Welcome to the Gateway Thunder's overseas tour diaries. Each player is asked to write a tour diary and produce a photo album if travelling overseas. Currently on tour is Brad Smith, who's touring Europe and three-quarters of the globe. Previous tours include Josh Gondolf in the USA, James Smith in Africa, Robbie Horskins going halfway around the world, Nick Kyriazis in South East Asia and later in Thailand, Cal McKinnon in Ireland and three quarters of the world, and Brad Smith in Malaysia. Their tour diaries are below.

"TOUR DIARY INDEX"
1. European Tour Diary with Captain Brad July 2011
2. Josh Gondolf's USA Edition of Beardy Thunder takes on the world March/April 2011
3. On Tour with Cal McKinnon August 2010 to February 2011
4. Malaysian Tour Diary with Captain Brad January 2010
5. Cal's Gaelic Adventure January 2009
6. Survivor Thailand - Nick Kyriazis' search for Sapphron October 2008
7. Nick Kyriazis' Malaysian Honeymoon Odyssey October 2007
8. Robbie Horskins' World Tour September/October 2007
9. James Smith's South Africa Safari July 2007
10. Josh Gondolf's US Tour May/June 2007

European Tour Diary with Captain Brad July 2011 (back to index)



Thunder Captain Brad Smith toured Europe in July 2011 to keep tabs on Cadel Evans' Tour de France efforts and to hopefully get Mark Webber at least one win this season. We celebrate the first and remain hopeful of the second.

11 JULY 2011

Trip is going great so far and we are both well. It is 8:00am and we are currently 40 kms out from Monaco. We have booked a shore excursion there to take in the casino, walk the F1 track, the Royal Palace and pretty well the most expensive cars on the planet! This is going to be a good day! I just hope the memory card in the camera can cope! It is forecast for 30 degrees today. The flight over was, well how can I say it.....LONG. So many time zones, I didn't know what was going on half the time. We flew via Singapore (8 hours), then Munich (13 hours) and ended up in Barcelona (2 hours) where we spent a couple of days. Barcelona was fantastic. We went on a couple of open air bus tours to check out the sights. Had a great time also just walking the streets, some amazing architecture! Our ship, the Carnival Magic is super impressive, with so much to do. Our cabin, (state room) is on the starboard side toward the back, and it is so much more than we were expecting, it's real nice, with a window for me to look for tuna/marlin and two bathrooms! We had an introduction last night with some of the other guests to find out that there is 4,500 passengers on board, with over 1,500 crew! You wouldn't know it though, I'm in one of the main parts of the ship now, and only the occasional person is walking past. There is only 5 Australians on board, a few Europeans, and mostly Americans. Up top there is pools, spas, mini golf, basketball court etc. There are restaurants everywhere too - the biggest decision is picking one! Well until next time, hope you are all well.

23 JULY 2011

Well what an adventure! We are currently staying in Hannover, Germany. It is so cold here at the moment, similar to your weather at the moment - a huge change from the 40 degrees we had last week! You wouldn´t think it is summer. Anyway, we are having a great time and it is good to be staying with some one we know, where we can really relax. Our cruise was awesome! A different port of call each day saw us taking a tour each day in Italy which was hectic, but good. Rome was fascinating, a shame we couldn´t spend more time there. We visited The Vatican which was also good. Florence, Capri, and Sicily were all great in their own little ways. The leaning tower of Pisa was brilliant! We even took a tour up to Mt. Etna, only to discover it erupted a couple of days later! It was smoking when we were there. The cruise overall was excellent, with food free at any time of day! Paris was up next and also found that there was too much to see in a couple of days. We did what we could considering it was raining and really enjoyed ourselves. The Eiffel Tower was super impressive, and boasted a pretty good view from the top! It´s a shame we couldn´t stay on to see the Tour finish in a couple of days (Editor's Note: What?! You're not staying there for the end of the Tour?! That's what we're paying you for! This isn't an episode of Idiot Abroad! Then again, maybe it is!!), but you can´t do everything - but we´re trying! We also took a day trip to a place called Mont St. Michel which was amazing. Germany has been great so far and far less hectic, it is a really beautiful place. We leave here for Bonn tomorrow where we will be going to the Grand Prix on Sunday. The weather forecast is very average, but I´m sure it will all be part of the adventure! That´s enough from us for now, and we hope that you are all keeping well. Auf Wiedersehen!

27 JULY 2011

Hello all. Finally, we have a hotel with internet! No more need to look out for dodgy little internet cafes (wife just loves them). We arrived in Salzburg, Austria tonight and are looking forward to the final few days of our trip. We hope to check out the famous Schloss Adler (Hoen Werfen) - the castle where Clint Eastwood starred in "Where Eagles Dare" on Thursday, and tomorrow we will be going on ..... wait for it ..... The Sound of Music Tour! Hooray! The hills are alive, with the sound of muusiccc! If Mrs Smith can sit through the entire Grand Prix with me, I should be able to see this one through. I might even enjoy it! (Editor's Note: Good luck!) We left Germany this afternoon after some great times. We stayed with some family in Langenhagen, near Hannover, which was very relaxing and a good opportunity to really slow down after some big days touring. During this time we caught a train (another train - we are on first name basis with the guys at DeuschBahn!) down to Bonn, where we went to the F1 Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Awesome. What a place. It is located in the Eiffel Mountains, which was absolutely freezing - lucky it's summer! We bought a rug from the souvenir shop to try and keep warm! It was forecast to rain all day, and when we arrived, we discovered that the undercover grand stand seats which we booked were not undercover! Luckily the rain cleared for the start of the race. We had a great view of the main straight, first corner and more - it was super! Pity Mark Webber couldn't win, but at least he beat Vettel who had a shocker. The Thunder boys will be interested to hear that I met a guy in the Frankfurt airport today wearing an ORANGE DINNER JACKET! Just like mine, except he has to wear it for work as the information man. Yes I had my pic taken with him and yes he had no idea why. Classic. Enough from me, hope you are all well. Goodnight!

PS. Go Cadel Evans! Makes ya proud to be an Aussie, doesn't it?

29 JULY 2011

Hello all, well our time has almost come to an end and time to start packing the bags. We leave Salzburg tomorrow bound for home, via Frankfurt, Bangkok, Singapore, AND Kuala Lumpur! The last couple of days have been brilliant. We visited Burg Hoenwerfen (Schloss Adler - Where Eagles Dare) which was sensational. It is a medievel fortress located 150 metres on top of it's own little hill, and has the backdrop of the alps only a kilometre or so away. The scenery here and on the train there was simply stunning, snow capped mountains is something I would certainly not expect in the middle of summer!

Today we did the music thing, checking out Mozarts birthplace and residence. These two places are now museums and were great. We also booked in to see a live peformance tonight, as part of the Mozart festival which started yesterday. We could easily have spent more time here in Salzburg as the place is just alive with stuff to see and do. This afternoon we went on the Sound of Music Tour! Yippee!! I reckon we would have to be the only people ever to go on the tour without actually ever seeing the movie! I must admit, it was entertaining though and the tour once again went beyond the city limits into a country town. Once again, simply stunning views of the alps and countryside and certainly different from what I'm used to driving up to Port Augusta!

We fly out tomorrow afternoon (friday) and are squeezing a couple of final sights in to the last hours. The best one being the Red Bull Museum, full of guy stuff like F1 cars, fighter jets and stunt planes - what a way to finish! Catch you all when we get home.

Josh Gondolf's USA Edition of Beardy Thunder takes on the world (back to index)



Coach Josh Gondolf visited the United States of America for the second time in March/April 2011, four years after his initial US Tour in 2007. Read on for his US Tour diary or click the above logo to go directly to his blogspot. We won't be publishing all his pictures here - most will just be ones in a Thunder singlet folks along with the occasional non-Thunder one (but hopefully not of gorillas in zoos like last time). If you want the rest of the photos, it's off to the blogspot you go.

19 MARCH 2011 - ONE MORE SLEEP TO GO

Someone asked me the other day if I was going to write a blog of my trip...My initial answer was no but by writing this I am sure it is apparent that the answer to their question is now yes. Having said that, I haven't left on the trip yet and so far this is just a blog of about being unable to decide if I am writing a blog of the trip or not.

So why a blog?: Basically so I can look back at in 3 years time and say.."Oh wow..I had almost forgotten about that". Apart from that it is cheaper then sending you all a postcard...you know who you are..

So tomorrow is the big flight...flying out Monday morning our time...arriving in New York City just this side of midnight Monday their time..which reminds me I must ring the hotel and let them know we won't be there until late. (Message to Josh if you are reading this later on and you haven't done this shame on you..I have reminded you twice already).

21 MARCH 2011 - TODAY'S POST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER "T"

T is for Transit lounge. If I never see the inside of another airport ever again that is fine by me.

T is For Travel Friend. A shout out to our nameless friend from Hallett Cove who is on her way to spending a year in Pennsylvania to become a nanny.

T is for ThreeHundered and Sixty degrees. The urban poet who is trying to change the world one subway car at a time...good luck to him on his next appearance at open night mic night at the Appollo on the the third.

T is for Three Thirty in the morning...the time that my body decided it was time to be wide awake.. That will teach me for sneaking in a sleep between San Fransico and New York.

T is for Thirty...the amount of hours it took us to get from our door to this one.

T is for Terrible Food....I am sorry i cheated on you Qantas. I know you wouldn't try and tell me what I ate was scrambled eggs.

Not long now until we start our adventure proper. Had a little taste of it last night when we caught the subway in from JFKto the hotel. Tommorrow we will be more tourist and less traveller....thank goodness.

I had a thought half way accross the Pacific Ocean that will probably get me in trouble with all the mothers out there. I made me understod how someone could go back and have a second child after having the first one hurt so much coming out. I had done this flight before but obviously had somehow forgotten just how long it is, I am sure if remembered there is no way I would have been dragged onto the plane..I guess the fun you have at the end of it all makes you forget about the 21 hours strapped to a chair with your ears about to explode.

Catch you all tomorrow...will have some pictures for you then I am sure...but not until we go and buy ourselves a nice winter coat...The Gabitron says Hi...:)

22 MARCH 2011 - T IS FOR TIMES SQUARE AND TIRED FEET

Today we got up nice and early...if you read this mornings blog you would know that...soooo early. Pulled on our walking shoes and stolled down broadway looking for a good spot to buy a winter coat. We pretty much walked passed all of the clothing stores and into the financial district until we realized that none of the shops open until 10am....for a city that never sleeps they like to sleep in.

Speaking of sleeping in...a tip for beginners...if you decide after walking around all day that 3pm might be a good time for a little nap..set two alarms because as it turns out it is pretty easy to sleep through one alarm. Is it still a nap if it lasts 4 hours? Anyway after our nap we made our way down to Times Square to visit the rest of the tourists and take the shot above...

We did end up getting some pretty nice coats...will be able to give them a good workout tomorrow..weather man says it is going to snow and rain at the same time...I am not sure how that works but I guess I will find out. Looking forward to it....Going to spend some time in the Museums and Galleries tomorrow so we don't get rained on too much.

23 MARCH 2011 - FOUR SEASONS IN ONE DAY



Does four seasons in one day count if three of them are winter? Started out the day rugging up and heading out for breakfast at a local diner up on Broadway...took a bit of a detour to stand out in the snow in Riverside Park to pose for a photo. I was very excited to be in the snow..it was the first time I have ever had snow fall on me...I went to the snowfields once when I was a kid but this was completely different...very cool experience.



The next season was again winter...walking thru Central Park in the snow and sleet to the American Museum of Natural History where we had a little taste of Summer in the butterfly exhibit...was nice to getdown to a t-shirt. I tried to convince Gabi to stay after dark when all the exhibits come to life but she said wasn't keen.

A bit more winter when we had what I would call mini hail onthe way home to the hotel, had a bit of rain aswell...sooo cold. Loved it.



Tonights entertainment was something I had been looking forward to for a long time..Knicks v Magic at Madison Square Garden. Exactly how I imagined it would be. Basketball greats scattered through out the stadium (Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, Bernard King, John Starks, Mark Jackson, a three minute standing ovation when Patrick Ewing was put up on the big screen as well as the morden day greats ofcourse). Aretha Franklin sitting a few seats up from Spike Lee in the front row. Knicks fans booing when their team faded away in the fourth with some horrible defense...exactly how I had imagined it. I think the Gabitron almosthad a better time then I did but it probably has more to do with her crush on Dwight Howard then anything else.

A few galleries tomorrow..maybe catch a broadway show...who knows...soooo much to do so little time. Until tomorrow...bye

24 MARCH 2011 - YOU MUPPET!



What a busy, busy day.... First stop...get our Art on at the Museum of Modern Art..four floors chock full of Picassos, Van Goghs, Warhols, Pollacks and a whole bunch of other things that the Gabitron knows a whole bunch more about then I do.

A spot of shopping along 5th Ave where I got Muppetized...now all of you who thought I was a Muppet are kind of right. Was great fun creating a fabric clone...."I shall call him Muppet Me!!"

We meandered around Central Park for about an hour longer then we thought we would...short cut indeed! Oh...forgot...we also went to the Top of the Rockefeller Center...got our skyscraper on...I took a wonderful photo of the Empire State Building...I am glad I did..I am not sure anyone else has taken a photo of it...would hate for no one to have a pic of it.

Tonight we eerily took advice before it was given...We set out this morning to get tickets to a Broadway show..the Gabitron really, really, really, really wanted to see the musical Wicked (five basketball games in a month I think i can sit through a musical, am i right boys?).. Anyways, turns out there were only 2 tickets left to Wicked in the next week...so long story short, 4th Row centre to see Wicked...Sat next to a lovely couple all the way from a strange place called Australia...all in all a good night...an absolutley amazing Show and a great way to finish an absolutley epic day.

Not quite sure how I am going to get Muppet Me home in my suitcase yet...but that is a problem for another day.

25 MARCH 2011 - GABI THOUGHT OF A CRAPPY TITLE SO I AM NOT USING IT, I AM USING THIS INSTEAD

Took the opportunity to have a sleep in this morning after a big day yesterday...once we dragged ourselves away from our home delivered omelets (gotta love free delivery from all the local delis and cafes) we took the subway down to the Statten Island ferry to catch some views of the statue of liberty and the city from the water.

After the nautical shenanigans we dropped by the United Nations to see if we could help out with the whole Libya thing but they seemed like they had things under control so we went on our way. Oh, speaking of sticking your nose where it isn't needed yesterday when we were adventuring around Central Park we got in the way of a filming for a tv pilot. It was crazy how many people were involved in getting just one shot for a tv show that isn't even approved for airing yet.

I will leave you with one last thought...Grape flavoured Fanta.

26 MARCH 2011 - IS IT STILL CONSIDERED STALKING IF THE PERSON YOU ARE STALKING IS FICTIONAL?

A day chock full of New York goodness today...started out with a walk north up Riverside Drive to stalk my favourite fictional TV charachter and her fictional place of residence...unsurprisingly she wasn't home, oh well...next time. We caught up with the tour bus for the trip around Harlem then spent most of the day getting an overdose of all things art...the Guggenhiem, the Met and the Neue Galleries. It seemed like there were more Rembrandts, Picassos, Van Goghs, Warhols, Klimts and Degas then you can poke a stick at...I read in the pamphlet that they don't really like you poking sticks at the paintings so the theory sadly remains untested...

