Barefoot Bowling!

What an adventure had! Last night was the office's End-Of-Year Celebration -- which was a total & complete HOOT!

After a quick all-hands meeting (well done Australia on hitting 120% of budget!), we loaded into a huge bus and ventured to the Balmain Bowling Club for barefoot bowling! Why barefoot, you ask? Well, one has to wear flat-soled shoes in order not to mess up the playing area (the "rink", as they say), so folks would typically play without shoes.

Regardless of footwear, the game is a hoot. It's very much a combo of shuffleboard and curling, but with round-ish bowling balls (22 cm in diameter) that have a weight on one side such that they curve when bowled! It's quite a tricky little game!

Being uber comptetitive, I opted to captain a team (Go 8's!) and Terry the Instructor offered me his spare Balmain Tigers Bolwing Club shirt to wear for the event! We went heard-to-head for four rounds vs. other teams... and finished with 6 points with scores of 1-4-1-0. Unfortunately, we failed to make the final as two teams tied with 11 points on the afternoon. The 8s finished tied for 3rd out of the eight teams. We did well!

After adventures in Balmain, we boarded up the bus again and went back to Pyrmont to Blue Eye Dragon, a B.Y.O. place near the office. And did we ever B.Y.O.! (Speaking of, this place is heaps in to the B.Y.O. concept such that places actually post this on their doors and placards. I guess it's difficult to get a liquor license around here, so they've gone to Bring Your Own as standard restaurant policy -- pretty awesome!).

The team presented the Barefoot Bowling Championship tropy as well as Employee of the Quarter awards. I had the opportunity to speak and thanked the Aussies for their warm hospitality toward me & the DRIVE Japan team as well as commented on how amazing it is for me to see a fully-functional and profitable office in Australia after starting DRIVE nearly five years ago. Avid Reader, it truly is amazing to me!

More events and adventures transpired after with a quick venture up the street to a local pub where more adult beverages and live music awaited. We took over the upstairs and dominated the pin ball machine and lounge area. Knowing when is when, I ventured back to the hotel and smiled at the realization that Thursdays in Australia surely are the Nights Out of choice by Sydneysiders as all of the bars and clubs were hoppin'. Good times!