First off - Whit has added new clips from our road trip in Western Australia.  Simply click on the “Clips” tab to check them out.

It’s now Day 6 for us in Sydney and we have been enjoying the city - taking it in with Mike and Cara. Despite sore legs, the day after the beach tournament we left Roseville and went to our next accomodation - “The Wedge.” “The Wedge” is an apartment occupied by four Sydney ultimate players located in the Newtown area, close to Sydney University. The building it’s in is shaped like a wedge - at a V-shaped intersection with streets on either side. It’s been a great place to stay (the last two nights), with lots of restaurants, shops, and cafes within close range… like, really close.

We unloaded our stuff off and had some lunch. One of our hosts had access to passes at the Sydney Aquarium, so that’s where we spent the afternoon. A quick train ride and walk had us there in no time.

The aquarium was pretty impressive. The exhibits were really diverse, as should be expected considering Australia’s size and diversity of its wildlife. We saw crocodiles, seals, sharks, jellyfish, seahorses, penguins, platypuses, manta rays, and many a tropical fish. The exhibits had well-written placards (Did you know that Barramundi are protoandrous hermaphrodites? Yup, they start life as males, and after about 3 years they change gender and become females), which were also informative (such as this one by the crocodile pen). However, the best part was the two oceanariums with underwater walkways. One was home to five or six seals, and the other to about 15 sharks and the manta-rays. Being in those walkways was by far the closest we will ever be to sharks, which swam right up to the glass so all their scary sharp teeth were visible. Even though the Aquarium is one of the most touristy things we have done so far, it was a great way to spend the afternoon - especially since the whole place was air-conditioned! After about three hours, we had made it through all the exhibits and found ourselves back out on the Darling Harbour, in desperate need of some coffee to get us through to dinner. We walked along shortly and found a nice cafe to rest for a bit. It was also time to make plans for dinner that evening - which had been discussed at the tournament the day before with a teammate of ours, Mc T, from World’s who was leaving Sydney the next day.

After connecting with Mc T and making plans to meet at Bondi Beach for dinner, we found a pub in an attempt to watch the end of the cricket test match, but once we found a spot it was over (but there are still two more matches to be played). After a drink and some delicious wedges, we hopped on the train to make our way to Bondi.

Despite a steady breeze, the beach was beautiful - and completely packed with surfers! Bondi Beach is an area known for the consistent population of backpackers, and that was apparent while walking around - lots of cheap eateries, bars, hostels, and internet cafes. Once we had McT with us, as well as Ru, a German player he had been travelling with, we shopped around for a place to get dinner. The winner was Thai Terrific, and the food definitely matched up to the name.

After dinner Whit and I split up with the rest of the group to go meet our next host, a former co-worker of mine who moved to Sydney a couple years ago. Billy, a broadcast producer, lives in Bondi and graciously offered his place to us while he visits the States for the holidays. His place was beautiful, and we can’t wait to stay there - fortunately, that starts tonight!

Yesterday, Mike, Cara, Whit and I all lounged around the Wedge for the day. We grabbed lunch at a neighborhood place called the Green Palace, a vegetarian restaurant with a great lunch special. After a relaxing afternoon, we geared up to pick-up at the Sydney Ultimate Summer League in the evening. We all managed to find teams to play on, and all enjoyed running around and getting some exercise.

Well, now we’re off to Bondi - hopefully the weater will clear up so we can enjoy the surf and sand!