View at twilight from Darling Harbour – taken 12/2006

Back safe and sound from the whirlwind trip down south. The secrecy behind all the hoo hah on winning a trip to Sydney have finally been revealed. Or at least the lovely people plotting the Big Secret have finally been revealed . I also met some of the bloggers that I would be in direct competition with..very interesting! Slightly strange, as none of us (except the bloggers from Dublin I think) are actually readers of each other’s blogs. However, all in good fun as I came away with new blog addresses of some very interesting people. Or my competition, whichever way you put it . Also met up with the good people from 1000heads who came up with this whacky idea and kindly provided us with a slap-up barbie and a bottomless bar tab…thank you!

What’s up with all the fuss?
In collaboration with New South Wales Tourism, the next six weeks will see me us tackling six different challenges. They are as random as can be, all in good fun to test your creativity and ability to really get under Sydney’s skin. This week’s challenge is SPORTS. Yes, that was all that was revealed. They showed us some sample pub games you can play with a spinning coin, just something that they cooked up. It can literally be ANYTHING, from a youtube vid of a cricket (the Californian in me had to correct that from baseball) game in your backyard to a picture of a football. So make what you will of it. Future topics include Fashion, Food, Nightlife…ect. Every Monday, a new challenge will be revealed, whilst the challenge from the last week is due for submission. So I would need to get the pictures/videos/writeup of my submission for this week’s topic up by Monday next week.

What’s in it for me?
There are currently 12 bloggers in line for the prize of the holiday of a lifetime. The winning blog will receive four tickets, out of which two tickets will go to one of the readers. This package includes flights, accomodation, tours, activicties ect ect in and around Sydney for the whole duration of 7 days. It is estimated to be worth £1k per person. There are numerous activicties planned for the winners; trip up to the Blue Mountains, a surfing lesson – you get the drift.

Ditch the lessons, I just want to bag me a surfer boy – Taken @ Bondi 12/2006

So what do I do?
This is designed to be a socially engaging activicty, so audience participation is of upmost importance. If I do win the tickets, it is apparently up to me how I want to play it and give the other pair away, so I’ve come up with some rules on how am I going to play this. Obviously I just completely made it all up, so happy for feedback if you think that there are other categories that I should add or adjustments to the points

There are six creative challenges altogether, one each week. Points set out below are accumulated throughout the six weeks, and if I DO win eventually, the person that has the most points will win two all-expenses paid holiday to Sydney. However, if there is a tie, the two readers with the highest amount of points will get ONE ticket each.

How does the points work?
If I use ONE of your idea for my weekly submission = 7 points
If I use part of your idea for my weekly submission = 3 points
If your idea wins me the weekly submission = 30 points
If part of your idea wins me the weekly submission = 15 points
If you help me develop the weekly submission (videoing, programming an online game ect) = 15 points
If you help me develop the winning weekly submission = 15 points

So, if you came up with a brilliant idea and helped me video (I hate the sound of my own voice) my submission, you will get 17 points for the week. The points will roll over to the next week ect ect. There are no weekly winners, only one (or two, in cases of a tie) overall winner at the end. All participants will get a ‘Wished you were here’ postcard from me from your choice of Sydney beach…personally I love Coogee .

I would appreciate if all/any interested readers (i.e. Skipps & Katie ) send me your email address so I can keep track of participants and tally up points. I will be setting up a separate forum for us to discuss this in more detail throughout the next six weeks.

What’s the catch
Other than having to crack your brains, it seems that you’ll have to go on an all expenses paid holiday to Sydney with me. Well, boo-hoo to you.

FAQ
Do I need to be a blogger myself?
Not at all. But you do need to be a out-of-the-box thinker.

Do you practice favouritism? *evil eyes*
I’m partial to bribes, but this will not affect the final points system. So bribe away at your own loss .

What are the chances for me to win the package to Sydney?
I have a 1-in-12 chance to win four tickets…your chance would be 1-in-12 and then how ever many participants I can get to participate here. Too mathematical? Well, let’s just say you probably have a better chance winning two £1k holiday than winning £2k in the lottery.

The instructions are abit vague. What do you mean SPORTS? Running around a ditch? Making up a new game?
Well, the instructions are meant to be vague. These challenges are meant to weed out the creativity in you. So it is how you intrepret those two words; SPORTS and SYDNEY. It will be judged by two criteria, the most creative submission and the submission that is deemed closest to the spirit of Sydneysiders.

Where can I fly from?
Tickets are sponsored by STA and depart from London. I have posed the question whether this can be amended to include departures from other countries further afield, not got a definative answer back yet. In the meantime, please assume that you would need to make your own way to London if we do win the tickets.

What if I have more questions?
Well, ask me in the first instance. If I can’t answer them I will be sure to take it away and get back to you.

I would also welcome all the help I can get from all my Australian-based readers – moo, I will be sending out an email to you like right now asking for pointers. I have decided that if I do win, I will be heading up to Perth as well .

Can’t wait for a taste of Sydney? Click here for a taste of my Grand Australian Tour in 2006.

You might also be interested in these

• Awesome Tour of Sydney-progress so far…
• Awesome tour of Sydney – final challenge!
• Awesome tour of Sydney Challenge W.3 – Version 2
• Sydney Awesome Tour – Challenge 2!!
• Collecting body parts