Trips, trips and more trips!

I apologize for the length and lack of humor in the following post. Occasionally, it is necessary to actually let people know what's going on!

Today I took the jump. (I married a kangaroo! ZING!) I had been deciding for a few weeks on whether or not to book a big spring break trip. All of my roommates had booked a 16 day, $1600 trip all the way up the east coast. (Because marriage is called taking the jump, and kangaroos jump...okay, it was clever in my head) I didn't think I could afford it, but after some careful re-budgeting and some help from mom and dad, as well as finding out that 5 of my other American friends are going, I signed up and put a deposit down today. I am absolutely amazed at the stuff they pack into this trip. One way is about 1500 miles...Google maps lists it as 1 day, 8 hours of just driving! All the bus trips are overnight, with the exception of one, so the bus travel doesn't take up any of your day.

Here's the itinerary I was handed.

26th September - Depart from The Brewery on Greyhound at 8:50PM.
27th - Arrive at Byron Bay 7:35AM. Surf lessons start at 8AM! Free beer, discount meals afterwards.
28th - Sunday morning. Free breakfast followed by more surf lessons. Free dinner.
29th - 7:35AM bus departs for Hervey Bay. Free BBQ.
30th - Up early for Fraser Island briefing and instructions, then dumped on the island with camping equipment, food, and a 4x4 for three days of self-guided wandering.
2nd October - Return to Hervey Bay on the Ferry. Overnight bus departs at 8:25PM
3rd - Arrive Airlie Beach - 9:05AM
4th - Picked up for sailing trip, sail the 74 islands for 2 nights
6th - Return to Airlie Beach, bus departs 8:05PM
7th - Arrive Cairns, 6:05AM
8th - 7:30AM - Scuba diving at outer barrier reef
9th - 6:55AM - Pick up for Cape Trib day tour, return at 6PM
10th - 6:40AM - Pick up for day trip, whitewater rafting. Return 6PM
11th - Skydiving. I've gone solo before, but don't hold a certification, so I am not able to jump alone down here. 14,000ft tandem jump.
12th - My flight from Cairns departs at 6:05PM, arriving in Sydney at 10PM, where I catch the train back to Newcastle and arrive home around 12:30AM.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited!

But that's not all!

This weekend, as part of my program (call it a field trip), I'm going up to Sydney for a weekend of whathaveyou. I will unfortunately be missing the first rugby playoff game, but it appears I am not eligible to play, as I joined the team after 30 June. We're heading up on Friday, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Saturday and then enjoying a night on the town. Sunday is open as of now, I think I might try to head over to Sydney Olympic park and play a round or two of disc golf.

I'm home for a weekend...second rugby playoff game.

Home for another weekend - bye week for rugby, no plans.

Then comes the second field trip. We're going to the Blue Mountains, which is a good 5 hour train ride away. We'll be arriving on Friday, I guess there's some aboriginal interaction and absailing (rappelling) planned for Saturday. I hear they start you off at 5 meters and work up until you chicken out...10 meters, 20, 30, 45, 60...hehe. (Unfortunately, this is the weekend of rugby finals, but I can't play anyways.)

I think the weekend after that when I depart for the spring break trip.

I return on Monday, classes start on Monday. On that Friday, I'm going BACK to Byron Bay to play in a rugby tournament. It's an invitation-only "social" tournament. From what I understand, social tournament means that the team goes to the bar between matches, between tries, halves...if you're not holding a rugby ball, you had best be holding a beer!

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks!

Busy weekend

I had a pretty busy weekend that started with rugby and ended with me getting sick :( Bah. My latest batch of beer! It is dark, and definitely my favorite so far. It's pretty smooth, with a hint of bitter at the end...very happy with how it turned out.





We had a bye this weekend, so a BBQ/kegger was organized at the rugby field. $1 beers, the only restrictions being that we heckle everyone on the field, from both teams, and there is NO beer left at the end of the day.

An interesting feature of digital cameras is that they embed times in with the photos, making for easy reconstruction of the day's events.

11:40AM. I arrive at the University. This is the view from the top of the train platform...I don't think there's many Universities that look like this back home!!




1:08PM. The first finger food has been broken out. The "beer worm" is growing. (the cups were being reused, because we are cheap. I take pictures of the rugby game.




2:21PM. Moonbeam thinks he is good looking. Davis approves. The worm grows.





3:00PM. Moonbeam has been awarded the Nathan Jowles award. This award is given out weekly for the single most idiotic act happening during the week. Nathan Jowles is bald. I take pictures of vague blobs in the distance. The beer worm approves.





3:40PM. I take pictures of the railing.



4:12PM. ...




