Meat pies and Lawn Bowling

Today is a lazy day, seeing we've been working and playing hard all week.  Thursday we finished working with Hans the painter, and played an epic 8 person king of the beach well into the evening.  At about nine when we finished we turned off the flood lights above the courts and made our way to the bus stop, thoroughly exhausted and content.  The guys are all kind and hilarious; so far there haven't been any bad attitudes.  There are really only two Australians, everyone else is European.

Yesterday we met up with our old friend Daniel Demars, who arrived here earlier in the week.  We had a hit around with the guys on the beach, put on a sweat, then had a swim.  Then we went to our new favorite bakery and had some $2.80 meat pies.  For those of you who haven't had a meat pie, it's just what it sounds like.  A flaky pastry crust filled with all sorts of different meat fillings.  So far I've enjoyed the satay chicken the best.  The classic steak pie filling can be rather 'dog foody' if you get it at the wrong place.  We've had a meat pie just about everyday we've been here just in the interest of saving money.  Eating out here is way expensive... a meal under $10 means you are eating at Subway, MacDonalds, Happy Jacks (the Australian Burger King), or in our case the Manly Bakery.  Alcohol is also a bit more expensive than the states.  You would be caught dead if you found 1$ well drinks like I did in Iowa.  Their cheap beers on tap are about 5$ for a portion of a pint.

After our meat pie we made our way to the local lawn bowling club.  I had always imagined a lawn bowling club to be a snooty place where old people play croquet and drink tea, being careful not to drop their monocles.  Oh boy was I wrong.  Lawn bowling is actually quite similar to bocce ball, only you have 2 or 3 teams with eight balls per team.  In the club house we found cheap alcohol, slot machines (where I 'earned' three dollars off of my one dollar investment!), a restaurant, and lots of people getting a jump on the soon-to-be sloppy friday night.  It really is remarkably similar to bowling but without stinky shoes or greasy bowling balls.  Some pics...

 Lucas demonstrating a proper lawn bowling stance

Good form Daniel!  Gooood form!

Tomorrow we will be playing in a beach volleyball tournament at Brighton beach about 30 minutes south of where we are.  We're not sure what the prize money is like, but it sounds like it will be a fun tournament.  Further off on the horizon is the NSW open January 9th and 10th, and that tournament is $1000 first place, so there will probably be some good competition for that one.

Manly Scenic Walkway

Sunday we made the two hour walk from Clontarf to Manly along the scenic walkway (these are district names, and yes, I'm pretty sure Contarf is the name of a smurf).  This was the same pathway we took the other night when we were ambushed by spiders.  We went snorkelling and saw some fish, but the water has been a bit mucked up from the recent rain storms.  We did see a ray and some interesting fish, but the snorkel I'm using is clearly made for a six year old and promptly fills with water.

On another note, we've secured a job helping a family renovate their newly bought home.  We spent the first day breaking stuff and pulling out carpets; today we washed walls and sanded annoyingly small nooks and crannies for six hours.  It's great to be making some extra money though, and we don't have to worry about skin cancer seeing that were working inside.  Anywho, here are some pictures from the scenic walkway, or if you want to see bigger and better quality go to here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56993065@N03/

 Lucas looking fierce

 Sweet pathway

 Downtown Sydney is over the hill there

 You can see the Manly Ferry that goes into Sydney.

Xmas carols and spiders

Last night Lucas and I went to a Christmas carol concert with his grandparents at the manly cricket field. I was expecting a group of carolers on a little stage on the street corner, but instead found a jumbotron screen, an orchestra, a mini petting zoo, food vendors and lots and lots of children. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. One moment a small rudolph the reindeer would leap over my legs, the next moment a twirling fairy would knock over a cooler of drinks. Every carol would end with a lost child announcement. The Christmas cheer and the warm air, combined with a few sugary treats and little adult supervision made for a wild show. Thankful not to see any seizures or projectile vomiting we left the concert.

Lucas and I decided we would walk back to his aunt's house to save our bus passes for a longer trip. We figured we would take the scenic route along the shore and be home in about an hour. An hour later we were in the bush carefully walking with Lucas' headlamp to spot massive spiders that had strewn their web for us to walk through. What was a gorgeous stroll along the bay was now a frank introduction to Aussie's nocturnal wildlife. I was trying to look past Lucas to help spot spiders in his light when I saw the grand-daddy of all spiders approaching his face. I tried to yell out but all that came was a "guhhhahh!". His head passed under by no more than 5 inches. We eventually made it back after another hour of walking and 20 or 30 spider webs. From now on we are walking on the street at night.

Today we played heaps (as they say in Oz) of beach volleyball and tomorrow we are working our first job doing yard work. More pictures coming soon!

Monumental white men

Trying to find some shelter from the burning sun, Lucas and I sat on a shady bench and looked out to the ocean to find the view blocked by this remarkably ugly monument.  As we took a closer look we realized that this obtrusive cinder block pile was pretty fitting for what it was commemorating...

Time Machine!

A blog seems to be the easiest way to post updates about my adventures in the Southern Hemisphere, so here it is!  I will be leaving this Saturday, and arriving Monday evening even though the flight is only 14 hours... ooooooooo spooky time travel.  The plan so far is to hang out in Manly Beach,  just North of Sydney, until the third travel companion arrives.  My travel buddy, Lucas, and I  are trying to find jobs, play lots of beach volleyball and hopefully explore Sydney for the first month.

I'm not exactly sure how available computer + internet access will be in Australia, but I'm hoping to update the blog once a week.

Until next time....