Gold Coast!

Well, with some difficulty, we made it to the Gold Coast. We had to leave for the airport at 3:30am. Then, our group was split onto 3 different flights. Someone dropped the ball. I was lucky enough to be on the first one. After the flight into Brisbane, we drove to the coast. It seemed to take about 43 hours, but it was closer to 2.5. Now that we're here, it's amazing. Our hotel is right next to the beach, and the downtown area. So, it looks like it's going to be a fun end to the trip. We spent most of the day in transit, to/from the airport, to lunch, etc. But once we got settled, I had some time to check out the beach. It is SO cool. I'll snap a few pictures tomorrow, I'm sure, and then you'll see what I mean. I wish it was a little bit hotter, but it's still nice. Tomorrow might be surf day. It all depends on the weather, so fingers crossed.

Tonight, I've decided to lay low, and venture around myself. The group is considering going to a club, and I think I'd rather check out the city on my own. So, I've begun by coming here to McDonalds, to use the wifi, because our hotel, while it is great, values its internet at $8 an hour. So instead, for my $8, I get a happy meal with a side of computer time.

Like I said, today was mostly uneventful so far. Just lots of travelling. The rest of the trip is going to be composed mostly of relaxing. So I'll try my best to drum up some interesting things for y'all to read about. Although, I can really see myself spending all my time napping on the beach. I just know I'm going to come home looking like a lobster.

Great Ocean Road

Today, we woke up early and drove down the Great Ocean Road, a long road along the coast commemorating WWI soldiers. It was a good time, lots of sitting on the bus though. Most of the day was spend taking pictures. We had a quick stop in Torquay (pronounced Taw-kee) which is apparently the birthplace of surfing. All the surf companies that exist in America were started in garages in Torquay. That dominates the city. All the stores were basically surf shops, and 1 Mcdonald's. That was a good time, then back in the bus. We stopped at a place by the beach called Andrew's Chicken Joint, thought most of us got fish. The food was pretty good, even if the service was subpar. The rest of the time was taking pictures, and seeing animals.

We got pretty close to the ocean today. I may have gotten a little too close. I was down taking pictures, and a big tide came in while I wasn't paying attention. It washed up almost to my knees. I felt like the biggest idiot in the hemisphere. In my defense, nobody explained to me how the ocean works. So I had the distinction of having wet shoes all day. Awesome. It wasn't too bad though, I experienced the ocean in more ways than anyone else did. George told me that the water we saw today comes directly off of Antarctica, so that was pretty cool. I washed in Antarctic waters, I suppose.

Here are some of the better pictures from the trip today.

A volcano near Melbourne, the name escapes me now

Just a couple blurry views from the bus

Roos!

We got fairly close

Some views of the merciless sea.

Birds everywhere outside Andrew's Chicken Joint

Lazy Koalas

More birds Everywhere!

Waterfall

Last Game + Trading

So it turns out that instead of playing The Aussie U18 team again for the 3rd place, we played Japan again for the 3rd place. It's been raining all day here, and the fields were crap to begin with. So we headed out around 2:00 to watch the girls play, and it was just a mud pit. Just dirty. Our game was the same story, the field was a lake by the end of it. I've been a FOGO for the last couple games, so I probably got the worst of it. I mean, you couldn't even see my legs, my jersey was covered, and I felt like I was brushing my teeth with mud. The Japanese team came out to play though, and combined with the field conditions, the game was 2-2 in the 3rd quarter. Then we decided to turn it on and we finished it at 7-2.

Then came the trading. We crammed into the locker room with the Japanese team, and they went wild trying to trade things. I forgot all about it, and I left my extra pennies in the apartment, but I still managed to make it through with some sweet Japanese stuff. They were all so excited to trade and take pictures. That was a really fun experience. I felt like we kind of bonded more during that time than on the field or between games.

Now we've got the rest of the trip to relax a bit more and have fun. Early morning tomorrow though. We leave at 7:30am to the coast. I think we might get to see some Koalas... we'll see.


Here are some pictures from the last few days that I'm just getting around to showing you.

A view of Melbourne

And another. Nice place.

The Museum down the street from our apartment.

