So we went to Sydney to meet Jeff and Mikki, their kids and Randy White, aka “Li’l Bingo”.

The Martins were running the first Australian CrossFit Kids cert at CrossFit FX and as we can’t make it to the CrossFit games this year (boo!), we took advantage of them coming next door to see them.
We stayed at the Wynyard Travelodge when we couldn’t book into the same hotel as the Martins and it was a really good choice. We didn’t have a car and the Travelodge is on the next block from the train station and right in the CBD with great restaurants all around and Darling Harbour just one block over and down the hill. Mikki and her mail escorts were out at one of the airport hotels and that wouldn’t have been anywhere near as handy.
We missed the first day of the cert because I didn’t want to bother Jeff and Mikki to ask them if we could be there and didn’t know how much leeway they had to let us attend when it wasn’t at their own gym. Turns out I should have as they were keen for our feedback on the latest incarnation of the cert. Rocking up at CFX after a bus ride out from then city, the trains being out for track maintenance, I can’t express how good it was to see everyone. Like a care package from Ramona. I talked comics with Duncan, we watched the cert and took lots of photos and met Todd Widman again. Todd travels with Kids certs now as a flowmaster (I’d say MC but the certs use the flowmaster term) and does the predator talk on the second day. I think he might do the nutrition talk too? Todd was the flowmaster at my L1 on our first trip to Ramona and it was great to see him working the Kids cert.
The cert just gets better and better every time we see it. The format is tighter and smoother and I really like the breakout circles a‘ la the L1 certs. It puts people on the spot, but it means that they don’t coast through the cert and are better trainers at the end of it. Keegan and Connor have really come along as presenters and Mikki is great at teaching people how to teach the movements. I hadn’t seen her doing that before and she is seriously good at it. It was good to see several kiwis there. Representatives from CFNZ, CF Auckland, CF Birkenhead, CF Napier or Hawkes bay. I got to watch a couple of them and one stand-out for me was Jojo from CFNZ. She seemed to get the whole vibe that CF Kids is about and I think she’ll do really well. And she made it through the cert with a prolapsed lumbar disk. I’ve had one of those and she’s definitely tougher than me to get through a plane flight and 2 days of sitting and moving without whining.
We made a run for the bus after the cert and made it into the city in time to meet the cert crew for dinner at Darling harbour. The restaurant Mikki found was “The meat and Wine Co” and it was very good. They serve biltong as a side dish and I got several of them to try it. All but Mikki loved it, as I expected (people liking it, not Mikki disliking it). If they make it to NZ I’ll make up some big batches for them.
We met the Martins for dinner the next 2 nights and went through the Wildlife Park to watch the boys get close to a koala on one of those nights. On the other one the boys went to see Transformers 3 at the Imax and we had a lovely long dinner with Mikki and Jeff. As always the kiwi contingent didn’t carry much of the conversation, Mikki and Jeff had so many good stories to listen to. One day I must develop some conversational skills. Definitely a very nice time with wonderful people.

Aside from meeting some of our favourite people we had a great time walking over the CBD, getting trains and the monoroail and even a short ferry ride.
We went to the aquarium and paddy’s market, saw the opera house and harbour bridge and tried quite a lot of beer. We tried 2 bavarian beer cafes and went back to one of them. Some dumbass decided to get another glass of beer after trying the sampler of all of the beers and weaved his way back to the hotel. Actually 2 dumbasses.
We had dinner at a very noisy irish pub and found a café right across the road from the hotel that serves very good scrambled eggs and the absolute best fried tomatos I’ve ever had.

The trip was everything I could have hoped for and I would happily go back to Sydney for a short trip like that. Next time we’d use the rail passes to go a bit further out I think. Sharing the whole thing with Lynette was wonderful. So much fun.

A really great time.