Re-entry

What is up everyone? I am still alive and kicking it down in Southeastern Australia. For those of you who don’t know, I have been working at a ski hill called Mount Buller for the last week. The days are long but they keep me entertained for the most part. We usually work til about 5 or 6 and then head to one of the 32 various bars located in the village. The best part is that most of those bars give us half price meals and drinks which makes it reasonably priced. Factoring in the arm and leg that the supermarket charges you for anything, price is almost a wash and the restaurants cook it for you. This has led to an excellent variety of dinners which I haven’t had to cook myself. Worried I might be getting slightly dependent.

Yesterday, two tins of tim hortons coffee showed up and as soon as I get a coffee maker, I will brew some of Canada’s greatness. The coffee is alright here, but its not the crack-filled tim hortons that I miss so much. It’s also really fricken expensive.

I`ve also got some pretty awesome roommates that we share interests in. Mostly snowboarding, music and beer tastes (which is awesome because they keep buying me beers).

Yesterday was also opening day, but there is a really big lack of snow. It looks like the Wi-Waxy 500 up there, so I haven’t gone up just yet.

I will try to update some pictures at some point in the future. If I get less lazy and actually take some.

Much Love

Geoff

The search for free Wifi has proven sucessful

Holy crap whats been happening, let’s see let’s see. Holy crap long time no wifi/blog postage. Time to make a little catch up. Coming to you LIVE from a little place in the Whitsunday Islands called Daydream Island Resort. Holy crap. I don’t even need to explain what this place looks like, the name says it all.

So some time ago, we finished our school trip in Sydney and all went our separate directions. Myself and two of the girls from my class (Bre and Rachel) flew to Brisbane and took a train to Surfers Paradise in the Gold Coast. There we met up with one of Bre’s friends, Ashley and began our adventure. Forgive me if I miss details, its been a long time and there’s a lot to remember.

First thing, we went and took some Surf lessons, which I will upload pictures from at some point when I feel less lazy and we were all very successful at that. Everyone was able to stand up on the board, myself included on the very first attempt. It’s like I’ve riden some sort of board before or something.

From there, we headed into town and met up with our Contiki trip. Fifty people aged 18-35 embarked on the Australis Soverign Hotel, and lived it up in luxery. We kicked around town and enjoyed the sights while Bre and Ashley went to the Steve Irwin zoo (I wasn’t prepared to spent $180 to get in) Rachel and myself did a little bit of shopping. Afterwards, we all met up and had dinner at the Hard Rock café. Delicious.
 
Next the tour left for a night in Noosa. We spent some time on the beach, ate some more delicious food, drank A LOT of low quality beer (after getting extremely lost after visiting the liquor store, and I mean really lost, like wandered around town for a solid hour with cases of beer in our hands before we figured out where we were) and woke up early the next morning (very hungover I might add) departing for our next destination.

Fraser Island, home to 19 species of snakes, only 15 of which are venomous. Lets just say I was nervous going in. Time here consisted of lying by the pool, swimming in said pool, drinking beer beside said pool, and eating dinner (also close to the pool). I don’t know if I mentioned, there was a very nice pool there.

The morning came and we headed to the farm. Now I was thinking “Why are we going to a farm, what possible fun could be had there?” Well let me tell you. This was no farm, it was a cattle station. 25000 acres, I don’t know how big that is, but Huge is the only word I can really use to describe it. We were put up in this barn turned motel type deal and were treated with excellent hospitality. We purchased beer from their bar (I have such a hard life), ate an incredible home cooked roast beef dinner, complete with dessert. Then learned how to crack a whip, or at least were shown, I couldn’t figure it out for the life of me. We played some footie, we had a dance type party thing (I watched, can’t dance to save my life) and then Karakoee, which is when things got sloppy. I mean singing Sexy and I know it without a shirt on while standing on the bar sloppy. Lets not go into details.

