesday night as I compose this blog segment. Quite a few of my fellow Dogs are in the midst of our "Pub Crawl" at some of the area adult drinking establishments. I stayed with them for three, but am kinda hurting due to a pretty nasty rib bruise/crack from Monday's match. It's all part of this sport  I love though, and this too shall heal and pass. On to the update!

Tuesday

Tuesday was a free day for all of us 5,000 or so ruggers. The three inhabitants of room 967 here at the Star City Hotel and Casino arose sore, stiff, and feeling what Father Time has bestowed upon us. We had some breakfast, then went up to the pool/spa area for some much needed relaxation and whirlpool time. It was another beautiful day here in Sydney, and we basked in the sun for about an hour after soothing sore muscles in the whirlpool.Next on our agenda was a little stop at the mall by the Harbour for a few things. While there, my lovely, and very understanding wife of 15 years, Kim, made her daily call to me at our prearranged time. Seems things are going well on the home front, and our feline child is adjusting quite well without me. What can ya do?? I love making these trips with my mates, but hope she will be along for all the fun and Rugby for one of the next ones with me. (Miss ya Babe!!)

Our crew of three had penciled in a tour of the Chinese Gardens while we were out and about, so headed that way after some lunch. En route, we stopped to watch a street performer on the Harbour plaza by the name of Psyco Sam. It was an interesting performance, and at one point became even more interesting when he convinced myself and another gentleman from the audience to assist him! Luckily, my sore ribs weren't too stressed from holding some stabilizers for his juggling platform.

When my twelve minutes of fame in Sydney had passed we continued on our journey to the gardens. I was pleasantly surprised at the relatively cheap $6.00 fee to enter, and the three of us wandered around this beautiful area for an hour or so. This is a MUST DO if you ever get the chance to visit Sydney for sure!In the evening almost all of us Dogs were picked up by bus to attend a Harbour Dinner Cruise, and option available through our tour package. The three hour event was rather interesting, and definitely fun for our group. Passing under the Bridge, and viewing the skyline of Sydney was very cool. When we docked back at the wharf it was only a short walk back across the pedestrian bridge towards our Hotel. Since I was still feeling a little sore, I opted for some Extra Strength Tylenol and hitting the hay after donating $25 in the Casino.

Wednesday

This morning dawned kinda of windy, partly cloudy, and cool. Our match was scheduled for 2:00 p.m., so we had some time to get ready to go. We had to call the maintenance department of the Hotel as our washer was leaking, and the dryer had quit all together. They were in our room, and back a short time later with a new set for us! Now that was service at it's best. We boarded our bus and were on the way to the pitches around 12:15 p.m. or so. Our opponent for the day were the Southern Australia Crippled Crows, a fun team to compete against for sure. To start the match off both sides of players met at midfield, took a knee, and toasted each other with a shot of port supplied by the Crows. Not THAT is how you start a Rugby match!

As the Dogs were shy a couple of players due to minor injuries we picked up six or seven extras from the sidelines and pre-arranged discussions with some other players in pubs during the week This is a huge plus for teams that travel light, or have injuries that prevent them from having a full side. I was limber enough to don my Dog Costume for the second time and played about 40 minutes of the 60 minutes over three 20 minute halves. An accidental shot to the exact spot on my ribs I'd injured Monday had me on the sidelines for the last 10 minutes of the 3rd half. It was fine though, I'd had a good time while I was l kitted up and playing. As usual, the final score was a tie, and hand shakes and pats on the backs followed the final whistle. Our very hospitable opponents presented us with a case of the grape upon the match conclusion while we exchanged gifts. An amazing gesture on their part for sure, and well received. Well done Crocks!

