Olympic envy

So the Olympics finished this weekend and the Aussies haven't enjoyed seeing the Poms doing better than them in the medals table. Of course all the TV coverage here has tended to focus on the Australian team's activities and they were doing well after the end of the first week with the swimming.

However, the second week was a shock for them to see Team GB move ahead in the gold medal count and the press has been full of reasons why this might have happened (too many Aussie coaches now in the UK, all wins have been 'sitting down', etc) as well as concern about sports funding here and how they can do better in London in 2012.

This article from the sports section of the paper this weekend is intentionally amusing but indicates the type of feeling here about how the UK has suddenly outperformed the Australian Olympic effort. And then Boris Johnson had to appear at the closing ceremony to let the side down...

Back in Sydney, Caroline enjoyed 3 days skiing last week when she went on a brief school trip to Thredbo, one of the closest ski resorts to Sydney. They left by coach on Tuesday night and travelled the 6 hours overnight to the south, which gave them 3 full days on the mountain before heading back again on Friday and arriving home at midnight (in torrential rain). She had a good time with her group of friends and the snow conditions have been the best for some years here.

Aussie Rules

Last Saturday night was another new experience for us – Clive and I went to watch the Sydney Swans play against the Geelong 'Cats' in the AFL at the Olympic Stadium. Rebecca had been to several games with a friend, so Clive and I thought we ought to see what it was like for ourselves.

The Australian Football League ('Aussie Rules') is a cross between football and rugby and probably other ball games, but not being an expert, I won’t embarrass myself by mentioning any more! There are 18 players on each team, who have to advance a spherical ball towards the goal using any part of their body they wish, before kicking it between the inner goalposts (to score 6 points) or the outer ones (to score 1 point). Players are not allowed to throw the ball and they must bounce it every so often as they run with it – easier said than done, given its shape!

The pitch is a large oval, like a cricket pitch, and the stadium edges are reconfigured for this type of game to create a wider playing surface. The game is played in 4 quarters, each at least 30 minutes’ long.

I am not the slightest bit interested in football or rugby, so really didn’t know what to expect, but I had heard that AFL is the most popular spectator sport in Australia and a favourite for family outings. I was therefore not surprised to be surrounded by lots of large groups of several generations, all sporting items in their team colours, ranging from ‘T’ shirts and jumpers to scarves, caps and lovely knitted bobble hats their grandmothers would have been proud of! (Mind you, 'Grandma' was probably there too, so maybe that’s why they were worn!)

Having said that, there were plenty of smaller groups there too, many not wearing any team colours and therefore being able to travel incognito (like us) – not that that mattered though, as supporters intermingled in the stands and shared friendly banter throughout the game, which was great to see. It seemed to be popular with all ages and even with many young people there, we heard no bad language which was pleasantly surprising!

Clive didn’t enjoy the game as much as I did, because he was comparing it to football and thought it was too ‘messy’ at times, with lots of stopping and starting. I surprised myself by quite enjoying it, especially when the ball was passed skilfully from player to player and seemed to get from one end of the oval to the next in no time at all.

The home team wasn’t expected to win, which they illustrated in the first quarter, but their play improved to the point where we thought they’d have a chance to beat the opposition. Sadly, it was not to be, and the final score was Sydney 94, Geelong 133. Clive and I left 10 minutes before the end, to avoid the queue for the free bus which would take us back almost to our doorstep, a journey of around 40 minutes.

As we got on the bus, the cheerful driver said: “Let’s go then and get you guys home to your warm houses!” Lovely comforting words, had they been true – we got home at 11pm and huddled under a duvet on the sofa, clutching mugs of hot chocolate and brandies! Although the evening hadn’t been 'cold' by European standards, the last few weeks have been colder than usual here, so sitting on a plastic seat for almost 3 hours in temperatures of around 10 degrees was a little chilling, and I was frozen to the bone, despite wearing my ski jacket, gloves and scarf – maybe I need to invest in a bobble hat after all!