We hopped on the bus the next morning which was in fact this morning and somehow navigated our way to Daydream Island (credit to Gary, our bus driver on that one) and here we are, drinking beer typing on Blogger. Wireless is finally free (I have a hard time paying 5$ for 15 minutes of internet) so I have a chance to update, although cell service is pretty come and go. Hope all is well, I’m sure we’ll communicate at some point in the not so distant future.

Geoff

Day... Whatever day it is. Somewhere in the double digits I think.

So as some of you may have noticed (and yes it was brought to my attention) I havent updated my blog for awhile. There is a reason for that. I am simply too busy having fun. In the time since I last updated, several things have happened.

First, we went to Canberra, and more importantly, we left Canberra. We arrived on Sunday night to an absolute Ghost town. As soon as we got off the bus it became very evident that there isn't much to do in Canberra. We were staying at the Youth Hostel, which after the hostel we had in Melbourne, seemed like a pretty big crap hole. First, the internet was not free, and the rates they asked were just above ridiculous. So we spent a lot of the time on the internet at Mcdonnalds, where there is free wifi with a purchase of anything. They also sell ice cream cones for $0.30 a piece. I ate a lot of ice cream. Also, Canberra was cold. I don’t know if its becoming clear yet, I did not really enjoy my time in Canberra. The place makes Edmonton seem like paradise. Yeah, I said it. We did, however see the Australian Institute for Sport which is an awesome facility, as well as visited a Rugby Union league team, The Brumbies. I have a new favourite Rugby Union team. Aside from that, Canberra really wasn’t that great. Check the pictures for everything else. Lets move on shall we.

Two nights later we arrived in Sydney and WOW. This city is incredible. Our hostel is right on the harbour overlooking the Opera House (See facebook for pictures). We arrived off the train and immediately went to UTS, where a panel was given on Sport Management, although we showed up late, there was still plenty of free food and beer (also free). Our immediate impressions on Sydney compared to Canberra was that Sydney was awesome, Canberra sucked. After eating said free food, we made our way to the hostel and set out to explore the town. We stumbled upon a small café and ate dinner (Spaghetti was awesome) before getting some ice cream. I fricken love ice cream.

The next morning, which was actually this morning, we went to UTS again, only this time to a different campus and gave our presentations (which I nailed). Mine was on climate change and it’s impact on Winter Sports. After we gave our presentations, we were treated to a free barbeque which again was delicious. UTS has really stepped up to the plate and been incredible hosts, especially with the free food.

After that we made our way back to the hostel and set out to find a grocery store (or supermarket as they call it here) and made a taco night (Meg, Brooklyn, Curtis and myself…or the Balto Quatro as we call ourselves…long story) Holy crap do I love tacos. We also bought a bunch of beer which I am currently in the process of killing. Haha Beer. Anyways. My skype address is Geoff.edwards159 for those of you who don’t know. Skype me sometime and I will show you the lay of the land. Cool hostel we’re at by the way. It’s a very interesting layout that I really have to take pictures of to explain. Words just aren’t enough. Or I can’t figure out how to properly lay them out. One of the two. Anywyas back to killing more beers.There will be no survivors. Geoff away!

PS. I booked a couple flights around the country as well as a bus out to the Ski Hill. I will be going from Sydney to Surfers Paradise on Monday, then the contiki trip up to Cairns, where I will be meeting up with the Balto Quatro again and going back south, then Flying out of Airlie Beach to Melbourne via Brisbane. Then I stay a night in Melbourne, hop on a bus in the morning (of June 1st) and head to the ski hill. YAY!!!!

PPS. Canberra sucked.

Days 4, 5 & 6

Alright Day 4… The Great Ocean Road… I could say how great it was and everything but I think the pictures speak for themselves (if you haven’t seen them, go now and look at Facebook). It was a long day, but well worth it. That’s all I have to say about that.

