Oz Again

So Saturday was another amazing day to continue one of the best weekends of my life. I went down to Paddy’s market which is essentially a large swap meet with cheap stuff and lots of produce. I got a sweet touristy beach towel and some comfy sweat pants. In the afternoon I took a train down to Sutherland with Josh and Jimmy to meet our friend Eywen. We want on this thirty minute bush, nature walk down this trail that I wouldn’t have noticed from the road. About fifteen to twenty minutes in, the path opened up onto the Woronora River, which was absolutely amazing. After another fifteen minutes of walking, we came up to his house.

We hung out there for a little while and then got ready to head out on the river. His backyard literally is on the river. Like if I kept walking through his backyard I would have fallen onto the water. So we took out some kayaks on river and began to paddle. We stopped several times along the river to relax and have some fun. At one of the places, we want rock climbing up to this ledge to look out on the river. I only feared for my life a couple of times, climbing up the face in just some board shorts. Unfortunately no one had a water proof camera because the view was picturesque. Later down the river, we put are kayaks on the shore and swam over to some rope swings. After some group and personal difficulties we had some good jumps.
The group headed back to the house for some playoff footy (rugby). We headed up to get some Indian food before hopping on the train and back to the dorms. We all realized how difficult it is to stay awake after kayaking for four hours because we all passed out back at the dorms within an hour.

The next day we woke up to find the rain pouring down. After beautiful clear skies and sunshine from Monday through Saturday, Sunday was a different story. This day, I headed over to Macquarie University for the New South Wales mixed regionals club tournament. Yeah that was a long name, but we did well. We were ranked seventh going into the tournament, and ended up getting fourth. The top three teams had their own tournament due to the time constraints and field space. So the team I played for (RuBi) went undefeated, winning five games in the day and getting the best place we could. I was stoked on the day because it was extremely windy and rainy all day, and to play as well as we did for never practicing together as a team, was quite encouraging. So this means that I will be traveling to Brisbane for the Australia mixed club nationals tournament in the middle of October. RuBi is going in ranked sixth in the nation, which is awesome to be able to say.

Monday was not as fun as a day because I had two essays due. One was 1,500 words and the other was 2,500 words. So it pretty much took all of my mental capacity to push out those two papers over the last week. I did complete them and turned them in on time, and I felt pretty solid about them. However it caused me to just lay around and be lazy all day yesterday which felt amazing.

That’s all for now. I am having the best time here in Australia. I do miss everyone back home and couldn’t be more grateful to my parents, hi mum and dad, for this opportunity. I hope all my friends traveling around the world are safe and hopefully give me an update soon. I’ll be back soon, but not too soon!

Cheers, Richard

More Oz

In my last post, I forget to mention going to the Sydney Aquarium. I went with Jimmy, Josh, and Libby from next door. I am pretty sure I could spend all day there. At the seal tank, you can go underneath and seal the seals underwater which was pretty fun to seem them swimming around. However, it couldn't beat the underground tunnels of the other tank. It had turtles, rays, and sharks; Oh My! We stayed in there for at least half an hour just out of amazement. It was nice to get out of the rain that has been going on. But i finally think winter is wearing off because most of the past couple weeks have been beautiful.

The tournament I got asked to play for with Rubi, a mixed club team based in Sydney, got canceled last weekend because it rained from Thursday morning on through the weekend. The tournament has been rescheduled for this coming Sunday. Due to time constraints and field shortages, 3 teams have automatically moved on and the remaining eight teams will play for 5 bids to nationals in the middle of October. So it is looking likely that we will be going to Brisbane than.

Yesterday was one of the best days I have ever had. I woke up about 10, had a quick breakfast and headed for a train down to Cronulla. We (Josh, Jimmy, and Myself) got there about 12 maybe 1215 and got picked up by our friend Brett, who plays Frisbee at Sydney Uni. We took a walkabout around the cliffs of Cronulla for about an hour and a half. We then walked around a hill and along a shore to our friend Rachel's house, who lives in her parent's beach house literally on the shore. It was the single most amazing view/ housing placement that I have ever seen. She let us borrow her paddle boards and kayak to go out around the lake or bay for a while. We came back to hang out on the shore for a while just soaking up the sun and enjoying some native friendship. From there we went to Brett's house for a barbecue and continuation of relaxation. We then headed back to uni for some cocktails, disc golf in Victoria Park, and karaoke at Paddy's Irish Pub. It was a day that I will remember forever.

School is going fairly well. I turned in a paper about The Dark Knight last week. On Monday, i have a paper discussing the religious influences of Fight Club due and a comparison of The Thin Red Line and Saving Private Ryan. Should be interesting to see how the papers turn out. I am about half way done with both of them. School is kind of crazy for the next couple weeks with papers and projects. But I cant wait for Spring Break to go on the Great Ocean Road and Kangaroo Island. Then no assignments due in October! So i am getting excited to complete all of these and continue to enjoy Australia.

Today was also an amazing day. I headed out to Coogee Beach with some friends from the apartments after class. We hung out on the beach, playing some volleyball, laying out, and body surfing. The water seems to be warming up just enough to start going in. Tomorrow, I am going to Sutherland to hang out with some natives and go kayaking down the river to some rope swings and have another unbelievable day.

I am truly blessed to be given this experience and I couldn't be happier with my decision to come to Australia. I miss everyone back home, but look forward to coming home in November with a more worldly perspective on life and a better outlook for having experienced a new beauty in this world. I miss you all and do please keep me updated on all travels and adventures.