Classics close up

Last Friday evening Clive and I were at one of our favourite venues, Sydney Opera House. We had just bought tickets a week ago to see the Sydney Symphony play Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, followed by Stravinsky’s The Firebird – 'ballet fantastic'. (Not my opinion – that’s what it’s called!)

We followed our usual routine – car to Cremorne Point to catch the ferry to Circular Quay, enjoying the city lights as we crossed the harbour. However, it was a chilly night, so we sat inside on the ferry and had to forgo sipping our pre-performance glass of bubbly on the outside balcony of the Opera House. Mad dogs and Englishmen might have put up with the cold biting wind, but we’re turning into wimpy Australians!

We'd gone for the cheap seats and decided to try a new position within the auditorium, which meant in the choir stalls behind the orchestra. We were right on the front row and consequently had a great view of the conductor and his interesting facial expressions, but musical purists probably wouldn't have enjoyed the best sound quality.

There was just a bar separating our seats from the percussion section so we could have banged the drums ourselves, but I don’t think our help would have been appreciated! It was fascinating to watch the performers from behind, like being a silent member of the orchestra (thank goodness!). We almost felt like standing up and bowing when they did!

There were three parts to the Tchaikovsky concerto. The grand piano was at the front of the stage and the pianist, Yefim Bronfman, played a magical performance - we’re always amazed how some musicians can play such complicated pieces without music. He even found the opportunity to tuck his hair behind his ear from time to time, but he probably started playing that piece at the age of four, mind you! Everything about him gave us the impression that he was in his late-50s or 60s, so it was a bit of a shock to discover in the programme that he was just one year older than me!

The Stravinsky piece called for a larger orchestra – more double bass players came on stage along with percussionists, brass players and three harps (surely one would be enough?). Live music forces you to listen to the various instruments far more than recorded music. Hearing the different sounds coming from various corners of the orchestra, and how they answer each other and complement each other is fantastic. Evert time we go to a classical concert, we vow to go more often. I wonder when the next one will be?

Google Street View of Sydney

Google has just launched a new feature of its mapping service in Australia - Street View provides ground-level images of most streets across Sydney and the other main urban areas. It's a fascinating technology that allows you to 'drive' along streets and look around at the buildings, so it can be useful when going somewhere new or planning a route.

It's also a great time-waster, but once the initial novelty wears off, it should be a good resource when needed (much like Google Earth). Unfortunately many of the roads around 'our patch' are photographed in cloud (or rain in some areas) so the streets aren't displayed in their best light!

A sporting weekend (sort of)

The past weekend has been 'sporty' in a number of ways. On Friday evening I went to watch the local 'footie' (rugby league) team (Manly) again, with an expat friend. They were playing a team from Penrith and had another easy win, although the evening was much colder than our previous visit to the ground (and it was even colder holding the beers!).

There's been a lot of controversy over the past 2 weeks with a leading rugby league player breaking his contract and not only heading off to France but also to 'change codes' and play rugby union. This is seen as very poor form but as there's a salary cap in the NRL the attraction of playing in Europe and earning more money must appeal to a lot of young players. Although some games here attract good crowds, the game on Friday night was seen by around 7,500 people and as the entry tickets are reasonable (about £8 each) it's easy to see why there isn't so much money in the game here, plus most teams are based in NSW and Queensland, so it's not really a national sport either.

On Saturday the weather remained cold but sunny, so Sue and I had a walk on Narrabeen beach before she went to view a possible rental property for one of her relocation customers. In the afternoon I went out for a reasonably long bike ride, doing a big circuit which I hadn't tried before and ended up with a long hill, which just about did me in for the rest of the day!

Sunday morning was our usual spectator routine for Rebecca's football team and it was their last match of the season (at least within the main league games). They finished at 1-1 and look like they'll end up just outside the top-4 play-offs, after having 'peaked' in mid-season with a winning run which hasn't been so good over the past few weeks. Still, they've clearly made progress over the season and hopefully most of the team will continue into next season as we've quite enjoyed watching the games and chatting with other parents.

On Sunday evening I had a game a squash with another expat contact and although there is usually a group of players mixing around, it was just the 2 of us this week. We had a good match for an hour which finished me off for the rest of the day, again!