Day 257- Birthday Party overshadows APEC Summit

Day 257- Birthday Party overshadows APEC Summit- Saturday, September 8th

We had invitations to the closing of the APEC Summit Gala in Sydney from the cast of "The Chaser's War on Everything" who, in honour of the fact that they had been able to breach strict APEC security, (arriving in front of Bush's hotel by disguising their 3 vehicle motorcade with Canadian flags and dressed up like Osama Bin Laden!), had invited all expat Canadians in Oz to attend.


We had better plans!

Our exchange friends Cathy Boote and Cam Kilgour celebrated their 50th and 51st birthdays, respectively, on September 5th and had invited us to their party Saturday night in the city. What a great evening with such a wonderful couple! Cathy and Cam are from Toronto. They had invited their former exchange partners (they were on exchange to Melbourne in 1997) and friends for drinks at an upstairs loft above a friend's furniture store, and then to the Robbie Burns Hotel for dinner.
The Robbie Burns Hotel is owned by a Spanish family who serve Mediterranean food, and great food it was! (I felt a little out of place in my Murray of Athol tartan tie that I chose for the locale). The conversations around the tables were equally delectable. Politics, education, books, travel and life in Canada, Australia and beyond. The food: salads, fish, oyters, mussels, bread, wine ...it never seemed to end.
But all good things come to an end , and we said our goodbyes, drove back to Cathy and Cam's to pick up Kevin, who is friends with their son Josh, and had stayed the evening there, and we all headed home.