It was just a magnificent sight here in Hobart this morning. We had four super maxis coming up the River Derwent in pretty close proximity. It was Wild Oats XI that crossed the finish line first, that made it a 9th line honours victory for Wild Oats XI and the celebrations as the yacht docked here this morning were huge. It is the first victory since the Oatley family, which owns the yacht lost its patriarch Bob Oatley back in 2016 and it was his grandson today that steered the yacht across the finish line. So, a special moment for him.
Also, a special moment for the skipper Mark Richards, he kept saying that it is redemption day and that of course is in relation to what happened last year. Wild Oats XI was first to cross the finish line last year as well, but was stripped of line honours due to an illegal tack at the start of the race. So, it had line honours handed to Comanche and also the race record.
G'day, guys and welcome to Aussie English. My objective here is to teach you guys the English spoken Down Under. So, whether you want to speak like a fair dinkum Aussie or you just want to understand what the flipping' hell we're on about when we're having a yarn, you've come to the right place. So, sit back, grab a cuppa and enjoy Aussie English.
G'day, guys! Well, g'day, good evening. How's it going? It is ten o'clock on a Wednesday night at the moment while I piece together this week's episode. Far out, guys, I am adapting to life as a father. I am adapting to life with very minimal sleep. I don't get very much time for shut eye anymore. It's all about the baby, all about the baby crying, waking me up.
Kel and I we're trying to stay in the same room because we just like, obviously, sleeping together in the same room. You know, it's nice to hug someone under the blankets, keep warm in these cold nights, especially when you live in a house like we do at the moment with very bad heating and very bad insulation.
So, we've been trying that, but sometimes I tell you what, guys, it gets difficult. So, the baby's lying on the bed in his special... I don't even know the word for it, a bassinet kind of thing, it's kind of like a cot, a very small cot with walls and he can sit in there close to us, so that any time he makes any noise and wakes up one of us can get up and sort him out. Most of the time it has to be Kel, unfortunately, because he is famished, he is hungry, he's thirsty and he wants a feed. He wants to be breastfed.
Anyway, enough of that, enough of that, enough of my whinging, enough of my complaining. I hope you guys are going well I hope you've been having an amazing week, I hope you've been chilling out, kicking back, relaxing, enjoying the beautiful weather that is, well in Australia in Melbourne at the moment, so it's a little bit cold and rainy.
Anyway. Let's get into today's episode, guys. This is Aussie English, the Aussie English Podcast, the number one podcast for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English or just level up their English in general and get to an advanced level.
If you would like to get the transcripts and the bonus content for the podcast, you can sign up to be a premium podcast member via www.AussieEnglish.com.au and if you would like all of the course material, all of the courses related to these expression episodes with extra lessons, with different videos in there to teach you natural conversations for one, we go through a dialogue break down, you learn loads of vocab, lots of slang, everything like that, make sure that you sign up for the Aussie English Classroom and again www.AussieEnglish.com.au.
So, intro scene today, guys. The intro scene was about the Sydney to Hobart Race. I wonder if you guys in Australia at least if you're here and if you've been here over Christmas, over the new year, I wonder if you guys have seen the Sydney to Hobart Race on the TV. So, this is a race from obviously Sydney to Hobart, it's held every year, it's a yacht race and it is just something that always comes up obviously over Christmas time or over the holidays.
It's always on the TV, on the telly, it's always being talked about, so I thought I would talk about that in today's Aussie English fact, but definitely go check out that video about Wild Oats Eleven, one of the yachts that often wins the Sydney to Hobart Race and that was from ABC News, a great YouTube channel, a great channel on the TV as well, worth watching if you want to learn more about current affairs in Australia.
So, before we get into the expression today, I've got a joke for you guys, ok? I've got a joke and it's a weather joke because the expression is related to weather. Alright, here's the joke: what's the difference between a horse and the weather? What's the difference between a horse, you know, and the weather? You'll need to read this one, I think, you'll need to read this to get it because it's a spelling joke, it's a pun, right? Ok, what's the difference between a horse and the weather? One is reined up and the other rains down. Did you get it?
