The Great Barrier Reef

The Reef was absolutely one of the things I was looking forward to most about Australia.  It's one of those places you've always heard about and always wanted to go see.  I got to Cairns expecting to take a few days and figure out which dive company I was going to go with.  At my hostel, the very nice Swedish receptionist suggested I go with Pro Dive.  She also mentioned that she worked there part-time, so initially I was pretty skeptical.  But even despite my skepticism, Pro Dive had this deal that I just couldn't walk away from.  I was to go on 'Standby,' where they'd call me when they didn't have a full boat, and I'd get to join for a price that was a few hundred dollars less than advertised.

I called them, got put on Standby, and within 15 minutes they called to say, "Hey, James.  We have an opening for the 3 day/2 night trip leaving tomorrow morning."  It was Saturday night, and I had been looking forward to going out in Cairns.  Unfortunately, the pickup for the boat trip was at 6:15am Sunday morning, so going out Saturday night would be virtually impossible.  I went out for an hour or so, but crashed early so I would be able to wake up for the diving trip.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, as my research in the company only showed me that it was reputable, had good equipment, went to good diving spots, and that I would get "a few dives per day along with a night dive."  As it turned out, I got 11 total dives, including two night dives.  Amazing.  All this plus a private room on the boat and 3 square meals a day for less money than what I got my diving license for in Thailand (and that was only 4 dives...).

We all boarded the boat and headed out for open water.  The weather was a bit drizzly and overcast, but we were all hoping it would clear up once we got out to the reef (it didn't, and only got worse, but that didn't really matter).  The sea was incredibly choppy, and over the course of the 3-hour trip out to Milln Reef where we were going to do our diving, I'd say more than 50% of the 30 passengers got sea sick and puked on the way out.  The guy running the PADI open water course on the boat even lost it and puked.  I don't really get motion sick, so I was fine as long as I stayed away from the stern where 20 people were all puking over the sides of the ship.

The 30 passengers on the ship were comprised of the following groups: Team Deutschland (12 or so Germans who were all on board together getting their PADI open water certificates from a German-speaking instructor), another group of about 10 people (one Canadian, 2 Swiss, one American, a handful of Germans that weren't on Team Deutschland, and 2 from the UK all getting their open water certificates from an english-speaking instructor), a group of 4 people all getting their PADI Advanced Open Water certificates, and then 5 of us who were certified and just there to go diving.  It made for a bit of an anti-social environment because everyone was always separated into their groups.

My group (those already certified) was myself, a mid-aged American named Steve who became my diving buddy for the trip, one Bulgarian who had a diving certification but didn't have a clue once she was underwater, and two mid-aged Swiss people that were very nice but generally kept to themselves.

The really cool thing about Pro Dive that made the trip all the more enjoyable for me was that they were very hands-off.  All the other diving I've done has been with a guide who is kind of acting like a babysitter the whole time.  When we were in New Zealand (before I got certified), our friend Colin got lectured for separating from the main diving lady, even though he was certified and diving with a buddy. These Pro Dive guys I was with were very much "you're certified...so go dive on your own and have fun.

Each dive started the same way.  All the people in the classes were downstairs on the boat in classroom areas learning the basics of diving and going over what skills they would be practicing underwater.  Steve and I (my dive buddy) would go upstairs with the boat supervisor, who would lay out a map of the reefs and give us directions on how to get out there and back while underwater.

This is the dive plan for one of our dives on Flynn Reef

 Then the trick was to get suited up and get underwater before the classes headed down.  If we got the head-start, there was usually more fish and marine life for us to see before it got mobbed with 25 dive students.  Also we all had to get in the water one at a time and be checked out as 'off the boat' for safety (so they always knew if people were on board or not), so when the classes had to do it, it was usually a long wait.

We got out to Milln Reef a little late because of the rough seas, but jumped in the water for our first dive at 11:03 am.  The rain was really coming down, along with a very strong wind.  My rig was set up far at the stern, completely exposed to the weather.  Almost everyone else had their gear set up under cover from the rain or at least with some kind of protection from the beating wind.  I just sat there, freezing in the wind and the rain, getting pelted in the face by huge tropical raindrops as I set up my first stage, BCD, and wetsuit.  Actually it wasn't even a wetsuit.  It provided no warmth whatsoever.  It was a lycra suit which functioned as jellyfish proofing, because April is still 'stinger' season in northern Australia and a Box Jellyfish can easily kill a human.  As it turned out, I never even saw a jelly and (according to my dive computer) the water was always between 82-84 Degrees, nice n' warm.  It was always much more pleasant underwater than at the surface where the rain and wind made us shiver as we donned the water-saturated lycra suits.

