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Published on December 31st, 2024 | by Daniel Boyle

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2024 in Review – 24 from 2024

To take a look back at the year 2024, I will look at 24 different things that have been highlights of the year. There were a lot of musical highlights as well as a few fitness goals achieved.

 

  1. Writing for Metalroos

So this year I have been doing some reviews of both live shows and album releases. This has opened up a few really cool opportunities to see some bands I might not have gone to. Among the big ones were Parkway Drive and the Good Things Festival. You can see some of my Metalroos live reviews at this link. One I really enjoyed was seeing Svalbard in both Sydney and Melbourne.

 

I also did some various reviews of albums. I really liked the latest releases from Make Them Suffer and In Hearts Wake, as well as shorter releases from RUN and Dropsaw. It has been quite enjoyable to be writing on a semi-regular basis, as well as being more up to date with music. I have let myself just keep listening to the same stuff, it’s good to get some updates.

 

2. Organising some major school sporting events

 

Soccer Gala Day

 

As part of my teaching I organised a number of sporting events, both in the school as well as some of the regional events. These included the Regional Athletics carnivals as well as two Soccer Gala Days. These all went reasonably well but you could probably say I bit off more than I could chew overall. I have also been involved in some School Sport ACT committees.

 

3. Celebrating my 40th birthday

Someone said along the way that turning 40 is a good age as you are old enough to enjoy things but before too many health problems come along, as well as having more money to afford the things you would like to do. I had been thinking of what to do for some time, with some ideas of hiring a venue but they also seemed quite expensive. In the end we had a small evening with friends here in Canberra and then a good get together with family and friends in Sydney.

 

Along the way I saw Killswitch Engage with Iron Maiden and then at their own show with Dropsaw in Newcastle the following day.

4. New job incoming

I mentioned earlier that I had overloaded myself a bit on the job front, that wasn’t only on the sporting front. I will start a new job once the new term begins. This means I don’t have too much to worry about over the summer, although that might create some extra work once the school year starts.

5. Family trip

Between my sister and I, we went for a trip with our five kids, with plenty of time getting to the beach. We started in Ulladulla area and moved up the coast as far north as Port Macquarie.

This included a few days with my auntie and uncle in Gloucester, as well as attemping to control the action at Jamberoo. Once we got north of Sydney the trip was actually very similar to one we took a few years ago.

6. 20 Years of Parkway Drive

Originally the price of a ticket and the mega arena type venue originally put me off, but in the end I was lucky enough to do a review for Metalroos. It was pretty disappointing that The Ghost Inside were not able to play, but the production of this show was like nothing I’d ever seen before. They played a good selection from across their career which made it all the more enjoyable.

7. Oldest skatepark in the world

The Albany Skate Track has claims on being the oldest still running skatepark in the world.

 

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I was in Western Australia last month and visited Albany with my friend Joel. This snake run has a very interesting history and is in reasonable condition for being about 50 years old. You pick up a lot of speed very quickly on this thing so it is quite challenging to ride.

8. Canberra Raiders Trial

The Raiders played a trial at Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan. They had a bit of a meet and greet on the field so we were able to get some autographs and a few photos.

 

9. 20 Years of Begins Here

The Butterfly Effect were touring for their 20 years of the Begins Here debut album (despite the fact in came out the previous year). In the end I saw them 5 times, with shows in Sydney, Canberra and 2 x Melbourne on that tour as well as their appearance at Good Things.

Along the way I picked up the drum skin in the picture.

The Enmore Theatre show was seriously impressive, seeing the band rise up from places like the Annandale Hotel and be in complete control of a much bigger venue. It was great to see some friends I hadn’t seen in many years.

10. Australian Freestyle Football Championships

 

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I really enjoyed going to the Australian Freestyle Football Championships this year. There were a lot of international guests and I hadn’t been to a freestyle football event in a long while. In terms of competition I didn’t do very well, but I did a few decent tricks with the ball. It would have been great to go to Superball or maybe one of the events in Asia. Let’s see for next year.

 

I gave away a whole bunch of footbags so it would be nice to see some of those young kids get into kicking.

 

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11. Over Kosciuszko

We had a good weekend away to the Snowy Mountains, including a walk on Mt Kosciuszko.

 

We stayed in a hotel right in Jindabyne with a good breakfast and I had a couple of rounds on the recently renovated skatepark there. We also went to Yarrongabilly Caves the following day.

 

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12. Footbag Joulukalenteri

It was great to be involved in the Footbag Joulukalenteri once again. Running since 2006, it is like an advent calendar and each new day brings a footbag video. My video I made from the trip to Perth. I was having a lot of trouble with video stuff on the computer, so I just used my phone to make it and it worked out quite well. Since in Perth I wanted to use a WA band and went with one of the tracks from the new Make Them Suffer album.

The best part of this year’s calendar was that I was not running it, which I had done for the last two years (and also in 2015 or so). I have previously mentioned being involved in too much this year so when the word went out I stayed very quiet and Cass Taylor did a wonderful job.