So, if a horse has reined up it has reins on it, right? The reins spelled R E I N S or in this case reined as a verb R E I N E D, reined up. Reins are the things that a horse rider uses to control the horse, so it has the I think the bit, I think it's called the bit in its mouth and the reins are attached to that and strapped on to the animal's head and the person, the rider, can hold the reins and obviously control the horse so the horse has reined up, right, it's got reins on its face it's they've been put on the horse, it's been reined up and the weather usually when it's wet and cold it rains down, right?
R A I N S in this case, rains, the verb, rain. They sound the same, but they're spelt differently, right? To rain down for it to pour down, for water to come out of the sky, precipitation, so yeah, there's the joke.
Today's expression, today's expression is 'Go down a storm'. 'To go down a storm'. This was from Alida, who suggested this one in the Aussie English Classroom, good job Alida! This is a good one and I hope today's episode goes down a storm with you guys and especially with you Alida.
So, before we go through the expression will define the words in it.
'To go down'. So, 'to go down'. It's one of those phrasal verbs that can mean many different things. Usually, if you're going down, you are descending, right? You're moving in a direction that is down, that is below, that is to the south, right? To go down.
But in this case, If something 'goes down', that means for something to happen, for that thing to occur, right? An event or some kind of circumstance, you know, if there was a fight outside my house right now, if I started hearing shouting outside I might be like oh what's going down outside? I want to see what's going down. I want to see what's happening, right? What's occurring.
And a storm,, obviously a literal definition for a storm is a violent disturbance of the atmosphere, with strong winds, rain, thunder, lightning or snow, but in this sense it is used figuratively, I believe, where it means a tumultuous reaction, an uproar or a controversy, right? Some kind of full on event, right? A tumultuous reaction, that's a really good collocation, a tumultuous reaction.
So, the expression, what does it mean to go down a storm? I wonder if you guys know. Have you heard this before? Do you get the context? If something goes down a storm with you, to go down a storm like if I said I want this episode to go down a storm with you guys, what do you reckon it means?
It means to be enthusiastically received by an audience. So, to be liked, to be whole heartedly appreciated, to have great success. If something goes down a storm, it succeeds or it is received incredibly well by a person or group of people, right? To go down a storm. That thing was amazing! It went down a storm with everyone!
So, as usual, let's go through some examples of how I would use this expression in day to day life, right? If I'm out and about I'm having a yarn with some friends Down Under, in Australia, and I want to use some expressions, this is a good one when you want to talk about things that you appreciated or that succeeded, ok? Let's go through these examples.
So, example number one: each year Melbourne hosts the Melbourne International Film Festival and this year it's running from the first to the 18th of August. So, if you're in Melbourne, if you're around Melbourne during that month, during the first two or three weeks of August go check it out, and it is an event where there are lot of films from overseas that are shown in the city of Melbourne, right? Celebrating other cultures and other types of film. So, according to the event runners, "The Melbourne International Film Festival hosts a feast of cinematic delicacies from over 50 countries for 17 days each winter, heavily garnished with a range of parties and special events". So, there's a lot going down in Melbourne, right?
So, imagine one year there's a film that everyone's anticipated. It's meant to be an amazing doco, so people are waiting with bated breath, they're anticipating this documentary, they think it's going to be amazing and they are looking forward to getting a chance to see it when it comes out at the Film Festival. So, when it gets finally shown at the film festival and everyone loves it, they think it's fantastic, they could say it went down a storm. So, it was received well by everyone. The audience enthusiastically received it, they thought it was a great success, it was a total hit, it went down a storm. Everyone loved it. It went down a storm.
