Footy!

The footy season is well and truly upon us. All forms of the game that use the wondrous thing that is the oval ball have returned. The AFL season begins on Thursday, there is a local seven's competition this weekend and the pre-season cup starts the weekend after Easter, hopefully.

Whilst the cricket season isn't entirely over (the longest running continuous cricket match in the world starts this weekend; unlike Eton and Harrow (don't click on those please, they are ridiculously pompous and annoying websites), Saints and PAC didn't stop for the war (which in my opinion actually doesn't make it something to boast about...)), my boys have a tough job to do against the old enemy this weekend having been set 209 to achieve in 45 overs, and following the epic rugby seven's this weekend, I really have decided that rugby is easily the best game in the world. And that is actually a fact.

The Seven's truly was awesome, Samoa won in a shock final against the USA on Sunday. I took some boys from the boarding house that day and it was awesome; we sat on the hill and enjoyed a great day of awesome rugby. The day before was my opportunity to exploit the free tickets I had blagged for working with the Aussie team all week and so, with Soltaire adorning my face, Scotland shirt worn proudly and a builder's hat to protect me from the sun, I watched Scotland... lose every game. And even me belting out Swing Low and God Save the Queen when my other country played the Aussies didn't help. What a day though!

Next week I'll be playing in a game of Aussie Rules Football! I'm quite excited, especially as it's against the Saints First XVIII! I'll let you know how it goes, though I reckon I might get penalised for tackling too well. I'm playing for SPOC (St. Peter's Old Collegians) F.C. and it's an Under 21 game, so I know most of the guys playing, so it should be a good laugh. I will take some pictures and get them up!

Then the rugby season starts in earnest at Old Collegians RFC, with the, I am told, "traditional" pre-season pub crawl! Friday nights is when the pre-season competition starts then in May the season proper starts, meaning I get around 6 games before I leave. I will certainly be making the most of them!

So bring on the collective "footy" season!

And apologies for my use of parentheses earlier, I got a bit carried away!

Evanshead, Rum and Queensland

Small town Queensland and New South Wales is very strange. Aside from being absolutely bonkers about footy, though up there this is, of course, Rugby League, it is made up of incredibly small towns where all the inhabitants are very wary of anything remotely strange and foreign. A lot like what I've heard of small town America.

Evanshead and Woodburn was a classic example of this. Arriving in Woodburn I was literally left standing on the only street in the town. There were two bakeries, a pub and a tiny tourist information office. There was one bus to Evanshead a day (11 km away) which I had missed because my Greyhound was late, so after a coffee and a BLT on Focaccia (it's funny what you remember about these trips), I started walking. After what must have been about one and a half kilometres, I was lucky enough to be picked up by a lovely couple who were driving into the town and knew where the Surfshack was. It literally is just a shack. It was, however, one of the best bits of my trip. A week of chilled out body-boarding and even dabbling for a couple of days on a stand up. I enjoyed it so much that I'm looking to buy a malibu (a type of long board) when I get home! There was one pub in Evanshead, with a good restaurant and a couple of Chippies. The people were amazing and I even did some yoga. Absolutely amazing.

After a drive up to Byron Bay with one of the other guys staying there, Ray, I decided that it wasn't the place for me (I had a surf there on the last day, and also went to the eastern most place on the Australian land mass), and so extended my trip by a day. I caught the bus up to Coolangatta at the end of the week, after a chilled out New Year's Eve with John (the owner of the shack), his parents and Alix and Kelly. Good times.

Just a quick word about John Plenkovitch before I move on: he's a big wave surfer and gets up early during cyclone season to go out to reef's about 22 miles offshore and get towed in. Mental.

Another point about Evanshead... I went to Chinaman's beach one day for a surf. It was pretty big and I wish I'd been on my bodyboard, but as it happened I was on a stand up board. What made up for it was the pod of dolphins playing around though. Not only did they catch a wave with me (which I wiped out of!) but they swam so close I could have touched them. Two underneath me and one either side. It was amazing.

So it was up to Cooly and the only hostel in the town! I wish I could have stayed a bit longer here: there was another bodyboarder (from Holland so I knew he was a legend) and a group of awesome American surfers. After an evening surf at Duranbah, a legendary spot on the East Coast (and Mick Fanning and Steph Gilmore's local break), which is actually still in New South Wales (as such you're surfing an hour behind the town you're staying in!), which was ridiculously hard and crowded with some of the best surfers/bodyboarders I have ever seen in my life. It was so good we only got out of the water when we couldn't see anymore.

