Chris Seto-Payne the senior instructor of Brisbane Aikikai earlier this year invited me to teach a seminar at the Brisbane Aikikai Gecko Dojo. This seminar was held on the weekend of 16/17 May and about 30 to 40 students from a number of dojos in the area attended including some from the Gold Coast, Toowoomba and Warwick. It was a very enjoyable event with a great bunch of people. The standard of ukemi was high allowing me to teach a range of techniques. It was very interesting to me to see how their aikido has developed.

I appreciated the hospitality shown to me by all the members particularly Chris and Bruce Eccles. I also had the chance to catch up with Alex Freddo and Roland Stettler.

The most pleasing thing about the whole visit was the chance to renew friendships with our Australian aikido cousins. Hopefully this is something we can build on and develop further.

The Brisbane Aikikai website is: www.aikidobrisbane.org

Andrew Williamson