Photo taken on the last day when we got about 2 hours sunshine before more bad weather settled in.  That's me on the right and Steve my dive buddy on the left.

So I jumped in the water with my dive buddy Steve and we made our way over to the buoy line, choking all the way through the 2-3 foot swells.  The current at the surface was strong and we had to fight against it.  We didn't want to use our regulators (because we wanted to conserve as much air as possible), so we kind of snorkeled over to the line, all the while getting tossed around in the waves and current.  We popped in the regulators and descended along the line to 18m/60ft, where we checked our compasses and headed out toward the coral bommies.  I instantly knew this was going to be an epic diving experience.  We saw one stingray, a pair of Giant Clams (the larger of the two being ~ 5-6ft across), and a couple of marine creatures I could have only hoped for: sharks and turtles.

Photo taken on day 2--this clam is considerably smaller than the clam on day 1, which is pretty remarkable because it's still huge.

That's me on the left, you can kinda see the turtle on the right

We saw a big Green Turtle first, and it completely caught us off-guard.  We were moving around, exploring the coral, and almost in passing we noticed this turtle looking for some food among the staghorn corals.  We paused, suspended in the water, as this turtle (3.5 ft from head to tail) looked up at us and started swimming directly at us.  He moved slowly and deliberately, as you'd expect a turtle to move, and swam right past me as if I wasn't even there.  He was almost close enough to touch.  It was incredible.  He swam right up to the surface where we watched him take a couple gulps of fresh air before descending again and disappearing into the distance.

A few minutes later we were circling around this pillar of corals, Steve leading, when all of a sudden he stopped and froze.  I pulled up next to him and saw what he was looking at: a 4-5ft long white-tip reef shark.  It was laying right there on the sandy bottom, seeming to stare right at us.  Until that point, I had absolutely ZERO experience diving with sharks.  It's not like we had a spear or a dive knife or anything, and I had no clue if these guys were aggressive or not.  Turns out they're not.  We watched him for a minute or two before heading off.  Eventually our air started running low and we decided to surface.  The dive lasted only 38 minutes; clearly both Steve and I were both a little out of practice.  My air consumption got much better as the trip progressed.

Our second dive was at 2:40pm; a solid surface interval and plenty of time for us to decompress after our 18m dive.  The Bulgarian lady asked if she could join Steve and I on the dive.  We, of course, said yes.  I don't know what her deal was, if she had a fake dive certificate or what (it wasn't PADI), but she was clueless under the water.  She didn't have enough weight on her belt and couldn't stay under.  She kept popping to the surface like a balloon.  I swam over to her, trying to get her farther down where I figured the pressure would compensate for the lack of weight on her belt and kind of hold her down.  I realized at that point that she was inflating her BCD rather than deflating it, so I showed her the proper way to do it but she still couldn't get down.  Steve and I had her by the hand and took her down 5m or so, at which point we let go and she floated topside like one of those plastic scuba divers people put in their fish tanks without so much as a kick of her flippers in an attempt to stay submerged.  Very annoying.  We surfaced, told her to go back to the boat, and continued the dive.  Didn't see much, but a lot of cool coral.  37 minute dive.

By now the storm had upgraded to almost a full-blown cyclone.  The skipper came downstairs and told us it was too dangerous to try to move the boat, so we'd have to stay put.  Since we couldn't go anywhere, let's go diving!  We geared up again and got ready to jump in the water.  As we were standing at the stern about to jump in, the skipper came down and told us to wait.  He brought us each a glowstick to keep in our pockets "in case you guys surface and we can't see you in this weather."  Well that made me feel all nice and comfortable…

As unpleasant as life on the surface was, underwater was warm and calm.  We did much better on this dive and got to see another Giant Clam, another large turtle, and one black-tip reef shark (3.5 footer).  Stayed down for 48 minutes as well; very solid dive.

That night, after dinner, it was time for a night dive.  None of the other certified divers were going, including my dive buddy.  The advanced class (3 people) was going down to practice underwater navigation at night.  I was invited to join; I'd just have to wait for a few minutes while they practiced a navigation drill.  It was absolutely incredible.  Diving at night was extremely disorienting.  It was tough to get the hang of the navigation when your vision is limited to how far your flashlight penetrates the darkness.  We saw 3 sharks on that dive, each of the 3 main types of reef sharks: white-tip, black-tip, and grey.  They're attracted to the light from the flashlights, and will suddenly appear in your beam as you scan the darkness around you.  It's pretty creepy to see them appear out of nowhere, gliding silently through the water.  

