Dave & Dana in Australia

This week was a busy one for us, what with Dana’s parents in town - not sure how it happened but we had some form of entertainment scheduled almost every night.  On Tuesday it was the cricket - yes that’s right cricket.  This was, however, a version of cricket called Twenty20, which without going into a bunch of detail no one reading this blog wants to know is much more exciting that regular cricket.  The basic differences are that this game lasts for about 2 1/2 hours instead of 5 days and features aggressive batting because you have a limited number of balls to hit. 

Needless to say, it was my first live cricket experience and it was actually a ton of fun.  Even Dana enjoyed it.  It was at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which is one of the oldest in Australia and the place was packed.  Australia thrashed England, as they’ve been doing the whole time England has been on tour (including a 5-nil Ashes whitewash). 

On Thursday we went to see a musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.  It’s about some drag queens who travel to central Australia to do a show and put one of their families back together. Sounds odd, but I imagine at least some of you have seen the movie, which is a cult classic and won an Oscar.  Great show.

The next night we went to see Borat at a fantastic little venue - the summer outdoor theatre in the Domain.  Each year for a month or so they set up a giant outdoor screen in Farm cove overlooking the downtown, opera house and bridge.  Such a great idea - sitting around with glass or two of wine watching the sun go down, then the screen tilts up and they show you a movie.  The skyline is quite disctracting, so it was a good thing Borat is absolutely, ludicrously hilarious.

Finally on Saturday we went to see the finals of the Sydney Medibank International tennis tournament.  This is the final tune-up tournament before the big one in Melbourne over the next two weeks - the Australian Open, which is one of the four Grand Slams.  We saw the doubles final, which had Daniel Nestor, a Canadian, playing.  Unfortunately, he and his Bahamian partner lost in a tie-breaker.  There was an Aussie on the other team, so we were sure to make sure Nestor was supported.  Next was the singles final between James Blake and Carlos Moya.  Let me tell you, seeing world class tennis in person gives you a whole new appreciation for how incredible these athletes are.  Blake won in 3 sets but the match was back and forth and was close all the way.

Welcome all to the year 2007.  The new year also marks the first we’ve spent in Australia.  In fact, we arrived here in Sydney 1 year ago on the 6th of January.  It’s been so much fun here - new jobs, challenges, city, country etc.  We have missed all our family and friends though, so we hope you’re all doing well and that 2007 will be the best year yet for you.  Remember, we’ve got a 2 bedroom place here in Manly that has one of those bedrooms unoccupied about 90% of the time!

That’s right, I’ve (jointly) won the annual football pool that I enter.  There are about 70 participants, mostly consisting of financial types from around Toronto. This is the second year in a row I’ve taken taken the prize, but this year I did it without seeing one minute of football all year!  This is proof that picking sports is a complete crap shoot.  As if more proof was needed, the person who tied with me picked nothing but underdogs all year. 

That’s right, while all of you were wallowing in Canada with a green Christmas, Dana and I were getting snowed on while in Tasmania - it’s the middle of the bloody summer here!  Hellooooo! 

After a busy period getting ready for the holidays at work, Dana and I left on the evening of the 23rd for Launceston, Tasmania.  From there we travelled up to Cradle Mountain, where we would begin a famous hike called the Overland Track.

The Overland track travels 65-80 km over the course of 4-10 days through a World Heritage wilderness area, depending on the route you choose.  We spent 5 days hiking, mostly making use of the huts that are periodically on the track but also camping.  On day 1, Christmas day, we climbed across Cradle Mountain and along several km of ridgeline in the mountains in driving snow!  Luckily the weather improved from there and we were able to enjoy some truly spectacular scenery.  There was also plenty of wildlife - wallabys, pandemelons, snakes and even wombats.

Once we were finished there we caught a bus back 2 1/2 hours down to Hobart for a much need shower and real bed.  Hobart was absolutely bustling, with the holiday week being the time when the food and wine festival, markets and seemingly everything else is going on.  The highlight though was the finish of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, which travels 680 nautical miles through some really treacherous waters.  We weren’t there when the line-honours winner came in (a 98 foot beauty of a boat), but we saw two dozen or so finish (having been sailing for 3 1/2 days or so).  We even saw a Canadian entry from Vancouver finish - we were cheering up a storm!  What a carnival atmosphere - Hobart reminded us a lot of Halifax.

After that it was a flight back to Sydney early on New Years eve so we could catch the big fireworks and be back in time for Dana’s parents to arrive the next day.  They’ll be staying with us for the next 3 weeks, so we’ve got plenty on the schedule in the city.