Witless in Seattle
Sixth Ave Bar & Grill | Kells | Pike Brewery | Dragonfish | Was that it? | Roll of Honour
The report for the 2010 Australian Cultural Evening was prepared 11 months and 18 days after the event, so very little of what you're about to read is likely to be true. Again, the digital camera record has been relied upon as an unreliable record of what happened on the evening of Tuesday 23rd of March, 2010, in the city of Seattle.
The event suffered as usual by poor preparation and the complete absence of organisation. Nonetheless, a group of 30 Australians of various nationalities managed to participate in good cuisine and nourishing beverages at the finest hospitality establishments offered by Seattle.
It started at the Sixth Avenue Bar and Grill, where there was a trivia evening inconveniently scheduled at the ACE starting time.
 Some juvenile has put Australian flag stickers all over Dave's back without his knowledge. |
 This is the entrance to where we were. |
 The triva quiz mid-flight, with teams in fierce competition. Naturally, the Australian teams won the first three places, mainly because they cheated. |
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Dave Gash, an ACE regular for many years, was the trivameister. ACE has a
philosophy of "no woman left behind", and the revellers dutifully joined in the
trivia night until Dave's own duties were completed. Some revellers cleverly
chose to dine at the Grill part of the Bar and Grill, and after Australians had
won first, second and third place in the trivia competition, it was time to head
into the night looking for adventure.
The next stop, after a long uphill walk, followed by a long downhill walk, was Kells. As usual, the poor organisation had led a schmozzle, and two groups of Australians ended up in two separate parts of Kells, each unaware of the other's presence. And each complaining bitterly about the other mob. Eventually, the two lost parties reunited, and things were looking up.
 The Australians in the wrong room at Kells |
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 Some of the cleverer Australians in the correct room at Kells |
.  Scott enjoys a tasty Irish Stew |
 Not a particularly good photo, managing to cut some heads of and centre the viewer's focus on nothing |
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 While photos not taken by the official photographer are of consistently poor quality, those taken by Bill make up for the deficiency. Hell, this photo wouldn't be out of place in Australian Vogue! |
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Some more meals were eaten at Kells (presumably by Australians who hadn't also eaten at Sixth Ave). Some drinks were also imbibed, including some Guinnesses of good quality, colour and consistency. But that didn't stop us from gathering ourselves together and wandering off looking for another place to park.
Photographic records indicate our next stop was at the Pike Place Brewery, or somewhere like that. Certainly, the establishment sold Pike Place Ale, which was a nice drop.
 Erlend tries to fathom how the big hand works, while Helen wonders why her glass has become empty. |
 I don't know what's going on here with Rob and Rick and the hairpiece, but it sees to involve sniffing. That's not natural. |
 This all looks very civilised. Unusual considering Scott and Paul are involved, although Matthew and Jenni lift the level a little. |
 Whoa! Who started spinning the room! Stop it! |
 That's a better photo. Source: Bill, the official ACE photographer. Now you know why we have an official photographer. |
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We must really stop the "Aussie Aussie Aussie" chant. We're still not getting the words right, and that's embarrassing considering there are only two words to use. So, there must be more to Seattle, but it seems most joints are closing for the night...
 What are we doing here? Which way are we going? |
But the institution named Dragonfish came to the rescue. Amazingly, some Australians were still hungry at this point in the evening. Maybe it was breakfast time? But food and drinks were consumed in moderation by the thoughtful mob.
 Heidi uses the flag, the clip-on koala and the giant hand to put together a fetching Babushka costume. Superb navigation skills allowed us to find the Lava Lounge. |
.  The table of Australian stalwarts at Dragonfish |
 The dregs, near the end of ACE 2010 |
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Having come to the conclusion that Seattle had now closed for the evening, the Australian Cultural Evening came to a conclusion. Or did it? Some of the young folk went off looking for a nightclub or McDonalds or some such thing, but the more wisened headed for home. A most convivial evening was had by all, and with no life-threatening injuries or arrests.
Matthew's expression neatly sums up ACE 2010.
Thought these photos were fab? Well, these were just a poofteenth of the quality of those taken by our official photographer (Bill) and his able assistant Susan. Worried that you don't appear in the small collection of photos on this page? Worry no more! You just have to see Bill's collection.
A big thank you to Bill Klemens,
the ACE Official Photographer, has officially uploaded his
entire official
collection of
official ACE photos! Check them out!
If you find any errors in identification of revellers, or missing names, or missing persons for that matter, or bars that we stopped at that I've since forgotten about, or any other thing that needs correcting, please e-mail Tony! Sorry for any accidental omissions or inclusions!
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