At one point, the advanced instructor stopped and had us all gather around.  I didn't realize it at the time, but he was trying to get his bearings to the boat.  We all turned off our flashlights so we could see the glow from the boat and know our way back.  But as soon as all those flashlights turned off it was a disconcerting feeling to be suddenly enveloped in darkness, seeing only the pink haze of the glowsticks attached to our tanks.  

We started making our way back to the boat, and I realized that as my flashlight scanned the coral all around me, there were hundreds of tiny little eyes peering back at me.  Turned out they were little crustaceans, but it was really cool seeing them all like that.

The next day we were able to move to new dive sites and we went to another area of Milln Reef.  Our morning dive was at 7:41.  Only got 34 minutes of dive time, but saw a big blue butterfly fish that was easily the size of my head, 3 rays, and one shark.  I think the shark was a white-tip, but I only caught a glimpse of him.  The visibility underwater had deteriorated to only about 7 meters.

With the sea constantly churning because of the weather and the 24-hour downpours mixing with the salty seawater, the visibility wasn't that great.  Normally we'd get a few more meters visibility, along with the sun shining through the water, illuminating all the different colors of the coral and fish.  But it was ok, there was absolutely no reason to complain; this was easily still the best dive experience I'd ever had.

Second dive was at 11:06, lasted 41 minutes, and I saw 4 Green Turtles, 3 rays, 1 Giant Clam, 1 Trumpetfish.  This dive was notable also because Steve and I became a bit disoriented and eventually realized we were completely lost.  We surfaced with 50 Bar in the tank and realized we had to kick a good 250 meters back to the boat.  Very tiring.

For the third dive on day 2, we moved to another reef altogether, called Flynn Reef.  Dive started at 3:31 and lasted 46 minutes.  I saw 2 Giant Clams, 1 ray, 3 green turtles, 1 black tip reef shark, 2 pufferfish, and one giant Maori Wrasse.  The Maori Wrasse is absolutely enormous.

Obviously not my photo...but this is the size of the Maori Wrasse

That third dive was absolutely amazing.  The location on Flynn Reef was like an underwater jungle gym.  Mazes of coral, caves, huge crevices, columns that reached to the surface, the works.  We headed out, got lost, and ended up in some really shallow coral areas--which is dangerous because the current can smash you against the sharp coral.  We turned back, found some caves and massive crevices, ducking and diving around coral outgrowths, and suddenly wound up at the bottom of the buoy line.  Very fortunate.  We ascended along the line back to the boat.

The night dive on day 2 was very interesting as well.  For some reason, all the certified divers looked to me to lead them and navigate the reef.  They all walked up and said, "we're not really comfortable navigating by ourselves at night...can we come with you?"  I made clear that the only night dive I'd ever been on was yesterday, but they all seemed to think I knew what I was doing, which I didn't.  I had my whole rig on and was preparing to jump in the water when I realized there was a large grey reef shark right below me, circling under the boat.  I just kind of prayed, "please don't let me jump on a shark right now..." and stepped off the boat into the water.  2 of the other 4 people following me joined me and we fought the current over to the buoy line.

The other two jumped in but were unable to fight the current to get to us.  So there I was, stranded on the buoy line with two other people getting trashed around in the surf and attempting to hold ourselves in place.  I didn't want to separate from the other people that were struggling with the current so I swam back to them, helped them get back to the boat safely (they were slowly getting swept off the reef), where they decided they weren't gonna join us.

I swam back to my two amigos stranded on the buoy line and we finally descended.  That whole trek against the current trying to help out those people cost me half my air supply and our jump start on Team Deutschland, who were also going on the night dive with their instructor.

My group reached the bottom and proceeded out along our dive plan.  At a certain point I was having trouble seeing ahead of me, as I was being cast in shadow.  I turned around and there was all of Team Deutschland shining their flashlights at me.  To make things even more confusing, they all were using green glowsticks, the same color my group and I were using.  I couldn't recognize anyone.  It's hard enough recognizing a diver underwater.  Add no light to the mix and, yeah, bad situation.

I stopped to let Team Deutschland pass and the two in my group stopped as well.  We wanted to separate from them, because they were obnoxious and taking up a big area, so we diverted to the left.  Mistake number 1.  Don't change your dive plan, especially at night.  We got completely lost.  Eventually we couldn't even find some of the coral bommies and all we saw was sand.  I knew this wasn't good.  I checked my depth and realized I was at 17m.  Mistake number 2.  It was my 4th dive of the day, to be at 17m is completely unsafe.  Irresponsible.  We quickly realized the mistake and leveled off at 10m.  

