OUR TRAVEL TEAM

Gary Brown

Greetings and thank you for visiting my website. I am a Canadian living in Melbourne Australia. I am 47 years young and am one of many children. I have been in Melbourne since 1995. My kin are from Nova Scotia, a basically rural area that relies heavily on the fisheries industry and tourism for its livelihood. In the 70’s I worked for six years up in the arctic in the seismic industry. (oil exploration). I had a construction business with two good mates in Wolfville, Nova Scotia in the 80’s (Apple Valley Builders) building residential homes. The business still thrives. Then I taught school (11-12 English Lit) before moving to Australia in 95’. I enjoy living in Australia, particularly, Melbourne. I have recently fallen in love with a beautiful Aussie woman, Joanne and am very happy. We were married December 11, 2003 and are looking forward to a big life together.

Professional Profile

Bridge lured Gary away from the world of chess. An avid chess player, he spent many weekends at chess tournaments. Gary took up bridge in 1983. He was addicted immediately having read several books before he ever actually played. To say that bridge has changed his life is an understatement. He went from being rookie of the year in 1983, to attaining life master status in 1985. Gary won the Lagan Trophy (awarded in Eastern Canada for most master-points won in a year) for four consecutive years, 1986-1989. He established a partnership with internationalist Gylfi Baldurrson of Iceland, for three years. Together they wreaked havoc on the bridge circuit armed with a 10-12 1NT opening bid in a system Gylfi dubbed 'Ice Wolf Precision'. It was basically just Precision, but with a myriad of frills concocted by Gylfi.

Gary became Editor of the Maritime Bridge Line, an Eastern Canadian Bridge Magazine, in 1988, a post he held until 1992. He started playing bridge professionally in 1989 before coming to Australia where he played professionally for 18 months. He now teaches bridge full time in Melbourne, as well as taking people away on Bridge Holidays. He has written six bridge booklets, with another in the works. Of all his bridge feats he feels his greatest is his latest creation for improving players: Flash Cards.

In 2001, OZ Bridge Travel co-hosted several bridge holidays with John Newman of International Club Bridge in Sydney. They took 66 players to Bali, 64 players on a cruise of the South Pacific Islands, and another 53 signed up to go to Canada/Alaska. A whopping 104 attended his Bridge Getaway to the Snowy Mountains in January 2003.

Thoughts on Teaching

One of the exciting things about teaching bridge is the opportunity to develop and implement new teaching methods. Gary does not mind 'dumb' questions and he loves the challenge of making things understandable. His style of teaching bridge is a blend of seizing the teachable moments while entertaining the class. He says that feeling uptight and tense only stifles the student. Feeling loose and comfortable facilitates the learning process thus creating positive energy in the room. Some people ask, "Don't you ever get sick of the teaching bridge day in and day out? Gary replies, "I love bridge and I love teaching". And they say, "oh".

Joan Butts

Joan hails from Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia. She presently resides in Brisbane Queensland where she own/operates the Cards Bridge Centre. Joan has one son who is now 22 years of age and living in London. Joan is an educator by trade having taught high school for four years and was a guidance counsellor for eleven years. She loves music, particularly Leonard Cohen. Her love for playing bridge is surpassed only by her love of teaching the game.

Professional Profile

Joan writes and produces a monthly bridge magazine; she has taught and directed bridge on two world cruises aboard the Crystal Symphony; she runs her own bridge business; has organized too many bridge functions, teacher accreditations programs, etc. to mention. She is the official teacher of the Queensland Bridge Association and she was guest speaker at the US Bridge Teacher’s Seminar at the 2001 Summer Bridge National Championships. Joan has represented Australia three times, twice in 1989 (the Venice Cup in Perth, and the Far East in Jakarta), and once in 1993 (Far East, Singapore). She finished 2nd and 3rd in these Far East Championships.

She has also represented her home state of Queensland in the national championships many times (more than 10), and has won all major state events, including the Women’s Pairs seven times! Joan has written a critically acclaimed book, Play Bridge ‘A workbook for the Absolute Beginner. There is much more but this gives you some idea as to the extent of her influence on the bridge scene in Australia. Joan joined OZ Bridge Travel a year ago and has been a huge hit with all attendees of our Bridge Holidays. For more information on Joan visit: www.uq.net.au/cards