Chanceschmerr sails the World - Brisbane, here I come!

[ChanceSchmerr]

Hello All!

I've been pretty tight-lipped on my 2nd half of the deployment - a combination of some busy operations and not too much on the cigar front to talk about!  I'll post what I did get up to in a separate piece, but now I can say one of the most exciting parts of the trip is here - my ship is in Australian waters!

Right now we're involved in Talisman Sabre, a multi-national exercise that happens every two years off the Queensland coast.  We started off with a brief pit stop in MacKay, Australia, to collect some personnel and supplies, and we're back at sea conducting some interesting exercises with our friends in the RAN and others. However, all of that excitement pales in comparison to our port visit on completion - 4 nights in Brisbane!

This will be my first time to Brisbane (and to Australia, really - MacKay was only a few hours and too short to leave much of an impression)!  I'll be in town from July 26-29th, and looking forward to finally stepping foot on the Czar deck on Friday afternoon, 26 July!  I'm staying downtown, I have a rental car to boot (I'll be making a shopping run to Bonds on the Sunday - special request from my wife....) and I can't wait to experience Australia in a town I've heard so much about.

If you're in town and able to make it to the Czar's deck on Friday, I look forward to meeting you!  Let me know if anyone has any recommended must-do's for Brisbane, so I can pass on to my shipmates as well!  

Cheers all!!
 

[Ken Gargett]

1 hour ago, ChanceSchmerr said:

Hello All!

I've been pretty tight-lipped on my 2nd half of the deployment - a combination of some busy operations and not too much on the cigar front to talk about!  I'll post what I did get up to in a separate piece, but now I can say one of the most exciting parts of the trip is here - my ship is in Australian waters!

Right now we're involved in Talisman Sabre, a multi-national exercise that happens every two years off the Queensland coast.  We started off with a brief pit stop in MacKay, Australia, to collect some personnel and supplies, and we're back at sea conducting some interesting exercises with our friends in the RAN and others. However, all of that excitement pales in comparison to our port visit on completion - 4 nights in Brisbane!

This will be my first time to Brisbane (and to Australia, really - MacKay was only a few hours and too short to leave much of an impression)!  I'll be in town from July 26-29th, and looking forward to finally stepping foot on the Czar deck on Friday afternoon, 26 July!  I'm staying downtown, I have a rental car to boot (I'll be making a shopping run to Bonds on the Sunday - special request from my wife....) and I can't wait to experience Australia in a town I've heard so much about.

If you're in town and able to make it to the Czar's deck on Friday, I look forward to meeting you!  Let me know if anyone has any recommended must-do's for Brisbane, so I can pass on to my shipmates as well!  

Cheers all!!
 

my first question is what the hell is bonds? 

a lot of the family on mum's side came from mackay. 

[Fuzz]

Your wife wants you to pick up a singlet?

[ChanceSchmerr]

14 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

my first question is what the hell is bonds? 

a lot of the family on mum's side came from mackay. 

Bonds = clothing store.  The Bonds Wondersuits for infants/small children have a strong following outside of Australia....

 

MacKay seemed like a nice town! We only had a couple of hours, only enough time to go to Canelands mall, get a coffee, send some mail and purchase an Aussie Sim Card for use in Brisbane later this month.   After years of hilarious Telestra stories on FOH, I went with Optus without hesitation 

[Ken Gargett]

24 minutes ago, ChanceSchmerr said:

Bonds = clothing store.  The Bonds Wondersuits for infants/small children have a strong following outside of Australia....

 

MacKay seemed like a nice town! We only had a couple of hours, only enough time to go to Canelands mall, get a coffee, send some mail and purchase an Aussie Sim Card for use in Brisbane later this month.   After years of hilarious Telestra stories on FOH, I went with Optus without hesitation 

bonds i know but i did not realise that they had a store. i'd say wise move re telstra but i suspect they are all as bad as each other. 

[OZCUBAN]

Hi Chris 

Wishing you all the best on your trip to Oz and your trip to Brisbane.you will  love the deck ,but more so the folks that inhabit it .

for me the people and the place make a very special indeed 

cheers Steve 

[LLC]

Great to hear your doing well. Awesome that you’ll get to spend time on the deck. Look forward to seeing some pictures.


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[MD Puffer]

12 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

my first question is what the hell is bonds? 