4:45PM. Hmm.



5:03PM. The games are over. Shenanigans ensue.

Laughataloser

I won a Tshirt, a water bottle, and a couple of beers tonight at trivia/bingo. A large portion of this is because 90% of the questions he asked were about Wisconsin...haha. When asked what the four states that border Wisconsin are, my friend actually was able to name them all, except he confused Ohio and Iowa, because of all the vowels.

My first (documented) concussion!

Today was the final away game of the season at Singleton. I got up at 7:30AM (on a Saturday, bah!) and caught the train to University, where I met up with some friends and caught a ride to the grounds, nearly an hour and a half away.

The grounds were surprisingly green, none of this mud and clover stuff we've been seeing as of late. Also, all four of our divisions were there, so the team doctor, strappers, club president, and other assistant coaches traveled with us.

I started the second half. Soon after getting into the game (I think), I somehow was flipped over something and landed squarely on my forehead, near my temple. Hard. It made sense at the time, how it happened, I got pushed or tripped over something, but now, I can't remember exactly how it happened. I do remember a big flash and then laying on the ground for a couple of seconds. Then I got up and tackled somebody.

I finished the second half. I can't give you a timeline, but the following events did happen. I ran the ball a handful of times, including a 20 or 30 meter run with two broken tackles, a spin, and finally getting tackled at the 10 by the last person possible...so close! Someone on our team was making a tackle. I came in and grabbed the ball from the ballcarrier...he didn't let go. A ruck formed around us. I had a good grip on the ball and somebody was just about trying to break my finger by twisting it backwards. Okay, I can play dirty too....I grabbed both of his wrists and twisted them behind his back. Oddly enough, you can't hold the ball without hands, and he dropped it. I drew a penalty by contesting a ball on the ground (which I think I've actually done every week). I don't remember much else about the game, but we did win 47-0. Our "kicker" went out with a hamstring injury part through the game (after going 4-4, much better than the 0-4 that cost us last week's game). We scored a try at the end, and had no kicker. Somebody volunteered. The ball was placed near the sidelines, about 35 meters out, a long kick. He really got ahold of it, and it grazed the inside of the left upright, (just to be dramatic, he would later claim).

After the game, I could tell something wasn't right. I was really hot and sweating way too much. I was dizzy and almost fell over a few times whilst trying to put on my shoes. My vision was really blurry, and I felt like I wanted to throw up. After I got changed, I found the "physio" (team doc) and said something like "Hey doc, something's not right. I feel like I'm drunk, I can't see straight, and I feel my vocabulary is suffering." He asked me if I took a blow to the head, and I did remember that I did at some point, did some field tests and then told me I was concussed, not to drink anything or drive anywhere, and to go to the hospital if I develop terrible headaches.

After this, the whole team sat around and watched our three other grades. We trounced them on all levels...I think some of this was due to them having three teams playing four grades, many of the players were worn out from our game. The other three divisions won 26-0, 78-3, and 26-5. Ouch. There were some absolutely ridiculous moments I wish I had video of...razzle dazzle behind the back passes into open field, kicking the ball down field, having it bounce just behind the person trying to field it and the kicker grabbing it himself for a try, lots of fun stuff.

As I mentioned, many of the players were staying up in Singleton and drinking all day. I was thinking of staying, but decided against it, after the game. You can drink a lot of beer during three rugby games, and there were many funny things that happened, but I'm afraid I've forgotten most of them. One thing I do remember is after a particularly illegal tackle, a member of their team was talking to the ref. "IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY! GIVE HIM A CARD!" rang out the jeers. The yellow card was shown, and the entire visitor's section started singing "Happy Birthday". I laughed hard. Some of the other players mentioned that I still run with the ball "like an American". I've been trained that when, in traffic, both hands cover the ball, only moving the ball to one hand when you are in open field. Rugby players don't really carry the ball with two hands, but instead turn to the side alot, and use alot of stiff-arm. Also, I apparently still run like I'm wearing pads. Haha. Also, I'm not allowed to leave, the team wants me back next year.

I messed up my elbow somehow and have bruises and scrapes all over my legs and arms. The elbow hurt a ton after the game, but subsided into a stiffness now, we'll check it tomorrow.

Also, I was invited to Rugby 7's at Byron Bay, which is about 6 hours north of here. The university takes a team up there every October to play in a social tournament. It's 7v7 rugby on a smaller field, and apparently, you drink much between games and play and drink beer all day. My only question: "Do you have to die to get in?!"