We returned once again to the recreation tent to have some food, and of course, a few beverages. The trading of pins, t-shirts, and other items was once again being done at a fast pace. As I have a vest I display all my pins on, I can more or less stand in one spot and people interested in trading just come up to me. I think for the week I am currently at 32 new pins for my collection, and my vest is getting VERY heavy.
I spent a little time with Ron Harding of the FBI (Farm Boys of Indiana). A few of my team mates wandered over, and we had a cold one or two with him and several of his tour mates. Marty "Slabbbs" Rodgers appeared a little later after his match, and we went into the covered tent area to hang out with him and members of his team the Eastwood Charcoals for an hour or so. We have decided to adopt the Eastwood Charcoals as our "Sister Team" of Australia. What an amazing group of folks! More trading, a few more cold ones, then we were off on the short walk to catch our bus back to the Hotel to get ready for our pub crawl. A word of warning about those red plastic things(emergency window breakers) attached to the wall of these buses. Don't take them out of the holders because an alarm goes off!! (NO, it wasn't me!)

That's about all I have for the last two days. I currently have over 1,000 pics saved to my hard drive to compile at tour's end, so once I'm home check back here once in awhile to see if I have posted the link to the albums!

We have our day out to the wine country tomorrow, so that should be interesting. Last day of Rugby is Friday. Will post another update when I can. Cheers everyone!

(these pics are from Monday's match. I still have to download Wednesday's)

Two Day Update

Greetings all. I am doing this update on Monday evening, and am hoping to get it posted before I crash out. A little sore after our first match of the Festival today vs the Antediluvians from Canada. I am getting ahead of myself though, as we had the Opening Ceremony last night.


The Dogs gathered in the Hotel lobby Sunday afternoon ready to get the Festival started. We were bussed to Town Hall in downtown Sydney. The bus drivers earn every cent they make for driving here. I could never imagine trying to navigate these narrow, curvy streets with those large multi-passenger things. Once downtown we formed up in a pretty good spot, right in front of the speakers podium on Town Hall steps. As in the past, the trading began with other teams for pins. I think by the end of the night I had about 18 new ones.

The teams were spread out over about five blocks going in both directions from where we were. A team on one end started a wave somehow, and it went through the entire gathering of us 5,000 players at least four or five times. Pretty neat. When the speeches were complete, and the Official Flag passed onto the Sydney reps, we started our march to the Convention Center. Try to imagine 5,000 players and supporters walking down the streets for 20 minutes on our way to the party.
When we arrived there was a slight delay for some unknown reason, but we were all let in to enjoy the free food and drink for four hours. The live band was excellent, and the costumed entertainers on stilts were a fun addition as well. I spent a great deal of time wandering the Hall looking for friends from past Festivals, and also making new ones during my pin/badge trading. Of course, there were beers drank during the evening, and I'm pretty sure everyone got their fill and more.(yeah, right!)

A group of us walked back towards our Hotel at about 10:00 p.m. when the party was closing down. We were about a block from our destination when shouts of "Hey Dogs" were heard from a corner pub across the street from where we were waiting for a stop light. Three of our team mates were at tables outside having a nightcap, so we had to join them for a couple. Well, a couple turned into several, and we ended up staying there until about midnight, a decision a few of us paid for in spades at our match today.

FIRST MATCH DAY-MONDAY
As stated above, our first match was against a Canadian team. We were picked up by our bus at 10:45 a.m. and were taken to Centennial parks, a huge park complex about a 1/2 hour drive from our Hotel. After getting registered, we were shuttled to our pitch where we were to play. Kickoff was at 12:45, and The Dogs took the pitch with a couple extras on the sideline to spell us when a break was needed. I was in my full dog costume, which everyone thought was crazy due to the warm temps, but even though I was kinda hot during the match, I thought it was well worth it. The teams both played well, with lot's of action, some nice runs mixed in, and actually, a good deal of hard hitting. The injury report isn't complete yet, but Bob White tweaked a knee, one of my roomies, Al Hayward has a very sore hip, and I think I may have cracked a rib or at least bruised it pretty good. We will see how I heal before our next match on Wednesday.

One of the good things about these Festivals is that there is never a drought of players to fill in. Ruggers from different teams just show up, grab a jersey, and start playing with anyone who needs them. A great way to meet even more players from around the world.