A debt security that has a guaranteed return. Sort of like an IOU. 

 

Or or were you talking about these bonds?

 

[ndtoronto]

How your port visits go better than mine. 

I had you take care of my cigars for all of a week because we smashed into Protecteur. My 4 month Westploy lasted 2 days

[ChanceSchmerr]

23 hours ago, ndtoronto said:

How your port visits go better than mine. 

I had you take care of my cigars for all of a week because we smashed into Protecteur. My 4 month Westploy lasted 2 days

So far, so good - I remember that, I felt terrible for you!

I know I would have been crushed if my deployment had ended so soon.....

[ayepatz]

Have fun mate! I regret not having had enough time to make a Brissie visit, though, if you have as much fun as I did with the lads in Sydney, you’ll be in clover. ?

[havanaclub]

Safe trip Chris, enjoy Brisbane.


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[PigFish]

Love ya Chris! Travel safe, and slap Bwana up the back of head for me!!! Oh, and give Lisa a nice smooch!

Cheers! -Ray

[ChanceSchmerr]

On 7/13/2019 at 5:04 AM, PigFish said:

Love ya Chris! Travel safe, and slap Bwana up the back of head for me!!! Oh, and give Lisa a nice smooch!

Cheers! -Ray

Haha thanks Ray! I'm sure I'm in good hands in Brisbane!
Hope you're keeping well yourself, mate!  

[Puros Y Vino]

You made it to Czar central!  Plant the flag, smoke Rob's hidden stash and drink his best bottles of wine. And for good measure press Ken over your head as a show of dominance. And if you leave an upper decker at Ken's place there's a fiver of 2011  BHK56's waiting for you here. ?

[ChanceSchmerr]

Friends, I'm sure I'll hear some opinions on this on the deck on Friday - but I have a couple of Brisbane questions to post to the group:

1. If I wanted to find the best selection of single malt whiskies in a Brisbane store, where would I go?  What about the best prices?  How about if I'm looking for Australian Single Malt Whisky?
2. How about wine, where best to go for that?  I'd like to learn more about Australian wines (though I doubt a long weekend like this will be enough, I'll do what I can), but at the very least I'm hoping I'm close enough to NZ to be able to find one of our favorite wine lables in store, "Nautilus" from New Zealand. Any thoughts, all?   @Ken Gargett, what say you?

Thanks in advance! I'm going to ask at the Deck on Friday too - but figured there was no harm in asking the wider group here too! Cheers all!

[ChanceSchmerr]

17 minutes ago, bundwallah said:

You made it to Czar central!  Plant the flag, smoke Rob's hidden stash and drink his best bottles of wine. And for good measure press Ken over your head as a show of dominance. And if you leave an upper decker at Ken's place there's a fiver of 2011  BHK56's waiting for you here. ?

I'm not there yet, Frank! 4 days to go.  I have the flag in hand........no guarantees on the rest.  I had to search up "upper decker".....now wishing i hadn't LOL 

[Puros Y Vino]

10 minutes ago, ChanceSchmerr said:

I'm not there yet, Frank! 4 days to go.  I have the flag in hand........no guarantees on the rest.  I had to search up "upper decker".....now wishing i hadn't LOL 

LOL. Not the nicest thing to do for sure. But imagine if it went undetected until the next review over at Ken's place.  The arguements between Rob and Ken would make for an epic video. ?

[Ken Gargett]

6 hours ago, ChanceSchmerr said:

Friends, I'm sure I'll hear some opinions on this on the deck on Friday - but I have a couple of Brisbane questions to post to the group:

1. If I wanted to find the best selection of single malt whiskies in a Brisbane store, where would I go?  What about the best prices?  How about if I'm looking for Australian Single Malt Whisky?
2. How about wine, where best to go for that?  I'd like to learn more about Australian wines (though I doubt a long weekend like this will be enough, I'll do what I can), but at the very least I'm hoping I'm close enough to NZ to be able to find one of our favorite wine lables in store, "Nautilus" from New Zealand. Any thoughts, all?   @Ken Gargett, what say you?

Thanks in advance! I'm going to ask at the Deck on Friday too - but figured there was no harm in asking the wider group here too! Cheers all!

craft or the emporium would be the two most likely for both. you might be horrified by prices, especially the whiskies. 