After getting a bit over staring at priceless pieces of art and antiquity we headed to the other end of the island to look at an old overhead railway line that has been converted into a long park that snakes itself through the buildings...quite something...but hard to appreciate when it was colder then a fridge outside. We took a look at Grand Central Station on the way back uptown to catch a night tour of the downtown district and Brooklyn..someamazing views accross the River...well worth the freezing cold...

Flavour of the day...Mango Snapple...

27 MARCH 2011

Just watching Gabi pack the bags ready for tomorrows trip to Philadelphia. We spent our last day in New York wandering around Soho and the East Village. I bought a couple of pairs of Jeans, my favourite jeans sadly didn't make it through their NY adventure...they suffered a terminal, Gabi can't fix them blowout...sad times..sad times. So anyways..I found a couple of pairs of Jeans, I hope they do the job like my old favourites...they have a lot to live up to.

Tonight we took a walk across the Brooklyn bridge to watch the sunset from the waterside in Brooklyn. Was really pretty to look at but a little cold...ok a lot cold, like 3 degrees cold. Gabi is doing a great job with the packing but I think she might need a hand...I probably should help..catch you all with stories from Philadelphia.

28 MARCH 2001 - NIGHT FOR NOW

We started out with a train trip first thing this morning from NY to Philadelphia followed by one of the most interesting cab rides ever from the train station to, well...near the hotel. We got to the street where the hotel was and he couldn't see it so just started to pick streets at random to drive up and down...not sure about the logic but in the end he ended up turning off the meter. Pure craziness. After that we checked into the hotel...such a great spot..next time you are in Philadelphia I highly recommend staying here.

Spent the day walking the streets poking our head into a thousand and one little historical sights...Independence Hall where they wrote something called the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution..kind of a big deal here as it turns out. A cool little church where all the founding fathers used to hang on a Sunday morning. Tomorrow sees us check out of Philly and head down to Washington...would love to be staying here for longer..what we have seen so far makes us want to see more...but now at least we have an excuse to come back...next time.

Really looking forward to Washington although the man on the TV says that the weather isn't going to be so good but I am sure we will make the most of it.

29 MARCH 2011 - ALMOST DODGY

Lots of pics...went a bit camera crazy today. We rocked up in Washington today in the middle of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Basically it is a whole bunch of tourists coming to Washington to look at all the trees that start to blossom..quite pretty really. One thing I will say about Americans is that they know how to do a good monument. Can't wait to see Australia catch up and build the Edmund Barton Monument in Canberra...(shame on those of you who have to google Edmund Barton).

Despite the crowds it was a pretty good day. We got a bit of a scare this though when we were pulling up to the hotel in the cab this morning...we turned down the street and there was abandoned building after abandoned building and we were wondering what sort of dive our hotel might be...turns out the buildings were abandoned because they are knocking them down to build some big fancy hotel there...our hotel is really, really nice, an lovely apartment with a kitchen that Gabi is using to cook up a nice home cooked meal...had great fun in the supermarket looking at the weird and wonderful things you can get here. You should see the size of the ice cream tubs you can get...love it. Have to go....Dinner is served...going to catch some more monuments and some of the galleries tomorrow...weather man says some snow is on the way.

31 MARCH 2011 - WHERE IN AUSTRALIA? I HAVE A MOTHER FROM THERE. OH REALLY?

Had a great night last night. Wizards v Heat. LeBron, Wade, Bosh and John Wall...well until a scuffle broke out and John Wall got tossed before half time. Was great to see the guys from the Heat...they are just a level above anyone else. Oh...I have maintained that a dunk by Al from my thursday night team was the best dunk i have seen live, sorry Al but a dunk by LeBron in the final quarter last night may have topped it. I think that LeBron guy could actually make the Thunder squad if he knuckled down and trained hard.

Before the basketball we braved the cold and wandered up to Union station, hoppped on the tourist trolley that scoots around the city and then spent a couple of hours wandering around Arlington Cemetry. We were on our way out when we got held up by a funeral procession. It was a pretty sobering time. It is one thing to see rows upon rows of tombstones but when you see a coffin followed by a train of loved ones it really brings it home just how many people sacrificed so much .

Getting some rest this morning...the combination of the cold weather and long hours of walking has taken it's toll. A bit of a sniffle and a sore throat...we will survive though. Having to good a time not to. We are both looking forward to getting to Crockett and Kristy's in a few days. We have one more day of sight seeing here. We pick up the car tomorrow and drive up to Scooter Burgans (my old house mate) place up near Philly. From there we take a looooong dirve to Ohio on saturday to visit my little niece. Hoping that the snow stays North of where we are driving because I am really not in the mood to find out how easy or hard it is to drive in a snow storm...I suspect it is the latter. Catch you all in a few days...if not before

1 APRIL 2011 - PHILLIES WIN ON OPENING DAY. IT IS A BIG DEAL HERE. TRUST ME.

Flavour of day: Snickerdoodle (for those of you not in the know they are a cookie)

Today marked the start of our road trip. The first leg of the trip was from Washington to Doylestown, PA to visit the Burgans. Have had a great day looking around Graemes' new home town, I can see why he chose to settle here. It kind of reminds me of Bridgewater but without the gum trees. Janine is cooking up dinner..it smells fantastic. Burgs is taking his half Australian - half American accent out to the store to pick us up some cheese for starters. It has been great catching up with Burgs today..great when you have those friends that you can see once in a blue moon and it is like you saw them yesterday. It has been more fun ribbing him about his little twang though...having me around is making him sound very American.

I wasn't sure that I was going to make it out of Maryland between the questionable directions from the GPS and the Gabitron adding her own even more questionable interperetations. It lead to one or two little detours but all is well that ends well. Having fun in the car...we have a Dodge Charger, kind of cool to be cruising the states in a classically American car...I do miss the Mini though.

Oh...forgot to update you about yesterday....basically ducked in and out of galleries and museums all day, then at night we went on an evening tour of some of the big monuments....it was sooooooo cold. I thought my nose was going to fall off...happy to say it is still very much still attached. Oh yeah, we also took a tour in the morning up around the embassies...and stood in line to see a few old bits of paper which was actually alot cooler then I just made it sound. Big drive tomorrow...

2 APRIL 2011 - LET'S GO, LITTLE CHARGER!

Now that was a loooooong drive. 550 odd miles...that's miles people, not kilometres. We had it all on the trip...Started out with a bit of sleet, drove up the hill into some excellent fog. Visibility down to about 10 metres..then further up the hill had a nice smattering of snow..on the way down the hill, driving rain...so much for an easy drive. I have grown fond of the Charger. I have parked it next to Crocketts Pontiac GTO...it is like a little muscle car showroom downstairs. I will update you more in the next few days. We have just had dinner and now I have taken over the TV to watch the big basketball game...will defenilty sleep well tonight. Did I mention the long drive?

3 APRIL 2011 - I'M NOT SURE WHY YOU WOULD WANT A FAKE MOUSTACHE EITHER

Went out to Yellow Springs today which is a little collection of streets parading as a little hippy village. Think Hahndorf but replace the German flag with tie dyed tshirts. Had some awesome pancakes at the Sunshine Cafe. On the menu they were listed as Vicki pancakes because one of the customers used to just let the chef decide what she had in her pancakes...so the idea is you order these Vicki pancakes and chef decides what is in them...turns out that pancakes with blueberries, pecans and chocolate chips are really nice.

Speaking of really nice...Crockett told me why all of the soft drink tastes terrible over here. Corn Syrup Fructose. None of the "soda" has cane sugar in it so it all tastes like diet drink...horrible in a word. So to buck the trend Pepsi released 'Pepsi Throwback'..with REAL sugar...only in America..new and improved back to the way you like it.

Animals that I have seen out of the back window today.

Deer
Squirrel
Chipmunk
A Cardinal
Lots of other birds that i don't know what they are...that is the official name of all of them I am sure.
Update...just saw a fox with 5 cubs...sooooooo cute, I want one.

5 APRIL 2011 - I WILL BUY IT FOR YOU ..... IT'S YOUR MONEY ANYWAY

Really feel like I am on holidays now...sleeping in again. Had a good night last night, a lovely meal then settled on to the couch to watch the final of the college basketball. We were all "rooting" for Butler but I am afraid all fairy tales don't have a happy ending. Was definitely one of the scrappiest, ugliest shooting games I have seen outside of women's B grade on a Monday night (there i said it). There was a massive amount of rain here yesterday so we went to the mall. (I am not sure how those two things correlate but that is what happened and in an effort to save myself a paragraph explaining both I joined them up).

The mall was fun. A bit weird though, not a lot of variety just 7 of each type of shop. Obviously the obligatory 17 phone shops but also 9 sports stores which I couldn't really figure out. Most of the people that were in the mall didn't really look all that much in to sports. Oh, there was a shop that Gabi enjoyed, It was this shop that had formal dresses for less then she could buy the fabric for in Australia.

In the afternoon the Gabitron and I decided we would explore the Supermarket. You should see the size of this thing. It was incredible..and stupid cheap. In fact most groceries here are crazy cheap. I was feeling guilty of drinking all of Crocketts Pepsi but then got to the shop to replace it and found out it was 25c a can i didn't feel so bad anymore. Gabi and I were literally kids in a candy store yesterday when we were stocking up on snacks for last nights game.

Crockett and I are talking about heading down to Cincinnati to watch a baseball game on Wednesday..have to check to see what time they are playing if it doesn't work out we will go on Thursday after we finish at the theme park. mmmm...theme park

Will put some pics of me and Super Sarah up on the blog in a day or so...the camera is up stairs and I am to lazy to go and get it right now.

6 APRIL 2011 - GREG, DID YOU HAPPEN TO LOCK BOTH LOCKS ON THE DOOR WHEN YOU LEFT THE HOUSE BECAUSE WE ONLY HAVE A KEY TO THE DEADBOLT?!

The Sun came out in Dayton today. Yesterday we had what has been standard fare on this trip. Any combination of snow, rain, sleet or all of them at the same time. Actually that isn't altogether fair, we have had some nice days as well. Yesterday the Gabitron and I spent the day out in the various malls around Dayton. I bought a couple of pairs of shoes (like i need anymore shoes) and Gabi had fun adding to her winter wardrobe and ridiculously reduced summer is around the corner here prices.

Today Crockett and I sat around the house in the morning watching a movie..just like old times back at Mundulla Ave. The girls headed out to a ladies morning tea. After their return we headed out to the National Airforce Museum. Very impressive museum. We saw the B-29 that dropped the fatboy on Nagasaki, A stealth bomber, A Blackbird, a bunch of Migs, F14's, F-111's (yes Australian air force they belong in a museum not on active duty) anyway I won't bore you with all the details because I am sure you all aren't as interested in planes as I am. Suffice to say I enjoyed it. Four massive hangers of aviation history all the way from the Wright Brothers (their first flight was right here in Dayton) all the way to the F22 Raptor. (Okay I admit it i am a bit of a plane nerd...not an "all the way build model planes, plane nerd" but a "spot a F15 across a crowded hanger and get mildly excited" plane nerd)

Christie is off collecting her sister and brother in law from the airport. Tomorrow the plan is to head into Cincinnati. The girls plan to hit the shops while the boys catch a baseball game. Crockett and I found these tickets on the web...all you can eat hot dog and chips free with the baseball...doesn't get much better then that does it?

8 APRIL 2011 - "IT'S A GARAGE Y'ALL ..... IT DON' GOIN' SHUT" ..... WE HAD NO IDEA EITHER



Crockett, Milton (Crocketts brother in law visiting from the UK) and I celebrated Miltons first day in the States by doing something quintessentially American..heading to the baseball. We got the best seats in the house...not close to the action but close to the all you can eat hot dogs. There are no surprises for guessing what sort of people decide to sit in the "All you can eat" section at the baseball...good times..good times. Crock and Milton left me out to dry at one point when I got talking to this bloke who carries baseballs that he has caught in previous games around with him to all the other games and took great in telling me exactly when he caught them and how...oh..and detailing his plan on expanding the MLB into Australia..I didn't have the heart to tell him that we already have a summer sport that kind of has the market covered in the "when is something going to happen but I can't stop watching because when I do something will happen and I will miss it" type summer sport.

After the baseball we gave the girls a call...no prizes for guessing where they were...I think I got out of it ok..it only cost me a couple of pair of shoes. It is now official...I am not allowed to buy anything else because there is no more room in either of our suitcases. Anyways...the boys decided we would explore Cincinnati, walked a few blocks from the stadium and found the dodgy neighbourhood...that was fun.

For dinner we crossed the river into Kentucky to eat at a German beer house...no I am not sure what is wrong with that sentence either but it seemed wrong to me too. We came back home and played pool until the wee hours and have now slept in...plans have changed for today..we were going to drive to Indianapolis via Louisville and up through the Hoosier state park...but we have decided to spend a few extra hours with Crock and Christie and little Sarah and cut 4 hours off the drive today....going to French Lick will have to wait until next trip to the states...:)

Very much looking forward to tonight....Hawks v Pacers in a meaningless end of season game between two teams that have nothing to gain from winning or losing...why am I looking forward to it so much again?

8 APRIL 2011 - ME, NIQUE AND THE PACERS



Apologies in advance for everyone reading this that doesn't know a bunch about basketball...you aren't going to find this particularly interesting. (I would suggest that even those interested in basketball might not find it that entertaining either).

Just got back to the hotel after the walk back from the Conseco fieldhouse. Had some great seats. Wore my Al Horford jersey which got me a wave from Al during warm ups which was pretty cool. Messed around with the new lens i got for my camera the other day, got some pretty good shots from where we were sitting. Had Nique hang out at the bottom of the tunnel about 10 feet from where I was sitting. Hawks lost...No Josh Smith which was a bit disappointing (Editor's Note: We know Josh didn't play - he's only three and it'll take a few years before he makes the NBA but we digress) but overall a super night.

Tomorrow we head up to Chicago for a few nights then on to LA..looking forward to Blake Griffin v the Memphis Grizzlies....should be good.

10 APRIL 2011 - JAMES, TELL HOPE THAT GABI AND I ARE THINKING OF HER AND HER SORE ELBOW



Have been having a ball in Chicago. If you are ever planning a trip and trying to decide which cities to visit and Chicago isn't one of them...then make it one of them (depending on the time of year you are coming of course because talking to the locals no one wants to be here in winter because it is stupid cold). We spent yesterday strolling around, found our way to Navy Pier where the Gabitron made herself a teddy bear (one day the both of us will become adults but not on the cards just yet it appears).

Today we took a tour of the city on a Segway...great fun (I think it would work so well in Adelaide..imagine cruising along the Torrens, up to Montifore Hill, up past the Zoo etc etc...anyone wanting to put up some capital and get into the Adelaide Segway Tour Company on the ground level let me know). The weather today was perfect...like beyond perfect (although I might just be saying that because it is the first day in a month were shorts have been a viable option).

