We're here!! The flights, other than being incredibly long, and a short stop at Midway that was not on our agenda but apparently it was for the flight's agenda.... we are here :)
Once we arrived at the hotel and checked in we had to rush to change and off to practice. We took the train to Penrith where the races are, the local folks that we've met so far have been nice and very supportive.
From the train station we took cabs to the race site and folks have found a some comedy in the fact that our "English" and their "English" is different(see Kris' top five post).
Practice was interesting.... let's stick 20 half asleep people in a boat, add wind and some rough water and see what happens... we'll we did ok, the first few minutes were a quick introduction to our gals joining us from California, Portland and Iowa. After we all meshed, the boat felt great, we have some very strong women in our boat. It's chilly and did I mention windy?? at the foot of the mountains. So I was completely soaked in less than in minute out there and burrrr!!
We have practice again today, hoping it's less windy, and wee bit warmer.
More soon!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Five things I've learned so far...
1. When you ask a taxi driver to "Pop the Trunk" he thinks you want much more that to store something in the car.
2. Australians like Meat Pie, it's kind of like their version of TastyKake
3. It's very difficult to shop for food when you are working off a 20 hour flight, extreme hunger and a very frantic practice.
4. The grocery store is very, very fun. In the potato chip aisle, they had at least 10 different varieties of chicken flavored potato chips. Roasted, Spicy, thin cut, the list goes on. We tried the basic Chicken Chip and I am a little disappointed, it tasted like sour cream and onion. Not sure what my expectations were but at least something more than sour cream and onion.
5. On the way from the airport to the hotel our bus driver told us that we were going to be staying in a good hotel and to not worry that the hotel rents rooms by the half hour.
2. Australians like Meat Pie, it's kind of like their version of TastyKake
3. It's very difficult to shop for food when you are working off a 20 hour flight, extreme hunger and a very frantic practice.
4. The grocery store is very, very fun. In the potato chip aisle, they had at least 10 different varieties of chicken flavored potato chips. Roasted, Spicy, thin cut, the list goes on. We tried the basic Chicken Chip and I am a little disappointed, it tasted like sour cream and onion. Not sure what my expectations were but at least something more than sour cream and onion.
5. On the way from the airport to the hotel our bus driver told us that we were going to be staying in a good hotel and to not worry that the hotel rents rooms by the half hour.
The adventures began in Philly!
Ahh how naive I was to think that our adventures would begin once we got to Australia---nope they started with our very first flight, in Philly. I was standing in line for our Southwest flight, which was supposed to go straight to LA, when the two ladies in front and behind me started talking about making their connections to Reno when we landed in Chicago. CHICAGO???? uhhh we had bought, or so we thought we had, a direct flight to LA--there was no stop in Chicago!! Unless these ladies were going to parachute, we were not supposed to stop in Chicago!
After comparing tickets and finding we were indeed on the same flight, a bit of panic set in. At some point between the time we bought the tickets and that day Southwest added a stopover in Chicago! Thus the fun began!!
We did finally get to LA with plenty of time to spare. Got our bags and went to check in for the 3rd flight of our oh sooooo long trip to Sydney.
The bonus flight to Chicago, now puts our total flights for this trip up to 17!
After comparing tickets and finding we were indeed on the same flight, a bit of panic set in. At some point between the time we bought the tickets and that day Southwest added a stopover in Chicago! Thus the fun began!!
We did finally get to LA with plenty of time to spare. Got our bags and went to check in for the 3rd flight of our oh sooooo long trip to Sydney.
The bonus flight to Chicago, now puts our total flights for this trip up to 17!
I won!
Everyone was so tired so night. We were told to stay up as late as possible, all the way to 9:00 if possible.
What do you do when you want to stay up late? You watch TV. And tv in Australia is great on Monday night, channel 7.
First we watched "Border Patrol Australia: First Line of Defense." That told the gripping story of the intrepid Australian Customs officers who keep the land safe from drug smugglers and those who would bring in undeclared fruits and vegetables.