As in all Golden Oldies Rugby matches, ours ended tied at the final whistle. The exchange of gifts between both teams was performed, and we all made our way back to the Festival party area. Trading then really began hot and heavy. I did two trades for t-shirts, and also collected about another 15 pins. Dave McDonald had promised me some very nice ones, and I want to thank him here for feeding my addiction with six or seven very unique and hard to acquire pins. Cheers Dave!

Since I was playing, and so was Al, the main photog, I don't have any action shots of the match to post at this time, but will get them from our fans on the sidelines in the next day or so.

We stayed at the grounds for a couple of hours, then caught a bus back to our Hotel. Al and myself headed up to the whirlpool for some much needed RX. The results of the 30 minute soak were favorable for both of us. Now, it's time for a "down night", just kicking back and relaxing. Once I post this I am going to hit the rack and get some much needed sleep. Though extremely fun, these Festivals are hard on us old guys ;)
Tomorrow is a free day, with our team's Harbour Dinner Cruise scheduled for the evening. Gonna sign off for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Better Late Than Never!

My apologies to everyone back home who have checked to see an update from Saturday. It was an amazing day, and I was a bit tuckered when I arrived back at our Hotel from the days' festivities, so am doing an update now. It is sunny and around 75 degrees this morning here in beautiful Sydney. As I type this, it is 11:20 a.m. here. My room mates have gone to the grocery store to restock our kitchen, and I am waiting for a couple calls from fellow Dogs as to their room check-ins. Now, on to yesterday!

Bill, Al, and myself had penciled in some time at Bondi Beach for the day, then off to a Rugby match in the afternoon. We grabbed a taxi at our Hotel, then enjoyed the City sights on our 20 minute ride to Bondi. It was a bit hazy, but warm enough to break out the swim trunks and relax on the sand for a couple of hours. I could never do justice in describing Bondi, so a few pics so you have a general idea of what we saw.

When I get back home and wrap this tour blog up I will post the link to my Flickr albums so everyone can enjoy all the photos we have taken, and will take this week. I just have too many to many to choose from to post them all here.

We were at the beach for about three hours. In the last couple of days we have compiled a list of the Australian beers we have sampled/consumed in our travels around Sydney. To date: James Squires Amber Ale, Victorian Bitter, Pure Blonde, Tooheys New, Carlton Draft, and Boags. Without a doubt, the list will be added to!

Our afternoon was going to be spent at a Preliminary Final match with Eastwood vs Randwick. The match was being played at the East RUC's pitch. I have to tell you folks, this is to date the best afternoon/evening I have spent in Sydney! Our good buddy Slabbs Rodgers is a member of East, and when he said we'd have a great time, he WAS NOT kidding!

The taxi ride from Bondi to the pitch at Eastwood was interesting to say the least. I actually had to get out the City map book for the driver and quide him there! Let's say there was a slight language barrier to add to the confusion if you catch my drift. We eventually did arrive though, and met up with felow Dog Clancy Turner. So, us four Yanks settled in with 100's of enthusiastic fans and players to watch an amazing two halves of Rugby. I bought a Roast Roll and a Box of Chips to make sure the countles. s beers to follow had a little something to work with.

The match itself was quite the battle. Slabbs told us that between the two teams competing there were 8 current or former Wallabys! Wow, what an exciting place to be for a small town Iowa boy folks!

Here's a couple of pics from the match:

As you may notice, quite the crowd was attending. We made several new friends, as you will whenever ruggers gather, and just had a fun time (somewhat beer induced as the evening progresses).

This next photo is for the boys of River City Rugby, my home club back in Iowa. Gentlemen, a tradition at least at the Eastwood Club is that at the end of the season if you have not scored that season, you must attend the last function at your Club "dressed up". I think we should possibly look at adopting something similar for our Club. What ya think?

