Category Archives: Annie and Geoff

Australian Open Golf Tourney

Posted on by robandlinds

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When you think of the Australian Open you immediately think of tennis — or at least we do. Turns out they also have an Australian Open golf tournament, who knew? Apparently, this tournament was well-recognized across the world in the 70s and 80s and some considered it to be the fifth golf major of the year.  Big names like Jack Nicklaus won the tournament in 1964, ’68, ’71 ’75, ’76 and ’78. This years tournament was at Royal Sydney, just down the road in Rose Bay (east of the Sydney CBD), which is just a stunning area. There were a few big names in the field so we thought it would be worth checking out. To date, it’s been one of the few things reasonably priced in Sydney at $35 a ticket!

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Rob was smart enough to record the tournament and we made it on Australian National TV! Our heads were tiny specks on the television but (hey) it still counts! It was on the 9th hole (par 3) – where McIlroy hit a bunker shot.

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Some of the notable players were Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Stuart Appleby and of course Rod Pampling. We were there for the 4th round and got to see McIlroy and Scott battle it out in the final group. Scott had tons of chances to close it out but ended up losing his one stroke lead on the 18th hole when he bogeyed and McIlroy birdied for the win. Couldn’t have asked for a better finish!

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We were able to get some good footage of the 18th hole here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6njOWPFCRYs&feature=youtu.be

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Mr. Timmy

Posted on by robandlinds

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Our long lost pal Tim Devereux, aka “Party Time”, was in town with his parents visiting us from his new home, Hong Kong. We started things off Saturday with a pub crawl in the rocks that ended far later than it should have. Sunday we went for lunch at The Commons then some afternoon beers in Walsh Bay and then finished it up by watching the Patriots/Broncos game after work Monday.

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It was also great to see our friends James and Anya who came up from Melbourne for Tim’s visit. You can tell we have been here long enough when our friends move away and are already visiting!

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State of Origin – Rugby

Posted on by robandlinds

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It is hard to compare the State of Origin to any sporting event I the US. It is the top rugby league players from NSW vs the top from QLD. Each year they play a three game series to determine which state is best at rugby league. So kind of like an all star game that matters, as it is arguably the biggest rugby match of the year in Sydney. Another weird twist, even if one side wins the first two they still play the third… I don’t get it. Well we had tickets to the third and it was 1-1 leading up to it, this was for all the marbles. NSW had lost the previous eight series in a row and had a really good chance to win but came up just short. Too many mistakes and the added distraction of a big fat streaker who interrupted play late in the match. It was a great atmosphere and fun night, over 80,000 fans.

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We also took a short video of the Australian National Anthem at the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is-_f1Vfl5M&feature=youtu.be

Rob’s First Tri

Posted on by robandlinds

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Somehow Linds and I were convinced to do a triathlon with a group of friends even though neither of us own a bike and NEVER swim. Unfortunately these two issues were not addressed in the slightest during our “training”. We ended up only being able to borrow one bike so it was decided that I would use it and Linds would sit this one out (never seen Linds so relieved).

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The swim was 750 meters (furthest I have ever swam), cycle was 20km (furthest I have cycled in probably 10 years), and a 5km run. I was pretty much last out of the water on the swim (75% sure I saw a shark, not kidding), almost last after the cycle (I was on a woman’s bike and could not figure out how to change gears or raise the seat) and finished in the bottom 5 in my age group overall. Very impressive…. Regardless we had a great weekend in Jervis Bay and I learned a valuable lesson, if you are going to do a triathlon you need to swim and cycle before the race…

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