Flavour of the day: food court Roast Chicken...seriously..soooo tender and juicy, the food in Chicago has been top shelf all around. We went to this great Italian restaurant last night, line out the door, put your name on a list come back in 45 minutes popular but worth the wait ten times over. Actually...two flavours of the day. The Strawberry Smoothie that I had on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Building...check Gabis facebook for pictures from the ladies bathroom up there...ridiculous view (for the record the mens room has no view but does have a Dyson hand dryer which I have never used and was left out of a conversation the other day when we were out with Crockett the other day...if only I could have used the Dyson a few days earlier I could have made an informed contribution).

We spent the night in tonight...MASSIVE storm on its way and we didn't want to get stuck in it..going to spend tomorrow on a river cruise and at the aquarium...weather permitting.

13 APRIL 2011 - I MISSED A DAY, DIDN'T I?

Monday we spent the day strolling around the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. They have a whole bunch of fish there, then I believe that is the idea. After the aquarium we had a little rest. It is quite tiring being a tourist. We headed back to the little Italian restaurant for dinner...they have these Chicago style pizza. They are basically like a meat pie but with really thin pizza dough. The main ingredients for the pizza are in the middle of the pie (in this case Mushrooms, Broccoli, Cheese, Italian Sausage) then a layer of pizza dough and then the pizza sauce. I have no idea how it hasn't caught on outside of Chicago because it was sooooo nice.

We flew out of Chicago yesterday feeling like there was so much we have missed. Next time..

We spent most of yesterday travelling from Chicago to LA then last night went to see the Spurs play the Lakers. It was a little bit disappointing (actually quite a bunch disappointing) when I looked down and saw Duncan and Ginobli in a suit and not their uniforms. (Parker suited up but didn't play either). My disappointment in not seeing those guys play was somewhat eased when the 5 scrubs that the Spurs unleashed on the Lakers had the lead with 5 minutes to go before the Lakers finally came through to win. The Lakers fans were carrying on like they had just won the championship when really all they did was beat the Austin Torros (and looked like they were going to get done most of the night). It was a weird night in all really. The way the Lakers presented the game was over the top and "hollywoodie", that much I expected. what I didn't expect is leaving feeling like you had just sat through a 2 hour add for all the companies that care to sponsor the Lakers. It sort of felt like for the most part the basketball was getting in the way of what they were trying to do for the advertisers. I much preferred the Garden..it actually felt like I was at a basketball game and not a concert. Speaking of concerts...night after next I am going to see one of my favourite bands in Las Vegas...very excited.

Gabi is having a big long sleep in today...(I did say it was tiring being a tourist, that and she is feeling a little off colour). I am going to head downstairs and take a few shots on the full size basketball court they have here. We are staying at the LA Athletic Club, which is basically three floors of hotels built on an exclusive gym that was opened in the 1913. Think a 12 floor art deco members lounge, like the one at the old MCG but with a pool and a Basketball court. Anyways...every year they give out the John Wooden award here for the best college basketball player...it was given out just a few days before we arrived actually. It is sitting down in the lobby. There is memorabilia from all the UCLA glory days when Wooden was coaching...It is really cool (Strange the things that I think are cool...but we move on). We have really lucked into some really unique hotels on our trip actually. I had no idea about the basketball significance of this place when I booked it online from home...I simply booked it because it was close to where we needed to be for the games we are seeing while we are here. Anyway..I have gone on for far to long about not much at all. Off to shoot some hoops. :)

14 APRIL 2011 - NO, I DON'T WANT A FREAKING STAR MAP!

Had low expectations for today but ended up being a really great day. We drove down to Holly wood to look at the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars are etc, and all the stars on the street. The only star I found was a guy that looked like Tubbsy, gladly he stood still long enough for us to take a photo. We then dropped the top on our Mustang and drove around Beverly Hills looking at some of the crazy houses. On to a spot of shopping along Rodeo drive. The Gabitron picked herself up three very nice dresses. They all look amazing on her and now she can't wait to wear them out.

Last night we went to our last basketball game of the trip. Saw Gabi's boy Blake Griffin score a triple double (by botching a putback and making one rebound into two on the final play of the game). It was great fun. Last game of the season for the Clips and they were in party mode. I have fed you way too many basketball stories in the last few days so i wont go on with anymore. The only thing I will say is if I lived in LA I would definitely be a part of Clipper Nation over being a Lakers fan...

Gabi has just popped into the shower and then we are packing and hitting the road to Vegas...I am sure we will be able to find a place for Gabi to wear her dresses there.

15 APRIL 2011 - JUST A QUICK ONE, UNLESS I GO ON LIKE I NORMALLY DO

Another classic holiday day...a little sleep in (we kind of slept through breakfast..oh well) and then drove from LA to Las Vegas. Checked into our suite...very swanky..windows the length of three walls with views of all the pretty lights.

We went out to see "Arcade Fire" tonight (For James benefit, they are a band that has released music since 1992). I splashed out and got tickets in a VIP section. Got to love going to see one of your favourite bands sitting down in a booth above the stage with table service. I think it is the way that all concerts should be..no having to stand around on a hard concrete floor for hours on end making your back sore or put up with that one chick who is always trying to dance even though there is in no way enough room to be throwing your arms around like a ninnie.

The show was absolutely amazing...oh..the back up band was great too...Greg check out a band called "Local Natives" I think you will like them.

22 APRIL 2011 - WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS .....



I have been procrastinating for the last few day over how to finish up the old bloggeroo...(sorry back in Australia now and have already had two meat pies and am saying words like bloggeroo and crikey again...Is bloggeroo even a word?..it is now)...anyways...the last couple of days in vegas we gave up being tourists and trying to see everything and just decided to relax. Donated a small amount of money to a local card game emporium, lounged around by the pool and basically just enjoyed the fact that we could wear shorts for the first time in a long time.

The trip home didn't feel like it was quite as long as the trip over...I think it was because we slept for most of the flight. I know they showed like 5 movies on the plane and I only remember what two of them were so I think I was asleep most of the trip...either actually asleep or pretending to be asleep so I didn't have to talk to the Gabitron...don't tell her I said that or I will get into trouble.

I still haven't decided how I am going to finish the blog..maybe I just won't finish and talk rubbish every couple of days about nothing in particular..who knows.

Anyways...I will decide what I am doing with the blog in a day or two...having too much fun getting reacquainted with my couch...and my shower..and my bed...and vanilla coke with actual sugar in it and not corn syrup..and meat pies form the North Adelaide bakery...so many silly little things about home that you miss when you are gone isn't there?

I really should get on the phone and let Mum know that I am home safely...I might just have to tell her that my plane just arrived...I am sure she would be thrilled that I have been home for he best part of four days and haven't let her know we are home....:)

On Tour with Cal McKinnon (back to index)



Cal McKinnon briefly toured Ireland in early 2009 but his trip was cut short as Jultopia Gosford preparations got just a tad serious. This time he's back in Europe and North America and a myriad of other places. Yes folks, we're on tour with Cal McKinnon, a six-month sojourn throughout the globe. Read on for the diary of his adventures.



19 AUGUST 2010
Londonbound.

20 AUGUST 2010
Just touched down in London town.

6 OCTOBER 2010
Back from tour .. heaps of photos.. stay tuned!

8 OCTOBER 2010
Contiki was amazing. 22 countries in Europe over 46 days. Back in London now at some hostels til my mate gets here on Sunday, then staying with him followed by America for 3 months.

FEBRUARY 2011
Back in Adelaide and yes, I'm a man of few words. Was a good trip but if you weren't hooked up to my Bookface account, you missed out. Watch out for the website though - I'm sure more pictures will pop up when you least expect it. 83 signing out.

Malaysian Tour Diary with Captain Brad (back to index)



Thunder Captain Brad Smith visited Malaysia in January 2010 as part of our 50,000th fan celebrations, and to investigate the viability of moving our preseason training offshore. Read on for the diary of his adventures.

12 JANUARY 2010



Good morning all, just wanted to say hi from KL! Spent yesterday shopping in the HUGE malls, then went for a look from the top of the KL tower. Amazing stuff. Highlight for the day was the Petronas Twin Towers - makes the old State Bank building look pretty ordinary. Seriously impressive! Talk soon. GO THUNDER!

14 JANUARY 2010



Hi everyone, g'day from Langkawi! Went on a fishing charter today - true story!! Didn't catch anything but had fun anyway. Monkeys are EVERYWHERE! Took a jet ski for a spin this arvo and had a ball. Talk soon from Phuket - flying there tomorrow. Bye!

17 JANUARY 2010



Good morning all, g'day from Phuket! Is there anyone back there in down under? There are so many aussie tourists here! Our resort, the Movenpick, is definitely at the top end of the market - very, very nice! Went for a spin on an elephant this morning!! Going to Phi Phi island tomorrow - that's where they filmed The Beach, starring Leonardo De Crapio. The bride will probably ride in the boat, whilst I will most probably swim there. This overseas preseason training is nasty stuff. Talk soon!

Cal's Gaelic Adventure (back to index)



Cal McKinnon is touring Ireland and much of Europe from January to June 2009 in search for "the mystery girl in the Irish tracksuit". Read on for the diary of his adventures.

26 DECEMBER 2008



Whilst not an official holiday post from Cal, our bothan spies tell us they saw him flying out to Ireland (via London) from Adelaide today, with fellow SABASA Jultopia tyro Joel Horskins joining him on a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. And as strange as it sounds, we believe our bothan spies, particularly when they produce super photographic evidence like the picture above. We hope Cal remembers to go the distance.

UNDISCLOSED DATE IN JANUARY 2009
Again, this isn't an official holiday post from Cal. We're not sure what happened but in a strange series of happenings, he returned home early to Australia. Rumours are wide and varied. Some say he freaked out after finding Irish tracksuit girl and ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could. A similar rumour exists about Bando, with Cal fearing that Bando would take his point guard position in the team. Other rumours relate to contractual disputes with the Thunder, the Global Financial Crisis and something to do with the IRA but we thought the best rumour was that Coach James Smith demanded he return immediately to prepare for Jultopia Gosford - at least that rumour is believable. Anyway, Cal's Gaelic Adventure was cut drastically short so sadly folks, that's all we had. One photo of him at the airport. Still, it's a good picture.

Survivor Thailand - Nick Kyriazis' search for Sapphron (back to index)



Nick Kyriazis visited Thailand in October 2008 as part of a leaguelineup.com world-wide search for "Sapphron: the spider monkey from Guam". Read on for the diary of his adventures.

1 OCTOBER 2008

First stop on our daily tour was the POW cemetery where over 3000 Australian Diggers lost their lives as slaves to the Thailand Government in their effort to build a railway connecting the north and south of Thailand during WWII. The video we saw was very graphic and life sized models and pictures of those who were injured during this time was disturbing.

Next stop on the tour was to cross the River Kwai on the bridge built by the POWs. The interesting thing about this bridge from a tourist's perspective was that you could cross the bridge if you wanted but beware of the trains 'cause they ain't a stoppin and you have to get out of the way by taking shelter on a small but dodgy platform off the side. On the shore line was a small market selling things from t-shirts to nick nacks to full blown weaponry. There was also a lady taking photos of people and placing them on a cultural plate then about 20-30 minutes afterwards would find you and want you to buy it. Mmmmm. Interesting!#$%^&*() Next stop, elephant sanctuary.

While walking down from the bus to the elephant sanctuary, Rachel was attacked by an elephant trunk. Well, not really attacked but more snorted by one. We were offered a ride on the elephants which we did, and that was pretty cool. The elephant stopped a few times to eat which was amazing and all the noises they make were interesting too. I thought I was back at Perth in my first Jultopia basketball carnival and James was sleeping next to me again. Now don't think less of me but I was the only one in our group to not ride on the elephant's head and I have to say I didn't do it out of concern for Rachel, as she might have got scared back there on her own on the elephant's back. Next stop, tiger sanctuary.

Don't wear, pink, orange, red or yellow. That wiped the Thunder top out. Anyway, we arrived at the tiger sanctuary to be greeted by some baby cubs of which we were able to pat and have photos with. The played like pet dogs in your lounge room - well, mine anyway. We also had a chance to pat the large tigers who were fed and exercised in the morning before we got there, so we were pretty safe but that was pretty cool.

Last but not least, forget the spider monkeys from Guam, 'cause they're in Bangkok! I was lucky enough to snag a photo to prove it. Check it out. That will throw the Google Ads out. Spider monkeys from Bangkok, spider monkeys from Bangkok, spider monkeys from Bangkok, spider monkeys from Bangkok, spider monkeys from Bangkok, spider monkeys from Bangkok. Sadly though, she didn't answer to the name Sapphron. The search continues.

Next entry to come later. Bye for now!

2 OCTOBER 2008



Today we took a tour to the floating markets, about an hour's drive outside Bangkok. We rode there on some supercharged 'James Bond' style boats and upon arrival were greeted with, wouldn't you guess it, floating markets!!! See the video above for footage of the boat ride. (Editor's Note: Nick, that has to be some of the most thrilling video footage taken ever. Please send more!) Lots of stuff to see and buy but nothing had interested us apart from this suspicious-looking lady but when asked about Sapphron, she denied all knowledge. I don't know what her problem was - it's just a spider monkey from Bangkok, spider monkey from Bangkok, spider monkey from Bangkok, spider monkey from Bangkok, spider monkey from Bangkok, spider monkey from Bangkok, spider monkey from Bangkok, spider monkey from Bangkok, spider monkey from Bangkok, spider monkey from Bangkok, spider monkey from Bangkok. The search continues!

The next stop was at a wood carving place thingy that sold wooden stuff (go figure) - some amazing art work though. It is all hand carved out of one piece of wood, including this one. Now off to the Rose garden for some culturalness!

This place has been manicured from head to rose bud and covers some serious acreidge. Dims would be proud. It included a buffet lunch and a culturalness show packed with awesomeness and stuff and things including some Muay Thai boxing which is huge over here.

Last but not least, I want to mention the traffic over here. Our hotel is about a 2 minute equivalent driving distance in Adelaide. Too far to walk but easy enough to drive. Getting to the shops wasn't a chore as it's around 11 in the morning and not many people have started shopping yet, but try getting back to your hotel when everyone knocks off. It took about 50 minutes to get there and that included the taxi driver moving some barricades so that he could jump the median strip to make it a bit quicker for us. That is supercalafrickenridicuous!@#$%^&*() (this ain't a hyperlink - it's just because there is an '@' in it).

I do, though, have some sad news. The no. 7 thunder guernsey seems to have disappeared and I have put an SOS out on the interweb to try and locate it. I'm sure there is more to come.

Bye for now!

3 OCTOBER 2008

Nothing much to say about today but shopping can be tiring in this place. I've also go to say that I am sick and tired of food, it's over rated, we don't need it, it only makes us fatter, what good can become of this "Food"? Let's all make a stand and start looking for alternative food resources because at this rate, I estimate we will run out of it in the next 50 years or so anyway. Can't the Sun become an alternative renewable food resource? Come on people, put your heads together and come up with solutions to help solve sewerage problems that our children will face in the next generation.

Bye for now!

