A month before the opening of the games 3 of us were selected to become in charge of the bus transport in the offical olympic ville with 25 brand new merc gas buses from ryde depot they would be refueled at ryde depot each night 60 drivers were selected from all sydney depots & newcastle no -body new each other which was to be one big family our job before the games & after the 2 sets of games were to drive staff/volenteers and the village in a large figure 8 24/7 to say that 3 months was the best in my time of 45 years with sydney buses we thought we would have many things go wrong but we had 3 broken left hand mirrors & one flat tyre. not bad plus we had stolen 6 sets of number plates only from one bus yep bus 2000 on the very last night we lost 23 sets one of 2000 number plates was close to me and our head boss on the opening night while most of the comp were at the opening games the drivers were driving around the village cooking snags in a gas bus for all those who couldn't go......if you would like to hear more storys of things that happened PLEASE let me know if your interested! CREDIT MUST GO TO MICK READON {bb.b.q mick] manager of ryde depot ryde depot was called the MOTHER-SHIP EACH OF US SUPERVISORS HAD NICK NAMES BECAUSE OF SECURITY. SOME OF THE THING THAT WERE DONE are classiffed even the drivers going on strike stopping the games and MICK READON not giving in! TO THINK IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO TODAY!
"CAPTAIN.C.H "Lives in the home of "SUGAR CANE' not "chickens" .........."INGHAM NTH QLD"
yes we were all issued them & the videos but we have left the village but we did 4 times on unoffical trips those books are going for up to $100 each because of the GOLD PRINT HA HA HA. i KNOW ONE SYDNEY OPERATER WHO HAS A BOX OF MODEL BUSES GIVEN TO THE DRIVERS BUT HE DIDN'T WANTS $250 EACH FOR THEM AS MUCH AS i want one NOT PAYING THAT MUCH!
Last edited by captainch on Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"CAPTAIN.C.H "Lives in the home of "SUGAR CANE' not "chickens" .........."INGHAM NTH QLD"
PART 2 every -one entering the village once you were inside you had no rank didn't matter if you were the p.m or president or emptyed the garbage bins, on entering every body
got 6 pack of water EXCEPT bus drivers on the 2nd day I TOLD OUR BOSS MICK he said bring all the buses into the holding yard1 hour latter we received a phone call the village has come to a stand still mick said no buses because the drivers have no water with in 20 mins 2 semis arrived with water...........Another time the poor bus drivers at randwick holding yard & regents park would get a piece of fruit 3 sandwiches & a popper. But us in the village were susposed to eat in the huge tent with all the games people Again the "FOOD NARTZIES" volenteers said no so once again in came the buses the only ones who could travel on the buses were the athleates this went on for a whole day next day we ate 5 star food till the end of the games!The BEST GAMES WERE THE PARRA GAMES those people were more genuine.What was sad all those people came to australia all they seen was the AIRPORT the games site & home again no seeing our kangaroos /opera house/harbour bridge ect but I was looking after the team parra basketballl team wheel chair guys from canada that was a differant storey! they seen a few things and DID a few things.!
"CAPTAIN.C.H "Lives in the home of "SUGAR CANE' not "chickens" .........."INGHAM NTH QLD"
There was actually one of those books alongside the VHS for sale on Ebay for $25 a while back.
Haven't had a VHS player in years and unfortunately I've got enough items as it is so this probably would've unfortunately been left to gather dust if I had purchased it but for preservation sake, hopefully it ended up in good hands.
TRUST that people do not do their homework that BUS 2000 WAS NEVER in that colour scheme I should know as I DROVE IT FOR THE MEDIA RELEASE and I was in charge of the govt new gas mercs at the olympic village for 3 months.
"CAPTAIN.C.H "Lives in the home of "SUGAR CANE' not "chickens" .........."INGHAM NTH QLD"
Not forgetting that the private bus consortium, Bus 2000, collapsed just weeks out from the Olympics. Good old STA stepped in and took over with military like precision. We were used to running large operations and every day presented new challenges. Buses were being sent out every morning to prop up venues that needed extra support. For example, on the Opening Ceremony morning, it was discovered that no buses had been rostered to return the hundreds of kids to their home suburbs after the event.. In two hours,we organised 80 buses and drivers to do the return trips, and that was just for the kids and other performers.