13. Hanging out with Friends

These seems like a nonsense one to put in, but I feel it was really good to see a few people I hadn’t seen in a long while. Some so long I didn’t recognise them. I also made some various side quests and adventures to go and see people in far flung places. Some examples of these – beach and beers with my friend Doug from uni. Going through the Victorian countryside to go and visit Chris R and his family with Ferrit and palying some basketball in the little school across from his house. Making time to see Megan and Sam and their family and them feeding me an excellent BBQ – all this was on day 2 of when I went down to see The Butterfly Effect in Melbourne – and of course all those TBE shows unearthed some very old friends. The Machine Head/Fear Factory show had a big round of different characters from across my life, while later in the year I went to Perth for Leon’s wedding and then further south to see the old Rock n Roll Joel.

14. International Footbag Visitors

Tom from Chicago came out to Australia. I was glad to be able to take time out and get to Sydney to have a kick with him. We had a pretty good session in Maroubra by the beach and then a little wander around Sydney.

This little tour included the sampling of lamingtons and caramel slice, walking over the Harbour Bridge and a lunch by Darling Harbour. It would be great to have some more footbag players come and visit next year.

15. Skateparks old and New

 

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Here’s a list of skateparks I’ve visited this year from mainly top of mind. I’ve particularly been trying to get to a few on the various trips here and there. Ones that are new to me are in bold.

Beclonnen, Olds Park Mortdale, Fairy Meadow, Maroubra, Gungahlin, Redfern Oval (Russel Crowe), Tech Park, Waterloo, Braidwood, Batemans Bay, Tuggeranong, Rockdale, Jindabyne,  Cooma, Meadowbank, Tuggeranong, Woden, Tumut, Albury, Brunswick, Coburg, Bentleigh East, Wallan, Eaglehawk, Bendigo, Wodonga, Berry, Ulladulla, Bar Beach Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Lake Cathie, Perth, Mt Lawley, Thornlie, Albany Skate Track, Albany Skatepark, Mt Barker, St Ives, North Ryde, Wallsend, Newcastle, Bargo, Pambula, Tathra, Bega.

I’m sure there’s a few in there I have forgotten but there were plenty this year and some fun explorations of new places.

 

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16. Mt Stromlo Visits

I went to Mt Stromlo twice with the school, the first was as part of a teacher meeting, start to the year kind of thing. We were lucky enough to be guided around by Brad Tucker – he is the guy they always bring out when there is something space related happening. We had a good chat about living in Chile as he had lived in La Serena for a time.

We also went with our Year 2 students for an excursion there. Space is great. Student like it. There should be way more of it in the curriculum.

 

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I also went up to Mt McDonald for the first time, which is a little bit beyond the Cotter area. I didn’t get on so many new walks this year, will have to look to that for next year.

17. 3D Printer and Kids in Space Program

Through the school I applied for a program called “Kids in Space” from Makers Empire and was successful. As part of this the school received a 3D printer. I did the program with a Year 2 class – “you’re brave” said some of the other teachers. If I wasn’t so overloaded (as I have mentioned a few times) it could have probably been even better, but some other teachers took things up within the school and a few of our students were on the news.

18. Socceroos in Canberra

I actually completely forgot about this, but a Socceroos game against Lebanon was rescheduled to be in Canberra. Despite the last minute arrangements, there was a pretty good crowd. The kids had a few friends there so they had a really good time.

19. 100km bike ride

While my watched clocked out at about 96km, I still had about 10km to ride home. It has been a goal of mine to do a 100km+ ride and some years ago I reached about 94, but similar, the tracking couldn’t keep up and when I measured it on Google Maps I hadn’t quite made it.

 

20. Raiders Late Season Run

They left it too late to reach the finals, but there were some good wins at the end of the season, including over the Penrith Panthers, who once again won the comp. Those at The Sportress rated this as the best Raider moment of the year.

 

21. Chile Win South American Rugby League Championships

I haven’t been keeping too up to date with the Chilean sports of late, but I was impressed to see Chile win the South American Championships for Rugby League, jumping up the international rankings along the way. The thought has entered my mind to somehow get involved next time around, which I believe is in two years. I also listened to an interesting interview on Everything Rugby League with Andrew Charles who has been coaching Chile in recent years.

 

22. Family History

I probably haven’t done as much as I was hoping in the family history area, but I’ve got a few new resources, included a box that Mum had called “Family History: To Be Sorted”, which seems to be a bit of a goldmine. I already came across a photo of Dad’s grandfather, aged 3 in the 1890s. There’ll be more on that next year, just have to decide how I want to sort it all out. I’ve had some good conversations with a few people looking at similar stuff.

23. Good Things Festival

As I approached 40 years old I probably thought my festival days were winding down, but I did a review of Good Things and there were a bunch of bands along the way that I have really enjoyed over time. The Gaslight Anthem were a real highlight for me.

I also went to this festival about five years ago and had a pretty good time too. Lineup depending I will probably go next year and I’ve already got a ticket for Knotfest next year, so maybe it’s just beginning.

24. But What About?

All those things that you’ll bring up that I did can fit in this category. I did a similar thing to this about a decade ago for Chilean sports. Maybe 13 in 2013? But obviously as the years go on you need more and more things.

Music was a real highlight this year. I got to a lot of shows, the most in many years and I was the most engaged that I have been for a long time. I was able to get to the beach more often than previous years. There were a few professional highlights but I think it will be good to move on. I’ve mainly left family stuff off the list but we’ve had some good things along the way and the kids are growing up quickly.

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About the Author

Founder of @sportslashlife. Australian living in Chile. Freestyle footbag player and passionate sports fan.


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