4 OCTOBER 2008

We were up early today to take advantage of the all you can eat breakfast for the last time as we are leaving today. I think I had about 5 eggs, 2 serves of peking duck (I don't know what the duck was looking at!), 10 or so little sushi roll thingies, 1 serve of cereal, 50 gazzilian cakes, etc, etc. Before you all start saying that I am eating too much, I'm on holidays and you're supposed to! Anyway, I need all my energy to track down the missing no.7. I even asked this guy but had no response. How rude! I also asked two other dudes but they were just downright obnoxious and pretended like I wasn't even there.

Our journeyness took us to the Grand Palace where the King and Queen used to live but rarely frequent these days. There are certain areas that are out of bounds but most of the grounds were open to the public. It consisted of 3 areas - an outer area, middle area and the inner sanctum (aka "Rise of the Ninja" from the C64). Virtually all of the buildings were encrusted with jewels and specific repetitious mosaic fashions that would take years to complete. How do these buildings become? Well, I'm glad you asked. Every time a royal member passes away, they would build a new tomb to the same detail as the one before and place the body of the member inside. The new tomb needs to be built and completed within 100 days (I think) for the burial ceremony to take place. They are currently constructing one for the king's sister who passed away weeks ago. Anyway, I have enclosed some photos for you to look and appreciate.

PS - No sign of the Thunder 7 yet, still looking. Bye for now!

5 OCTOBER 2008

First day in Phuket and who do I run into? The great bubble boy! (Editor's Note: Can't believe you didn't recognise Lisa Luxford too!) Today we just wondered around, seeing some of the sights. I have to say, there is a stupid number of he-shes around here. I guess there is a 3rd gender evolving from somewhere.

6 OCTOBER 2008

Off to do some canoeing. Today's adventureness was all about sun, sea, canoeing and search for singlet. What better way to start the day than to have some optimism? We boarded the bus with some other people and headed off to the pier to launch onto our vessel for the day. We visited 3 islands - the first was shaped like a donut and our guide canoed us thorugh a small canyon and into the centre of a hidden oasis. I turned around to ask him a few questions and lo and behold, I found my singlet - Ragheed had it all along. I took it straight back and gave him a what for and demanded he take a photo of me wearing it for our website.

Next island was called Bat Island. You had to canoe through a tiny hole in the side of the wall and into a huge cave where a zillion + 1 bats were asleep on the roof (pretty cool). On the other end of this cave, we entered into another lake area where monkeys would wait on the water's edge for you to feed them. A guide held out a banana and what looked to be the most dominant monkey dove into the water, took the banana from the guide's hand, swam back and ate it (freakishness). I do have to say that these were just regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph), regular monkeys from Phuket (with a Ph).

The third island is known as Diamond Island because when you canoed through the long thin cave to enter the waterway by canoe, you shone a torch at the wall and it appeared to glitter like diamonds do. When boarding back at the boat we were treated to an awesome lunch, all prepared downstairs by the cooks.

After about another 20 minute boat ride, we arrived at an island where we had the opportunity to get off the boat, canoe about 100m to shore and laze around for a while. When it was time to leave, I thought it would be good if I swam back to the boat from the shore. Man, it didn't look that far, but I was getting smashed by this supercalafrickenstupid waves-non stop. Thankfully, I'm a gun person at everything I do and made it with time to spare.

Anyway, bye for now!

7 OCTOBER 2008



Today was all about recovery. Let's see, what did we do? Breathed, ate, sat by the pool. Breathed, ate, sat by the pool. Breathed some more, sat by the pool some more, and then ate some more. It was strenuous stuff. By the way, this picture was taken outside the back door to our room. Can you believe it? We had steps going straight into a private pool area! Good times, good times.

This wasn’t all we did today. For dinner, we headed off to the Fantasea for a dinner and show. Dinner started off in the supercalafrickenhuge dining room (see above video) with yet another all-you-can-eat bonanza. After dinner, it was a show about the history of Thailand. The show was pretty impressive but due to an over zealous body search at the gate, no phones or cameras were allowed in so you're just gonna have to take my word for it.

8 OCTOBER 2008



We started the day in complete darkness at about 12:01 in the morning and we were all still asleep, so not much to report except that it's supercalafrickenhot and humid and the A/C isn’t earning its keep tonight. Any way, after yet another food fest for breaky, we hired a driver for the afternoon and headed off to the butterfly farm. It had all sorts of creepy crawlies and there was even a huge butterfly that nearly ate Rachel. This place was pretty impressive, but I think they gave the butterflies some go slow tablets as they sort of posed for the camera (see above video). Great times, great day!

9 OCTOBER 2008



Before you say anything, Phi Phi is the name of the islands we visited today, so no funny stuff! We started early though, on the bus for launch at 7:15, and arrived at the marina to launch a speed boat to get out to the islands. First stop was a lagoon that was nestled inside the first island. We had an opportunity to swim here which was amazing. The water was warm and there were fish sucking on Rachel’s belly. Heck, there was even a Power supporter there! We then headed off to our next stop but on the way we saw just how many fish there are in these waters (see above video). Wow. You'll notice it gets to a stage were you can’t even see through them. Solid stuff, solid stuff, just complete awesomeness! We stopped for lunch at another island for yet another food fight with my belly and mind (they're in our heads!). Now this place had mystical properties, properties of confusion, illusion and complete bemusion, as both Rachel and I went into the opposite toilets. Good times, bad times! Just plain old supercalafrickenembarassing! The next island was an important one for our guide, as this was the island he went to when the Tsunami hit and devastated the place. He was out on his boat at the time with some tourists and lost radio connection. He came back into shore and everything was gone, just gone, flattened by the wave of the century. Looking at the island today though, you wouldn’t know that a Tsunami had hit apart from the near completion of the new hospital. We were off snorkeling next. I was really looking forward to this as I had never done it before and I tell ya, if you ever get a chance to look at some tropical fish underwater, give it a go 'cause it will blow your mind. Oops, nearly forgot - singlet photo!

10 OCTOBER 2008

Last day in Phuket! Didn’t do much today apart from the supercalafrickenawesome dinner the hotel put on for the guests. I’ve never had all-you-can-eat lobster, prawn, caviar, octopus, squid, steak, lamb on the spit (apart from family Christmas) and ice cream. Man, did I break the hotel's bank that night. Felt sick for hours.

11 OCTOBER 2008

Airplane to Singapore for an overnight stop as it's too far to walk.

12 OCTOBER 2008



Singapore Zoo day! This place is really cool. All the so-called cages have been designed to integrate with all of the surrounding enclosures. That's right - no cages. There are even orangutans swinging over the top of you as walk down some of the paths (see above video).



Rachel even got to meet her life-long inspiration - Alex. We saw a lot today so I’ll try to give you the highlights. We saw a seal show starring, you guessed it, Alex the Seal.



..... and an elephant show .....



..... and the feeding of the polar bear .....



..... and the cheetahs feeding .....

BEFORE READING ON, PRESS PLAY FOR FULL DRAMATIC EFFECT




..... but I still haven’t found Sapphron. I reckon the little critter's hiding up in the trees somewhere. The search will go on though. It will never end but clearly I'm not the chosen one who will find Sapphron. I've exhausted all avenues and I'm physically, mentally, emotionally and spritually exhausted. I can't do this any more. I hereby formally pass the torch to the next person willing to take up the challenge. Indiana Jones managed to find the Ark of the Covenant, the Temple of Doom, the Holy Grail and the Crystal Skull, so maybe he can find Sapphron. Then again, he's retired now. Maybe Indiana Jones' son can find Sapphron in his next movie? If he's not available, I say put Tom Selleck in the role (he was going to be the original Indiana Jones but was too busy with Magnum PI to take up the role). "Indiana Jones and the search for Sapphron" - now that has a certain ring to it! And on that note, I officially end the search for Sapphron but Sapphron, if you're reading this, know that we're coming. Somewhere, someday soon, we're going to find you.

Nick Kyriazis' Malaysian Honeymoon Odyssey (back to index)



Nick Kyriazis visited Malaysia and Singapore as part of his honeymoon in October 2007. Click on the logo above for a photo album from the wedding, or read on for his Honeymoon Odyssey tour diary.

8 OCTOBER 2007

What a place. This town is crazy! You can throw the road rules out of the window - nobody cares, you don't even have to wear a seatbelt, it's ridiculous! Setting aside the pollution, it's an amazing country and being able to spend it with my amazing wife is awesome. Anyway, just thought I would add a Malaysian feel to the guestbook. Highlights so far: after an 8-hour overnight flight, finding out that your reservation at the hotel didn't exist; getting mistaken for Keanu Reeves; getting offered stolen goods (declined!); stealing toilet usage (have to pay apparently); getting woken up by fireworks through the night due to upcoming Ramadan; interrupting two guys using the same urinal; navigating through the maze-like malls; smuggling a camera into their one and only casino; travelling on a 4km cable car; spending 4 hours looking for a shoe shop for Rachel; being continually harassed to buy crappy goods in Chinatown; and last but not least getting married!

16 OCTOBER 2007

Singapore is DONE! Off to Langkawi Island to sip on some mahitas by the pool. Upon arrival in Singapore, a sense of Adelaide was all around us. We realised that we were in Adelaide 50 years from now!! A great place to visit. The only down side is the 50 container ships sitting off the coastline waiting to constantly dock into one of South East Asia's busiest shipping ports. The shopping malls here are unbelievable. There is a street named Orchard Road and to put it into perspective, if you bundle up Marion, West Lakes, Arndale and Colonnades shopping malls into one building and put that onto Orchard road, then you would be looking at 1 of about 30 to 40 shopping malls that line both sides of the street.

We went to Sentoza Island, at the bottom of the country, where we visited Underwater World, rode a luge, went up in the sky tower, saw a 4D movie, walked on Singapore's one and only beach (man made) and looked out of the Merlion through its head. Was a great day apart from the torrential rain that lasted about 2 hours. Have to mention the massive TV screen opposite the hotel on the side of a building - 3 stories high!!

Have to go now. Got a plane to catch at the home of the new A380 air plane (the walkway to get on the plane is at the second level - go figure!). Bye for now! Off to Langkawi to detox! Nick the g(r)eek!

Robbie Horskins' World Tour September/October/November 2007 (back to index)



Hall of Fame legend Robbie Horskins visited numerous countries in Europe and North America in late 2007. Read on for his World Tour diary.

18 SEPTEMBER 2007

Hi all. Just thought while we had 5 minutes spare time, that we would drop you a line to let you know what we have been up to. We arrived in LA last Tuesday week (4/9), where we spent 2 days in Hollywood, visiting all the usual touristy spots including Universal Studios, Hollywood Blvd, Beverley Hills etc etc. We even went and saw the taping of a show (The Big Bang Theory, which is a new sitcom). We then moved onto Anaheim, home of Disneyland!! Three full days were spent there and I still think we missed some things but we had a ball!!

From there we moved onto Tijuana in Mexico for a few hours. The boys all bought Rey Mysterio masks (he's a popular masked Wrestler!!). We even chanced having tacos from a street vendor, which was well worth the risk!!! It was just a pity that we couldn't spend a little more time there to really experience the culture!! We left there at about 10pm and stopped at an outlying suburb of San Diego (El Cajon - pronounced El Cahoon). In the morning, we wanted to get an early start as we were heading to the Grand Canyon which was about a 6 hour drive. After stopping for breakfast at Burger King, we had an unfortunate accident. We were stopped at a set of traffic lights, minding our own business when we were rammed from behind!!!! There goes our early start!! The guy who hit us was busy taking an "important business call" on his cell phone. He managed to smash the rear windscreen and rear door of the van we were driving. He was pretty quick to leave his details and get away from the scene before the cops arrived!! We had a total of 5 cops roll up, which was all very exciting!! Each cop had a different job to do, from writing the accident report, to taking statements, organising all the glass to be swept off the road. From there we had to go back to San Diego to change cars and get on our way again!! We lost about 3.5 hours or so!!! None of us were injured except Chris and Mandy do have sore necks. Although annoying and inconvenient, we have viewed this as part of the adventure!! We have taken plenty of photos!!

We spent the following day in the Grand Canyon, which is magnificent, almost unreal looking, no matter how many different views we had! We spent almost the entire day going from point to point!! We decided to make a detour from our plan and headed further east to Monument Valley in the heart of Navajo country, which was new for all of us. Not only did we get to view this magnificent country, we also learned alot about the Navajo Indians!!

We then moved onto Las Vegas, stopping at Lake Powell and Zion National Park along the way. Getting a view of Las Vegas in all her glory, coming from the mountains was also exciting. Vegas is not called Sin City for nothing!!! We spent the last two nights staying at the famous Circus Circus Casino! On the full day spent there we went to Hoover Dam and the rest of the night spent walking up the Las Vegas strip until 1.30am in the morning!! This is a city that does not sleep!!! On the last day in Vegas, Rob and the boys went on rides on the Stratosphere Casino roof top, which over hangs the top of the building. If you have seen the emails floating around, these rides are on top of a tower 108 floors high!!! The ride that they went on goes off the side and there is nothing between us and the ground except a seat belt!!! The ride itself was pretty lame but the fact that we were 108 floors up made it worth the money spent!!! The weather we encountered here has been 43C!!!

Today we left LV and drove through Death Valley which is another sight to behold!! There is no life (or so it seems) here!! We drove over one mountain down through the valley to the next mountain and so on and so on!!! We worked our way through Yosemite National Park, which was beautiful, on our way to San Francisco for two nights. Here it is a lot cooler, only about 18-20 degress but still great weather! Today we went to Fishermans Wharf and took one of the famous cable cars through the city. We are going to Alcatraz tomorrow and then back to LA, where Chris and Kane head home and the rest of us head to New York.

It has been a great trip so far, although with its ups and downs (the kids fight a lot, but hopefully that will settle down soon). We have been very busy and on the go so not a lot of time for rest and relaxation, but enjoying it!! Hope you are all well. Tell me all your news. Take care. Bye for now from the USA, from Rob and his supporting cast.

21 SEPTEMBER 2007

Well, we've managed to finish our tour on the West Coast and have now moved onto the East. We've arrived in the Big Apple this morning and will be here for the next four or five days. No time for relaxing though as this place is MASSIVE!! Off to see the Yankees play tomorrow night which will be a personal highlight for me. They are currently on a 12-2 streak so have hit some good form just in time for us. Of course, there are all the other sights that are a must here, including a visit to the World Trade Center site. We'll head out on Monday sometime to Niagra Falls and will briefly leave the US to venture into Canada before making our way down to Washington DC. We're all having a great time, especially now that our group has trimmed down from 7 to 5!! Yes, Chris and Kane are on their way home right now. Dare I say it ..... YIPPEE!!!! Go the Yankees!!

