Too Many Women!

Tags

Awesome Conference, Bali, Bikini, Darwin, Fashion, Food, Glamour, Holiday, Party, Raine & Horne

For those of you out there living the bachelor lifestyle this is not a phrase that you would be ever likely to utter “Too Many Women” however I have to temper this heading with some explanation. I was just about to embark upon the Raine & Horne Darwin AWESOME Conference 2014 in Bali with 20 women (Most in the 20 – 30 age demographic) and only 3 other blokes. Now you get what I am talking about….or perhaps you don’t so read on.We set out from Darwin on a quick trip to Bali….all goes well! Then a not so quick trip through Customs ‘Where do we go now?’ ‘I need to go to the toilet’ ‘I don’t have enough money for the entry tax’ ‘What pass do I need to show them?’ ‘Can I just take a selfie?’….then we get on the bus ‘I need to go to the toilet’ ‘Are we there yet’ ‘I’m tired’ ‘I want to sit next to Shannon’ ‘Why does she get to sit next to Shannon’ ‘I can’t find my room’ ‘I don’t want to stay in my room as someone might break in’…. Can someone just get me a beer for gods sake!

OK….so we make it to bed and yes we are all smiling! Fortunately we had 2 great speakers who kicked butt with their presentations….no fuss just great presentations….they were blokes so all good.

Then we had the Cocktail making competition which all went well as they were serving alcohol… Until Trishy became the taste tester for the Cosmopolitan concoctions! She was seen to test a few right to the bottom! So after we rescued her from the pool a few times during happy hour we adjourned to the Gala Dinner where more grog was served. Set on the side of the pool we managed to avoid any drownings? I have no idea how! The band cranked all night….so much so that we received complaints from the other occupants of the Hotel. Fortunately Sally and Tim were performing a duet at the time with Ray reacquainting himself with the drums after 30 plus years so we ignored those requests and ploughed on.

Day 2 sprang upon us and we all leapt out of bed. Well some rolled. Lenny was heard to utter that my estimation of his fitness at 23% was a gross over exaggeration and that he may have been the victim of a bad prawn….at least he was there.

The Amazing Race commenced through the rural regions of the Island of Bali. There was great competition from the 5 Teams.

Team Brown caught more fish than any other team in the Fish Farm Challenge! Team Green completed the Amazing Race faster than any team had ever achieved previously! Team Orange (I forget what their actual colour was) created a better scarecrow and planted more rice than the locals! Team Blue won the first ever game of Badminton in the history of the Amazing Race!

And Team Burgundy did absolutely nothing better than anyone except complain that their colour was not actually Red so they were adjudicated the winner since the organiser clearly felt sorry for their lack of ability? Anyways…..

Everyone then adjourned to the pool, beach, restaurants, bars, shopping….whilst Mark and I went and had a business meeting with one of our Darwin developers….It’s good to be the Boss….The End!

 T

It’s a Soiree

Tags

$$$$, 30's, Crazy, Darwin, Fashion, Food, Gatsby, Glamour, Party

Well I have been waiting to be invited to one of these for years! It just sounds so decadent! This one was a themed set in the 30’s Gatsby era…..and it lived up to all the expectations I had for an event of this Title

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This one was a 60th birthday….however I can assure you that the birthday boy is anything but a typical 60 year old! The fact that my present to him was a ‘home made ‘Energiser Bunny’ should be an indication of his character. He is off overseas in the next week or so to represent Australia in the World Dragon Boat Championships…..enough said!

So I set about getting ready for this event by taking a selfie (Cause Gatsby had an I Phone?) in my cupboard…..where else would you take it?

Thinking that it was polite I arrived 10 minutes late…..to find that we were the first through the door and that the host was still upstairs getting prepped. So that gave me some time to have a look about the place and believe me it is some place he has. Now I know where the hell all my Accounting fees are going! Not bad when you have your own jetty I reckon.

 

In typical fashion before I had even finished my first beer I had it tipped over me and the night was started! In rocked all sorts of shady looking characters in true gangster style. There were slappers….I mean flappers all over the place and the alcohol soon lubricated conversations so that one felt they were transported into an era of prohibition and the decadence I had expected from the outset.

The who’s who of Darwin were there…..and me too!

Yeah I like to hug everyone….it looks like I am important? Then the speeches started and we were introduced to Mal’s family. Turns out he is a rabbit! Have a look at the No of offspring! Go Boy!!

The guy with the beard at the end entertained us with a conspiracy theory like no other that I have ever heard and I can only imagine that the clean living traits which Mal has lived throughout his life were not necessarily inheritted by all his kids? What year did LSD come into fashion? Anyways they got him a great gift…..a paddle board!

All I could think was ‘What the hell would you want one of them for?’ However Mal clearly lives by the motto ‘Carpe Diem’ and proceeded to kick off his shoes and do a lap of the marina immediately. Which is a good thing that the water police were not on patrol as he would have knocked their breathaliser out of action for a month!

He returned from his paddle without a drop on him and I declared ‘Right! That’s it! I’ve seen enough!’

So I had another 12 Carona’s and went home….The End

Saving the World!

Tags

Darwin Cricket Club Superhero, Darwin Showgrounds, Food, MasterChef, Rides, Show, Steak, Steak Sandwich, Volunteers

Saving the World…..One Steak Sandwich at a Time!This was the challenge that confronted our Darwin Cricket Club Superhero’s (Volunteers) when they arrived at the Darwin Showgrounds on the weekend to be confronted by the hungry hordes.

It is hard to believe that anything could be more attractive to a show goer than a ‘Dagwood Dog’!However clearly some people like to avoid a ‘Heart Attack on a Stick’! Seriously, Who the hell decided they would be a good idea? Just add a quick spin on the ‘Chundertron’ and I think you know what happened to this kid! Anyways…..back to our superhero’s…..no not ‘Ampersand Man’Our Superhero volunteers who were slaving tirelessly over a hot plate serving up a culinary experience only available in the Northern Territory.The fire blanket was not required! Is this your image of a Steak Sandwich?Mine Too! I’m salivating just looking at it…..well I can tell you that this looks nothing like the crap we served up for general consumption at $7 a pop! It is literally a slice of Scotch Fillet cut to about 0.8mm with a bandsaw and then slapped between 2 pieces of untoasted bread….just normal packaged bread….well not that normal….it’s plain brand!Now there were times when we were not exactly flat out…..however I can tell you that we sold about 400 sandwiches in our 4 hour shift! When I got to Darwin 5 years ago I couldn’t believe what passed as a steak sandwich up here….however I can report that on the weekend I ate 4 of them and they were bloody beautiful!!! Welcome to the NT Masterchef!

Hong Kong 7’s – 2014

Tags

7's, Corporate Box, Food, Hong Kong, Rugby, Sevens, Weird Food

Put simply…….What an Amazing Event!

This was my 2nd trip to the 7’s in Hong Kong with my first being some 10 years previous. It was a sellout this year and I can see why the tickets are so hard to come by.

The competition has come a long way in a very short period of time with the emergence of an extremely professional feel surrounding the teams which now compete. That is not to diminish those who took the field 10 years ago but rather an observation around the specialist nature of the sport these days.

It appears that the individual players are now singularly focussed upon the 7’s competition as their sole interest in Rugby circles. It is their chosen code and they concentrate upon this as their first choice rather than an option in the event that they do not qualify to represent their country in Rugby Union…..or alternately have left the game of Rugby Union behind.

We were fortunate this year to secure a 24 person Corporate Box and took full advantage of the privaleges which this provides…..such as not having to get up at 8am with a hangover and arrive at the ground to secure a seat!

So I have to confess that this may have increased my enjoyment of the games somewhat however there were a few not so fortunate souls who still managed a good time also.

Anyways it was a hoot and you cannot mention a trip to Hong Kong without exploring the food options!

Especially the good ones!