Since the last post, much has happened. I'm going to try fit in the highlights, so I apologize if it doesn't all flow together. Lucas and I got second in the beach volleyball tourney in Brighton. We profitted $80 woo! That almost pays for our entry into the next tourney. It was pretty similar to a tournament in Santa Cruz, except they play thumping techno beats instead of reggae, the courts are pristinely flat instead of bowled out, and the afternoon wind is something fierce. We were exhausted by the finals (our 9th and 10th game), and as soon as the game ended it started raining with 30mph gusts (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56993065@N03/5311388879/lightbox/).
We've been doing some yard work for Jalleh, Lucas' aunt, as a present for her hospitality. Luckily we haven't ran into any redbacks or anything else that will kill us. The other day I was hanging up my clothes in the back yard and when I turned around to see this vicious looking lizard ready to attack. Luckily nobody was around to here me squeal. As it aggressively walked up the steps toward me I realized it was going for the strawberry patch. I later learned it was harmless, but those strawberries could've easily been my pinky toes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIlQ9cc-zAM
During the rainstorm that came in after the brighton tournament, Kayvan and Jalleh took us up North along the coast a bit to see some great views of Palm Beach.
Since the last post Lucas and I have been spending much of our time with his family. I feel so fortunate to have been apart of their Christmas celebration. I've been spoiled with so much good Persian food, I'm not going to know what to do with myself when we hit the road. Christmas felt like a good ol'e American Fourth of July. The main differences were people were wearing Santa hats and kids were playing wiffle cricket and rugby, rather than baseball and football. We spent the day at the beach snorkeling and playing some mean smashball.
A few days later our friend and travel companion, Skyler arrived. We took the ferry across the bay into Sydney, where we walked around the Opera house and explored the botanical gardens. We saw some incredible flying foxes, some nice roses, a sweet succulent garden and some cool statues.
Yesterday we got to Mrs Macquerie Point at 10 in the morning to get a spot to watch the Sydney fireworks show. We were stoked on the way over because the park looked empty when we were crossing the bridge into sydney. When we arrived we realized we were about 6000 people back in the cue. By about one we had a spot inside. Garrett, Chloe, and Shelby, our other friends from Aptos, met us there later. After several hours of dice games, some napping and lots of water and sunscreen we got to see the fantastic show. We didn't get to see all of the fireworks but we got to see the ones that shot off of the bridge very well. Here is some footage:
Today we rented a rather compact car. The roads are narrower and you drive on the left side here, but Lucas did very well getting out of the Sydney. We only hit one curb and turned onto the right side of the road just once. Tomorrow we begin a road trip down the coast to Melbourne and will be coming back on the 7th in time to play in the New South Wales Open beach volleyball tournament on the 8th.
Here are some Pictures from the last few weeks. Too many to put on the blog, but they're here:
sounds amazing! can't wait to check the pics! are you free to skype at all this week?
ReplyDeleteProbably not. We're going to be out of internet contact for probably a week. Let's do it soon though!
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