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Published: September 28th 2006
Arrived in Sydney for possibly the worst weather they had seen in 5 years, where in the 4 days I was there before flying home for the All-Ireland, there had been 3times the average rainfall for the usual MONTH of September! Repeated attempts at venturing outdoors were greeted with howling winds, and monsoon rains, and so we retreated to the indoors of Enda's abode, who was kindly putting us up for the couple of days we were there.
Of course, as soon as I had left for Ireland, the sun decided to appear, and Thomas had a fantastic time in Sydney in my absence. After the disappointment of the All Ireland, the sun must have felt sorry for me, and decided to grace me with some UV rays for the rest of the Sydney trip, and so Bondi Beach (or County Bondi as it has since become known, due to the large Irish contingent there) became our home for the next few days. Although, I should add (under duress, thanks Enda) that there was only 1 attempted "dip" in the water as it was absolutely BALTIC in those waters.....if you look closely at the picture of Bondi Beach, most people
Baby Koala
Taronga Zooare wearing WET SUITS....and with good reason!!
We were even (un)lucky enough to be on the beach when there was a shark-incident..shark seen in the water, everyone evacuated from the sea and helicopter called out to hover over the water to scare it out to sea. Jaws indeed!
We were fortunate to get tickets to the AFL semi-finals where Sydney Swans were playing against Fremantle in the Olympic Stadium in Sydney on Friday night. We had a brilliant time, in the "alcohol seats", in a crowd of 62,000 (well I never said it was Croke Park!) of whom the majority of the crowd were Swannies. I've even managed the words to the Sydney Swans theme tune "ONWARDS TO VICTORY!" and of course we were cheering Tadhg all the way, as the team romped home to a 127 to 92 victory.
When an open-to-the-public training session was announced for Tuesday 26th September, it was only natural to change my scheduled flight to NZ to ensure attendance at the Sydney Cricket Ground to meet all the Swans team, especially with Adam Goodes after winning the Brownlow medal.... of course the only person I was interested in meeting was Tadhg
Kennelly who (mercifully!) responded to my wailing in the crowd and posed for a quick photo before being wrestled away by mobs of females....really... in this day in age, you think they would exercise some restraint *ahem*
Had a fantastic time in Sydney (and Karen-Ann pushing the hard-sell, pointing out the fantastic lifestyle that everyone has out here!). It's a great city, and is completely transformed in the sunshine. The Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are every bit as imposing as they appear in photographs, and the beaches around Bondi and Manly are unbelievable... it's certainly a place you could lay your hat for a couple of years!
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Ronnie Corbett
non-member comment
Bondi Beach
But Rachel you forgot to mention those lovely swims you enjoyed on Bondi Beach....and how warm the water was!! Wimps!