My Jacksonville weekend

Where to start when you only want to get to the great part… well, I’m a fan of a rock band and I’ve traveled so many times to so many cities to see them, but this time, I tried to reach another goal. Meet Russell Crowe.  I heard about the Australia day Challenge and since I never saw a Rugby match in my life, decided that this would be the best occasion. Be there to support Russell’s team, in a joyful and special atmosphere.

So of I went, bought tickets to the game, to the VIP Party afterwards and when it was time to buy my plane tickets, almost changed my mind. The price went from approx. $500 to $1300 in a week, Yikes!!! But I wasn’t going to miss this, so I checked and re-checked until I found a way to get there, cheaper then before!

After landing in Jacksonville and a miscommunication with my roommate, I finally got to the hotel, where even there, I had a small problem recuperating my game tickets, got my very scared for a moment, but everything eventually fell into place.

After relaxing for a few minutes, we made it to the Walkabout Café and got to meet a few more people and have a little bite and a drink… then came Game day.

I was pretty discouraged to see the weather in the morning, it was really raining hard and I was almost scared that the game could be cancelled. But if the played, I’d be there, for sure! We made it to the Stadium at around 10:30 and got in line, there was already about 50 people waiting, I was pretty sure we’d get a great spot in the Preferred Seating section, and we did, almost right in the middle of the stadium.

As we were just sitting there, watching the teams warm up, I finally saw the Big Bunny himself. He was just standing there, in a sea of people, giving interviews and smiling, waving at people at the stands from time to time. I took out my camera and started filming some of it, some of the teams’ warm-up and some of the presentations made. Of course, always focusing on THE man. What can I say, for the first time, I was in the same “room” as him, so I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

The game was pretty easy to understand and very exciting, especially in the second half when the Bunnies tried their best and had one heck of a comeback. They came a little short, but what an exciting second half it was! 

After the game as we were heading to the Party, we decided that we might have a better chance at seeing or talking to Russell here at the Stadium then at the Party, so we decided to go back and wait for him there. There was only a few of us, and since he knew some of the people waiting there, we were encouraged to think that he might stop by and sign a few autographs, and he did! After the excitement of seeing him up close for the first time, Penny was nice enough to take my picture with him and I got him to sign my baseball cap J As he was still mingling slowly, I asked if I could get one more picture with my own camera, just as a backup and to have one with me when I got to Montreal, and he was gracious enough to pose, patiently because she had a problem with the flash, once more.

We went to the Aftergame party and had fun watching people dancing, unfortunately, we didn’t get to mingle with the players, I thought we might get that change at taking pictures with them too, (if I had known, I might have tried at the Stadium, but I was sure that we’d had a chance at the party) and I got a little movie of the guys dancing at one point (the only time they came out of the VIP section). And saw Russell leave pretty early.

All in all, in was a great weekend, I got to cheer my new favorite Rugby team, got to meet my favorite actor and have pictures and signature to prove it and met some great people that I will keep in touch and hope to see in the future at another event…

Madeleine (Madtex)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada