Day 1 competition

Monday was the first day of competition. It was a made rush at breakfast as everyone had to be ready by 7:45am. In true Irish form one of the lifts broke down and the restaurant that usually opens at 6:30 didn't open until 7am because of a bank holiday and so it created a bit of havoc.
Here are some photos of what Belfast looks like.

Lovely street next to clubhouse. This is a protestant area that houses professionals like doctors etc.

 The men 's team were playing the Republic of Ireland and the ladies had a bye. Games started at 9am. It was a bank holiday in Belfast so the trip took around 20 minutes to get to the leafy suburb of Belmont.

Brian Lockyer was the singles player and he won his game 21-4 .
Brian originates from Walcha ( Northern NSW)
and uses Dreamline bowls. He is defending his International Champion in singles which he won in Perth 2011

Our pairs team comprised of Harry Hughes lead and Ken Read Skip

Harry Hughes and Ken Read are the pairs players/ They won 37-8
Harry uses the Taylor Vector Vs and Ken is using Henselite Fusion.
Harry plays for Nollamara Club in Perth and it is his first International competition.
Ken plays for Helensvale Club on the Gold Coast and it is his first International competition

Our Triples Team is Brian Lockyer lead, Michael Barca 3rd and Barry Lynne Skip.
They won 20-16.
Michael plays for Bundoora RSL in Melbourne and it is his 2nd International championships. He is using the Aero Groove s bowl.
Barry plays for Mareeba in Qld and it is his 4th International Competition and he is the official flag bearer. He is using the Drakes Pride Excel.
This team is here to defend its International Championship in the Triples which they won in Perth 2011

Our Fours Team is  Harry Hughes Lead, Ken Read 2nd Michael Barca 3rd and Barry Lynne skip.
They drew 12-12
This team with its 2 new members of Harry and Ken are the defending champions which Barry and Michael were a part of in Perth 2011.

The single and pairs results were a one way affair however the triples and fours were hard fought out games.
Having to play through rain for a period and some unlucky situations had the team dig deep to get the this result.
Weather was fine with a brief downpour during the afternoon. Not much wind.
Day 1 tally equals 3 wins and 1 draw,
The team is hopeful for tomorrow but not overconfident as the greens are still quite foreign in weight and grass, that is bowls talk for how hard to have to bowl the bowl and the line the bowl takes on its way down the green.
Tomorrow both the ladies and the Men's team meet the powerhouse England side.

Go Aussie.

Opening Ceremony Day

Well today was all about the bowls.
Starting by having all the players ready to leave by 8:15. That meant the restaurant was standing room only. Everyone arrived and we departed around 8:30am.
Another first for the Irish, when we arrived at the street that led to the bowling club, the bus driver decided to reverse down the street to the bowling club. No problem you say, well the street was 3oo mtrs long.
The Open Ceremony started at 10 and went until 11:30, lucnh started at 12 and practise at 1pm.
Nothing much else happened today.
Tomorrow will be worse as all players have to be ready by 7:45am to be taken to the club to start by 9am.
Just a funny observation of the greenkeeper getting the moisture off the green.
Never seen this before. The greenkeeper walked across the green with a big stick and on the end of the stick was a long piece of round rope like plastic. The green keeper whipped the plastic across the green in a large sweeping movement, this movement removed all the frost moisture off the green.

Early night tonight

Day 1 Bowls and Shopping practise

Today was another early start as our body clocks are still on Melbourne time, so 3am in Belfast is 12pm lunchtime in Melbourne.  Team players had to be on bus at 9am to go to Belmont Bowling Club for official practice. Colene stayed in bed and had a lovely morning with a late breakfast and gym session. She gave the swim a miss as there were too many boats on the river.

The team arrived at the Belmont Club and the street-scape was beautiful. Everyone was amazed at how green the greens were. Ireland does have a special green. The speed of the green was equally as dark, the slowest green that anyone had been on.   After many ends and delivery alterations players started to get the weight and line.

Practice finished and there were 2 buses waiting to take the players back to the hotel. 2 choices 1/catch the first bus and get back early or 2/catch the 2nd bus and have a pint or 2. We are Aussies.... Michael and Brian Lockyer( another Aussie player) enjoyed their first Guinness, a pint of course. The cost 2 pound 90 pee. Approx $5.50. They had just begun to enjoy their 2nd pint when they were told they had to board the bus immediately. Michael and Brian had the honour of being the first international players who had to scull their  pint of beer.

On return to the hotel and getting his wifi back up and working Michael found a curious message "an overseas amount for $255 had been declined"..... Colene as usual played her ace card. "Well the clothes were on Sale" and of course they were for the grandchildren......... Off they set to collect the earlier purchases.