It was this night I decided to change my trip so I could come home a few days early as I was so tired and weary, and running out of funds!

It was also this night that we checked all the swell and wind directions and found that Kirra, might, just might, be working really early in the morning. Kirra is a famed spot. Famed because you can catch one of the best barrels in the world. But it needs to be just right. As it happened it wasn't. Seeing as we were all up at half six and psyched anyway, we headed back to D'Bah and had one of the best surfs of my life. If only because I could have touched Mick Fanning when he popped up next to me out of the white water. I somehow didn't get barrelled (I think my bottom turn isn't sharp enough) and it was here that I really had my last decent surf of the trip... so my quest continues.

On my last day in Cooly I hung around (and watched the cricket in the pub) waiting for Simon. It had been seven years since I'd seen him last, but I had no problems spotting him: the bloke in uniform was a dead give away!

I had an amazing week in Brisbane: I went to Surfer's Paradise, saw a waterfall and a rain forest and went to Sunset Sounds and saw so many amazing artists. It was awesome!

After a lovely chilled out week, I had about another week to cover about 2,000 kilometres. So I headed up to Noosa in the hope of some more surf, but alas, it was flat. It was awesome though; met some amazing people and had a great time.

The next day I caught a bus up to Bundaberg. The only reason to go up there is for the rum. Or to pick fruit and work. As such it wasn't a great time, but I got by!

I have a horrible feeling I'm repeating myself... but hey. I then caught the overnight bus up to Airlie Beach. This is a backpacker's haven. It's where all the trips leave for the Whitsunday and Fraser Islands and some of the reef trips. But I was out of money and time so just hung out on the beach and read, which was cool.

After a day there it was up to Cairns (on the 12 hour overnight-er) for the last three days of my trip. Cairns is really cool, though unfortunately not physically: I was wet for about three days; it was near enough impossible to get dry. But there were some amazing people and a really chilled hostel with a swimming pool, it's own bar and own "restaurant" that made an awesome bacon sanga! I booked my reef trip, which took the second day in Cairns, on Tusa Dive T5. This was an absolutely amazing experience. I met a really nice South African family and there was free lunch. Even though I "only" went snorkeling it was incredible. I saw Nemo's and Brain coral and eels and all sorts of crazy wildlife and colours. I also saw the effects of coral bleaching and pollution, even at the outer reef. I am so glad I could do this now; in five years the Whitsundays and Fraser Island will still be there, who knows about the reef.

That night was the last night of my trip, and also pool competition night at the pub. So a good time was had by all! Again, I met some amazing people and it was a great finish to possibly the best 37 days of my life.

Once again, a massive thank you to all who helped, sent me positive thoughts over the holidays and to those who have let me go abroad for the year and supported me in what I have wanted to do.

A truly epic trip that I really haven't been able to do justice but I hope this gives people something good to read and makes them want to come to Australia.

I'm going to try and get some photo's up soon. In the meantime, it's time for an Iced Coffee.

Back from camp...

And if I wasn't sure about teaching I am now. Not for me.

The reasons are numerous: teachers aren't paid enough, the rewards (of which there are some) are not worth putting up with homesick boys waking you up every half hour or cleaning up vomit (not something I have done on camp, but something I have had to do twice in the boarding house) and the hours are hideous, in fact you never really stop.

However, major respect to those who are teachers.

Anyway, camp was fairly fun. Apart from the afore-mentioned homesick boy, there was lots of fairly mundane tasks, helping getting food ready, getting boys organised and then joining in (a bit) with the activities, such as raft building and boomerang making.

This week was back to the usual, though I am again running the PE office as Sean (one of my bosses) is away on a conference somewhere. I had my first footy training last night which was awesome. So much so that from now on I am going to be doing one rugby training and one footy a week (they're both on the same day) so I can play as much of both as possible. And I am already down to play the school's First XVIII for the SPOC U21's in a trial game on 31st March. Should be awesome!

That's all for now, I am just about to let you know about the second half of my trip....

A pretty quiet Sunday evening

Today has been a welcome day of relaxation and sleep after a really busy start to the term. It's the first exeat and time is flying really quickly! Not long 'til I'm home now! (In relative terms).

Temperatures are starting to cool down at the moment, a welcome relief both for pre-season rugby and the day before I head off on Year 6 camp tomorrow morning!

It should be a busy couple of days, with kayaking, raft building and general activities going on. I'm there to help out, and hopefully join in a bit!

I know I still need to give you the low-down on all that happened in my little trip from Sydney to Cairns, but there is so much to tell, I really need a good while to do it, and given that I have to pack tonight, it might have to wait until next weekend. However, if I get a chance tonight I will update my blog again.

