Davis Cup Tennis in Darwin July 2015

Wow, what an experience this was...
A special court was constructed for the event at Marrara Stadium.

I had flown back in from Singapore, worked for a few days and had heard how disappointing the performances on court were by the Aussies on the opening day.

The Saturday Leyton Hewitt & Sam Groth teamed up for the doubles and to the great joy of the crowd they won the match.
I had tickets for the final singles matches on the Sunday.
No announcement had been made as to who would play...
Big cheers went up from the crowd as Sam Groth took the court and after a very long tough match he won!

At the final moment it was announced that Leyton Hewitt would play the final match - the cliffhanger which would decide if the Aussie Team got to the semi finals later in the year.

Well for the next 4 hours we were all on the edge of our seats in that hot Darwin sun. After nail biting points and many tie breaks and match points Leyton took out the match resulting in the tie going to Australia!

My long time favourite tennis player Pat Rafter was also spotted taking close note of all the action in his role as Davis Cup Captain.

2015 July Visiting Singapore once again

In the middle of our July break I headed back to Singapore to visit my good mates Libby & Eric Smith. While I did manage to visit a few new places and try out some new restaurants the main purpose was to relax and catch up with great friends.

On the Sunday after flying in and settling in I spent some time relaxing by the pool and then traveled by the very efficient MRT to meet Lib & Eric at Kovan Branch of Morris Allan English. 

I arrived in time to play a game of 'Bananagrams' with Lib and 2 of her pupils and we then headed to Joe's - a local eatery for dinner with some of their friends.

On Monday Lib and I relaxed at home for the morning whilst Eric went walking with their usual walking group. Lib & I then ventured down to the local shops for a firm foot massage....

That evening we headed into Bugis Junction to the Blue Jazz Bar for a staff function and capped off the night with a visit to the Wine Fairy once again amazed as this young girl 'flies'up on wire to get the bottle of wine of your choosing!









Tuesday Lib was a tad unwell but came with me to meet some other people working at MAE to the movies to see 'Far From The Madding Crowd'. I recall vaguely reading this in school and was quite impressed with the movie....
While we were out Eric went shopping and came back with an Apple TV....I will be off to the shops as soon as I am back in Oz to get one for myself...huge possibilities.

For dinner we caught the local bus a way down the road to 'Saturdays'- a new restaurant Eric & Lib had discovered.

Wednesday Lib & I spent some time down at the pool and I then visited the Apple Shop with Eric to learn more about the integration between the Apple TV and our iPhones / iPods. I then met up with Shanta from Darwin for the afternoon. Great chance to catch up and chat - for some reason we do not seem to get time for this in Darwin.

Thursday we all ventured into the city area and the Fountain of Wealth at Suntec City - an attraction I had not been to previously.  It was listed by the Guinness Book of Records in 1998 as the largest fountain in the world, inspired by the Hindu mandala. This time we turned up in time to go out into the middle and absorb the positive ‘qi’ which should bring us good luck. Keep your fingers crossed.

So then Lib & Eric headed to work and I relaxed, packed and headed to the airport. Once again a fantastic catch up with some very good life long friends!