the amazing race

Its been hard work getting up at 6.15 after a summer of lying in. I can do the walk from central to the ferry in 10 minutes this is largely due to the overhead walkway complete with escalators that run down in the morning and up in the evening! perfect! and its quite a sight too. Hundreds of people marching along, rucksacks and casual clothes or suits and lap tops. coffee in one hand and a 'standard' newspaper shoved into the other as you get off the escalator. So its out of the front door, turn left down two escalators along a bridge past the bank through the German alley ramp down into the mall out the other side over a bridge and  down steps or an escalator and onto the ferry. Drink coffee, log on to the net and breathe! The views are pretty good as you get close to the port and on the ferry they are pretty spectacular, there is always the temptation to stop and stare in this incredible city.
today was professional development day 2 of 3 and the morning was given to administration procedures on the computer like registers, assessment and uploading information be it visual or text. After lunch there was a buzz of excitement as we gathered in the Globe theatre to receive our instructions for the Amazing Race. An annual team building competition where you are given clues to find different locations on the island and then have to complete different challenges. We learnt there was to be no sabotage of other team's progress, no hijacking of golf carts and there would be a time penalty for any incomplete tasks. well, I could not have been put in a more competitive team! All new staff were automatically put with their line managers so that meant that Matt, Jarrod and I were all together :) there were four others on our team who were all keen to win and we did!! Our first task was a sudoku easy street! Then we had a clue, this led us via a bus ride to the sienna club where we had to complete a table tennis challenge! We had to make a rally of ten by swapping paddles between the team. We had to take a penalty on that one because someone hit the first shot into the net - game over!! Next we were led to a supermarket and had to do a supermarket sweep! there were five things on the list and I got a bit disorientated, not recognising anything  on the list at all, I didn't pick up anything and just followed everyone out a bit confused! We then had a new clue and had an uphill run to a park. For this challenge we had to stand in a circle 5 meters between each of us and throw two eggs round in different directions making 6 full rotations each. We managed this fairly easily however lisa said that she can only throw overarm (?) and I was next to her! So when she threw an egg it was pretty fast! Our next clue took us to the 'Middle Lane' apartment block so we got a bus to the bottom of a long stairway. 150 odd steps later, sweating profusely we reached the top and luckily we had a WordSearch waiting for us there. Now we were on our way to the beach where four of the team had to paddle in a canoe around two buoys. Jarrod managed to break the paddle clean in two but managed to carry on anyway. Next we had a water challenge at the La Costa fountain. There were two water vessels in which we had to place and displace water to get a certain amount, I didn't have a clue what was going on at this point but we did it anyway. Our next clue took us to the Kindergarten and here we blindfolded Russell (because it was part of the task) and had to direct him around an obstacle course using only our voices. Only one person at a time was allowed to speak and there were four stages for the course, one for each speaker to direct. This challenge completed and from here we were told to get to Zaks bar for a rewarding drink! - result. And we were 1st! We had to wait for our time penalty to lapse and we excitedly counted down the final ten seconds, no-one else arrived so we celebrated! It was a free bar, other teams arrived groaning seeing that they were not the first to get there but soon got over it and ordered a beer. Once everyone had arrived the canopes went round and there was a presentation. We got Champagne as did the first place losers (as I like to call 2nd place) then the two teams that came joint last had to down a shot of something that looked decidedly like paint stripper. People gradually went off home as the management had left and the free drinks ceased.
Kylie and I got the ferry home and delighted in buying tuna with chillies from the 'park and shop' our local mini market. We ate our dinner of instant noodles, granola bars and tuna (out of the tin no less) off the top of the cardboard box we got our pedalbin in. We watched 'Flashdance' utilisng the same box turned up the other way with my lap top perched on it. Every now and then our bums went numb from sitting on the hard floor. Then once again the toilet stopped working so a few texts went back and forth with Leo Wong. Then at ten past ten and in true Bert and Ernie style got an early night in our only bed. "night Bert", "night Ernie"
God Bless x