Day 4 - November 9

Wow, where to start? It's been a heck of a first few days. Getting through the airport went pretty well; the only issue I had was with the passport number/visa fiasco. For those of you that don't know, I applied for my visa before renewing my passport, which meant that the passport number on my visa was incorrect. I was warned that this would be an issue in Edmonton, and that I should find someone in Vancouver, or else 'they' wouldn't let me in to Australia. No one in Vancouver seemed to know what I was talking about, so I decided that my only option was to get on the plane. My ticket was scanned, and I was flagged and sent to a little room next to the gate where two surly-looking women listened to my story, and then stared at each other, as if deciding whether or not to help me. They did, eventually, but made me feel like I was really putting them out of there way to do so.

But I got here.

One of the girls from the women's team (named Momoe) happened to be on my Sydney-Perth flight. Apparently there were five others that were supposed to be on the flight, but they were delayed for a day when their flight to L.A. was cancelled. They had a hostel booked, and, of course, no one was going to take those rooms, so I gallantly volunteered. The hostel was nicer then the one I'd booked, as well as closer to downtown Perth, so I swallowed the $3.72 AUD reservation fee and we set off for the hostel. It was a nice hostel, but it was filled with people who only spoke Chinese, so we set off looking for something to kill time with. We had a nice meal, with an Australian beer (note - I hammered back several Bailey's & coffee on the international flights. Made the trip faster, made the sleep easier. 23 plus hours in the air and I have yet to touch my iPod.) and threw a frisbee around a park for a while. Perth is beautiful. Parks everywhere, and the nicest sports fields I've seen for public use anywhere. This is why the Aussies win more medals at every summer Olympics than we do. At around 7 30 local time (4 30 am mountain) the jet lag started to hit us, so we walked to downtown Perth to try to stay awake. It was a long walk, but a nice one, and we went bowling and drank coke to keep our energy up. Walked back, fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

The next day we went to the airport to pick up the rest of the crew. (Stacey, Sue and Tanya from the women't team, Blair, who is playing with a Calgary Master's [35+y.o.] team and Garvin, who is playing with the Montreal-based Mephisto) They had rented a car for five of them, but the addition of me and Garv made 7, so we surprised them by upgrading them to a van. We packed it up and headed south to Margaret River. The drive was a little less than three hours, which wasn't so bad for me and Momoe, but for everyone who was incredibly sick of travelling, it was hard. We got to Margaret River, had a pizza dinner, and crashed hard, but only after picking up some groceries for breakfast. That was a good call, as we feasted on cereal and melons, before heading out for a day of wine-tasting, cheese-sampling and chocolate-stealing from the many wineries, cheese factories, and chocolate makers in the area. But first, we went on a 20-minute run in the humidity that made everyone feel like cancelling the tournament. However, the wine was great, and by the third winery, everyone but Stacey (D.D.) was good and drunk. The cheese sampling proved to be the most effective, as we bought 7 or 8 blocks of cheese, compared with 3 or 4 bottles of wine and only a couple bags of chocolate. The chocolate was good, but they gave away way too many free samples, and it took off the chocolate-craving edge. Lunch was crackers and (guess?) cheese, and we did the same thing all afternoon before picking up the ingrediants for a feast-like dinner and heading back. We hit the beach and threw a frisbee in the heavy, heavy wind, and discovered that none of us were prepared for the ocean wind that promised to hit the tournament. Sunset was getting ready to be amazing, but clouds rolled in. Ah, well. There will be plenty more.

(side note: It's interesting how I feel so relaxed and able to move at whatever pace I want, but all the people I am with are in such a rush, because most of them are only here for two weeks and want to see all they can.)

Supper was a team effort and was amazing. I was in charge of the from-scratch garlic bread with melted smoked cheddar cheese. It came out looking a little charred (the grill was not well-kept) but delicious. We all went to bed early and full.

Today we woke up with hopes of seeing the dolphins, but the rain chased that dream away, so we hit a few more wineries and cheese factories before picniking with leftovers from last night and heading back up to Perth, where we arrived just under an hour ago. The accommodations that the women's team has is amazing, and I may stay there if my team continues to be this unorganized. Interestingly, the accomodation is on the gay strip of Perth. I was whistled an hollered at three times on the way to find this internet cafe, (well, two for sure) and, girls, I gotta say, it's not so bad. I mean, it's a little flattering, and really, what are they going to do? Just stay in a well lit area. Also, there are many man-hand-holding walks occuring, and I also just saw an older female couple sharing a bottle of wine and a kiss in a little cafe. It was really beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, I don't have a camera to capture such moments. This is unfortunate, I really thought it was in my bag. The laptop isn't working either, but I've only tried twice, and have yet to find anyone that knows what they're doing to help me. So if I get that to hook up to the internet, I will get myself a camera, but if I can't, you are just going to have to use your imagination.

I'm nervous about going it alone, but I know I will have to eventually. I don't know where I'm heading next, and I don't know how I want to get there. I think my choices are to stick with the big cities and take the bus or train, or to try to find smaller busses and work my way accross. That's not what makes me nervous, though, it's just the not-being-with-anyone-I-know factor and being completely out of my comfort zone.

I'll try to keep this thing updated, and I hope you all either a) keep the emails coming or b) start emailing me about your life! It's something I look forward to, and I'm only four days in. I miss you guys.

Until next time.

-P