Ships, sport, sci-fi

I swung by HMA Garden Island Naval Dockyard yesterday for a stickybeak at the supercarrier USS Kitty Hawk and the missile cruiser USS Cowpens. The former was ultra-impressive - I wish they still conducted on-board tours. An RAN Dental Branch caravan was parked on the dock and I was amused to note even they have a cool motto ("Fit to bite - fit to fight") and logo (twin toothy sharks).

From there, I headed across the bridge to North Sydney Oval, where I met up with PB to drink beer in plastic cups and support Randwick against Norths in the Shute Shield elimination semi-final. The Wix made things hard for themselves by missing three or four kicks and, after a tense 80 minutes, it was 15-all. Two 10-minute halves of extra time were ordered and thanks to our superior conditioning, we sealed the deal 29-20. Former Australian coach Eddie Jones was in the grandstand - I'm told he may have been scouting on behalf of UK club Saracens.

I returned home to meet Mum, who'd travelled to Sydney for a friend's birthday. We ordered gourmet pizza, but then I shamelessly (just call me Frank Gallagher) left her watching telly while I skedaddled to my local for additional ales and rugby in the company of other rowdy drunks. The Wallabies bumbled to a 0-17 deficit, but maintained their composure and scored 25 unanswered points to down the pesky Springboks. I had an interesting chat with a bloke who works for Customs about when they will and won't punish people for undeclared items.

Somewhat weary, my sole plan for today is to play lounge lizard and watch season three "Doctor Who" until my eyelids slam shut. Thanks to JH, I have DVDs of the entire series, plus several eps of "D/W Confidential". Onya, champ!