30 SEPTEMBER 2007

Hi all. Thought that it was time to check in again. We have now made it over to Germany for the beginning of the third leg of our journey. Just to wrap up the East Coast of the US, we made it to the Yankees to see an absolute rip snorter of a game. The long and the short of it was that the Yankees were 0-4 down going into the bottom of the 9th when they come steaming back with a massive home crowd going berserk!! It was one of the most electrifying, spine tingling experiences of my life. The unfortunate thing is that the Yankees ended up going down in the 14th innings, just after midnight!! Since then we have visited Niagra Falls and Washington DC and a number of other punk towns along the way. We now find ourselves in Europe for what will be a hectic four weeks or so travelling to all sorts of places. Still managed to check in on the Grand Final scores though. I think someone forgot to tell Port that they were due to play in the Grand Final. It sounds like they forgot to show up!! I guess we won't be hearing from Jimmy & Co for a little while!!

5 OCTOBER 2007

(This entry was written by Rob's wife Mandy, who is travelling around the world with him.)

Hi! We are now in Fuessen, South Germany. We went into the Alps and went on a Konigsee cruise as well as going to Hitler's Eagles Nest, which is where he had his retreat during the war on the top of a mountain. Joel and Zac enjoyed climbing over some rocks, as well as Joel touching some icy cold old snow!

Niagara Falls was lovely. We stayed on the Canadian side, where the life and best views of the falls are. We went on a Maid of the Mist tour which took us really close and in strong current so we could see and hear how thunderous the force of the water is. We watchecd the sun set and then saw them at night when they are lit up. The American side was a boring place. The good thing was we did this Cave of the Winds where we were able to go right along side of the falls and in one section, stand right under where the water hit the rock and then something like a hurricane would saturate us (and it was raining a bit already anyway). We got back to the car fully wet for our drive to Washington DC.

We only had a quick visit in Washington before we had to leave to get back to New York for our flight. We had a good flight over from NY to Zurich. We arrived at 11.45am, then got on a train for 4 hours to Nuerneberg in Germany to meet up with the others. We found a hotel from the railway station and walked only 5 min with our luggage. However, we then had to carry it up 3 floors!!

After a day in Nuerenberg, my family went on a short cruise on the Rhine (which of course was great and Joel even said he felt like he was in Germany now.) Then a quick visit to Köln to see the big cathedral. We enjoyed the Oktoberfest in Munich on Monday night. The boys went on 2 cool roller coasters, one a five looper and the other "Eursostar", a hanging one that does a few twister corkscrews - I didn't go on of course! The other one they went on (which they said was weak) was a roller coaster which the carriages spun around as it went along the track - freaky! I did go on one called "Playball", which is a super fast breakdance which the base tilts up almost sideways as it spins around also - it was pretty cool. I also went on a wave swinger/chair plane which goes way off the ground - not scary, just different with a great view. All ten of my family went on the gorgeous skywheel - the carts were in the shape of a swiss chalet. We only looked in several massive, packed with dancing on the tables and singing, all-happening Beer Halls - a great atmosphere (bar the smoke)!

It is normal for the guys and females to dress in traditional German clothing, and they looked fantastic! I wanted to dress in a beautiful German dress too! I did get a photo with two guys in their lederhosen - turned out they were gay, as are many men here! The Oktoberfest was wonderful, I loved it, it's the best atmosphere - the lovely smell of waffels, roasted nuts, Wursts etc and the gorgeous German shopstands etc. It's a pity it was only for 4 hours cos it went too quick! We left at the end of the night as did everyone else and the train platform was packed. There was crowd control and security to control everyone, Amy, Zac, Denise and myself managed to sneak around and get on and the doors were going to close and security werent letting anyone else on and Rob and Joel were still two rows back waiting so I said "hey my husband and my son" a few times so the men let them on! Thank goodness!

We went to Salzburg yesterday and had a tour today which included some Sound of Music sights which I and some others were happy about! Salzburg in Austria is a beautiful old city with a River running passed. We then drove to Innsbruck, stayed for an hour to look around (again old and charming). Then on to Fussen which is South Germany, through to the mountains which have a little bit of snow on them on the top. The weather has been about 20 degrees, a bit overcast sometimes sunny-mild. We will see Neuschwanstein Castle tomorrow then on to Switzerland for a few days in the Alps.

It has been good to catch up with my sisters Bin, Kerry, Denise and my Dad here and for the kids its been fun for them as well as them quickly making friends with students from Bin's school group. The pace is a lot slower here than the constant on the go America holiday. I got to bed at 11 pm last night which is the earliest for the whole trip! We do usually get up around 7 and out by 8.30 or 9.

Its quiet without Kane when the kids aren't arguing, but we do miss him. Well that's it for now. Write to me and tell me your news. Hope all is well. Hello to all.

8 OCTOBER 2007

(This entry was written by Rob's wife Mandy, who is travelling around the world with him.)

Hi there. So what's news at basketball and how's it all going? This keyboard is weird and I can't find the punctuation I need so apologies for that. (Editor's Note: don't worry, we'll take care of it for you!) We leave Switzerland today for Paris, then Amsterdam, then Bremen - where I lived - and then Berlin in the next week. Switzerland is very beautiful, especially at the top of a mountain. We are all fine. Catch ya soon.

11 OCTOBER 2007

Hello from the Red Light District in Amsterdam! We have spent the last three days in Paris checking out all the usual sights and have found ourselves in the middle of the Red Light District in the middle of Amsterdam! What an experience it has been for the two boys tonight! I don't think they knew which way to look! On the move again tomorrow, heading to Germany!

15 OCTOBER 2007

Just thought that we would say hi from Berlin! Next stop is Prague in the Czech Republic, before we make our way down to Italy.

26 OCTOBER 2007

Hi from London! Well, it's been a long time since we were here last but it almost feels like we are home! We have enjoyed our last few weeks in Europe, which had a highlight in Monte Carlo where Joel (Mr I know better than you Dad) disregarded Dad's advice and decided to walk along the edge of the harbour wall, where he stumbled and fell in! It left Amy in hysterics thinking that big brother was going to drown! The only thing that was left hurting was his pride! We also enjoyed our time in Italy visiting Venice, Pisa and Rome - and having the best pizza of our lives! We are now in London for a week, then head to Greece for three days and then Hong Kong for a few days and then home! See you in two weeks!

27 OCTOBER 2007

Hi! We are currently in Nice, on the coast of France for a night, then tomorrow heading to Zurich for 8 hours, ready to catch our flight to London in the morning. YAY! The last time we gave an update was in Fussen we believe, so you could be here a while!

At the time we were with Bin and her school group and Trev, Erin, Kerry, Dad/Opa, Denise. We moved on from Fussen, going through two big castles and palaces called Neuschwanstien and Linderhof, homes of King Ludwig. We then travelled to Gersau for 5 hours, following the group bus in our little Audi! We stayed in a non luxurious youth hostel, and the next day we branched off from the group for the day, heading into Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Luzern, looking around at the mountains and the waterfall and the Kappel Bridge respectively. The next day we went up the mountains and Joel played giant chess with Trev, and later on started a cricket game on the street as well with the students and Rob! This happened to be our final day with the group and the kids were disappointed to leave their new friends already. However, we moved on to a very exciting destination and one we had been looking forward to for a long time - Paris!

We got on a hop on hop off tour bus and saw all the sights - Eiffel Tower (which we went up at sunset and it began to rain), Trocadero, Lourve Museum (which Joel and Zac ran through quickly to see the Mona Lisa), Notre Dame, Sacre Coure, Opera, Grand Palais, down the Champs Elysees to the Arc De Triomph. We did all this in 2 and a bit days. Our next point of interest was Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. After arriving at around 7.30, the tourist office found us a hotel nearby. Immediately after checking in, we thought it necessary to go for a walk through the Red Light District. The men were happy to go down the back alleys, not sure which way to look! It was one of life's valuable lessons, but also an eye opener into the world! In the morning we did a free tour, going past many different sights, last of all the Anne Frank house, which at the end of the tour we went through the museum. We rushed back towards the train station and hopped on canal tour. We finally were able to move on to Bremen!

After a long anticipated wait, the kids finally got to meet Tanja! They were very excited as we all fitted into AnneKathrins room, who was on a school trip in Barcelona at the time. Whilst with Tanja, we ate many traditional German style foods, like the bread for breakfast, potatoes in the oven for dinner and a packed lunch. We (especially the boys) did a lot of bike riding. Amy was forced to sit on the back of Rob's bike, as she is not yet competent enough to ride on her own. On the Friday, we were provided with a tour of Kirchweyhe and Sudweyhe (local suburbs) by Tanja) also going to her Mums house for dinner, then on to the church to hear her choir sing at the musical concert. On the Saturday, we went into the city of Bremen, Joel and Zac riding the bikes with Tanja 14km, walking through the city, past the Rathaus, Roland, Town Musicians, etc before going by train into Stuhr to meet up with the Nost Family. From the train station, once again the boys by bike to the house we had a chance to sit down and catch up with Henner and Heller, and luckily enough Imke and her family. Back home, Joel going with Tanja 13km back to Kirchweyhe, another 2 or 3 back home. He flopped onto the bed when he got back! The next day, we went to a German church in the morning with Opa/Roger/Dad and Denise. The 7 of us basically doubled the congregation! The kids found it very boring as they had no idea what was happening, but were more than happy to enjoy 2 big slices of cake afterwards. Our next stop for Bremen was the Bremermanns house. Ate lunch and Mum was able to rekindle old memories of when she lived there. Went for a walk in the park, past the ponds, and lovely scenery. Into Hamburg, where they appparently have quite a big church OR NOT! Almost the same as the morning, very boring and quite small congregation. The next morning it was sad to say our farewells to Tanja, but we had to move on to Berlin. Planning to catch a 1.14pm train to Berlin from Bremen, Joel went to get some drinks for the train with about 5 minutes to go. 4 minutes later and Joel was no where to be seen. Mandy got off the train to look for him but as she came back up the doors closed and train choo-chooed its way out of the station with Amy in hysterics crying!! Mandy found Joel and informed him of the situation. With 3 of us on the way to Hanover for a connection, 2 of us were still in Bremen. Stay tuned for the next instalment.

Love From Rob, Mandy, Joel, Zac and Amy.

30 OCTOBER 2007

Hello. Now that you've had time to finish reading the first one, here's the next one! I hope you all enjoyed my new novel. I hope to get it out in bookstores in the coming months (narrated by Joel Horskins).

Now, we pick up our story after Mandy and Joel had missed the train to Hanover, to go to Berlin. They spent the time waiting for the next train walking through the preparations of the FrieMarkt, and sitting on the grass. After arriving in Hanover an hour later, Amy came running up to Mum and jumped into her, as if she hadn't seen her in years! (She ran right past Joel, who also had his arms out for a hug). All was fine on the train to Berlin, amd after getting off at the main train station, we changed to the s-bahn taking us to the required local stop. A 2 min walk down the road and around the corner we had arrived at the City Blick Hotel Pension. Chucked our bags upstairs, before immediately heading out to the Reichstag. However, after coming out of the closest underground station, we were confronted by the Brandenburg gate, which stood tall and wide. After many photos, we walked through the big pillars, and read some info boards, providing us with info on how the gate came to be, what happened to it and the part it played in the Berlin wall. Walking past a memorial for people who died trying to escape the wall, we could already see the side and back of the parliament building. Thankfully, people with small children (Amy, to some degree Zac) were able to go up around a side way without waiting in the large queues. Unfortunately, they no longer have a museum, there and the big dome on the top was closed for the week, due to cleaning reasons. But, we still walked around the top looking at all the different views of Berlin by night. We had an excellent view of the TV Tower, and also a few other things. After walking back past the Brandenburg gate, with the Victoria statue atop, we walked past, what we didn't know at the time, the Holocaust memorial. All it seemed to be was just big and small, long and short, wide and thin blocks of cement. Past the teddy bears, or the Art of Tolerance, to another train station. Here was 6 pieces of the Berlin, wall, which Joel, Zac and Amy signed their name. Along with this was about 15 info boards covered from top to bottom! 20 minutes later we were on the train home. On the corner near our hotel, we stopped at a kebap shop and got schnitzel and chips for 3 Euro! A delicous deal!

The next day, we took a free tour, beginning at the Brandenburg gate. We learnt that the street we were standing on was named Pariser platz, after the Germans defeat of the French, with the Victoria statue looking over it. Thus, Victory over Pariser platz. We saw the Hotel Adlon, where Michael Jackson dangled his baby from a window, and where the King of Norway was currently staying! We got further info about the gate, the Reichstag and introduced to the unusual Holocaust memorial. Walking through it, then to the location of Hitler's Bunker, which we literally stood on top of. Moved past the ministry of ministries building, where we were fortunate enough to recieve a phone call from one young Kane Horskins. Past the Berlin wall, and Checkpoint Charlie, with another ton of info boards!

We moved past some very elegant platz's (squares) to the location of where 20,000 books were burnt by Hitler, then Museum island, where all the fat statues of Botero lay. Here the tour concluded with the tour guides 10 minutes story on how the Berlin wall came to come falling down. After this we decided to go to Alexander platz, then move on to the East Side Gallery, where we saw the famous paintings of people flooding through the checkpoints, etc. Walked about 2 km before hopping on a train back to Checkpoint Charlie, where we got photos of the American Sector sign and US Checkpoint thing, before entering the museum. My (Joel) personal favourites were hearing about people's escapes, successful or not. We learnt all sorts of things in here, and saw various tools that were used to attempt an escape, or as weapons. Went back to the Brandenburg gate for a night shot of it, with light displays lit onto it, after heading back to Alexander platz for the beginning of the Festival of Lights. After a 1/2 hour delay, the show got underway, with a magnificent laser lights and fireworks display.

Our agenda for the next day began with going to the Olympia stadion, entering the arena, and geting great views of the field and the track. It was amazing you can still see where the location of many events are. The outdoor swimming pool out the back looked a bit dodgy, but we moved on to the original olympic flame, and where all the gold medal winners names were chiseled onto the wall. After exiting, we headed to the Kurfursten damm to look at the remains of the church which was bombed in the war, and the very new and updated church beside it. Walked down the street through many shops, before we went back to the Reichstag for a day photo. We then rushed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, the time around 4.20pm, attempting to catch a 4.55pm train, we arrived at the station at 4.53, but we got to the correct platform at 4.56pm! We had missed the train and it seemed we were not supposed to leave Germany, as we were about to head to Prague in the Czech Republic. However, we decided to catch a train to Dresden 5 minutes later, Amy completely panicking about someone not getting on!

After arriving in Dresden, we just got a hotel closest to the train station, before going out for a walk into the altstadt, seeing some very cool churches and buildings and going onto the bridge, getting a very good view of the city. The next day we caught a train to Prague, going through passport control and customs on the train! Here we spent around about 4-5 hours. Joel devised a route for us to walk along which took us to the Astronomical clock, old town hall, powder tower, and the charles bridge (plus a few others), before getting on another train to Vienna for 5-6 hours. That night we decided to go to a restuarant and have a nice tea as a family, where majority of us enjoyed a Cordon Bleu. The next day we walked trough the Schloss belvedere gardens, then into the Altstadt in 4 degree weather with blistering winds. We actually walked past the Prime Minister and the President's houses, and a few other famous buildings. We then had a "taxi tour" to the Prater, the Donau river, tower and little island between the river before getting on a train heading for Venice, taking another 7-8 hours.