I was asked where I wanted to eat on the way home, and I told them it may be my only chance to try Hungry Jacks, as there is not one in Newcastle. Hungry Jacks=Burger King. I walk inside, and lo and behold, they still have the Spicy Chicken TenderCrisp...the very same sandwich that broke my heart when it was unceremoniously dropped from the menu a number of years ago. I was addicted to this sandwich for a long period of time, and although it was still different from what I remembered, it was definitely close enough to fill the longing.

I really had much more to type! Funny stories! Perhaps I'll remember them tomorrow.

It's getting warmer!

I was going to look for a job today, but instead, I carefully reconsidered my priorities and decided that going to the beach all day was a much better idea. We played beach volleyball ALL day. I gained a good amount of satisfaction, spiking over and blocking over my 6'4" roommate, with "freaky white dude ups". We also threw frisbees and footballs, and I got my daily allotment of sodium chloride whilst trying to bodyboard. The waves were HUGE today. My roommate couldn't even get out far enough to attempt to ride a wave. I got out no problem, but then had no idea what I was doing, and generally just got my butt kicked by the ocean. This is a lot like what usually happens when I go into the ocean, except, now I was getting beat in the face with a buoyant board of pain.

After that, we came home and I bottled my third batch of beer. Instead of using Cooper's carbonation drops, I primed half the bottles with table sugar, and half the bottles with carbonation drops, carefully labeling each one. This beer is DARK, and the brew enhancer 2 seems to have given it a large, creamy head, just as claimed! I also let it ferment longer than usual, which is supposed to improve the taste. I expect this beer to be about 4.7% alcohol, based on an initial gravity of 1042 and I bottled it at 1010.

I tasted a little bit of it, and I was pretty happy with it (as far as flat, warm beer goes). It's definitely quite a bit more bitter than my other beers, should be tasty. It's still got a bit of a cidery taste to it, which both of my other batches have had.

"Cidery flavors happen when there is not enough nutrients from the malt to help the yeast eat the sugar. The general rule of thumb is you can have up to 30% sugar base without any off flavors." I'm going to try using less sugar in the next batch and more malt extract or something.


Rugby tomororow, away game at Singleton. Because it's over an hour away and it's our last away game of the year, we're staying at one of the coaches cabins. Lots of beer and meat pies for all!

Maybe...

Maybe I write about Homebrewing and Rugby so much because it is what is currently dominating most of my free time? That, and wasting time on the internet.

I've begun searching for a job. I don't need to, however, there are two compelling reasons behind this. A) Minimum wage down here is $12 something, and I'd be earning $14-15-ish minimum because it's age based. With the USD being so low, I'd still be bringing home $13+ an hour for doing whatever. B) I have lots, and lots of free time. I currently spend it waiting for the internet in my apartment to load pages. This is probably not the most productive use of my time. I'm allowed to work up to 20 hours a week, and would really be happy if I could do so.

I just opened the first beer out of my second batch. Again, it's not bad, very drinkable. Definitely needs to sit for another week or so, there was still priming sugar in the bottom and it wasn't very carbonated. It tastes much like the first batch, sort of cidery...which isn't bad, but it's not the way it's supposed to taste. It's much lighter, both in color and flavor. We'll see how it improves after it sits for a bit.

Tuesdays have become mandatory conditioning at rugby training. We did laps and laps of alternating sprinting and jogging, and then 5,10,15,20,25,30 meter sprints with pushups and situps at each yard line....and then we did everything again...and then played a full contact game. Needless to say, I am sore today. We did full contact tackling drills, which I've been doing in pads for years, and which is probably most of the reason I am sore today. Afterwards, one of my teammates informed me that "everyone is very impressed with your tackling and ball running, we just wish you were around for a few more weeks so that you could learn to position yourself better and do both more often". Haha, I still don't know what's going on.

Another thing that's been programmed into my head from years of gridiron is to lower and square your shoulders, cover the ball with both hands, and keep moving when you're getting tackled. The first time I did that, somebody suggested I should turn my body sideways when I hit somebody and put the ball in my back hand, the advantage being that when I am tackled, it is easy to recover the ball. I failed to see any other disadvantages to my technique until yesterday, when two larger gentlemen came at me, and I caught a beefy shoulder right in the jaw. Oh, yeah, I'm not wearing a helmet. Good thing I was wearing a mouthguard, or I, no doubt, would have been concussed...I definitely saw stars. For what its worth, he took a few minutes off, rubbing his shoulder and wincing. Haha.

The reason I haven't really written about class is that it's really not at all different than it is back home. There are minor differences, but nothing worth writing about.