The Irish here are lovely people, so polite and courteous.  They are always prepared for a shower of rain. There is just one thing that is hard to handle...... You can't bloody understand a word they say.

Colene and Michael headed back to their room because on Colene's watch it had somehow turned to wine o'clock. At dinner they were able to practise their signing with the other players and their wives. The Australian team members and their wags are a great bunch of people.There was lots of laughs and and jokes.  After dinner Michael attended a team meeting and Colene went off to bed.

Michael's body clock isstill having a hard time resetting itself whereas Colene's clock has lost its alarm button.

The opening ceremony is on today Sunday and then more practice in the afternoon.

Go Aussies Go.

The Long Haul

tull

Colene and Michael met up with some of the Australian Deaf team at.Tullarmarine Airport to set off for  Belfast. Customs was quieter than ever seen before, some say it is because of the Aussie $. Left Melbourne at 9:20 pm on the new double decker A380. The whole trip was so smooth it was like sitting in your lounge room for 23 hours. 14 hours later landed in Dubai after having lunch at 11pm, dinner at 3am and breakfast at 6:30am EST. It was 34 deg and quite hazy. As we walked through duty free at Dubai, Colene started to get that glazed look on her face.  Amazing, after 14 hours on a plane watching movies and listening to music, the first thing she said to Michael as she was walking through Dubai's duty free section was that all the designer labels are at their cheapest in Dubai because of no tax. She also asked Michael what was the exchange rate as she saw an expensive dress. Michael didn't tell her that the Dirham currency is quite cheap in its conversion to the Aus $. Don't know how long he can keep that secret especially as they are spending 2 days there on there return trip.
Connections went smoothly and they soon met up with the rest of the team. Boarded the plane and 8 hours late after breakfast again and then lunch we arrived in Dublin. Met our bus driver, Gerard,. We all boarded the bus bound for Belfast.
A suggestion by the team to Gerard to stop at a pub was quickly knocked on the head as he was the only Irishman in the Country who doesn't drink beer. Looking at the countryside you could be forgiven to think you were in Australia except for the quaint cottages and every passing truck having Mc... on it .

On arriving in Belfast,we realised why the Irish have so many jokes told about them. As we were travelling down a busy Belfast road the bus suddenly stopped. We looked out the window and what we saw wasn't the Hilton, where we were staying. The bus started to reverse, as it seemed he went down the wrong street, which just happened to be a one way street.
After getting back on the right side of the road we continued along Belfast main  road and into busy Belfast central, again we suddenly stopped in traffic. Looked out the window, still no Hilton, looked up the front of the bus and yep no bus driver, he had disappeared from the bus. Our guess was that he was lost and was asking for directions. He eventually got back on the bus and headed off as if  nothing had happened. Eventually, we arrived at Hilton and lots of old friends from Perth 2011

 
world deaf championships came out to greet us. Lots of hugs and hi-fives Booked into room had another dinner and off to bed at 9:30 pm Belfast time.  31 hours of travelling and feeling ok. Actually doing this blog at 5 am, but still had over 7 hours sleep. Michael is off to practice until lunchtime at Belmont Bowling Club Belfast  and as supporters have free time........... you can guess what Colene will be doing. Wrong guess..... she is actually going to the Hilton Gym and maybe have a swim. If you go to the Hilton Website and look at the photo of the pool, you'll see a photo taken from one of the rooms at the river below. Who said the Irish don't have a sense of humour.

Days to Go

Welcome everyone to Aileen, Lyndsay, Colene and Michael's blog.

 We are off to Belfast, Barcelona, Venice, Rome the Island of Lipari (where the Barcas originated) Santorini and Dubai.

Aileen and Lyndsay will join Michael and Colene in Belfast on 7th September to catch the tail end of the International Deaf Bowls Championships and hopefully to see Michael win!.

Then on on 10th September we will fly to Barcelona for 4 days.
Then fly to Venice for 2 days. Visiting Burano and Murano islands.
Catch a train to Rome for 4 days, which includes a day excursion by very fast train to Naples, where we are driven to Pompeii and then onto Positano for the day and returning to Rome.
Fly to Catania in Sicily and then driven to Milazzo to catch a ferry to Lipari for 4 days at a seaside cottage.  Then we catch a ferry and taxi back to Catania.
Fly to Santorini in Greece for 4 nights in a white cave house
Fly to Dubai via Santorini and Athens and stay 3 nights in the worlds tallest twisted skyscraper. Cayan Towers Dubai
Fly back to Melbourne on AFL Grand Final morning.

These tours have all been organised by ACRAB's travel Agency. Great agency but can be a bit backward and time consuming.

While you are waiting for our trip to begin you can always follow the Australian Deaf Bowls Team progression.  You can follow the competition at:  deaflba.blogspot.com

Hop on board and enjoy the ride.