Arriving in Venice. Joel, Zac and Mandy waited in the train station for an hour while Rob and Amy went searching for a hotel. In the morning we went for a walk over the big bridge, along many canals, to San Marco square. Whilst there, the amount of pigeons there was overwhelming. For 1 Euro we got a big bag of bird seed and the kids fed the pigeons, Joel and Zac ending with many temporary scratches - Great fun! Unfortunately gondola rides started at a hundred Euro! Walked through many stalls and shops before getting our luggage and getting some of the best pasta and lasagne we have tasted in years! This train was a 4 hour ride to Florence, where we changed to go to a train to Pisa for an hour. We spent an hour walking around finding a hotel and eventually finding the only available rooms in the town, right across the road from the leaning tower of Pisa! We had a lovely night view before watching the last 30 seconds of the Rugby World Cup final. The next day we spent about 45 minutes walking past all the stalls and taking novelty photos with the tower and reading much information about it. It was quite fascinating before we took a taxi to the train station and hopping on a train to go to Rome - Another 4 hour train ride. Once again, finding a hotel became difficult, and although there were sometimes 5 hotels in the one building, they were quite small and full. We worked out where we were, and decided that our first destination would be the colosseum, going via the Santa Maria Maggiore. We got a late day view, sunset and night view. Here we saw the place of Julius Caesar's death and the Arco Di Constantino. We walked up the road to the "Wedding Cake" officially called the Vittorio Emmanulle 2 building, or something like that. We headed up to the Fontana Di Trevi, seeing it all lit up and throwing a coin into the water over our heads. We were bombarded by people trying to sell little toys, and they actually seemed pretty interesting. We walked to the Spanish steps and up them, before going home, via a little snack bar, where because we got our food in a take out container we were not allowed to sit on any of their chairs! The next day we caught a bus to the Vatican, going into the church and also the dome up on top. The views were spectacular. We walked to Piazza Navona, into the Pantheon, and to the Trevi Fountain for a day view. Our next point of destination was the colosseum to try and enter it and get a really good view in the daytime. We also walked up to and around Roman ruins, which looked really cool. We finally ended the day by taking an overnight train to Nice, in France, which the kids were quite excited about, only to fall asleep within 1/2 an hour to an hour.

Stay tuned for the 3rd instalment, coming soon. From the Horskins clan.

8 NOVEMBER 2007

We left you on the train in Nice, and we pick up our story in the morning, where upon waking up, Rob informed us of 2 people trying to get into our compartment to steal things (one person twice). Once arriving in the lovely town of Nice, we found a hotel right next to the station and the main road. Back in France, we had to get used to the language once again. After a few hours of booking tickets and info on other things, we headed down the main street to the beach. With the warm weather, we thought it necessary (well the kids did) to go for a swim on the pebble beach, which turned out to be very painful on your feet! Enjoyed a bit of relaxation, before going up a hill to get a great view of the coast around us? Back to the station, via the hotel to go to Monaco, which we ended up sitting on a retard (late, in French ..... seriously) train for 45 minutes, before changing and changing back. Many trains were retard on that day!

Our first stop in Monte Carlo, Monaco, was the palace belonging to the prince, who at the present time was in residence. More great views of the coast, and expensive boats, wharf and the surroundings. Walked through the streets and small shops, before walking along the Grand Prix track towards the Casino. However, disaster struck when Joel and Zac, who were walking along the edge of the wood planks and rocks and told not to ..... but, a valuable lesson ..... Joel tripped on a rock or cord, and fell into the expensive yacht wharf! Unfortunately his camera was in his pocket and ruined but luckily memory card OK! Walking up to the casino, Joel sopping wet, everybody turning and staring, we walked around the beautiful gardens, before finally heading home to Nice. After getting some dry clothes, went for a walk for night view of the coast, and some food!

In the morning we had another 8hr train to Zurich, knowing that we were soon to be in London. The train ride was full of great scenery, the hills , some covered in snow, villages, all enjoyable. Upon arrival, we ventured along trains out to the correct area and to our hotel for an early night, but also watching the soccer. Eventually getting to the airport and having a short look around before boarding our plane to London. Everyone was very excited!

I'm going to have to skip London, where we spent a week, also the lovely Greek island of Santorini (2 days) and Athens (also 2 days), as we are now in Hong Kong and the keyboard is complicated and full of Chinese, and out of whack ( but will continue the updates ASAP (earliest convenience!) (likely to be in Oz!). This is our last full day away, as tomorrow night we board our plane back to Adelaide. Our Hong Kong experience has been smelly, but very interesting. We have walked down the main road (Nathan road) looking in many shops, taking ferry to Hong Kong Island from Kowloon, the business area, gone along the world's longest escalator (around 800m). Tonight we are going through the markets and watching a light show on the harbour. Tomorrow we go to the temple and more shops and back across on the ferry to go to Victoria Peak, although the weather has been a bit misty.

Well, we all can't wait to see you back in Australia, however we are sad that our holiday is coming to an end! We have all enjoyed our travels very much and could keep doing it if we were not apart from Kane! See ya real soon, Rob, Mandy, Joel (author), Zac and Amy.

James Smith's South Africa Safari July 2007 (back to index)



Coach James Smith visited South Africa and Botswana in July 2007. Click on the logo above for a photo album from the trip, or read on for his South Africa Safari tour diary.

PRE-SAFARI

James' flight itinerary reads as follows:

Saturday July 14: Adelaide to Perth
Sunday July 15: Perth to Johannesburg
Sunday July 22: Johannesburg to Cape Town
Friday July 27: Cape Town to Johannesburg, Johannesburg to Sydney
Saturday July 28: Sydney to Adelaide

James will visit Johannesburg, Soweto, Pretoria, Botswana, Cape Town, Table Mountain and Robben Island during his travels, and will spend a night in a wild game park. There is also a meeting with AFL officials, so we're holding our collective breaths that he'll make his AFL debut in the ruck position in an AFL-sanctioned Australia v South Africa blockbuster in Cape Town. Hey, stranger things have happened!

James' trip is part of his participation in Course 13 of the Australian Rural Leadership Program, and is the 6th of 7 sessions that form the entire program. He began the course in the Kimberley in May 2006, and graduates in Canberra in November 2007.

29 JUNE 2007

Only two weeks to go. Visited the Travel Doctor in Gilbert Place, Adelaide today to update my vaccinations etc. Oh, how I love needles. Was vaccinated for Hepatitis A (ouch!) but fortunately, it isn't malaria season and we're not visiting high-risk places so the only likely risk is a bad case of gastro after visiting Botswana. They've given me a medical kit with a variety of pills to kill the gastro almost immediately, noting that it's expected that 30% of visitors end up with the bug after going there. Wahoo - can't wait for that one!

14 JULY 2007

Am about ready to take off from Perth's International Airport. It's a five-minute drive or so around their entire airport from the domestic terminal - a rather strange set-up. Met up with Mark Pagano from our group, as Mark isn't travelling due to his partner giving birth to their first child only days ago. Strewth - he cooks a mean meatlovers pizza! Feeling very tired after the carnival win earlier today, wish I was still in Adelaide so I could've seen the mighty Power belt the stuffing out of the West Coast Eagles but alas, we're off to South Africa at 11.55pm.

15 JULY 2007

Typical glorious warm day here in Johannesburg though it started below zero! The nights are frigidly cold as we're about 6000 feet or so above sea level. The sun is shining and yours truly went for a walk this morning from our beautiful accommodation, just to get a feel for the place. You quickly feel isolated in terms of language and colour. The majority of people out this morning were blacks (please don't take offence to the use of this word - it's how they are described in South Africa) and whilst they were all very friendly, it's still a little strange to get used to. Then again, maybe we all need to experience that so we can understand how our Indigenous Australians often feel back home in Oz.

Had McDonald's for breakfast (don't laugh - I had to do it), and had a chat with some Afrikaan-speaking girls. It was a tough conversation but we got there in the end. We're off to the Apartheid Museum this afternoon, have a bit of shopping time, and then a fairly quiet night which should end after dinner at about 10pm. Given the time difference, that's about 6am in Adelaide so I'll be surprised if I go the distance.

I should also talk about the flight over. Be thankful for exit rows. My bum got numb (!), and has only really recovered now after having landed for 3 hours or so. Food was pretty good and I slept most of the way on and off, but I really need to look into this whole Business Class thing.

Did you know Johannesburg has 6 million people? That doesn't include Pretoria (30 minutes down the road), the nation's capital. It's a big place. Anyway, best be gone as I need to iron a few shirts (Pauline will laugh at that), and rest for a looooong day ahead. Uru.

17 JULY 2007

Typical clear but frigid night here in Pretoria at the Irene Country Lodge. We've just finished two frenetic days of study, travel and sheer bewilderment but before that, I need someone to find out what's happening with our Tarago. The day it's built in Japan, they have an earthquake! What gives? Not sure if it effects the building of the car, but it can't be a good thing.

Continuing on from Sunday's post, we went to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. I'm not sure that you can really grasp the atrocities of apartheid until you see it first hand but it was a real eye-opener. That said, we Australians (and most nations around the world) live in glass houses so we should be very careful not to throw stones. We saw the reasons behind apartheid from the Afrikaan point of view, how the system worked, and then how it was undone by "people power", beginning with the student uprising of 16 June 1976 when the students said "enough is enough" as the Afrikaan language was forced upon them in schools. Without going through the full history of apartheid - look it up on the web if you want more info or even better, come along to James' South Africa Safari Slideshow when he returns to Australia - here's a few quotes that I've written down over the past few days.

- "Apartheid"; a sibling rivalry that got out of hand.
- Without forgiveness, all would be lost. (Paraphrased message of Nelson Mandela.)
- Yes, we had apartheid, but it's only the word "apartheid" that made us different to you. How are your aborigines going? (From a local white South African when questioned about his perception of apartheid.)
- If I wanted to change the world, I would start by loving you, and if loving was all we'd do, oh baby we could change the world. (The Imperials).

Needless to say, the Apartheid Museum was an amazing experience. To see how it come into being and was then ultimately undone, was amazing. We finished the night with a meal at the Butcher Bar n Grill, adjacent to the Nelson Mandela Square shopping precinct. I wish Pauline could see the foods I'm eating away here. My guts are burning with various curries and extravagant sauces and I swear right here, right now that I'm never grabbing an anonymous bottle of chilli sauce and heaping it on my potatoes ever again. What a great idea ..... not!

On Monday, we spent the day with a tour of Soweto and Jo'burg. Yours truly really burned up the ol' Cybershot with a combined total of almost 300 pictures and movies. We visited the markets early on and saw how madly insane yet organised their taxi ranks are. I ate a worm of some description (yum yum), but didn't eat the something-or-other tongue (eeek), and you should ignore any pictures of me drinking Jo'burg beer because I promise I was only posing! We were told not to feel sorry for the poorest of locals as they burn brightly with a passion inside them - and boy oh boy, was that right. We saw how the black community that had been moved outside of Jo'burg under the apartheid regime has built itself to be strong, and how the poorest of neighbourhoods is being rebuilt through government programs etc. We visited the poorest of places that I've ever seen at Kliptown, yet were amazed by the brightness of a child's smile there. We visited children in schools and creches who sang the most beautiful of songs - "We are marching in the light of God, we are marching in the light of God" (and yes, I videod that one and couldn't stop crying while listening to them sing this in a cargo container). We visited a school and had one of the classes sing the South African national anthem to us, so we recriprocated with a rousing rendition of Waltzing Matilda (aka "the Wallabies' song" to the locals here). We then visited the Hector Peterson memorial where the student uprising of 16 June 1976 took place and wow, was that moving. We saw the street where the shootings took place, where Mandela and Tutu both lived (the only street in the world to have housed two Nobel Prize winners), and saw some more of the urban renewal projects (forgive me leaving out more detail - there's so much more we did but it's late and I can't recall it all).

Speaking of late, jetlag really isn't nice. I'm getting better now, but it's been a nasty few days. The "8 hours behind Adelaide time" thing really is a shocker. Anyway, we kicked on to Jo'burg and went into the CBD for the afternoon. Jo'burg is a real contradiction as it's a beautiful town in spots, but a real nasty place in others. Big business has left in droves in some spots because of crime etc, yet there is huge investment in other places. Anyway, we walked through some areas and drove through some others and other than the mad taxi drivers, it isn't much different to a big Australian city. That said, there were some differences, the most notable being that their gaols that were used heavily during the apartheid regime are right in the midst of the city and almost cast a shadow over it. I took some super pics (if I don't say so myself!) of their constitutional court which is adjacent to their gaol, and stands as an amazing sign of "moving on whilst acknowledging the past". Just beautiful, beautiful to see (you need to see the pics). I should also add that they have a gold-plated rhino in the middle of the city but try as I might, I couldn't unbolt it and bring it home for Josh Gondolf.

We then caught one of those mad taxis back to Soweto for tea. I was a bit tired by now and didn't really get into proceedings, but were entertained (there's no other word for it) by the locals at a small backyard restaurant and whilst I did play the bongo drums for a while, any rumours of me dancing are sadly exaggerated because I didn't do it - but plenty of others did!

Today was a tour of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and then on to a look at the 2003 Grain Grower of the Year's operations near Delmas. Both were fascinating - especially to see the online nature of the JSE and that they don't have a "pit" ala the NYSE - but they didn't impact like the previous day. The Grain Grower's place was amazing - such a huge operation with 150 permanent employees and 500 casuals at peak season, so I grabbed a few snapshots for Andrew Dickie and Stephen Dickie just to make them jealous (I've never seen so much machinery on a farm). We were again blown away by the hospitality - they are such a friendly people here - and then drove onto the outskirts of Pretoria where we are now. We also had lunch with some young leaders from around Jo'burg and I've probably left off some other detail, but fatigue is kicking in and the memory is leaking like a sieve (and yes, I know it was only today!).

Tomorrow is "High Commissioner Day", so it's out with the slightly-crinkled suit and time for another long day. Am missing home a lot but enjoying the trip and am amazed that we've seen and learnt so much in just 3 days of the 14-day sojourn. They tell us we'll be eyeballing lions and tigers in a few days - can't wait for that one. Best go, James Fitzpatrick wants the computer and who am I to argue with him!

PS. Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife Pauline Smith for tomorrow. 35 years' young and yes Pauline, mathematicians round it up to 40!

18 JULY 2007

Happy Birthday Madiba and Pauline! It's Nelson Mandela's 89th birthday today and while my beautiful wife Pauline isn't quite that old yet, she's well on her way so it's a big Happy Birthday to Pauline too. Today was a fairly quiet(er) day, with the morning in a classroom environment as we heard from various speakers about AusAid, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights. The HIV/AIDS speaker was tremendous and delivered what is a tragic story. From memory, 15% of South Africans have HIV/AIDS and in some nearby countries, the figure is 50%. That's a walking death sentence and hearing some of the individual stories really brought it all home. It's times like this that I'm glad I live in Australia!

We went to the Department of Trade and Industry in Pretoria this afternoon to hear about BEE - Black Economic Empowerment - and how the government is trying to advantage blacks to rectify years of disadvantagement, but at the same time to not harm the economy. We then went to a shopping centre for a while, and now back here before we head off to the Australian High Commissioner's residence. We met her earlier today and it will be a tremendous honour to have tea there tonight. Every Australian leader in South Africa has been told they must attend, so it should be a wonderful experience.

