The Invictus Games: Australia

After the longest Friday ever, I happily arrived in Sydney on Sunday. It was a 13 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur followed by another 9 hour flight to Australia. Quick check-in at the hotel where the Fidelity colleagues welcomed us with some nice presents J

Instead of catching up on some sleep, I decided to join Tina Von Clear (from our Luxembourg office) and Angel Hu (China) and headed off to the Botanic Gardens where the Fidelity staff hosted a family picnic at the Harbour's edge for sailing and cycling events.

We discovered a typical bird called the “Australian white ibis”. Although, we were told that the locals call these birds “bin chicken” (not sure why! ;) )

To wrap up such a great Sunday, we took a ferry to visit Manly Beach (very well-known for the considerable number of surfers). On our way back, we enjoyed some of the best views of the Opera House & Harbour Bridge.

Monday to Friday, it has been probably one of the most joyous (and busiest) weeks of my life. On Monday, we were warmly welcomed by Alva Devoy (Australia Managing Director) and the rest of the colleagues based in the Sydney Office (nice views by the way).

During the last 10 years I have been very lucky to attend the Olympic Games, World Championships…but I had never experienced such a great event as the Invictus Games. The atmosphere, the crowd and mainly the athletes have made this event UNIQUE.

The “4 lucky winners” made the most of our days at the Invictus, where we had the opportunity to attend some key events such as sitting volleyball, rugby, basketball, tennis or athletics.

Apart from supporting our favourite teams, we were also able to interact with some sporting legends:

Ian Thorpe (Australian swimmer who won 5 Olympic gold medals).

Netra Rana (UK Team, Gold medal in the Sitting Volleyball at the Invictus Games, 2014)

In summary, it was an unforgettable week with plenty of great moments and amazing people. A massive thanks to Fidelity Australia for looking after us! I never imagined that standing on one hand would result in this trip of a lifetime.