Has the Captain Cook Hotel ever been the same?

There is the possibility of me going back to the Captain Cook Hotel in Paddington this Thursday night before I go to watch a Waratahs trial. For those who didn't have the pleasure back in '04, it was the scene of an unlikely post-party party.


It was 766 days ago - the day of my 21st birthday celebrations. Mum and Dad had put on a ripper of a party during the day at our old place adjacent to Randwick Racecourse. From memory, the following events happened:

• Paff decided to use skills learned as one of the Ox's barmaids (and one of the hottest) to pour herself a couple of jugs of beer, then proceeded to notify the barman of his professional shortcomings.
• There were holes in the walls of the men's, after someone played demolition expert.
• Lane tried to get to know several of my female invitees.
• There was nakedness at the bar. Enough said.
• One of the attendees may or may not have made relations with my younger sister outside the front of the pub.
• The barman gave me free shots because he didn't think I'd drunk enough. Then I vomitted in a nearby laneway.
• Willis & Hoy literally carried me home. Mates!

Here's a few old photos of the events prior to the debauchery:

Then some idiot gave me a wig and everything started to get loose.





Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from here on. However feel free to email them to me if you have any tucked away in a random computer file somewhere.

So anyway, I'm possibly off there again later this week. Hope they don't remember me.

Howzat!!

I went to the 4th and final day of the 5th Ashes test in Sydney a couple of weeks ago, courtesy of the good people at 3 Mobile. Definite perk of working for a PR firm.

Anyway, it was Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer's last ever test match. A momentous day indeed and one to most definitely tell the grandkids about.

A perfect setting to watch half a day of cricket. The Poms got their asses well and truly handed to them, with a 5-0 Ashes whitewash - the first since 1921.

Ashes whitewash


One of Warnie's last ever test match overs...


The boys do a victory lap...


Brett Lee & Matt Hayden

Hello 2007!

It's catch-up time.

New years - I had the pleasure of being hosted at an apartment just off Terrigal Beach for a couple of nights by Rob Scott, a sterling bloke I met through Jonnie Hoy.

Ten points to the groundsman, who preparded a nice flat pitch for the pre-dinner intra-house cricket match. Nice action, Hoy.

Feeling a bit of 1st year uni deja-vu, we embarked on some drinking games of the highest order, deconstructing the age-old favourite 'Pass the Pigs'. In short, we rolled a couple of rubber pigs and got suitably pissed.

One of my better rolls...

Here's a couple of other pictures of a few pissed idiots at the Crown Plaza hotel:

Proudly sponsored by Bundy...

Some of the 06/07 crew...

Happy birthday Angus

I know, I'm shit.

I was informed the other evening by one Angus George that I haven't blogged in quite a while. In light of this, he suggested it would be a terriffic opportunity to wish him a very happy birthday for yesterday, whilst re-entering the blogosphere after a fortnightly layoff.

So, happy birthday! May the fist be with you on this auspicious occasion.

Here's a picture of Angus and I in preparing for the high seas several months ago.

Cricket, catches, crimson sunsets and a couple of days in the car

So you've probably already seen my Christmas post. So, so much more went on. The days at home were quite strenuous - cyclically spent lying on the couch, watching the cricket, sleeping, getting some exercise walking to the fridge for some nourishment, watching the cricket...

When that wasn't happening, I was playing cricket with the fam on Dad's beautifully prepared (mowed) pitch. As you can see from the picture, Mum has most definitely mastered the sweep/hook/on-drive combination. Dad didn't do much, as Mum was pounding Cass' thunderbolts to every corner of the yard. Meils simply resembled a smurf.

Dad and I also went fishing - we bagged two beautiful flatheads and a ripper afternoon in the boat. We ended up BBQing the two flatties the next day. I also caught a flounder, but we won't speak of it.

Let's just say that it's kind of like Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore: too wrong - too young.


Alas, all good things must eventually come to an end - it became time for the sun to set on my holiday in Coffs. Get it - there's a picture of a Coffs Harbour sunset from my parent's balcony!

So we left Coffs and the road trip continued (see the red below):

The five of us - bundled up and on our way to Nan & Pa's in Central Western NSW, approximately 750kms away. What a trip - thank Christ for iPods! But seriously, I really enjoyed (if not lamented) seeing the different life and landscapes along the way: from the seemingly endless waterfalls in the mountains near Dorrigo, through to the patchy wheat crops and lanky, shrunken cattle around the Tamworth and Quirindi areas; not to mention the dry gum-leaf enshrouded roads along the Bell River from Wellington to Cumnock.

Below: A picture of one of the paddock's adjacent to Nan and Pa's residence.

Once finally there, it was just so great to see the rels. After a couple of days of BBQ's, cups of tea and catching up with all and sundry, we headed back to Sydney, where New Years awaited...