I best sign off as Dr James Fitzpatrick wants the computer again and like yesterday, who am I to say no. If you haven't heard of Jimmy, he's the 2001 Young Australian of the Year and he is the Director of True Blue Dreaming, a youth mentoring project for regional communities. Visit his organisation's website at www.truebluedreaming.org.au and if you're interested, contact him. An amazing guy with an amazing passion.

PS. Missing the footy news over here. We heard the Power thumped West Coast but I'm dying to hear more. If anyone has any this or any other local news to share, feel free to post on the Guestbook for me to read! Thanks - and again, Happy Birthday Madiba and Pauline!

19 JULY 2007



Thought I'd add a picture or two in today's update to convince you all that I'm still alive. Isn't technology wonderful?!

Last night was spent at the High Commissioner's Residence in Pretoria. For those that didn't know (which includes me until last night!), the High Commissioner is the Ambassador in a Commonwealth country. There were also several Australians there who either work or live here permanently, and it was wonderful to be in a room of Aussie accents again, sharing stories. You wouldn't believe how out of touch some of them were. One woman from Lockleys (in Adelaide) was a Crows supporter who's been here for 13 years, and she knew of Port Adelaide but didn't know we were in the AFL too, or that we ruled the roost in 2004! Boy oh boy, was it fun telling her all about that (and Showdown I). Click here for a group picture taken during the night with all of Course 13 of the ARLP featuring, but also several other Aussies too.

Today was another classroom day early on, followed by a tour of the Irene Farm Dairy (wow - I must share the story of this with some farming friends when I get home to Australia). Beautiful people, beautiful farm, just beautiful all around. We then went to the Union Building in Pretoria, which isn't about a trade union but is rather the equivalent of their Parliament House. Click here for a larger version of the above picture, which is taken from there with the city of Pretoria in the background. Again, a beautiful place with beautiful people. Everything's just beautiful today.

Excuse the short update because I have to go off to tea and believe it or not, Dr James Fitzpatrick wants the computer again. We're off to Botswana tomorrow at 6am (after a 5am breakfast!), and it's going to be "out with the long pants and in with the shorts" as we hit the 25-30 degrees celsius barrier. Will try and send another update ASAP after getting there because I'm sure it's going to be a great experience. We're drawing ever closer to the big Game Reserve experience in Madikwe but before we do, let me leave you on this note. The average lifespan of a woman in Zimbabwe is now 34 years old. The AVERAGE lifespan. The lowest in the world, this is largely influenced by HIV/AIDS but also the living standards of some of these places. Hopefully I can catch up with you all when I get back and if you can get through by 5-hour slideshow, maybe you too can appreciate the enormity of things here in Africa. Some of it just breaks your heart but wow, the people are beautiful. Uru again, and I'll write again soon. Love to Pauline, Hope, Daniel and Jonty.

21 JULY 2007



Typical frigid cold night here at the Tau Game Lodge in Madikwe. Just returned from a 3-hour safari tour and wow, in my best Bruce McAvaney voice, that was special. But more on that later.

Yesterday, we travelled to Botswana and I got more stamps on my passport. We visited the Botswana Meat Commission and yours truly saw the truth about how they make meat and trust me, I'm now a sworn vegetarian. Super pictures and videos, though I doubt they'll be for the kids (sorry Hope, but you'll have to trust Dad on this one). We then drove to a feedlot to see where cows are more bovine than hamburger, and then on to Gaborone (the capital) and had a meeting this morning with several of the country's senior officials, which was very worthwhile.

We then travelled back to South Africa this afternoon for more passport stamps, and into the Madikwe Game Reserve. I won't babble on about Madikwe as you can google it if you want more info, but it's the fourth biggest park in South Africa and has all of the Big Five in it (lion, leopard, buffalo, cheetah and elephant). We had a tour from 3.30pm to about 7.00pm today, and have another tour tomorrow morning from 6.30pm to about 10.00pm. The lodge here is pretty special in that it's just like a real-life Jurassic Park, with an electric fence (albeit high voltage) separating us from the wildlife. The above picture (click here for a full-size version) is of me on a balcony, with an elephant in the background - and that's pretty normal for around here. Click here for a picture of lions which were only a few metres away from us, and here for a picture of zebras which again, were very close. I have lots of other pictures and we saw a few elephants as it got darker, but we missed giraffes and leopards (other groups saw them)- but all was not lost, as we did get to see half a rhino (a very long story but Josh Gondolf will understand what I mean when I say it was a fitting tribute to his 2007 Superboot Football League season).

Can't wait for tomorrow's morning tour after which, we travel back to Johannesburg's OR Tambo Airport, and then to Cape Town for the second half of the program. It's been an amazing trip so far and I feel incredibly privileged to have seen the things we've seen. On to all things Australian, and I caught news from new father Paul Mitchell that Ben Cousins had 36 possessions for West Coast tonight. Wow, he quickly returned to being a poor man's Danyle Pearce after all that time off! Looking forward to Port Adelaide's big belting of Richmond tomorrow, and catching the highlights on SABC3 tomorrow night (AFL highlights are on South Africa TV over here as part of the AFL's push into South Africa).

Must go. Dr James Fitzpatrick doesn't want the PC tonight, but I only have limited time on this machine and tea is just about ready. The people here at Tau Game Lodge have been tremendous and I can only recommend it to any would-be-travellers. Uru for now.

22 JULY 2007

Typical not-so-frigid-but-still-cold night here at the Devon Valley Hotel at Stellenbosch, about 40 minutes from Cape Town. Not a lot happened today but what did happen ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous.

We started out with a freezing 6.30am Safari Tour of the Madikwe Game Park, where yours truly came across a giraffe on the side of the road (wow!), a leopard climbing rocks on a hill, another dazzle of zebras (now, there's an answer to a quiz night question about collective nouns), wilderbeasts, an owl and various other birds. The giraffe was absosmurfly spectacular, whilst the leopard didn't mean much until I saw it through some binoculars. Did you know the leopard was named after "leopard print", because its skin/fur looks like leopard print? That's what one of our environmental professors on the ARLP course was telling me anyway and I believe him.

We then drove by bus to Johannesburg's OR Tambo Airport, where we were scheduled to fly direct to Cape Town. Unfortunately, we were running seriously late so there were a series of mad phone calls to the airport to have things waiting for us. We arrived with about 25 minutes until flight departure time and it was a mad dash to have the bags and bodies of 34 travellers all loaded on in time. Well, they started the name count in rough reverse alpha order. Zoology, X-Man ..... and so on and with 10 people left, the attendant said the plane was full and he couldn't fit any more people on. So with the Aardvarks and Abernethys remaining, there I was, the only Smith! 10 of us missed the flight, so were placed on first reserve and waited an hour until we were squeezed onto a British Airways flight but fortunately, I spent half the flight in Business Class because they were concerned about my giraffe-like legs. ALL of our bags also didn't make the flight, so they were added to a separate South African Airways flight and once we arrived in Cape Town to meet up with our other group, we found that some bags didn't make the next flight and were added to a further flight, and one was added to a further further flight, and one bag is still whereabouts unknown! Fortunately, my bag made it to Cape Town or I'd be wearing shorts for the rest of the week!!

So, it was a mad day of travel today and I can only recommend to any virgin overseas travellers (like myself!) that you get to the airport at least an hour early, or run the risk of a day like we had today. Tomorrow we look at the wine industry around Stellenbosch, so I can't wait to update you on that one. I've got some great pics of the giraffe and leopard, and of a chaffeur waiting at the airport for a person named "Doh" (and trust me, I'm not making that one up - I nearly fell over laughing whilst taking his picture and spinning a yarn about Australia not having chauffeur drivers waiting at the airport!). Catch ya then.

PS. If anyone sees my wife and kids, say hi for me and tell them I'm still alive. My wife Pauline is due to give birth to our fourth child any day now, and it'd be nice if she knew that her husband was still alive and kicking. Thanks, stay safe, and look after yourself and each other. ;-)

23 JULY 2007

Typical cold-change weather here at the Devon Valley Hotel tonight, with the wet weather blowing in and apparently here to stay for most of the rest of the week. Gotta love that, when you arrive in one of the most beautiful cities of the world, and it's rain, rain, rain.

Anyway, today was a quieter day with minimal travel. Yours truly was the official seminar leader, so I was responsible for timing and keeping things ticking over during the day. We were 30 minutes behind schedule by 10.30am (after starting at 9.00am) but we recovered to only end up 15 minutes behind the official match-day program. We heard from many of the wine afficionados of South Africa, a few entrepeneurs, and visited the famed Stellenbosch University later in the day for a lecture or two. Given the chaos of yesterday's travel and the wild exciting days that preceded it, it really was a quieter day today and we look forward to the coming days with great anticipation. Tomorrow we're still around Stellenbosch, but then we move on to Cape Town for a few meetings - including one with the AFL which is where the Port Adelaide guernsey will finally be unveiled on this trip - and then half a day on Robben Island where most of the apartheid prisoners were held. We have two half days free for shopping and touristy stuff (our choice), and then it's on to home on Friday with a good 18 hours or so in three planes before we touchdown safely in Australia's capital, Adelaide.

I won't bore you any more but needless to say, it's been an unbelievable trip and an unbelievable opportunity to see and experience the things we've seen - and that goes for the entire Australian Rural Leadership Program course. Take care, and I'll write again soon.

24 JULY 2007

Typical rainy day here at the Devon Valley Hotel, with the wet weather well and truly settled now as we await more and more rain for the coming week. Just great stuff when you're here to experience South Africa. Can't wait for the ferry trip to Robben Island on Thursday!

Today was a half-classroom day about HIV/AIDS, the wine industry and Black Economic Empowerment, followed by an afternoon of wine-tasting (super stuff), and an evening at the Spier Hotel. I'll skip the wine-tasting as those who know me would be aware of how much I enjoyed it (the trips were great, but the wine just wasn't my style), but you just need to visit the Spier Hotel if you're ever in town. Wow. Great food, great company and to top it all off, I got frisked by a South African police officer as I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as a South African government delegation arrived at the same complex. Fortunately, I'd hidden my Smith and Wesson in my socks today ..... ;-)

The trip is now slowly coming to an end, with only three full days of action remaining before we do the 36-hour journey home (no, the flights don't take 36 hours but the entire journey will). Can't wait to get home and catch up with everyone again. Will write soon. Uru for now.

25 JULY 2007

Typical fine-weather one minute, rain/sleet/hail the next, type of day here in Cape Town. We've booked into our accommodation here at the Southern Sun Hotel, with terrific views of both Table Mountain and the main harbour. Hopefully the weather fines up soon.

After a long wait for check-in to the hotel, we travelled to the Qingqwa Mntwana Primary School to hear their strategies for educating children in the Crossroads township just outside Cape Town. It would be fair to say that I wasn't expecting much and was thinking "just another school visit", but shame on me because I was horribly wrong. The kids were just amazing and blew us away with some of the most beautiful singing I've ever heard. We did a tour of individual classrooms, and were then guests of honour for the entire school as they entertained us with their singing and dance, while we reciprocated the only way we knew how - with yet another rousing rendition of Waltzing Matilda, followed by a reading of "The Breeze" by Dr James Fitzpatrick. It was a privilege to visit there and in the end, one of the highlights of the trip.

Over an hour late by now, we returned to the hotel to talk with Dr Allison Simons of AFL South Africa. It was interesting to hear how Collingwood, amongst others, is trying to get the jump on the competition by accessing the South African market and bringing players to Australia as 13-year olds (!) on scholarships and then potentially signing them to their list "outside of the national draft". Watch this space closely because the number of potential AFL players in South Africa dwarfs that of Australia, and there is genuine optimism amongst the locals that this could be the game for them. Rugby - and cricket to a lesser extent - are seen as having racial overtones and being white sports, so there is room for the AFL to move. Parents also see rugby as being too physical, while soccer's huge potential (ie hosting World Cup 2010) is reduced by there not being much investment at grassroots level. If anyone's interested in partnering up with AFL South Africa (eg with footballs, jumpers, anything), contact the AFL and they'll refer you on to Allison.

We then had a free evening, so I headed off to the Victoria Waterfront Shopping precinct, and had a great time. We made it back to the hotel at around 10pm but a word of advice for anyone travelling to South Africa - do not go out alone at night, and when they say to avoid certain areas for security reasons, they're not kidding. Security was huge around the shopping precinct but you didn't exactly feel safe elsewhere.

Off to Robben Island tomorrow but it sounds 50/50 at this stage because of the weather. They're talking about swells around 10 metres - which is the height from the top to the bottom of the wave and our resident tuna fisherman tells us it's not looking promising. Fingers crossed!

26 JULY 2007



Weather report for the big Robben Island trip this morning: 8 metre swells. The boats are grounded for the day and whilst I was keen to still give the boat trip a go, I'm told that my chances of survival would be better jumping from my 12th-floor hotel room and I think I'll give that a miss. Add to this that the Table Mountain Cable Car is out of action (it goes down for repairs for one week a year - and it's this week!), and we've missed out on two of the big attractions in Cape Town. C'est la vie, it's still raining, so I went shopping.

We visited the city markets and bartered our way to a few ripper purchases. One of our group got fleeced at an ATM (another tip for would-be travellers: they want your VISA card so do not let it out of your sight, cover your hand when entering any PIN numbers, and only use ATMs that you would consider "secure"), so he rushed back to the hotel to cancel the card. A group of us also visited "The Castle of Good Hope", which is the oldest building in Cape Town and where the original settlement was. Interestingly enough, it was also where the original shoreline was - with over 500m of coastline now filled in to where the harbour now stands (think Darling Harbour in Sydney), including where our hotel is located which has me slightly nervous! ;-)

I then rushed back to the hotel to join Carl Richardson for a Fakawi Tour of Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. Carl had these grand visions of driving down there and back in an afternoon but wow, we hadn't counted on tornado-like conditions, mountain slides and assorted wildlife.

After an hour's drive and finding that Chapman's Peak Drive was closed due to high winds (on the Atlantic Ocean side of Africa), we dodged a few townships that appeared to be washing down hills and their remains running down the main streets, and had drive-thru KFC "because it was too wet to get out of the car". We then headed off down the western side of False Bay (on the Indian Ocean side), with the weather noticeably calmer though still a little wild. The scenery was without doubt, the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen (think Great Ocean Road but another few hundred metres higher, often in the clouds), and I'm thankful that Carl managed to keep our Volkswagen Golf on the road. By now, the car was idling about 1000rpm too low, so any coasting or stopping meant the car would automatically stall. Nothing like a sick car in wild weather!