Since we were hopelessly lost and I was beginning to get low on air, we stopped to try to get our bearings.  Then my flashlight malfunctioned.  Stopped working.  I whacked it a few times and it turned back on, but it cast a very dim light.  I asked the other divers to turn out their flashlights so I could find the glow of the lights on the boat.  When I found it, I decided to head straight for it.  That ended up being the best decision I made.

We reached the boat and stayed underneath it at 5m.  Then the sharks started circling.  I can't tell you how many sharks there were because I honestly don't know.  It was a lot.  Maybe 7-10 of them.  One big sucker--6 footer at least--kept circling us and got a little closer each pass.  You'd be shining your flashlight into the abyss and all of a sudden you'd see these green eyes flash in the distance and then the fins and body of the shark would appear.  Very freaky.  Completely awesome.  We got several minutes just watching the sharks until Team Deutschland showed up.  The crowd was too dense so we surfaced and got back on the boat.

The last day of the trip I had 3 dives and saw 1 white-tip reef shark, 1 trumpetfish, 4 Maori Wrasse, 4 Barracudas (scary lookin fish, 4 footers), 3 rays, and a school of at least 30 parrotfish.

Parrotfish.  Not my photo, but you get the idea.

After our dives we took the 3-hour chug back to Cairns.  That night everyone got together at a fun pub called Rattle and Hum for some dinner and drinks.  I had a great night and we all had a lot of fun messing around with some of the instructors and crew in a place were they weren't working.

The next day I flew to Sydney, where I spent the night.  Today I'm heading to Malaysia, although my flight got delayed by 5 hours, which is kind of a drag.

More photos from the trip:

My room on the boat

We got two hours of sunshine the entire trip, so I took advantage of it

Main deck where everyone hung out or got lessons in between dives

Haaaangin' out

Cairns

When I arrived in Cairns, I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting.  It's hot.  It's humid.  It's in a rainforest.  I broke out in a sweat just walking on the jetway from the plane to the terminal.

The hostel I'm staying in is cool.  It has a decent vibe to it, but isn't at all very social, which is too bad.

I've spent most of my time here wandering, and you can walk around in the city in a short amount of time.  They've got this public man-made lagoon at the end of town, right near the water, so people can swim without worrying about getting stung by the jellies (including the deadly box jellyfish) that surround this area.

It rains a LOT here (in a rainforest...go figure).  It's rained for hours each of the two days I've been here.  It's rain, really hot sunshine, drizzle, rain, rain, sunshine, downpour, etc.  Also the hostel was very tricky...they claimed on the internet that each room is equipped with A/C.  Upon arrival, the A/C is coin operated and only lasts for 3 hours at a time.  If you don't like it, you get to sweat through the night.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm headed out to the Great Barrier Reef.  I'll be on a boat and out of contact for three days, returning Tuesday (Monday for all you people back home, a day behind Aussieland).

When I get back, expect a post about my diving adventure on the reef (sharks, rays, night diving, the works), complete with a bunch of pictures.

Sydney

There seems to be this big debate over what's best, Sydney or Melbourne.  I don't think I've yet experienced enough of either, so i'll straddle the fence a bit and say Melbourne, but with Sydney's climate.

Like a dumbass, I missed my flight from Melbourne to Sydney.  My punishment was to wait in the terminal another 2 hours until the next flight.  So I got in to Sydney a little bit later than I had expected.  I got to the hostel, which is really quite nice.  It's not the most social hostel in the world, but it's clean and it's got comfortable beds.

I dropped my stuff off in the room and went down to the hostel bar to grab a little food and socialize a bit, and hopefully meet a few people I can hang out with.  At first, I just befriended the bartender because it's always a good idea to know the bartender.  She ended up giving me a few free internet vouchers and introduced me around.  See?  Good to know the bartender.  Now I just need to work myself up to discounts on beer and I'm all set.

My first night, admittedly, was a little weird.  Here's what happened.

So I'm mingling and meeting people and I find myself talking with two Canadian girls.  All of a sudden things got weird when they started yelling at each other over something I had no clue about.  One got up and went to the bathroom, the other stayed behind and she starts telling me her side of whatever they were arguing about.  Then the other girl came back from the bathroom, and they yelled for another minute, and the one who had previously stayed behind got up and left.  This girl (the one who went to the bathroom a minute ago), starts telling me her side of the argument.  So when the second girl returned, and they both realized that they had each explained their side of the argument, they both started asking me to take sides.

