The Three Amigos go to Melbourne
Yesterday we moved all our gear into the official games hotel. It is very nice. A modern building, large, with nice dining facilities, a pool and a casino. The rooms feature large marble tiled bathrooms and are very comfortable.
Today we had to go to Melbourne to collect our team gear. We set off by bus at 11:45 and were at the games village a couple hours later. First order of business was to catch lunch. The food is intended to provide something for everybody from all the varied Commonwealth countries. I decided to have Indian food for lunch. We had only just sat down to eat when Pat struck up a conversation with some of Canada’s track athletes and discovered that one of the girls is the niece of a lady Pat works with. She is competing in pole vault and we wish her all the best of luck. We met up with Canada HQ. Dennis Shukla from the Shooting Federation of Canada had our uniforms ready to go. The person who is the aide for all of the coach’s is from Kamloops and knows Paul Reiban among other shooters. She has shot with her husband as well as trying air gun over here. She said if she makes it up to Bendigo she will give full bore a try. We took some uniform bits for alteration after trying on the lot. We met with a few of the other shooting team members and had a pleasant afternoon. Then a quick dinner, I had African this time and it was time to meet our driver for the trip back to Bendigo. The trip back was a bit long and bit rough. The driver was given an unfamiliar vehicle that was low on fuel. While searching out diesel for the van we had a too close encounter with a large rock. After the adjustment the sliding door still opens half way so it could have been worse. We took the back roads route and the van was not up to real highway cruising speed. Suffice to say we left at 7:00 and arrived at 10:15. Our volunteer driver still had to return to Melbourne, hand in the van, fill in a damage report and then drive herself home. It is well after midnight as I write this and I doubt she is there yet. Any way it was a long day. Some pictures are attached, tomorrow we shoot something. Cheers, Jim.
Today we had to go to Melbourne to collect our team gear. We set off by bus at 11:45 and were at the games village a couple hours later. First order of business was to catch lunch. The food is intended to provide something for everybody from all the varied Commonwealth countries. I decided to have Indian food for lunch. We had only just sat down to eat when Pat struck up a conversation with some of Canada’s track athletes and discovered that one of the girls is the niece of a lady Pat works with. She is competing in pole vault and we wish her all the best of luck. We met up with Canada HQ. Dennis Shukla from the Shooting Federation of Canada had our uniforms ready to go. The person who is the aide for all of the coach’s is from Kamloops and knows Paul Reiban among other shooters. She has shot with her husband as well as trying air gun over here. She said if she makes it up to Bendigo she will give full bore a try. We took some uniform bits for alteration after trying on the lot. We met with a few of the other shooting team members and had a pleasant afternoon. Then a quick dinner, I had African this time and it was time to meet our driver for the trip back to Bendigo. The trip back was a bit long and bit rough. The driver was given an unfamiliar vehicle that was low on fuel. While searching out diesel for the van we had a too close encounter with a large rock. After the adjustment the sliding door still opens half way so it could have been worse. We took the back roads route and the van was not up to real highway cruising speed. Suffice to say we left at 7:00 and arrived at 10:15. Our volunteer driver still had to return to Melbourne, hand in the van, fill in a damage report and then drive herself home. It is well after midnight as I write this and I doubt she is there yet. Any way it was a long day. Some pictures are attached, tomorrow we shoot something. Cheers, Jim.
posted by Jim Paton at 10:06 PM
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