Sydney Olympic Park New South Wales

I’m currently in Sydney. Miss15 is here competing for Queensland in Level 9 in the Australian Gymnastics Championships. I’m at Sydney Olympic Park in the Sports Centre.

The drive this morning from Canberra was cold, foggy and busy. The fog was so thick I missed the exit to Goulburn so I could empty my bladder. In the end I had to wait for the Sutton Forest exit. The traffic in Sydney was horrible.

I’m staying at the Pullman Hotel at the Sydney Olympic Park. I managed to get a free night which I’m happy about.

Miss15 is still carrying injuries to her back, knee and ankles. Today she required physiotherapy after falling while warming up on the uneven bars. All in all the Queensland team and Miss15 did well. They are the 2012 Level 9 Australian Champions. If you follow my twitter timeline you’ll see my comments through the day.

I always like the walk-on so here is a video.

There was also a bit of fun when the Victorian mascot performed a floor routine.

Tonight after a great chat with Miss15 I went to Ribs and Rumps. I’ve eaten here before and tonight I thought I would have some ribs and a Key lime pie.

A half rack of lamb ribs (New iPad)

What I liked was being asked if I wanted whipped cream or ice cream. What I liked more was the lovely waitress did not flinch when I said, “Both”.

Key lime pie with whipped cream and ice cream (New iPad)

It’s been a good day. Miss15 is happy. I’m happy.

Ribs and Rumps Sydney Olympic Park (garydavidlum.com)
My Easter wrap up (garydavidlum.com)
Can you guess every element in my mystery dinner? (garydavidlum.com)
My weekend in food while in Brisbane (garydavidlum.com)
Vivid Sydney – Lights, Music, Ideas & LOTS of People… (thissydneylife.wordpress.com)
Mitchell stars at gymnatics titles (news.theage.com.au)
Mitchell shines at gymastics titles (news.smh.com.au)
Mitchell shines at gymastics titles (news.theage.com.au)
Get Grill’d (theawesomesisters.com)
Sokyo, Sydney (carolynchan.wordpress.com)

Okay, I’ve already posted four blogs this weekend. This is my wrap up blog post to cover the stuff I didn’t mention previously in:

Hot cross buns and butter,
Who would be a ram,
Ribs and rumps, and
I love cake decorating.

So clearly we went to the Sydney Royal Easter Show in Sydney Olympic Park. I love shows. I reckon The Ekka in Brisbane is by far the best show in the world and then perhaps Sydney. I’m also very partial to the Royal Darwin Show.

The first thing we did was check out Flyball. I’d never heard of it before until I received a tweet from Al to check it out. It is basically dog drag racing and very entertaining. I took a few short videos and put them together.

We spent an enjoyable few hours watching some wood chop, ring events (Shetland pony showing), we explored the food and produce stall to check out the giant pumpkins, flowers, pies, other food and the cake decorating. We wandered through many of the animal pavilions and saw that ram. We also had to get a Dagwood Dog. When I say we, I mean me, and for those who don’t know me, whenever I go to a show I eat a Dagwood Dog. This Courier Mail article is helpful and points one of the biggest reasons why The Ekka trounces the Sydney Royal Easter Show, viz., the Strawberry Sundae at The Ekka. There is also a Facebook page for Dagwood Dogs. The Strawberry Sundae at The Ekka is made by volunteers and is made from fresh full cream milk and fresh locally grown strawberries. It is unique to The Ekka. When I worked at The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, we used to get a tray sent back to the laboratory at lunch time every day of The Ekka as a treat.

Giant pumpkins, these were huge. One was 430 kg.

Me eating my Dagwood Dog

Up close with my Dagwood Dog

The under 21 Queensland competitor in the underhand event.

We got three chunky lamb shank pies for $10. A perfect lunch.

Choc vanilla ice cream sandwich. The perfect way to complete lunch.

On Sunday morning we visited the Lindt Café at Darling Habour for a chocolate breakfast and to buy some macarons. I had a iced mocha with chocolate profiteroles followed by a chocolate eclair with a flat white coffee. We also bought macarons. I bought Excellence 70%, Passion fruit, Vanilla, Pistachio, Champagne and Salted caramel. Nat at work is an expert macaron maker and she recommended the Lindt macarons and I have to say they were amazing.