[Fuzz]

Nautilus Sauv Blanc, or others in their range? I have only seen the Sauv Blanc and Pinot Noir in stores (though, you can get the rest online). Interestingly enough, I was just looking at their range and they have a Gruner Veltliner. Last week I had a Gruner Veltliner from Ata Mara Estate, another NZ winery.

Head over to a Dan Murphy's. You should be able to find a bunch of Australian whiskies there.

[ChanceSchmerr]

14 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

craft or the emporium would be the two most likely for both. you might be horrified by prices, especially the whiskies. 

Thanks Ken. I'll have a look at them both.  I'm ready to be horrified, if only because I'm Canadian and am used to the gov't bending me over for sin taxes on alcohol. Cheers!

8 hours ago, Fuzz said:

Nautilus Sauv Blanc, or others in their range? I have only seen the Sauv Blanc and Pinot Noir in stores (though, you can get the rest online). Interestingly enough, I was just looking at their range and they have a Gruner Veltliner. Last week I had a Gruner Veltliner from Ata Mara Estate, another NZ winery.

Head over to a Dan Murphy's. You should be able to find a bunch of Australian whiskies there.

Cheers Fuzz - The Sauv Blanc and Pinot have been the only two we've tried, and spectacular to our palates.  I've not tried a Gruner - should I?
I can't get any of their wines online personally - Canada still has prohibition-era laws on the books that prohibit shipment of alcohol by mail or between provinces, which kills online wine sales.  To say it's a steaming load of B.S. is to put it mildly.  They have Canadian distributors, but I rarely see any in stores and when I do, it's way over the prices I see on their website.

Thanks - I'll try a Dan Murphy's in Brisbane. I had a look at one in MacKay, and found a Hellyer's Road 15yr, but I'm holding out for a Lark or Sullivan's Cove bottling if I can find it.  Fingers crossed. 

Thanks mate!

[Fuzz]

1 hour ago, ChanceSchmerr said:

Thanks Ken. I'll have a look at them both.  I'm ready to be horrified, if only because I'm Canadian and am used to the gov't bending me over for sin taxes on alcohol. Cheers!

Cheers Fuzz - The Sauv Blanc and Pinot have been the only two we've tried, and spectacular to our palates.  I've not tried a Gruner - should I?
I can't get any of their wines online personally - Canada still has prohibition-era laws on the books that prohibit shipment of alcohol by mail or between provinces, which kills online wine sales.  To say it's a steaming load of B.S. is to put it mildly.  They have Canadian distributors, but I rarely see any in stores and when I do, it's way over the prices I see on their website.

Thanks - I'll try a Dan Murphy's in Brisbane. I had a look at one in MacKay, and found a Hellyer's Road 15yr, but I'm holding out for a Lark or Sullivan's Cove bottling if I can find it.  Fingers crossed. 

Thanks mate!

https://www.danmurphys.com.au/whisky/country-australia

Set the store location to "Woolloongabba" (not sure where you're staying, but this is near Czar's). All the Sullivan's Cove appears to be out of stock, but the Lark Classic Cask and Lark Slainte are in stock. Plenty of the Hellyer's range in stock.

[Ken Gargett]

if you are here for any length of time, get on the sullivans cove site and order direct and get it sent to an address. if you have any problems, let me know. 

[ChanceSchmerr]

Thanks Gents.  I'll look at that Dan Murphy's. I'm staying at Soda Apartments, not too far away from Czar Central.

5 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

if you are here for any length of time, get on the sullivans cove site and order direct and get it sent to an address. if you have any problems, let me know. 

Ken,  a good shout but I went through their whole website and all completely sold out.  bad timing I suppose, but not surprising.  I'm used to missing out on every release after chasing Chichibu and Yoichi whisky releases from Japan too!

[Ken Gargett]

Just now, ChanceSchmerr said:

Thanks Gents.  I'll look at that Dan Murphy's. I'm staying at Soda Apartments, not too far away from Czar Central.

Ken,  a good shout but I went through their whole website and all completely sold out.  bad timing I suppose, but not surprising.  I'm used to missing out on every release after chasing Chichibu and Yoichi whisky releases from Japan too!

i would tell you where you could get chichibu here but they have only tiny stocks (and bizarrely, are apparently very good value in comparison with japanese prices) and they are one of my next buys so that stays in the vault.