Sadly, East lost a hard fought match to Randwick by only a couple of points. We stayed around for another hour with some of our new found friends, then made a short hike to a main road to catch a taxi to our Hotel about 8:00 p.m.. As it had been quite a long day, I think the four of us were all out cold by 10:00 p.m. These tours are just so taxing on us old farts!

The rest of the Dogs will filter in today, and we will all join up for the Opening Ceremony of the 18th World Golden Oldies Rugby Festival tonight!! I will attempt an update later after the festivities, but will not make any promises!! I hope everyone is enjoying my blog. I know I am having a great deal of fun doing it. Cheers to one and all, and more soon...............

Sydney Day Two- Friday, September 24th

Day two of our tour dawned bright and sunny. We began our 2nd day in Sydney with a walk around the grounds of our Hotel to see some of the areas we hadn't on day one. With directions from the front desk we located the 5th floor pool/spa area. If you are following the quote contest, the 3rd Sydney quote was spoken here later in the day.

As we had visited the grocery store on Thursday, a light breakfast was prepared, and we were off for some more discovery of Sydney. On our "to-do" list were International Cell phones for Bill Bielefeld and Al Hayward, and a 30 hour prepaid mobile broadband purchase for yours truly who did not want to pay $10 Australian to the Hotel for an hour of wireless service again. We consulted our foldy up map thingies, and forged into downtown across the pedestrian bridge over the harbour.

Our purchases were obtained in a little less than an hour, so we once again did some discovery of the harbour area. As we have been know to be VERY observant, on opportunity to look through a big plastic bubble in a wall could not be passed by.

During an 11:00 a.m. blunch at a warfside establishment, we ordered beers for our pre-meal beverage choice since we were planning on a lunch menu. Weeeeelllllll, lunch wasn't served until noon, so we washed down our ham and cheese croissants with some James Squire Ales. That's just how we roll down here!

We rounded the day's outing off with a tour of the Australian Maritime Museum. I have to say that it was really an informative hour or so we wandered the huge building learning quite a bit about Australia's history. Ask me sometime about the "Dollar and the Holey". See, us Dogs even do some learnin while we tour!

The afternoon was kind of kicked back and relaxing. Clancy "Don Cheadel" Turner stopped in with his friend John who he had been visiting and hour or so South of Sydney. Through a deep discussion about Australian beers and ales we discovered the orgin of our good friend Marty "Slabbs" Rodger's nic name! Apparently a case of beer here is called a "slabb"!! (24 cans or bottles).

Clancy and John left to catch their train back, so the three of us opted for a nice soak in the huge whirlpool attached to the lap pool at our Hotel. WOW! What a great way to get the soreness out of our tired old bodies from the long travel day the way before!

We met up with Sydney's #1 tour guide and knower of all things beverage related, Slabbs Rogers about 6:30 p.m. He once again generously drove us to a few spots for photo opportunities.

We then headed to The Oaks, a great indoor/outdoor restaurant where we picked out a cut of meat, then proceeded to the grill to prepare it to our own tastes. A great way to spend a few hours for sure!

Our evening ended up at The Northern Rugby Club's building. When we arrived the place was pretty crowded as the team was actually playing a Rugby League match on t.v. Numerous supporters were in high spirits as their team won, and moved on in the League competition. Our trustworthy guide transported us safely back to our Hotel once again, and as I sit here writing this I am very much looking forward to meeting up with Marty tomorrow afternoon once again. The three of us are going to watch a match at his Club's pitch that promises to be quite the contest! Will post the details tomorrow.

Kinda tuckered, so gonna hit it for the night. Thanks again for stopping by, and don't forget to check out the Sydney Quotes contest! Cheers everyone! 

Sydney Quote Contest!

Here are the rules:

You will need to check the blog during the next 9 days and check this posting
You will be told the people present when quote was uttered.
You will be given the situation overview when quote was uttered.
You will tabulate a list of all the numbered quotes and who you think said them.
At the end of the Festival you will email me your guesses.
The person with the most correct answers will win a Sydney 2010 Olde' Barking Dogs t-shirt!