"Uh, listen guys, I really don't want to get in the middle of this..."

Then they started yelling some more, and eventually apologized.

"Listen Jamie, we're really sorry you were here to witness this...this is like a friendship ending moment."

They both kind of stormed off in different directions after that, leaving me a bit confused.  It was a strange, bizzarre, and very awkward thing to just kind of fall in my lap on my first night.  I haven't seen either of them since.

So I then started hanging out with these two guys from the UK, who had witnessed this whole ordeal.  We had a few laughs about it and had a few beers together.  Since it was Saturday night, we decided to head out and explore the Sydney night life.  One of the lads had been in town a few days so he directed us towards an area with several good pubs and clubs.  Unfortunately, the two boys from the UK were too drunk to be allowed in to any of them.  They were showing me around a bit, so I felt it would be kind of a dick move if I abandoned them to go into a bar when they got refused at the door.  In my head I was kind of thinking, "come on, really?" because I thought Brits were supposed to be able to have a few pints without falling over themselves.  These two clowns were an anomaly.

Eventually they gave up and wandered home.  I tried going into a few pubs but it was late on a Saturday night at this point and everyone was way more drunk than I was (which usually makes social interaction a bit strange), so I headed back to the hostel for a bit of sleep.

I woke up the next day and it was pouring.  I donned the trusty rain gear and headed out anyway, determined to see the sights.  I just did the old aimless wander that Blove and I became so good at during our time traveling, and found myself in Hyde Park, which was a really nice atmosphere.  The rain had gone away so I sat at a park bench and did a little people-watching and some reading.

Cue Rain.

Out of nowhere, a downpour began.  The street performer playing guitar packed up and left.  The wedding party ran for cover.  The tourists opened their umbrellas and headed home.  I sat there, soaked, and decided maybe it was time to go home too.

I waited out the storm back at the hostel and actually got some stuff accomplished, like figuring out some future travel plans.  The night was uneventful, but I met a few people and had some fun.

The next day, I woke up and there was a new guy staying in our hostel room.  Turns out he was from the DC area as well, and went to Georgetown Prep, my rival high school.  Small world, huh?  He also went to Notre Dame, so we had plenty to talk about between high school stuff, Landon's recent bad press, and NCAA football.

We decided to wander around together, and our game plan was to explore the Kings Cross area, see the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor, and whatever else we happened to learn about along the way.  The weather was good, not great, so we decided to save the famous Sydney beaches for Tuesday and Wednesday when the forecast was for warmth and sunshine.

We took a bus down back toward the Hyde Park area, and I took a few pictures that weren't quite as grey as my previous day in the downpour.

Still a little grey I guess

From Hyde Park, we took out our maps and found our way over to Kings Cross.  "The Cross" as it's known is kind of like the Red Light District of the city.  If that's not your scene it's still a big backpacker area and had a lot of bars so we did some scouting as to where we'd like to go when we inevitably went out.  It seemed like a cool, fun area.

Next it was time to see the famous Sydney Opera House.  We wandered over there and got a few photos.

The Sydney Harbor bridge.  I don't think the photo quite captures what an enormous structure it is.

After that we wandered around a bit more and eventually made our way back to the Hostel.  I did a bit of reading and ended up getting dinner with a few guys from Wales.  They explained that they are living in the hostel while trying to find an apartment they can afford and are working a 9 to 5.  Doesn't sound like the best situation in the world; Australian hostels are not cheap.

Tuesday we decided to head out to Manly Beach.  We took the famous Manly Ferry through the Sydney Harbor to Manly Wharf, and I think the photos of the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House turned out much, much better than when we were on land.

So we reached Manly and wandered around for a bit and grabbed some food.  The beach was very nice and we walked all the way down it and hung out on this outcropping of rocks and watched the waves pummel the cliffs and the surfers ride into the shore.  It was a really cool beach and a fun area.  We took the ferry back to Central Sydney afterwards.  I think the ferry ride was the best part about the whole thing though.  Seeing the city and some of its iconic architecture from the water was pretty cool.

Surfers at Manly

That night we went out to a club in Kings Cross, but it was overcrowded and was a bit of a massive dudestorm.  Lotta dudes.  I think when a club advertises 'wet t-shirt contest' it draws a big male crowd.  I didn't want to spend much money because Australia is so damn expensive, so I hung out for a bit but then headed back to the hostel.

Wednesday we took the train out to Bondi beach, which, like Manly, is another really fun beach area of Sydney.

