In our duties as committee members (myself - secretary; Sam - webmaster) for the Brisbane Blue Tongues Supporters Club for our local ice hockey team in the Australian Ice Hockey League, we have to come up with, arrange, attend and document club activities.

Today is the Club’s first annual event - Blue Tongues Barefoot Bowls Day.

Jad, our vice president, works as the greenkeeper at a Bowls Club here in Brisbane, and therefore it was pretty much a given that one of the events for the year to encourage new members to the club, introduce players to the fans and generate some interest in our beloved ice hockey team, would be a Barefoot Bowls Day. Thanks to the movie Crackerjack, barefoot bowls has become a favourite event for clubs, and groups to participate in, enjoy some social time, raise some money, have a ton of fun and get tanked on beer at 1970s prices!

It should be a good day. We have about 30 fans coming and there’s also about 5 or 6 players and their families. The roster for this season has yet to be finalised, our imports won’t be in Australia until the first game and our captain is currently in Canada! Hopefully it will be a success though. What with prizes, and raffles, and well alcohol, it should make for a fun and interesting day.

I’m not sure I’m going though - as I have the flu. But we’ll see how I am when it’s time to leave.

Well…. the dream is over. We are back in Australia and to normality. Well… reality at least.

We’ve yet to unpack though!

Today the Stars are playing the Sharks at home, so we’re going to hang out until the game is over - listen to Ralph and Razor (Oh happy day!! R&R back again!) and then head over to Chermside to get three or four very important photos printed out and framed. Then a spot of grocery shopping as we are in desperate need of food, and home to *gulp* unpack. I have no idea where we’re going to put all our new memorabilia, but I’m sure we’ll find somewhere.

In the meantime, we had a long flight from LA to Brisbane - which we both managed to sleep through thankfully. Sam is now officially over his fear of flying as he slept through turbulance, something he couldn’t do on the flight to the US. We even got hot towels to “refresh us” before we landed. I thought that was only first class. Apprarently those in the cattle station get them as well as those in the luxury seats.

We miss everyone in Dallas terribly. Please stay in touch and don’t forget us! We’ll be back next season, we promise! And we can initiate you to the AIHL and keep you up to date with our hockey during the summer months. A small consolation, I’m sure.

Take care all and thanks for reading about our journey to Dallas. The trip of a lifetime has finally come to an end. But keep checking back as we recount the Blue Tongues second season!

~ Wendy.

Stars had their first shootout loss last night against Anaheim. *Shakes head* The ice was bad, the puck was bouncing, the boys were flat and Zubie was out. The good news? Janne Niinimaa had a great game!

Val from the Unboards kindly hosted a farewell/watching party at her place. It was great to get to say goodbye to everyone and to be able to watch the game with friends - not just Stars fans but real mates. Because that’s what our friends from the Stars forums have become. Mates. And we had such fun with all of them. They’ve given us so much, in terms of time, gifts, experiences, laughs and memories.

It was so sad to leave. When Val, Nathan, Rhonda, Jesse and Jen drove off and left us at the hotel, we both just stood there on the steps of the hotel at 2am and cried. It didn’t matter that we had to be up at 4.30am to get to the airport to catch our 7.40am flight. Anyway, we got there on time, and made our flight. We spoke to a lovely lady at the American Airlines counter that was very helpful.

Going through the security at DFW was interesting. They scan you and then make you stand in this enclosed cubicle which blows puffs of air at you, sending your clothes flying everywhere. It was certainly an experience. They didn’t do that at San Diego, but we had to take everything out of our pockets, and even take off our shoes. Normallly it’s just the laptop that gets scanned separately but the video camera had to be a well. Very, very weird.

LAX is just a monster of a place. We got a little lost but security helped us find our way. We were acosted by Indian Monks who gave us two books, and asked for a donation. We gave ‘em $5 but left the books in a corner somewhere. We’re not taking any chances through customs.

So… this is definitely the last post until we get back to Australia. Take care everyone. To those in Dallas - we miss you so much already!! GO STARS!!!! Here’s to kicking the Kings butts!! To those back home - we’ll see you soon.

~ Wendy