Well remember Captain CH and Mick's boys saving the day at the Village.The industry contacts made held many of us in good stead on all sorts of bus and transport related projects over the next two decades. Having started as a bus conductor myself, it was an awesome experience.
SPECIAL K a truer word was never said a lot of those drivers I am still in contact 20 years latter one of those drivers whom we called "WATER BOY" is now the depot manager at ryde depot!
"CAPTAIN.C.H "Lives in the home of "SUGAR CANE' not "chickens" .........."INGHAM NTH QLD"
ScaniaGrenda wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:02 am
There was actually one of those books alongside the VHS for sale on Ebay for $25 a while back.
Haven't had a VHS player in years and unfortunately I've got enough items as it is so this probably would've unfortunately been left to gather dust if I had purchased it but for preservation sake, hopefully it ended up in good hands.
I found the Parra games WERE BETTER than the norman olympics WE found it was taking a long time for the parra people to board the buses then we found they use to tie a rope onto the back of the bus as we didn't drive very fast as there was no timetable but the long rope had a whole lot of knotts tied along its lenght & what they were doing was when the bus stopped at a stop the able ones got onboard thru the doors THE OTHERS WOULD GET IN A LINE HANG ONTO THE KNOTTT AND UP TO 6 OR SO WOULD DRAG THEIR WHEELCHAIRS BEHIND THE BUS AND LET GO AT THE HUGE MEAL WHICH WAS THETENT! also on the 2nd last day we sunk the basketball team out of the compound took them to the BLUE MOUNTAINS THEN TO FEARTHDALE PARK TO SEE OUR NATIVE ANIMALS AFTER THAT OVER THE HARBOUR BRIDGE THEN TO THE OPERA HOUSE THEN TO HARRYS -CAFE -DE-WHEELS FOR A AUSSIE PIE & PEAS. THEN they asked could they have a AUSSIE BEER so we stopped at the w'loo hotel Well once the mob in the pub found out who they were they kept buying them drinks after 4 hours have you ever tried to get 20 drunk wheel-chairs guys onto a bus....we sunk them back inside the village no body noticed But we found out they had the grand final of their basketball balll game at 11am next morning . anyway they won. but at least they saw aussie animals & icons plus drank! funnist day we ever had at the games latter they sent us a picture of a HOLDEN CAR THEY DROVE INTO A CONTAINER THEN LOODED there wheel chairs all over it & it went home to canada wasn't till we had a closer look it had bus mo2000 number plate on it! Another time they asked could they have a bus to go for a drive. we said if you can drive it go for it..............we heard a bus start up took no notice one of the drivers said on the 2 way the guys from canada are driving a bus .how they did it was a guy was stearing with his hands another guy was using his hands laying on the floor using his hands on the pedals they couldn't go out of the village.as I stated what happened in the village stayed in the village when I WENT TO CANADA IN 2001 WENT TO SEE THEM THEY STILL HAD THE GOLD HOLDEN THEY BORROWED FROM THE GAMES!
"CAPTAIN.C.H "Lives in the home of "SUGAR CANE' not "chickens" .........."INGHAM NTH QLD"
20 years before, everyone flock to Sydney to see the Olympics.
20 years after, no one can leave Sydney at all due to travel ban.
I hope COVID can end soon so that we can watch Olympics live again.
CREDIT MUST GO TO MICK READON {bb.b.q mick] manager of ryde depot ryde depot was called the MOTHER-SHIP EACH OF US SUPERVISORS HAD NICK NAMES BECAUSE OF SECURITY. SOME OF THE THING THAT WERE DONE are classiffed even the drivers going on strike stopping the games and MICK READON not giving in! 
TO THINK IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO TODAY!