Bondi Beach

Photo not edited in any way--the color of the water is amazing.  You can see the storm clouds rolling in in the background though....

I actually liked Bondi beach better than Manly, and there were tons of young people all around, making for a lively atmosphere. I think Bondi is the beach more for surfers and backpackers, so clearly it's where we should have been hanging out.

After an hour or so, these huge storm clouds rolled in and a downpour began accompanied with all the theatrics of a full-blown thunderstorm.  Colin (the guy from Prep) and I happened to discover a Bavarian Bier joint, which served Hofbrau Dunkel--quite a find.  Hofbrau dunkel was one of my favorite beers in Munich.  So we sat down and tried to wait out the storm.  Eventually it did pass, but it kinda killed the beach vibe.

We hopped on a bus to head out to Coogee, where I was going to meet up with Aidan, an Irish guy Blove and I became friends with in Cusco, Peru.  He's out here working in Sydney, so we figured we'd meet up and he could show us around Coogee.  On the bus out to Coogee, however, we met an American girl who was on her way to someones 21st birthday party, and she invited us to come along.  I wanted to meet up with Aidan first, so she just told us to drop by whenever and gave us the address.

We met up with Aidan at what was supposedly the 'highest-grossing bar in the Southern Hemisphere' or something like that.  I'm not so sure how accurate that is, but it was a pretty cool place.  We ate dinner and played some pub trivia until Aidan had to leave.  Then it was time to head to the party.

We went to the apartment where there party was being held and sure enough, there was some group of Americans celebrating someone's 21st Birthday.  We enjoyed the party for a few minutes then everyone decided it was time to go to a bar.  The whole huge group walked straight over to the bar we'd been at with Aidan.  But by this time there was live music and more of a party atmosphere.

After the bar, we got invited back to the apartment for the afterparty, along with the guitarist who was playing at the bar (I guess girls like a guitarist).  So we went back, had a few more drinks, and the guitarist and I swapped the guitar back and forth while everyone chanted different songs for us to play.  We played some Dave, Stones, Zep, Dispatch, Beatles, Oasis and all the other corny singalongs.  But by now it was getting late (4am...), so Colin and I said goodbye and left for our hostel.

I'm supposed to leave Sydney today but seeing as I got in at close to 5 in the morning and checkout was at 10am, I think I'll stay another day or so...

Footy

On my last night in Melbourne, it was decided that we'd all go see a game of Australian Rules Football or 'Footy' as it's known locally.  I'm not sure how the game originated, if it was born out of soccer/rugby, like American Football was, or if it originated in some other way.  In any event, it's a pretty crazy game.

It used to be called the Victorian Football League, but is now the Australian Football League.  Since the genesis of the sport is in Victoria, as you can imagine from being called the Victorian Football League, many of the teams and their central fan bases are all in the Melbourne area.  Some ridiculous majority of the teams are in the Melbourne area, a new team for different parts of the city.  So if DC had footy teams, it would be like teams from Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Northwest, etc.  Chicago has the Cubs and the White Sox, but imagine if there were like 9 more teams, all in the Chicago area.  It creates an interesting sporting atmosphere when pretty much every game is like a home game.

The point of the game is to kick a ball through two freestanding posts, like a field goal, which gives a team 6 points.  There are two more posts on either side of those (so the arrangement is like i I I i), so if you miss wide (but still within the outer posts), you still get a point.  Not sure why, maybe its like a consolation prize, as if someone says "well, I get what you were trying to do, so here's a point."  Other than that, the game is almost a free-for-all.  If the ball rolls out of bounds, the ref stands with his back to the field and hurls the ball over his head.  A huge scrappy fight then ensues over the ball.  It's wild to see and it seems like a really fun game.

The game, St. Kilda v. Geelong, was very exciting and came right down to the wire (Geelong was the underdog, but ended up ahead by 1 point with seconds left).  By the end of the match I could understand enough of the game to get into it and appreciate what a slugfest it was.

Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG) where the game was held.  Also the location of the Ashes Test Match Cricket

As you can see, the stadium and the field are enormous...though still not as big as the Big House...

Ryan and I at the game.  He was a good sport in making sure I got to see an AFL game, because neither Geelong nor St. Kilda are his team

*Note: At the game, I got to enjoy one of the very special meat pies (which I assume is like a hotdog at a stadium out there, because everyone got one)

After the game we wandered around Melbourne a bit more, enjoyed hanging out at a few bars, and later on crashed back at Ryan's house.  The next day I hopped on a plane and flew to Sydney.  All in all, my time in Melbourne was fantastic.  I had a great time.  Melbourne is a great city--highly livable and lots of fun. Special thanks to Ryan and his two beautiful roommates (both girls, no jokes from the peanut gallery) for letting me crash behind their couch for a week.  You guys helped make my stay in Melbourne that much better.