OH! One of the bars on campus has beer bingo (called laughataloser), in which the bingo caller mocks every person playing. Everyone gets a nickname. When it was learned I was from Wisconsin, all the numbers called in the next hour were Wisconsin jokes. I was nicknamed Wisconsin Pete. When calling bingo, you are given a dart, and told to stand at a random location in the room and throw at a spinning dartboard. You are usually throwing from three times the normal length of a dart throw, which is difficult until you get the hang of it. There are prizes on the board, t shirt, water bottle, hacky sack, free beer, free pizza, etc. One of my friends jokes that Beer Bingo has "fed me, clothed me, and gotten me drunk for the last 4 years". Upon winning a hacky sack, he said "Oh no! Not another one! Who wants it?", and tossed it to somebody else. The bingo caller said "I wouldn't give that away so easily, they use those as currency in Wisconsin", and then to the new owner of the hacky sack: "You just bought a house in Wisconsin, but don't think that means you're rich!"


The bar also has trivia on Wednesdays. I won bar trivia tonight! Some of my Rugby mates and I go on Tuesday, win two, three, or four vouchers for a beer, pizza, or bowl of wedges, and then go to trivia on Wednesdays and drink free beer and play trivia for more free beer.

The answer sheet has 20 blanks. There are 20 questions asked. You score your own sheet, and hand in a copy of your own sheet, and if you win, your answers are checked. You are allowed to work with your own table. This week, everyone in the bar had 15/20 correct or less. The other two guys at my table had 16/20 correct. I had 17/20 correct, because I guessed that Paris was the first city ever bombed from airplanes. (They guessed Munich and Berlin...come on, France has to be losing!) I won two tickets to tomorrow's concert at Bar on the Hill. Apparently, Magic Dirt is a decent name, tickets were $20/each otherwise. We shall see how this goes!

A conversation with the most annoying person I've met in recent history.

I headed out to the bars for a few last night. I had heard of a bar that sounded more like a place I would hang out at back home. Quieter/smaller, no dancing/dj, lots of live music, no bouncers...awesome!

I met up with some friends down there and it was really a pretty nifty place. Shortly after arrival, one of the females in my group said "OH NO!" and hid behind me.

"What's wrong?" I inquired.

"It's that guy over there. The tall guy? Glasses, in his mid thirties?" I sneak a glance over my shoulder to observe the nerd leaning against a pole by himself. "Every time I come here, he seems to be here, and if he sees me, he won't leave me alone for the rest of the night. I have no idea who he is or if we were actually ever introduced."

"Well, then...perhaps I should move aside and just let him see you!"

"You can if you like, but then you're going to have to hang out with him too!"

She couldn't have been more correct, and I could not have been more furious. As the night moved on, he happened to catch sight of her and came over to talk to her. It was just the three of us and painfully awkward when he was around, but he made no attempts to move away, even after not being introduced to me. He asked her to buy him a drink (?!) and she grudgingly obliged, too polite to say no. I followed her to the bar, not willing to stand around with wet rag.

The night goes on, blah, blah, blah, there's a point where he comes over again, after we had lost him for awhile. She ducks into the bathroom, I am stunned and unable to follow. This is where the funny happens. I never make eye contact with him and answer shortly and bluntly to all of his questions, giving off the best impression that I am not interested in talking to him in any measure.

"Is it true that one-third of Americans don't know where Canada is?"

"Nope."

"So, where in the states are you from?"

"Wisconsin".

"Oh, what's the capitol of that? Wait, let me guess!"

"..."

"St.....St....Saint something....Is it St. Petersburg?"

"That's in Russia."

"Oh. I used to be really good with states. It's been years but I bet I still know most of them! Go ahead, quiz me!"

"Do you know Rhode Island?"

"Ah, yes, is the capital Pennsylvania?

"Not even close. How about Arizona?"

"Sacremento"

"At least that one's a city. North Dakota."

"I've no idea. Rhode Island...that's right near Massachusetts, right?"

"More or less."

"and going down the coast, you have Massachusetts, North Virginia, South Virginia, uhm, Florida...Atlanta"

"I'm going to stop you there. You're oh for about 12 right now. Why don't you stand over there for a bit?"

My beer!

Here's a picture of a beer out of my first batch. Mmm.


Yesterday I bottled my lager. This is Cooper's Lager with Brew Enhancer 1. It's much lighter than my first Ale. We'll see how it turns out! I yielded TWENTY SEVEN 800ml bottles, which is about four more than last time, along with a 600ml bottle, meaning I got just over 22 liters of beer this time. Alcohol content of this batch is calculated to be 4.91%. Compare the color to the bottle on the right of my first beer.


I've got quite the little stockpile built up!