The four stories we watched last night were the charter cargo ship with a lot of possible hiding spaces; the transit traveller with undeclared traditional medicine; the Vietnamese man with no money and conflicting stories and the Iraqi who thought he had been poisoned. Each story followed a custom official as they explained what was going on, what they were doing and just how tough it was to keep this land safe.
The Iraqi had food poisoning-not a busted internal package of coke; the Vietnamese may did have an internal package of coke; the man with traditional medicines had to pay a fine and the charter cargo ship was not a hotbed of smuggling.
This was followed by "The Force: Behind the Line," the story of Australia's police. (Are you seeing a trend here?) This told four stories, a woman accused of identity theft, a convenience store robber, a fool hardy man who tried to clever with the cops at a traffic stop and a guy whose car was falling apart, literally bits were falling off.
This got us to 9pm. But Joann had fallen out before then, closely followed Rachel. It was fun watching them all fall asleep then wake themselves up. Joann tried to sit in this crazy uncomfortable position but it didn't work. Kris and Sis held on for a little longer but then Sis fell asleep with her face on the armrest of the chair. Kris just stood up and said she was going to bed. I woke Sis and she went off and I managed to stay awake long enough to brush my teeth.
I win!
What do you do when you want to stay up late? You watch TV. And tv in Australia is great on Monday night, channel 7.
First we watched "Border Patrol Australia: First Line of Defense." That told the gripping story of the intrepid Australian Customs officers who keep the land safe from drug smugglers and those who would bring in undeclared fruits and vegetables.
The four stories we watched last night were the charter cargo ship with a lot of possible hiding spaces; the transit traveller with undeclared traditional medicine; the Vietnamese man with no money and conflicting stories and the Iraqi who thought he had been poisoned. Each story followed a custom official as they explained what was going on, what they were doing and just how tough it was to keep this land safe.
The Iraqi had food poisoning-not a busted internal package of coke; the Vietnamese may did have an internal package of coke; the man with traditional medicines had to pay a fine and the charter cargo ship was not a hotbed of smuggling.
This was followed by "The Force: Behind the Line," the story of Australia's police. (Are you seeing a trend here?) This told four stories, a woman accused of identity theft, a convenience store robber, a fool hardy man who tried to clever with the cops at a traffic stop and a guy whose car was falling apart, literally bits were falling off.
This got us to 9pm. But Joann had fallen out before then, closely followed Rachel. It was fun watching them all fall asleep then wake themselves up. Joann tried to sit in this crazy uncomfortable position but it didn't work. Kris and Sis held on for a little longer but then Sis fell asleep with her face on the armrest of the chair. Kris just stood up and said she was going to bed. I woke Sis and she went off and I managed to stay awake long enough to brush my teeth.
I win!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
The Weather in Sydney?
Well, according to the those running the World Dragon Boat Championships it's Fine.
Today - Fine. Sunny.
Min: 12°C, Max: 21°C.
Tomorrow - Fine. Mostly sunny.
Min: 11°C, Max: 23°C.
I think I like that as a phrase for weather.
You can follow along with our races at Dragons Downunder. Racing starts on Thursday and goes through Sunday. Hopefully the weather will stay fine.
Today - Fine. Sunny.
Min: 12°C, Max: 21°C.
Tomorrow - Fine. Mostly sunny.
Min: 11°C, Max: 23°C.
I think I like that as a phrase for weather.
You can follow along with our races at Dragons Downunder. Racing starts on Thursday and goes through Sunday. Hopefully the weather will stay fine.
Stay Awake!
Jet lag. What to do?
Sydney is 14 hours ahead of us. This is a huge jump in time.
There is the Argonne diet and there is the schedule of melatonin and there is sunlight.
But one of my teammates gave me the most succinct solution, "Stay awake all night and sleep on the plane to LA."
I can't tell you the last time I pulled an "all-nighter."
This is gonna be interesting.
Sydney is 14 hours ahead of us. This is a huge jump in time.
There is the Argonne diet and there is the schedule of melatonin and there is sunlight.
But one of my teammates gave me the most succinct solution, "Stay awake all night and sleep on the plane to LA."
I can't tell you the last time I pulled an "all-nighter."
This is gonna be interesting.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
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