Footy

Aussie Rules Football is Awesome. I had a great time, even though the game was a blowout. I learned quite a bit from George, he used to be a sideline referee for 11 years. He's done everything. The stadium was HUGE, it seats 115,000! It's really just an interesting game to watch, and hopefully we're getting another chance to see a game next weekend.

Aside form the footy, today wasn't super eventful. We had the day off from lacrosse, so most guys slept in late. I woke up early and went back to the Victoria Market, which was fun again. Then I got a short nap before heading off to the game.

Tonight it looks like everyone wants to go do some bars and then back to the casino, but the more I sit, the more tired I become. I may not go out tonight, all I want to do is sleep. Maybe I'll sleep now and venture out tomorrow morning on my own and see the city, maybe the Museum across the street. We'll see.

Pictures to follow eventually. I promise I've taken a few. Probably not as many as my mom would like, but I'm trying. It's hard to remember to bring the camera everywhere. But there are some, and I will post them.

4,000th game. Casino.

Not quite 4,000, but it feels like it. We won our game last night against the Australian U18 team, earning us a spot in the #3 vs #4 game on Monday. Our opponent: Australian U18 team. They're some very good little kids though, it's fun to see that so many people here play the game and start so early.

After the game, we grabbed some KFC (only slightly different than at home) and headed back to the apartments. Showers, rest, beers, then off to the casino! We had to jump on a tram and walk a little ways, but it was worth it. A very cool casino. Huge, and lots of people there. I'm very proud of myself, I only spent $2. I just did the penny slots, and got a good deal of play out of my $2 coin. Most of the group was there, so we hung out, watched some guys lose money at blackjack. Then, bit by bit, we made our way home. I think I was in the first group to leave. I was so exhausted. We ended up walking the entire way home, because we were trying to find a closer tram stop. It was a fairly decent distance. I'd tell you how far, but everything here is metric and weird, so I have absolutely no concept of space or time.

Once back in the apartment, I hit the bed hard. Now I'm up early, with the intention of going back to the Victorian Market. Maybe I'll wake up a few of my roommates. I think it's something like 8:30am here. I'm starting to get my bearings a little bit. It's Sunday, maybe. Couldn't even try to tell you the date. We don't have a game today, so this is the day for Footie (Aussie Football) so we're all pretty excited. I watched part of a game last night to try to get a feel for the rules. It's a lot of fun to watch, even if I am pretty clueless. Maybe I can sit near George and he'll tell me what's up.

Still No clue what day it is

It's been such a busy few days, we're always doing things and just going, going, going.  I haven't had time to think. We got to sleep in today, but it didn't help much with the exhaustion. We went out to lunch at a pizza place. There is so much pizza here. I think every restaurant we've been to, and nearly every place we've walked by serves pizza. Then we headed straight over to the game. We played the other half of what seems to be the national team try outs. They crushed us again. Rough couple of games. Then we headed back to the unit and went down the street to stock up on beers and snacks. We've got another game tonight, so we'll be heading out soon. So tired. No games tomorrow though, so maybe I'll get some rest.

Probably not.

The money is starting to get to me. They do a lot of coins. $2, $1, 50 cent, 20 cent, and 5 cent, I believe. And bills only go down to $5, so you need to keep some coins on you. I've been hesitant to buy things with coins though, because I'm worried that I'll screw up and look like a stupid foreigner (as if I'm really incognito to start with) but I'm beginning to get used to it.

Well, I'm off to another game.

2nd Game

We got crushed by one of the Aussie teams. It's apparently part of the try-out for the national team though, so I don't feel quite as bad. But it's no fun to lose. Anyway, we're all exhausted, so tonight we'll just chill out I think, and we get to sleep in tomorrow.

I wish I could remember all the little differences and neat things I see. It seems like every two seconds I can think of a thousand interesting things. But as soon as I try to remember what they are to write down, I go blank. Oh well, I'm sure I'll remember some of them later. I'm beginning to think with an Australian accent in my head though. Good thing I don't really have a Texan accent, or I'd be all confused.

Well, I'm off I guess. I'm too tired to post any more pictures (my camera is upstairs). These apartments we've got are very nice. I bet they cost a fortune, did I mention everything here costs a lot?

Alright now I'm really off. Still confused. Still don't know the date or time.