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)
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