We’ve been in Sydney for three days now, and it has been hard to find time to break and give an update. On Friday we caught the train from Wollongong to Sydney, which was an easy two hour ride. The train went along the coast for a bit, which provided some great views of the ocean on a dark and stormy day.

In Sydney we switched trains at Central Station to Roseville, a suburb to the north of the city. Before we left Jervis Bay we had made arrangements to stay with an ultimate player during the tournament we would be playing at. This ultimate player is Warwick (say it, Warrick), who also played in Perth at the World’s Tournament with his men’s team Fakulti. He also played host to our friends Mike and Cara, so it was a full house.

We arrived around 5:30; Mike and Cara around 6pm. We watched some cricket and relaxed for awhile. During our trip we have continually watched more and more cricket. The Ashes Series is currently being played, which includes five matches (that can last up to five days each). The Ashes is played once a year between Australia and England, and Australia is dominating this year.

After cricket and dinner, the five of us (Warwick, Mike, Cara, Whit, and myself) went to play frisbee golf with other players from the tournament. The course went through a park at the top of a hill in North Sydney. There were some great views of the city skyline. The rain came in at the second to last hole and drenched us all before we headed home.

The next afternoon we went to Manly to play more frisbee golf in the afternoon, and then to the tournament pub crawl at night. The “Santa” pub crawl was hosted by a charity organization, which asked that you be dressed like Kris Kringle, and make a donation (which also gave you deals on drinks and food at the five pubs on the crawl). They had advertised it to the tournament to get more support for their cause, and judging by the amount of Santas out that night - they must have done well. We all wore hats to show our support - one reindeer, two santas, a Kris-moose, and an elf.
Today was the beach tournament at North Narrabeen. Whit, Mike, Cara, and I played with Blokes & Sheilas, a team from Canberra that we played against at World’s. The weather and setting were both beautiful, ideal conditions for ultimate. In the morning the surf was pounding, speckled with dozens of surfers that were fun to watch.

We played eight games throughout the day, but they were all short, thankfully. We did well in the morning and went 4-0. But after lunch we faced tougher competition and lost our first game before going into quarterfinals against a top seed, and then came our second loss.

The afternoon was not as victorious as we may have liked, but the swimming, food, and cricket helped us get over that quickly. Near the beach was an inlet and a lagoon where the ocean tide created some strong currents in a stream about fifty feet wide, ranging from 1 to 4 feet deep. Despite a very strong current, the water was enjoyable and was visited repeatedly to rinse off sand and sweat, and generally to cool down. A woman on our team had a cricket bat and wickets in her car, so we played on the beach during a bye.

The tournament provided an incredible array of fresh fruits to the players for the day - and we’re not just talking oranges and bananas here. Mango, kiwi, papaya, watermelon, cherries, grapes, pineapple, honeydew, cantaloupe, Asian pears, peaches, apricots, nectarines, and strawberries that filled our tummies all day. Delicious! A simple but appreciated lunch of rolls and assorted dips was also provided, meaning we fared pretty well for the day (by ultimate standards).

The plan now is to stay in Sydney for the rest of the week, bouncing between apartments of other ultimate players and friends. This city has treated us well so far, and we’re looking forward to what else it will offer.