Example number two: each year my family gets together for Christmas Day, so we all get together on Christmas Day to have our, you know, celebrations together and we do this at my nana and grandpa's house, up in Melbourne in a suburb called Camberwell. So, we pile the presents up underneath the Christmas tree once we arrive and then, you know, people kind of trickle in over the late morning, so by about lunchtime everyone shows up and they've put their presents under the tree. We sort of all gather around and open all the presents. So, one by one the different families hand out the gifts to each person that they've bought them for in the sort of circle that's created in the lounge room of my nanna and grandpa's house. We all open them in front of everyone, we say thanks, we give our gifts and then we get to eat an amazing meal and have a yarn, and have a laugh, and have a chat.
So, for the last 32 years of my life the food has pretty much always been the same thing. Meat and three veg. A meat and three veg roast, right? It could be lamb, could be chicken, could be turkey, but it tends to be that with gravy and some vegetables, you know, things like carrots, potatoes, maybe some broccoli. So, imagine this year nanna's decided to go all out, she wants to mix things up and, you know, try something completely novel, try something totally different. So, maybe she wants to try a new recipe that's totally new, she found it online somewhere and she wants to cook a pig or a lamb on a spit roast in the backyard and then serve it up with rice and curry, right? Something completely different from what my traditional nanna would usually do.
So, she's got her fingers crossed hoping that it's going to be a success with everyone. She's hoping that everyone's going to love it, she's hoping it'll go down a storm, right? She's hoping it'll be received enthusiastically.
Example number three: imagine there's a new TV series that's just come out and your friends are ranting and raving about it. They're saying it's all the rage, they're saying it's the best thing ever, it's amazing. You need to get your hands on it and start binge-watching it as soon as possible. So, you finally get around to buying it, maybe you head down to the local JB Hi-Fi, that's a store in Australia that tends to sell electronics and DVD and Blue ray discs and everything like that. So, you go down there and you lash out a few bucks on the entire series, you buy it.
You take it home, you whack it on the TV, you know, you jump in the sofa, kick your legs up and from the word go you fall in love with the TV show. So, it's amazing, it's perfect, it's total hit. So, you binge watch the entire thing from start to finish in a single sitting, and then you call your friends up and you let them know how much you loved it, that it was a great success, you thought it was the bomb, it was epic and it went down a storm. You absolutely loved it, right? It was a great success.
So, hopefully now, guys, you understand the expression to go down a storm. If something goes down a storm with someone or just in general, it goes down a storm, that is that it was enthusiastically received by a person or group of people. It was liked wholeheartedly or it received great success in general.
So, as usual, let's go through a little listen and repeat exercise, guys, where you guys can work on your pronunciation. As I always say, if you're working on your Australian pronunciation, obviously, copy me as best you can. If you're working on any other accent whatever it is, try not to focus too much on my exact pronunciation and use it more as a way of prompting you to just practice saying these sentences in these words out loud, ok?
To
To go
To go down
To go down a
To go down a storm x 5
Pay attention to that rhythm too, I just noticed that after saying that sentence a few times, you'll hear, how does it sound? To go down a storm. Which words am I emphasizing, to go down a storm? Down and storm, right? The rhythm's kind of... to go down a storm. Let's keep going.
What I did went down a storm.
What you did went down a storm.
What he did went down a storm.
What she did went down a storm.
What we did went down a storm.
What they did went down a storm.
What it did went down a storm.
Good job, guys! Good job! Now, that is...that is a really good exercise today. I've just noticed, did you hear how many different ways the T at the end of the word what changes when it joins with the following word, which is the pronoun in those sentences, right? So, have a listen here and I want you to try and notice the what is called Assimilation, so this is where two sounds sort of merged together and change the sounds, so you'll have T and I, T and a U sound, T and H, T and SH, T and W, T and TH and T and I again, ok? So, have a listen to this:
What I. What I.
What you. What you.
What he. What he.
What she. What she.
What we. What we.
What they. What they.
What it. What it.