I hope this recent activity is making up for an awful lot of inactivity between New Year's and the beginning of February and you're enjoying what I am putting up! I'll let you know how camp goes when I get back!

A quick update from Adelaide

I hope this doesn't confuse anyone too much, but I'm afraid I don't have time to do the second and third phase of my trip, just now.

I will tomorrow though.

For now, I have to get ready for pre-season rugby training at Old Collegians. It seems rather surreal that I was blogging to you at the beginning of this year about playing rugby and now it is starting up again; I guess this highlights the amount of time I have been here!

Once again, thank you all for your thoughts and Birthday/Christmas/New Year wishes. I trust you are all having a great start to 2010.

Thank you also for being so interested (those of you that are) in what I am doing!

More coming soon.

Cheers for now.

Number Crunching

37 days.

4,334 km.

Four state capitals.

One pair of sunglasses.

One phone.

A couple of t-shirts.

And I survived! I managed to travel this epic distance, on my own, sometimes with very little money, and survive. I can say it now because it's over: I didn't think when I set off that I would! I have met so many amazing people and, honestly, I think it will be this (and the surfing) more than the places I have been and things I have seen that I will remember.

Having said that... here are some thoughts on what I thought of where I went and what I did. (Did you really think I wouldn't have a good waffle?)

I left Adelaide at around 10 o'clock on 14th December. About half way through the ten hour journey to Melbourne (around 3 am) I realised the enormity of what I was doing! It had all seemed like a lovely idea and all of a sudden here I was! I arrived at Melbourne at something like half six in the morning and traipsed around with about 27kg of luggage, all the way "up" Melbourne to a hostel only to find it full! So I settled for All Nations backpackers. It's a huge place, in the centre of Melbourne. Despite a second night (I was persuaded to stay longer by some of my roomies) with no air con and about a 38 degree temperature, with atrocious sunburn, I managed to see lots of Melbourne. We went to St. Kilda and did lots of things, including track down a missing phone from the night before!

After Melbourne I headed up to Mittagong on the bus on the 17th to stay with the Riley's in Nowra for about four or five days. This was amazing, we pretty much surfed everyday and basically just chilled out at the beach-house and cooked pizza's the rest of the time!

I then headed to Sydney on the 23rd and arrived in my hostel at Bondi Beach around 9 in the evening, to be greeted by scenes of mass revelry and offered a ticket to a booze cruise the next day... something I immediately accepted. An early surf the next morning, following some awesome free cocktails that night, was certainly enough to beat the crowds, though Bondi, the fickle beach it is, didn't quite work. We spent that day preparing for Christmas Dinner the next day (I chopped thousands of onions) and then left around 5 for Darling Harbour. An array of costumes was on display, and I can safely say the wetsuit and reindeer antlers I went for, in the middle of the Australian Summer was not the best! An evening cruise round the harbour with the Opera House and Bridge lit up was truly epic. And the count-down to Christmas is something I don't think I'll forget very easily!

After not much sleep the festivities started pretty early. A morning dip was enough to get most people ready for the day, but I am pretty sure some people got no sleep at all! The weather was a bit of a let down, but did provide some massive swell in the afternoon, and the temperature of water meant that we were in a pretty good state!

This was all after an incredible Christmas lunch of roast chicken and salad, with about 120 people sat outside at long tables. Much fun was had by all!

Boxing Day saw a rather unsuccessful, but very enjoyable trip to the races and I was then persuaded to change my bus to the evening the next day so we could do it all again that night... On Sunday we caught the bus into town, hopped on the very to Manly, dropped Candy's stuff off at her next hostel and had (well, only me) another surf before a lovely seafood meal that night. Then it was back to the hostel, pick up my bags, say my goodbyes and back into the bus station.

It was an unbelievable Christmas, I met some incredible people and it was made all the more special for that. This is one I will not forget for a very, very long time...

From Sydney, it was up to Woodburn to begin my surf camp...

Many, many apologies to all

Hello again,

I realise I promised you all a blog summarising my trip when I got back, and I had every intention of doing so. Only I got abducted by my friends and was so tired when I was near my computer that I was in bed. And then term started and, well now it's now.

My trip truly was amazing. To use a fantastic old cliche; a genuine once in a lifetime experience. I must thank all of you who sent me gifts, yuletide wishes, or just simply thoughts over the Christmas break too. There really is way too much to tell you all (I completely missed out a week when I was telling my flatmate) but I will give it my best shot. It may also be a number of blog postings!