Stories from Sydney coming soon...

12 Apostles and the Great Ocean Road

On monday, I borrowed Ryan's car to take a three-day road trip down the Great Ocean Road to the place known as the 12 Apostles.  The 12 Apostles is a naturally-formed area of limestone cliffs and rocks that had been eroded by the sea into really interesting and scenic location.

I set off around 10:30am, just after morning rush hour.  Ryan's car is an old beat up little compact that had more than its share of 'character.'  The car was clearly old; the odometer was broken but got stuck when the car reached 250,000+ Kilometers.  The car squeeked and squeeled, had a tendency for the engine to overheat, and gave me an anxious will-the-engine-actually-start-this-time? kind of feeling when I put the key in the ignition.  But the car worked out perfectly, and was more than I could have asked for.  It made the whole experience all the more interesting.

Ryan's Car

So I hit the road, again getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road.  All my time driving around in New Zealand definitely helped though, and I was able to get the hang of it again within just a few minutes.  The weather wasn't the most cooperative and it drizzled almost the entire way.  So while I didn't get to see a sunny coastline, the fog and drizzle created another unique experience for me which was quite peaceful.  I passed through Geelong and a bit before Lorne (an oceanside town), I reached the famous Great Ocean Road.

It was supposed to be one of the most beautiful ocean drives in the world, and it certainly didn't disappoint.  The drive out was filled with interesting and beautiful ocean scenery.

I passed through Lorne and arrived at Apollo Bay, where I stayed for the night.  I did a bit of exploring, but there wasn't too much going on so I called it a night pretty early.  I awoke at around 6am so that I could make it out to 12 Apostles for sunrise.  I figured that would make everything look even more spectacular.  I hit the snooze button a couple of times so I got a later start than I meant to, but the 90km drive out to the Apostles was gorgeous as the weather turned to give me some sunshine and beautiful morning scenery

I finally reached the 12 Apostles and it too was spectacular (I seem to be running out of adjectives).  It turned out to be a good thing that I wasn't there right as the sun rose because the limestone cliffs would have shrouded some of the rock formations in shadow.  Luckily, I got there right at the perfect time and it made for some amazing scenery.

I drove around the area for a few hours, checking out a few more areas and saw more of these incredible views.

After a few hours wandering the beaches and clifftops, I drove back to Apollo Bay.  I got some lunch, headed down to the beach, and enjoyed my sandwich with a bit of sunshine and an ocean breeze.  It was very relaxing until a flock of seagulls came to start squawking for my bread.  I hate seagulls.

I got back in the car and cruised back along the road, enjoying the scenery again, until I reached Lorne, where I spent my second night.  I had passed through Lorne on my first day and it looked crowded and lively and exciting.  When I got there, however, the whole place was dead.  I went down to the beach, met a few people, and hung out for a bit.  Unfortunately, the weather quickly turned and a downpour began.  I went back to my motel to ride it out.  Although the rain only lasted 30 minutes or so, it effectively killed off whatever vibe the place had going.  The beach and the streets stayed pretty empty for most of the night.

I woke up early on my third morning, as there were reports of a huge storm coming through the area and I wanted to get back to Melbourne and off the road before it hit.  First I grabbed breakfast at a little cafe right on the beach and enjoyed what I knew would be the last few minutes of good weather before the storm.

Luckily, I arrived in Melbourne just as the worst of the storm began to come down.  It's now my last night here before I head off to Sydney.  I've had a fantastic time here in Melbourne especially thanks to my friend Ryan.  Tonight were off to see St. Kilda v. Geelong in an Aussie League Football game, so I'm very excited.  It's a really crazy sport if you've never seen it.  I'm sure there are clips on the internet you can watch.

I'll post about the footy game sometime soon, maybe when I've arrived in Sydney and have a few minutes to write.

Australia

I'm so damn far behind on my other posts that I'm going to just go ahead with new ones.  I'll post new ones regularly as I go, and occasionally I'll supplement with a few old ones from my adventures with Blove and Veber.

This time around, I'm headin out solo.  It was a great privilege to travel with Blove and Veber, two of the best guys I know.  We had some incredible times and a ton of fun.  Unfortunately they are staying back in the USA attempting to become responsible and contributing members of society.  I choose to put that off for a little while longer...

