Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Summer 2012/13 - a retrospective part 2

After catching up with Oskar, Robyn, Kylie, Jack and others at the Opera Bar it was time for me to catch a train to Wollongong where I'd stay with Dad for a few days while I bowled in the annual South Pacific Bowls Carnival.

An old school mate of mine, Dean, teams up with me in the pairs and I also played in the singles this year. It's a massive tournament and the standard of bowls is awesome. I/we didn't win our sections but we did beat the eventual section winners.

After that it was back to Sydney for a short while before bidding farewell to Karen and Patrick as they headed North to Maryborough and Australian Jamboree 2013 (or AJ2013 as referred to by scouts).

With over 11,500 scouts and about 2,500-3,000 leaders, it's a massive event! With off site activities including a day trip to Australia Zoo, entertainment each night in the arena such as Tim-O-Matic, Cosentino, Justice Crew, Jessica Mauboy and much more the scouts and leaders had a ball. Apart from the high temperatures and humidity I'm led to believe it was a great experience and one they'll be talking about for years to come.

While Karen and Patrick were away, Angus and Owen came with me back to Wollongong to stay with Dad for a few days while Lily had some Nanna and Grandad one-on-one time. The boys and I went for a big bike ride with Dad from his place in Bellambi to Wollongong and back, stopping for lunch along the way. It's a similar ride that I used to do all the time as a kid and the boys loved it - so did Dad. That night Linda joined us for dinner at a lovely local Italian restaurant.

The next day the four of us headed to Jamberoo Action park with what seemed like half of the population. While it was super busy and some lines were ridiculously long, we had a great day and kept cool. It would be a great day out with half as many people there!

The next day was our last in Wollongong and before we headed North back to Sydney the boys and I visited the Wollongong Science Centre - it's like a little Scienceworks. It was fantastic and well worth the visit. Another benefit of being a Melbourne Museum member is that we got free entry :)

So that was our Wollongong trip. To be continued.















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