Day 5… The day started with a visit to the Victoria Institute for Sport which is sort of like a Winsport type setup at COP designed to help the athletes develop under one roof. From there, we walked across the street and met with Simon Weatherill (possibly the most interesting man alive) and got a tour of the Melbourne Sport and Aquatic Centre which is like the talisman centre on steroids. Simon is the CEO of the facility and designed it from the ground up. This was extremely interesting hearing how they design and manage these facilities. That afternoon we went to the Rod Laver Stadium, home of the Australian Open (Tennis) where we were given the royal treatment and got to experience it from the perspective of the players from the locker room where we say Raphael Nadal and Roger Federer’s personal lockers. We saw the post-event interview room where I got a picture of me in the seat where they sit (as if I could win a tennis event) as well as a very in depth tour of the facility. This was extremely cool. Finally, the night concluded at Deakin University where we got a lecture on Social Responsibility in Sport, which I thought after everything else we did that day was rather dull.

Day 6 started at Visy Park, home of my new favourite AFL team, the Carlton Blues where again we were given a very indepth tour of the facilities. We are hoping to see them play this weekend. Then it was back to Deakin University (which is a very long Tram ride) for a lecture from a former grad of our program who is working on his master’s thesis and then again on Sport Development (first year stuff, and again sorta dull). Tomorrow we play footie against a bunch of 11 year olds. Not exactly sure how the liability worked out on this, but it should be fun. Geoff out.  

Days 2 & 3

Day 2 began after some much needed rest. We didn’t have to meet for the field school until 8:00 PM so we took the day to check out the area and hit the beach! It was a cold day (by Melbourne standards – around 19 degrees) but we still set up on the beach and took in some sun. Boy were we getting eyed hard by the locals as they walked by in their down jackets and sweaters while we were all in bathing suits lying on the beach (pretty clear we were tourists). Hit the grocery store for some food and made a delicious Pasta dinner. We were then treated to some live music in the lounge at the Hostel by a local who played for around 2 hours and sang lots of covers from Pearl Jam to Oasis to Barenaked Ladies. This guy had talent, wow. At the end of the night, we met up with our professor who was already in town and officially started the field school.

Day 3 was when things really got going. We met up around 9 and headed to see Rob O’dwyer, who is the head of the Victorian Major Events Company, who look after booking all major events for the state from Sports events to Broadway Musicals. We also toured the Shrine of Remembrance, which is a memorial from the first world war – Very cool. From there we headed to the Eureka Skydeck, which is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. It also has a glass floor where you can walk out and look down 88 floors up. This gave us an incredible view of the City and we were able to see all the cool sport facilities like Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG) and Rob Laver tennis facilities (where the Australian open is held).

After that, we headed to Melbourne University and met with Hayden Opie (what a name right?) who is a professor in Sport Law and discussed various elements of sport legality and issues in sport. Overall it was a very busy day, but a very cool experience hearing about all the differences and similarities to sport in North America. Tomorrow we venture to the Great Ocean Road, which is something I am really looking forward to. Took a lot of pictures so far which I will upload at some point in the future (the internet is pretty temperamental here). Until next time….

Geoff

Day 1

Day One began as an extension of the departure day. Our flight out of Calgary was delayed by about an hour, which left us scrambling in LAX. We ended up all scrambled across the plane. Future reference: Window seats are way easier to sleep in. It's 8:00 PM Sat. 28th local time (4ish AM Calgary time) and I haven't slept for more than 20 minutes since 7 AM on the 26th. We're tired, we're hungry and we couldn't be happier! As we left the airport, the first thing I noticed was that gas is fricken expensive. $154.7 per litre.

We got to the hostel around noon, where we ditched our bags and hit the town. The hostel we are staying at is very nice and close to everything in St. Kilda, including the Ocean.

I dropped my ski gear off and have noticed that all the Australians here are very friendly and helpful. Very nice people. Since we had the day off, we killed some Jetlag with Caffine and found a nice bar for lunch. I got an Australian phone number (+61 04 3411 4007) and ran some errands.

We then met up with 2 more arriving this afternoon and wandered around some more. Closer to 5ish, we went to the beach to see the baby penguins at sunset and snag some awesome pictures of downtown Melbourne.  Purchased some groceries and were called "Fresh-Off-The-Boaties" because none of us bought anything remotely australian. Now it is time to sleep, for many many hours and get ready for the start of our tour tomorrow at 8 PM. Until then.

Geoff