Very cool! So, there's some instances there where it's becoming a CH sound. It's joining to the TH sound, it is turning into a T flap, 'what it".
Practice that, guys, if you want to sound a lot more natural when you're speaking your English, because there are always those little subtleties, you know, that are kind of hard to wrap your head around. Anyway.
Let's go through the Aussie fact, guys, and then we'll finish up for the day.
So, today I wanted to talk about the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. At the moment, it is called the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race because it's sponsored by the watch brand Rolex. So, the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is an annual event, which is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. It begins in Sydney, which is the capital of New South Wales on Boxing Day, the 26th of December, and it finishes in Hobart, Tasmania, usually within 48 hours the first boat arrives in Tasmania.
So the race covers a distance of approximately 630 nautical miles, which translates to 1,170 kilometres. It's run in conjunction with the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania and is widely thought to be one of the most difficult yacht races that exists.
In the beginning, the race was planned to be a cruise by a fellow named Peter Luke. He's got two first names and some mates of his, who had formed a club for anyone who enjoyed cruising as compared to racing. However, when they were visited by a British Royal Navy officer named Captain John Illingworth, he suggested the cruise be turned into a race, and thus the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race was born.
Over the decades, since the inaugural race in 1945, it's grown to become one of the top three offshore yacht races in the world and it now attracts maxi yachts from all around the globe, and the 2019 race this year will be the seventy fifth edition.
Race winners are determined based on yacht dimensions like length, shape, weight and sail dimensions and the ultimate winner receives Australia's foremost Offshore Sailing prize, The Tattersall's Cup. However, much of the public attention is focussed on the race for line honours, which is the first boat across the finishing line, which is almost always the newest and largest maxi yacht in the fleet, and the fleet is the group of boats that race that year.
The "Holy Grail".
So in 1999 the yacht team Nokia absolutely smashed the Sydney Hobart Race record alongside a host of other super fast boats completing the course in less than two days for the first time ever. The idea of completing the race in less than 40 hours had previously been considered the Holy Grail of the Sydney to Hobart Race, and despite previously being thought to be out of reach, after 1999, it became a real possibility of being attained. Many yacht skippers competing in the race in the 21st century coveted the Holy Grail desiring to be the first to complete the race in under 40 hours.
However, it took another 18 years to finally occur. In 2017, a yacht named Comanche set a new race record when it finished the race in a mere 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds, beating the previous record set by Perpetual Loyal's of one day, 13 hours, 31 minutes and 20 seconds, which had been set the previous year. Even though the yacht named Wild Oats crossed the line first that year, she received a one hour penalty for her role in a near miss-collision at the beginning of the race, as well as the team's disregard for the starboard rule, which handed the line honours to Comanche.
That said, Wild Oats XI completed the course in an unofficial record time of 1 day, 8 hours, 48 minutes and 50 seconds. Wild Oats XI has won line honours on nine separate occasions and is the first boat to have claimed the hattrick of race record, line honours, and overall winner.
So, aside from that, guys, another reason the Sydney to Hobart yacht race is well known by a lot of people in Australia is that tragically during 1998 the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race occurred when there was a super cell storm that was stirred up in the seas, once the race had reached Bass Strait, between Victoria and Tasmania, and it led to six fatalities among the sailors.
So, there you go, there's a bit of information about the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, guys. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you enjoyed this episode, I hope you have a great week. I'm sure you're going to get more sleep than me and I'll chat to you soon. Peace out.
G'day, mate! Thanks for listening to the Aussie English podcast. If you'd like to boost your English whilst also supporting the podcast and allowing me to continue to bring you awesome content every single week, please consider joining the Aussie English Classroom at www.AussieEnglish.com.au and start your one dollar trial today! You'll get unlimited access to the premium podcast as well as all of my advanced English courses and you'll also be able to join three weekly speaking calls with a real English teacher. Thanks so much, mate, and I'll see you soon!