I was admittedly a bit apprehensive at first about the prospect of traveling solo.  I'd been solo for a few days before--when Blove and I split up in Vietnam so that he could travel to Sapa and I could travel to Halong Bay--but this experience will be completely different.  I'm making my own itinerary.  I haven't really even decided where I'm going after Australia, but Fiji, Malaysia, and Indonesia are all top candidates.

I arrived in Melbourne last Wednesday after a long 15+ hour flight.  I actually slept about eight hours, so when I arrived (at 8 in the morning), I felt good and rested.  It didn't take too long to acclimate myself to the clock.  I wandered around for a few hours until I got in touch with my friend Ryan who lives in Melbourne.  I met him back in South America when he, Blove, and I all traveled through parts of Peru and Bolivia together.  I'd been looking forward to meeting up with him in his hometown, where he let me crash on a mattress behind the couch.

Surprisingly comfortable

So that is where I made 'home' for the next week.  I couldn't have been happier about it all, to tell you the truth.  Ryan was very generous to allow me to stay with him, he has been a fantastic host, and it's a helluva lot more comfortable than many hostels I've stayed in.  Not to mention, the internet is AWESOME.  Finding good internet when you're abroad is like finding a unicorn.  It just doesn't happen very often.

So Ryan and I hung out a bit, played a little game of pick-up basketball in the park behind his house, then went out and got a few steaks and beers with some of his mates.  We had fun, played a little pool, then I was overcome with jetlag and decided to crash.

For the next two days, my schedule was pretty simple.  I'd wander and explore the city for a few hours, Ryan would come home from work, we'd play a little basketball, then grab some beers and dinner.  It's been great.

In my wanderings I've happened upon a few very interesting things.  There was one street performer that was shredding on his electric guitar, using hammer-ons Van Halen style, all the while playing on a digeridoo.  Wicked cool.  I wandered through a few back alleys as well, seeing some of the most impressive displays of graffiti I've ever seen.

I think some of it is actually commissioned art, so it's all very intricate.  One day I went to the aquarium, which was a lot of fun to see as well.  It's not as big as the Baltimore aquarium which I'm used to, but it had some cool sharks and rays that I'm pretty sure are not in Baltimore, as well as penguins.  Who couldn't love a penguin?

*Side note: For a few of my friends who might be reading this, and you know who you are, actual penguins are cool as long as they have no affiliation whatsoever to the Pittsburgh Penguins organization or its affiliates.  Also, Crosby sucks.  

I tried to get a photo of the hammerhead too, but he wasn't very cooperative.  He wasn't too photogenic either.  The aquarium was interesting though, with plenty of jellies, fish, and crustaceans from all corners of the world.

On St. Patricks Day, which I thought I had missed, I met Ryan at a bar called the Irish Times or something like that and did the usual.  Drank lots of Guinness, the occasional Jameson, blah, blah, very exciting.  It was cool to be around a few actual Irish people though, which is a change from Ann Arbor frat parties which have no Irish people, just drunk sorority girls, Jewish guys in basketball jerseys (in 40 degree weather), and an abundance of "festive" green beer.  Not that I didn't enjoy that sort of thing while I was there, just that being around Irish people seems more authentic, if you will.

On the weekend, Ryan and his roommate Kahlia took me on a tour of some of the areas of the city that are a little less accessible without transportation.  They took me out to see the St. Kildas area, which was absolutely awesome.  The area around Luna Park reminded me of both the Santa Monica Pier and Funland/Boardwalk area in Rehoboth Beach.

Me, Kahlia, and Ryan outside Luna Park

Epic air hockey games...but i think i was a bit out of practice...got my butt kicked

Kahlia, Me, Ryan

That night, one of Ryan's mates was having a birthday party at some bar which was all rockstar themed. Once we found out everyone was rockin' some kind of awesome costume, makeup and all, we decided to go all-out.  Ryan went as Alice Cooper and I went as Slash from Guns N' Roses.

We had an awesome time at the party and closed the place down.  On the walk home we grabbed some Hungry Jacks (basically Australian Burger King), which as delicious as it was, is always a nightmare to deal with the next day.

The next day we took it easy (as you might imagine), hung out a bit, and went to the park where the guys showed me the ins and outs of how to hackey-sack.  It's not a big thing to do in the States.  If you hackey you're either a stoner or you simply have no explanation.  But that's not the case Down Under, and we fooled around for a few hours until I started getting the hang of it.

After the weekend, I borrowed Ryan's car and took a drive down the Great Ocean Road.  More stories and photos to come.