I started my THIRD batch today. This is Cooper's Dark Ale with Brew Enhancer 2, which is recommended for a maltier, fuller taste. The beer is nearly black colored! I'm very excited to see this one finished. I started it early so that by the time I get to drinking it, it should have matured well. Initial gravity was average, right about 1040.
GO BEER, GO!

To mix things up a bit, homebrewing and THEN rugby!

Yesterday was 5 days since I bottled my beer. It is recommended you let the beer sit at least 7 days before drinking, although the longer it sits, the more smooth the flavor becomes, the bubbles become finer, and carbonation becomes greater. Two weeks is good, two months is about when it's "done". Nonetheless, I have no patience to look at beer and not drink it, so I threw a bottle into the fridge yesterday.

IT TASTES LIKE BEER!

IT TASTES LIKE GOOD BEER!

Success! I smiled the whole time while I drank it. It's this gorgeous brownish red color and it has a really full taste with a little fruity flavor at the end. It was a little flat from not sitting long enough, but definitely drinkable, I was able to put a good head on it, therefore, it's carbonated enough! I would buy this beer! Unfortunately I am unable to distribute samples via internet, so a picture will have to do. A picture I will take later.

I just started my second batch of beer. Went with a lighter lager instead of an ale this time. Also used Cooper's "Brew Enhancer 1", which instead of straight dextrose is a blend of dextrose and maltodextrin, which does not ferment out completely and is supposed to improve the beer. We shall see.

I played in my second ever Rugby game today. We played at Waratah. I pass the field every day on my way to Uni, so the trip there was decisively less hilarious than last time. Rugby jerseys are passed out before every game, and the position you are playing that day determines the number you wear. 1-15 are starters at the 15 different positions, 16-25 are substitutes. Today I wore #6 and started at flanker.

The field was in awful shape! The whole ground was very soggy and there was an area near the opponents try line where there was about two inches of standing water on the field. I was sliding around a bit because the rugby boots I purchased have short, molded blades intended for dry ground, as opposed to longer spikes. I slipped and fell forwards while in a scrum a few times, as there was really no traction to be found.

I made a few tackles and carried the ball a few times, I didn't screw up or do anything spectacular, but I felt I played pretty well. One nearly highlight came when we were driving at about the opponent's 5 meter line. I picked the ball up off a tackle, picked the smallest person opposite me and charged at him. I caught him in the ribs with my knee and two other people jumped on, and I managed to carry the whole mess into the try. However, skinny dude managed to hang onto the ball whilst I carried him and I was unable to make a clear motion of touching the ball to the ground before the tackle was completed. The try didn't count, scrum again from the 5. This was right in the middle of "Lake Waratah", 2 inches of cold standing water. Re-scrum, ball came loose and I ended up diving facefirst onto it and getting a very cold shower. Later, I was called offside on a line out because I was outside the 15 meter mark...a mark that was completely underwater.

You are only allowed to hit people with the ball. When you are tackled, you must release the ball. The person that tackled you cannot pick the ball up until they are on their feet as well. When someone on your team gets tackled, other forwards in the area "clear out" which basically means diving over the fallen player and absolutely smacking whoever is standing there so that someone behind you can pick up the ball uncontested. The largest guy on their team was standing over one of our fallen players, reaching for the ball. I ran at him and hit him pretty good and knocked him backwards, out of the play. I didn't think I was going to move him, he was twice my size! Of course, after this, he tossed me aside like a rag doll.

I came out at the end of the first half. I was starting to get very dehydrated. I was also covered in mud from head to toe. Score at the half was 10-7, us. We had scored two tries and missed both conversions (our kicking game is poor, this comes into play later), and they had scored a try and conversion.

The game continued and we were not playing very well. Many of our players were overtired, some of our forwards were really just getting the ball and falling forward. They scored a try and missed the conversion. 12-10, them, time winding down. We put together a long drive and drew a penalty. This ordinarily is a free kick, but we were close enough to attempt a penalty kick, a "field goal" if you will. Remember what I said about our poor kicking? Everyone was nervous, and not really expecting much, but the ball sailed through the uprights and we took the lead, 13-12, where it stayed until after the game.

I have cleat marks on my back! There was mud positively caked onto my legs, arms, hair, ears..etc. My socks and undies are a wonderful shade of brown. I've never enjoyed a shower more in my life, either.

"'beam?" I asked after the first half. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Depends on what it is, I suppose", he said after a second.

"Well, at the risk of sounding like a tourist, my parents are really disappointed they can't see me play. My dad was at nearly every single one of my football games from early on and they'd love it if you could take a picture of me wearing the shortest shorts anyone in America has ever seen."

"Haha, no worries mate." I find my camera. "Don't smile, look tough, it's for your mum!"