Granted, you will have to have an idea of the people these come from, so just the general blog viewers may not have as good a chance to win as those of you who "know" The Dogs, but who knows! Good Luck!


Friday, September 24th quotes:


#1: People Present: Bill Haase, Bill Bielefeld, Al Hayward
      Situation overview: one of these three "broke wind" in our apartment dining room
      Quote: "That's gonna itch when it dries"


#2: People Present: Bill Haase, Al Hayward, Bill Bielefeld
      Situation overview: three subjects are sitting in the 30 person whirlpool on the sundeck at the Star City
      Hotel and Casino pregaming
      Quote: "I wonder what all the poor people are doing right now"?

#3: People Present: Bill Haase, Bill Bielefeld, Al Hayward, Marty "Slabbs" Rodgers
      Situation Overview: we are grilling our own steaks at a restruant/pub in Sydney caaled The Oaks
      Quote #1- "Yours is a little thicker than mine"
      Quote #2- "Thanks for noticing"
      (this one is worth two points if you get both quotes attributed to the correct people)

We're Here!!!!

Greetings from Down Under! I have quite a bit to cover since I took off from Mason City International Airport on Tuesday morning at 11.26 a.m. Myself, Al Hayward (one of my room mates), and Roger & Lisa Schinagel took this 45 minute hop to Minneapolis. Four more of us travelin Dogs joined the crew in Minneapolis: David and Ramona Aguilera, Billy Bielefeld (my other room mate), and Isaac Luten. Since we had a few hours until our flight left for LAX, we did what comes naturally, drank a few cold ones!

Our 3-1/2 hour flight to LA left at 5:15 p.m., and was nice and smooth. The Schinagels and Aguileras were heading down on Australia Air, so parted ways with us to get to the other terminal. Isaac had a flight at 11:45 p.m. to New Zealand, and ours to Sydney was at 10:35, so we grabbed some pizza and a few more cold ones.

 Yes, the pattern is emerging already! I have to state here that unless you fly business or 1st Class, a 15 hour flight from LA to Sydney is not a real fun time. I have a very difficult time sleeping in a moving vehicle, and that held true to form once again. As I am updating this it is 7:22 p.m. in Sydney on Thursday evening. It is 4:22 a.m. Iowa time. I have been awake since about 6:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning! Gonna sleep like a dead man as soon as this is posted!


We arrived in Sydney right on time this morning at 6:30 a.m. The checkout through customs went smoothly except that the TSA agent took my Rugby boots and washed them off because I had some mud left on them from Scotland in 2008. Apparently you can't bring any dirt into this country from anywhere else in the world for some reason??


 Marty "Slabbs" Rodgers was waiting at the gate for us, and proceeded to give us a very fast paced tour of Sydney common. Marty mentioned that at one time he was a taxi driver, and the way he got us around for about three hours was absolutely amazing! We stopped at a few places to get some pics, then settled at a nice little pub at Bondi Beach for a couple cold ones before we went to our Hotel to check in.

We were able to get in our 2 bedroom apartment around noon, and are VERY happy with the setup! Quite the step up from The Clarendon in Scotland! Here's a few pics of our digs:

Once we had unpacked and gotten settled we went about a block away to a grocery store to stock our kitchen up with some basics. As I was putting a sixer in the fridge it slipped out of my hand and broke on the floor! Three of the poor souls did not survive the mishap. We had a moment of silence for our friends, then cleaned up the best we could and called housekeeping for someone to give the floor a quick once over with a mop.

By this time it was around 5:00 p.m. and we were all rather hungry. We strolled about 4 blocks down to the harbour and had a nice, filling meal at the Waterfront Cafe.

I could have gotten into quite a bit more detail here, but wanted to make sure I got this posted while I was still able to. I will update as often as I can, and am sure there will be countless more memories to share before we head home on the 3rd.
The three of us already here owe a HUGE shout out to Marty "Slabbs" Rodgers for going above and beyond for us today! He was an amazing tour guide and made our first day in Sydney very fun and informative. Cheers Marty!!