First NRL Game - Go Dragons!!

As most of you know, I am a big sports fan, so learning about rugby was top on my list of things to do while in Australia. This has proved a bit more challenging than I had anticipated. Back home when you say football, it means the same thing whether you are talking college or pro. Here rugby, or Footy as they like to call it, has Union, Aussie rules or League, which have different rules and different means of scoring. But I am up to the challenge of learning all three.

To get myself started, we headed off to a League game between the Dragons and the Bulldogs. Now this was sparked by the interest of Ryan's friends, 2 of which are Dragons fans and 2 who are Bulldogs supporters. Sarah and Brett came in their red and white, while Lloyd and Jane came in their blue and white...the challenge was on. As for Shelby, Ryan and myself we remained neutral, although Shelby is leaning towards the Bulldogs and I am for the Dragons, now!!

It was a great game to attend...Friday night, small stadium, Bulldogs ranked number 1 in the league and the game was sold out!!! The game came down to the last try with only seconds left on the clock...the Bulldogs managed to score and it seemed they had come from behind to win...Lloyd and Jane were shocked and very excited (as were all of the Bulldogs fans around us)!!! But then the video ruling came and due to an illegal block in the back field, the try was no good and the Dragons won!! Now came Sarah and the rest of the fans in Red singing "When the Saints Go Marching In" - their theme song!! Then came the throwing of garbage on the field by the Bulldogs fans...they apparently didn't agree with the call!!

Definitely experienced Footy at it's finest!!

Fun in the Rain at Manly Beach!

A Rainy Day in Manly

When most people think of Australia, they usually think surfing, beaches and sun!! Well this would be true if I were here in the summer months, but I have arrived just in time for winter....which means cool weather and rain.

Shelby and I are working very opposite days right now, so when we get a day off together we are trying to make the most of it and doing something different. So even though it was forecasted to rain today, we decided to hop a ferry and head out to Manly Beach....check out the town and walk along the coast.

Ryan met us at the ferry dock, we grabbed a cup of coffee and hopped on the ferry for our 30 minute ride to Manly.

I wasn't prepared to jump in and try some surfing, but there were several people out taking a go at the surf that the off shore storm was bringing in. As we stood on a cliff just south of the beach we watched as the sky darkened and the storm rolled in. The bit of sun that was trying to break through made a beautiful rainbow.

No sun and surf for me...but had a great time exploring Manly...can't wait to go back on a warm, sunny day!!

The Blue Mountains

Easter Weekend

I know, I know you are thinking Easter weekend, wasn't that 2 months ago....and yes you are correct. But between working a lot more than I am used to and having no internet access in my apartment, it has taken me a while to get organized. But you will be happy to know that I have a couple of blog posts organized and you can breeze through them at your leisure. And now that i am getting organized, I hope to be better about blogging on say a weekly or fort-nightly basis!!
So, way back when in April, Shelby and I woke up on the Saturday morning of Easter Weekend and took a 2 hour train ride from Sydney out to Mount Victoria, a cute little town in the Blue Mountains. We were meeting Ryan and several of his friends out there, whom were already gathered at a friend's house for the long weekend.

We had a great time hanging out with Ryan and his friends. Jane's house sat on a beautiful cliff overlooking a valley...the cool misty weather led to some beautiful views from the balcony. On Easter Sunday, Ryan joined the girls as we headed off to do some light Bush Walking (as they like to call hiking here). And then it was off to Leura to enjoy a bit of shopping. We ended our day with Hot chocolate and scones with fresh cream and jam...sooooo good!!

Monday was a bit rainy, so we spent most of the day indoors playing board games and relaxing. The boys and I did decide to brave the weather for one more bush walk - and I'm so glad we did, because on the way home I saw my first kangaroo (outside of a zoo)!! Poor guy looked scared to death...he was standing in the middle of the road as we came around a curve on our way home...he froze and lucky for him we were going slow, as we had just come through a stop sign. Sorry , there is no picture of this...he moved a bit too quickly for me!!