Australian Open Golf Tourney

Posted on December 1, 2013 by robandlinds

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!

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.

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!

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

Ride for two?

Posted on March 18, 2012 by robandlinds

Tom and Lynne purchased a lovely gift for Rob and me prior to moving back to the UK; a sea plane voucher over Sydney. I was selfish enough to take the voucher and use it myself.

Luckily, I had Jenny to share the adventure with! 🙂

View of downtown Sydney from Rose Bay

This is a birds eye view of Manly

If you’d like to hear how the rest of the flight went, please feel free to call or email me.

First to Celebrate!!

Posted on December 31, 2011 by robandlinds

Rob and I took a walk down towards Cremorne Point – about a 20 minute walk from our flat – around 9 AM on New Year’s Eve Day and people were camping out the night before to make sure they had the best view of the Harbour Bridge. It was nuts!!

Luckily, we purchased tickets about a month in advance to a house on government property. It was only $20 per person with some of the best views in the city – AND we were able to bring all the food and booze we could carry (compared to $300 per person just to watch the fire works at the Opera Bar, food and drink not included).

We were sitting on a hill overlooking the Harbour Bridge, right near Rose Bay.

The guys showed up 2-3 hours before the gates opened, thinking we would be standing in an already long queue, but they were the first ones there.. by more than an hour.