We made it to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope and wow, was it worth it. The wild weather made way for sunshine for at least half an hour, allowing us to see the sights. Carl nearly pooped himself when a baboon jumped out of the bushes as we arrived (unfortunately, no pictures!), but he got his own back on me with the heights of some of the coastal lookouts (eeek!). The two Capes are almost adjacent to each other, with Good Hope like a three-fingered paw at almost-sea level on the Atlantic Ocean side, and Cape Point a single rocky outcrop about 300m up on the Indian Ocean side. We went inside the Cape Point souvenir shop whilst another front blew in, just in time for the power to go out (apparently a regular occurence). We then drove around to Good Hope and saw a flock of ostriches cross the road in front of us as they ran to the beach (?), and then encountered more ostriches and antelopes on the return leg (and yes, we have pictures). We eventually made it back through peak-hour traffic as Carl skilfully manipulated the hazard lights, gears and pedals in the car, and returned the car in one piece.

I ordered room service and had the last night of our tour inside my motel room. By now, a fortnight of headaches and a sore throat had caught up, so I stayed in and spent several hours packing a swollen suitcase that had mysteriously increased itself by several kilograms.

Tomorrow is return flight(s) to Joburg, Sydney and then Adelaide. Looking forward to getting home, hopefully in time for the baby!

28 JULY 2007

Well, we made all the connecting flights, but only just. We took off from Cape Town an hour late and never really caught up that time. I ran between terminals at Joburg to miraculously secure an exit-row seat for the Joburg-Sydney leg (despite the flight being ready to take off already and in the end, I was fortunate enough to be seated next to professional surfer Luke Stedman - a great surfer by all accounts and a gentleman to boot), and landed in Sydney with little-to-no chance of making the Adelaide connection after going through customs. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I received numerous text messages from wife Pauline saying her waters had broken and she was having contractions, so this was sufficient for me and my South Australian colleagues to jump queues of several hundred people in an effort to make the Adelaide plane. We did, but it wasn't without a few anxious moments but credit to the Qantas staff who did everything they could to help out. I landed back in Adelaide safely, albeit without my baggage which was apparently still in Joburg and didn't make the Cape Town-Joburg connection (understandable given how late we were), and it was then off to hospital for the birth of a baby!

Writing this after the event, I can now say it wasn't labour, but the early onset of a few complications which have now resulted in Pauline being stuck in hospital until the birth. Fortunately, she and the baby are OK, and we are now playing the waiting game. What a great trick! I thoroughly recommend faking labour via SMS for anyone stuck in international airports or waiting in customs. ;-)

So what were the highlights? I'll never forget Soweto. The hope and pride of the people amidst poverty and desperation is something we can all learn from. The South African people were great. The trip to Cape Point was as much fun as it was hair-raising (quite an achievement if you know Carl!). The magnitude of HIV/AIDS is frightening and for me, the fact abstinence and monogamy are not a realistic option in the African culture. The school visits were fantastic, the children beautiful, the Game Park safari a memory for a lifetime, the visit to the abbatoir enlightening, and the opportunity to see and understand apartheid from all points of view was cessna-ational. Then there was the chance to learn about overseas and free trade, to see the principles and workings of Black Economic Empowerment, to visit the Australia High Commission in Pretoria, and to meet some of the most amazing people - especially Austrade's Jay Meek, who went out of his way to help us.

To the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, to my family, and to my employer, I say a big thank you. I have countless notes and even more pictures and videos to remember the trip by, and am extremely grateful for the opportunity. In closing, it's amazing what can be achieved with strong leadership, a focus on acceptance & love of all, and forgiveness for all. Nelson Mandela sure set a strong example for his country and thankfully, all South Africans seem to be following in his footsteps. May we learn from his example too. Sala Kahle from South Africa!

Josh Gondolf's US Tour May/June 2007 (back to index)



Coach Josh Gondolf visited the United States of America in May/June 2007. Read on for his US Tour diary.

PRE-TOUR

Josh's flight itinerary reads as follows:

Thursday May 24: Adelaide to Los Angeles
Thursday May 24: Los Angeles to Washington
Monday May 28: Washington to New York
Saturday June 2: New York to Dallas
Friday June 22: Los Angeles to Adelaide (arriving back on June 24)

25 MAY 2007

Just a quick one to let you know I have arrived safely. I am logging into the net via a pretty dodgy wireless connection from the National Music Centre which has a fairly insecure wireless connection. They must be nearby! Was going to pay to get net here in the room but I don't have the right cable (damn!). I am extremely tired - was a REALLY long day. Am sitting in the hotel watching the Pistons v Cavs. Trying to stay up as late as I can to fight the jetlag. Doing OK with it.

For those that have my email address, feel free to write. I can check my emails pretty easily but hard to send anything more than text (stupid, cheap stolen wireless!).

26 MAY 2007

Just a quick email to let everyone know that I have arrived safely (Editor's Note: didn't you say that yesterday? Are you in Punxsutawney by any chance?) Got to the hotel at about 6ish after the trip from the airport. Went for a bit of a walk. This is the view from my hotel room. Pretty cool really. I am logging into the internet in my hotel room through the National Music Centre which must be nearby. Aaah, free internet thanks to the US Government.

Flight was LOOOOOONGGG. Was OK though. Was pretty freaky. Got sat next to a girl from Ireland who was "very pleasant" (sadly she has a boyfriend - oh well). As it turns out, she was catching the same connecting flight as me through to Washington so we helped each other brave customs and the LA airport, which was kind of crazy. Not really feeling jetlag too much. Managed to sleep OK on the plane. Not sure when I will email next.

If anyone sees my mother, please tell her I'm still alive. I'm sure she'd like to know. ;-)

27 MAY 2007

Sorry about all the pics (click here and here). Hope they don't take too long to download. The last few days have been pretty nuts. It was the hottest day in Washington since last summer - it was 92 or something but kind of humid too. I got a bit burnt, walking around from monument to monument to gallery to museum - they just love monuments here. So many of them!

I was walking back from the Franklin Monument and walked past the final of the Washington Area Rugby Sevens tournament. Got talking to the lads down there. I can't say the rugby was of an extremely high standard. A team that calls themselves the African Exiles ran in 4 tries in a 10 minute match over the Washington team. After that, I went to the Vietnam War memorial where they were having a candlelight vigil (it's the Memorial Day Weekend here). The main parade is tomorrow but I will be in New York when it starts. Today I was back at the memorials to have a look at "Rolling Thunder". It's an annuual motorbike rally for veterans. It was basically a procession of 100,000 vets on motorcyles - yes, ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND! It was absolutely astounding. The jetlag has been pretty good. I keep waking up at some stupid hour of the morning which isn't too bad because I'm having a big breakfast and going and getting some decent pics before the the crowds get too big. My goodness, the crowds! So many people here this weekend, SO many motorbikes!

There's a huge thunderstorm coming through at the moment and I'm dog tired from all the walking I've been doing. New York tomorrow, so I'm resting up. Hope all is well with everyone back home. I have a "cell" number. Don't go in to a store asking for a Sim Card for a mobile because they just look at you funny. If you need to call me for an emergency, it's (Editor's Note: email us at somertonthunder@optusnet.com.au if you need to reach Josh and we'll give you the number). My Australian number doesn't work over here so if you have been calling it, you're wasting your time. So many more stories to bore you all with, but I know what it's like reading these sorts of messages - and for that reason, there's going to be more! I could go on and on - and I will.

If anyone sees my mother, please tell her about my mobile phone situation. I'm sure she's tried to call me. ;-)

4 JUNE 2007

Hi peoples! Sitting here in the departure lounge of LaGuardia Airport. What a crazy couple of days!! I haven't stopped for what feels like a month and still don't even feel like I have scratched the surface of New York. I have SO many stories to tell. I feel sorry for you all when I get back because I can already hear myself starting every sentence with, "This one time in New York....." I will keep it brief and give you my top ten memories of New York in no particular order.

1. Rucker Park. Catching the Subway deep into the heart of Harlem. Awesome stuff.
2. Helicopter flight over the Hudson River, past the Statue of Liberty.
3. Top of the Empire State Building. Quite a long way off the ground really.
4. Staying out later than my room mate every night of the tour. What is going on there?
5. Being on Entertainment Tonight (long story).
6. Knowing that no matter what you wanted, no matter what the time, it's only a few blocks away.
7. My late night taxi ride after leaving the club and turning left instead of right, ending up in the projects (oops!).
8. Bright Eyes on Broadway. One of the craziest finishes to a concert I have ever seen.
9. The amazing friendliness of New Yorkers. I felt safer walking around Manhattan at 3am than Rundle Mall at lunch time.
10. Not wanting to leave. It's true what the t-shirts say.

But I do have to leave. Off to the next part of my journey. Who knows what it will bring? Will write again soon. Click here for an action photo of Josh Gondolf in downtown New York. In my best Bee Gees voice, "You should be dancing, yeah!"

7 JUNE 2007

A very quick update. I'm still in the US, still travelling, still alive ..... and thought you might recognise someone in the background of this Entertainment Tonight report. Gee, if I'm not mistaken, it looks like that all-too familiar brown Goodies t-shirt!

8 JUNE 2007

Another quick update. I'm outside the visitor centre at the Grand Canyon. Been having some MAJOR computer problems. Tell Mum I'm still alive and kicking.

10 JUNE 2007

Hey folks, been a while since my last update. Well, now you'll know why. My hard drive crashed in Texas, so I spent half a day in Roswell, New Mexico, getting it fixed. Well, I had a new one installed, which means I lost some of my pictures which I am not happy about.

At the moment, I'm in Vegas. It's like 40 degrees outside and I have a headcold. Not pretty. Despite all this, I'm still having a pretty good time.

Dallas was pretty ordinary. Saw the spot where JFK was shot which isn't really all that exciting.

Austin (Editor's Note: Josh is referring to the city, not Nick's dog) was really cool, although a little bit too much country music for mine. San Antonio was very nice. Saw the Alamo and all that stuff. The town is going nuts at the moment because of the NBA Finals. When I was there, they were erecting a giant championship trophy out the front of the AT&T Center.

After that I stayed in a little town called Sonora, Texas, which had a great steakhouse, although they were slightly disturbed and my lack of passion for country music was seen as a bit weird.

From there it was Roswell then on to Albuquerque, then on to the Grand Canyon. Roswell was interesting. For those of you not in the know, it's the site of the alleged alien crash in 1947. Spent a lot of the day in John's Oasis Computers trying to get my photos off my dead laptop. No luck yet, but we'll see what happens when I get home. Anyway, Roswell has taken the whole alien thing on. The light poles in the main street have little alien eyes, the local Walmart has a massive alien mural, and every business has an alien or picture of one on it somewhere - crazy!

The Grand Canyon is AMAZING. Took a helicopter ride over it - it's kind of big. I have seen pics of it and thought "oh yeah", but nothing can quite prepare you for the bigness of it. When I stood on the edge I, may have said a rude word, but this hasn't been confirmed yet.

From there it was on to Vegas and the headcold. Have had a fair look around but it doesn't really do it for me, but it could be that I'm not 100%. Heading out in a minute to see if I can get a ticket to a show tonight. Haven't taken many pics here though - might do that later tonight or tomorrow. The water display at the Bellagio is nuts. Next stop will be San Francisco. Am looking forward to that.

Driving across the country has been really interesting, watching the scenery change along the way. Driving thru New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada reminds me so much of playing GTA San Andreas (Jim and Greg will know what I mean).

Anyway, time to go get a ticket for a show tonight. Catch you all later.

13 JUNE 2007

So, the last few days, what have I been up to? A LOOOOOONG drive from Vegas to Carson City. About 7 hours in the car and almost as far between towns on the way. The drive starts out with the cacti of the desert and ends at about 7000ft above sea level in the ski fields of the Sierra Nevada. Gorgeous scenery. Well worth taking the road less travelled. Next morning was the drive from Carson City over to San Francisco where I am now. On the way, a quick stop at Lake Tahoe. Wow.

Today I walked around San Francisco. They have to do something about these hills - they're lethal! I think I might stay here a few more days as there is way too much to see. Took the boat over to Alcatraz today as well.

Being in San Francisco is a little strange. There was a game a little while back called "Driver" on the PlayStation, where you drove around in a computer-generated San Francisco. I played that game a lot. (Editor's Note: Now there's an understatement. That's like saying Michael Jordan was a handy basketballer, or that www.leaguelineup.com/somertonthunder is a great website.) Everywhere I go, it feels like I've been here before. Is very weird to be somewhere that you know you haven't been to before, but you know what's around the corner. It's a little prettier in real life though. The PlayStation can only show so much.

Until next time, stay cool and if you see my mother, tell her I'm still alive and kicking.

18 JUNE 2007

Hello folks! So, what have I been doing? Oh yes, I MISS MY CAR. I have missed my car twice on this trip - OK, more than twice - but especially the other day driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles. What a drive! 300 miles, more than 7 hours, suuuch a demanding drive meandering along the coast. Unfortunately there was a whole heap of fog so the views were pretty average, which is a shame because from what I saw it would have been AMAZING.

Los Angeles. It's OK. Pretty big. OK, it's very big. I have done Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Haven't taken a heap of photos in LA. Today I drove down to San Diego and had a look at the Zoo. Really cool. I got some pretty good pics even if I do say so myself.

San Francisco is SUCH a beautiful town. So is San Diego. Los Angeles, not so much. Mind you I haven't been down to Santa Monica or Venice and apparently they'e pretty nice.

I haven't caught up with Henry (Editor's Note: Who's Henry?) yet, but have spoken to him on the phone a few times. We're going to catch up for a game of pool soon.

I'm going to have a bit of a look around San Diego tomorrow before heading back up to LA. Less than a week and I'll be home. Look forward to seeing you all then.

Click here for a picture of a primate. I was going to include a picture of a bridge or a building, but didn't. ;-)

19 JUNE 2007

Hello again. I saw the note about "Who's Henry?" Henry is a guy I used to work with when I worked in Adelaide. He lives in Los Angeles now.

On to things more important, and did you know there's a school here in San Diego where you to go to become Paul Mitchell? What a scary thought! Ironically for Paul, it's actually a school where you can learn to become a hairdresser, but I like my version better.

HOW IS THAT COMEBACK? Can't wait to hear more about that. So fired up about it. Well done guys. Bring on the grand final. So exciting!

20 JUNE 2007

Hey folks, probably the last update before it's home time. Yesterday I went to Universal Studios and did the studio tour and rode the rides. I believe that's what they're for. I caught up with Henry afterwards - he lives just near there. I'm catching up with him again in an hour or so, heading out there to Hollywood again. It's about 8:30pm here. I just got back from a little Sushi place in Little Tokyo which is about a block from the hotel where I'm staying.

Today I had a bit of a sleep in and then went down to Santa Monica and Venice Beach. It was a good day, down at the basketball courts at Venice. I talked my way into one of the games down there - a pretty cool experience. There was this guy, Roy, 6'3" African-American guy taking some shots and I walk up and ask if he minds if I take some shots. He straight faced says, "Yes, I do mind," and I was thinking, "What have I got myself into here?" He then cracks this big smile and asks me where I'm from. An Aussie accent opens so many doors over here. A few "g'day mates" and a couple of "no worries" and you're set. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Roy and "Ossie" won 15-13 in a game of 2-on-2. Good times, good times. Pretty freaky stuff. It was White Men Can't Jump Part 2, same court and all.

Anyway, I think I might go to Disneyland tomorrow or maybe six flags. Not sure. See how I feel in the morning. See ya.