Updated on 1 September
After a relaxing couple of days in Canberra, I headed out to Brisbane where we had a couple of days before we started the tour. I made the most of the time there by visiting Mt. Gravatt, south bank and the gold coast. The climate here is so good that it's hard to believe its winter here because of it's mildness. We are staying with local coaching legend Marc Forster and enjoying the company and hospitality of his friends. Last night we were treated to a Greek feast with Harry and his lovely family.
The trip starts today and we will be driving 2100 kms in the next 7 days in our land cruiser, sponsored by Brisbane Toyota. We will be stopping in 7 towns and talking to people about Squash. Marc is doing doing technique and footwork, steve is doing game play and my job is to share my fitness regime with club members and juniors. It's time to leave now and I am looking forward to the trip with excitement.
01/09/10
The tour was absolutely fantastic and I loved it in every way. It was a great road trip with the boys and they had me in stiches most of the time. We stopped in each town on the tour for the clinic and played a few games every day for the crowd. They loved the Squash and it was great for our training as well.
The first stop was Maryborough and the small town put in a lot of effort to get a group together. The second stop was Emerald which has an excellent junior programme. We were hosted by the lovely owners of the club Neil and Marita in their beautiful house and treated with excellent food. The next day we were off to McKay via Sarina beach where we spent the night. It was a day off and we relaxed after the long drive. McKay is home town to none other than our very own Bradley Hindle. Another place with a good junior programme - it was hot on court though. The next stop was the beautiful city of Townsville. We ran/walked up Castle hill in the morning and stayed with Margie who was a great host. The turnout at the clinic could have been better but not too bad under new management. Next up was the small town of Ingham. We had a great time here and the crowd stayed around afterwards for drinks and a chat. The turnout was incredible for a small town. Last stop was the lovely town of Cairns. Although there weren't any juniors there but all the players were extremely keen and thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition. On the last night we stayed with the Kraus family in Mareeba. Again, we were well looed after and were entertained and amused by the collection of reptiles they had. Pete is a snake lover and Karl and Julius have followed in the footsteps of their dad.
Overall, it was great fun everywhere we went and the trip was extremely successful both personally and professionally. I got to see a part of the world I hadnt seen and always wanted to visit. It was great to meet all the lovely people and share my knowledge with them. I would like to thank Marc Forster and Steve Finitsis for taking me along - I had a great time guys and would go back anyday. Thanks a lot!
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