The one where I ripped a goofy-footed tasty curl

We drank and surfed and were merry.

We drove down to wine country. The Margaret River area has a winery every couple of hundred metres. Some tours (like Wine For Dudes™) hit six or seven in one day, though we weren't quite ready for that.

Stopped at the Wine Info Centre in the town of Margaret River to make some plans for the evening and grab lunch. We decided to go to the Leeuwin Estate ('cause Doug and Kyle liked the label best--is there a better way?) and then head over to the beach. We tried eight wines--started at the dry whites (Riesling) and worked our way to the Cabernet/Merlot. They had a Chardonnay that sells for $85/bottle that was pretty good, but I think you'd have to appreciate it a bunch more than I did to pay that. My favourite was the Sauvignon Blanc--the berry really lingered.

We stayed at Margaret's Beach Resort. Checked into our two-bedroom condo, rented some surfboards (and wetsuits) and headed to the river mouth at Prevelly Beach. In two shifts--we had three surfboards, but only two would fit in the car at the same time so Doug had to drive carpool for us kiddies.

We, uh, fell a lot. Dinner back at the condo--Doug grilled some steaks and chicken, whilst we ferried out gin and tonics.

Early to bed--we had to catch the waves at first light.

Late to rise--we watched cricket on tv, trying to determine if it's really like a baseball game where each inning lasts a couple of days. We eventually headed back to the beach for another try.

It was really windy and we had to fight like hell to get out to the waves. We moved over a bit and were able to sorta walk out far enough to get started. After a number of tries, I was finally able to stand on the board. It might not have counted in rodeo, but it was at least a couple of seconds. I immediately headed to shore, done for the day (or "ever").

We returned our stuff and headed back up to Perth for the night, stopping at Valle Felix winery (taste 8 more (the Sauv/Semillon was my favourite yet) and call mom for her birthday), the Bootleg Brewery for lunch, and the Margaret River Chocolate Company for a free samples dessert.

Margaret River pictures...

ta,
sg

The one with lots of wallabiettes

So we (Doug & Andrew Brown, Kyle, Jeremy, me) headed out to Rottnest Island, just off the coast of Fremantle. After throwing down $56 for the ferry and $25 for the bikes and $16 for the snorkels we were set.

Rottnest is like 7 miles long and 3 miles wide and has about 60 different beaches. We spent a day and a half biking around the island, snorkeling and wandering in secluded bays and our own private beaches. We rode up to the NW shore for another Indian Ocean sunset with some fine Little Creatures Pale Ale and yet more cheese and crackers and pistachios.

Rottnest is also home to (and was originally named for) the quokkas, cat-sized marsupials that the Dutch originally thought were rat-like. The first time we saw one it was quite a novelty--we stopped our bikes to look and take pictures. The novelty kind of wore off when another one came to sit with us as we ate lunch in our hotel's courtyard, and then hundreds more were wandering about as we hit evening. Also: pheasants, peacocks, crabs, and many, many fish. No dingoes.

Yesterday afternoon we caught the ferry back to Fremantle and drove down to Bunbury on our way to the Margaret River wine country. Dinner in our hotel's cafe, which reminded me a lot of my grandmother's nursing home if they'd had a bar.

First pictures should be up...soon(!), if Flickr likes me, I think at www.flickr.com/photos/joyofseth/.

ta,
sg

The one where the Browns are not good

Well, the Steelers might not be either, but we definitely have better fans.

See the Star-Trib article.

Back to the trip,
sg

The one where we didn't win

We didn't win.

Semis against Buzz Bullets (Japan). We played quite well in the first half. They broke us early, but we broke back. We ended the first half on serve, up 9-8. Then, well, let's just say they went up 15-9. We couldn't put together any offensive rhythm at all. We had no answer for their quick, efficient offense, especially when we gave them the disc near our own goal. We scored a meaningless point at the end before they closed it out, 16-10.

Buzz went on to destroy Thong (Aus) in the finals, 17-8.

About 45 minutes after our loss we had to play Chilly (Aus) for the bronze. We came out flat and let them jump out to a lead. We closed it in the second half but couldn't pull even in the end, losing I think 17-15. So no medal for Sub Zero.

So now disc is done and I get to start thinking about how to get to New Zealand (I'm guessing flying is the best bet) and what do do once I'm there.

Hasta,
sg

The one where Seth has internet access for the first time in a while

Gentle Reader,

I am alive and well.

Sorry for the scarcity of posting and email responses--I'm sure you've been checking thrice daily, hoping for word, but the internet service available at our field site is pretty horrible and we've started most days at 8:30am, so I didn't really feel like hitting an internet cafe before we caught the 6:47am bus...

Note that this first week of my trip is mostly about playing in the World Ultimate (Frisbee) Championships. So if you're not interested in that but want to hear more about my travels, be patient, they'll start soon...

We came into the tournament as the #1 seed (after finishing in 10th place at the US national championships...). A full Sub Zero squad might have been that, but we only brought 11/26 of our team. With 5 friends who weren't playing with us this year, but 16 people is still pretty small and it's been hot--into the low 90s some days. The UV index ranks as "Extreme Danger", but the tournament has lots of free sunscreen.

I woke up Sunday, along with everyone else on the team, at about 2:30am. We beat BOUHSEARS, the #3 Japanese team, in the morning. We lost to Thong, the #3 Aussie team, in the afternoon. They were tall and had some big throwers, we are short and had a lot of drops and throwaways. We were in it early, but they took control in the middle and we couldn't put together any momentum to make a comeback.

Monday we had just one game--our 17-4 victory against Too Bad (Canada) was their closest game in the initial pools. That put us at 2-1 overall, good enough to move up to the power pools. Our first team dinner--we (by which I mean "Charlie") made some legs of lamb with roasted potatoes. And others added some rice and veggies and chicken.

Tuesday was tough. We started out against the Buzz Bullets (Japan), the #2 seed overall and probably the favourites. We stayed even 'til 6-6, then they beat us 17-8 after they took a big league and we loosened our lineup to conserve our energy. Second game was against Doublewide (TX-yee, hah). It was close, but they held a 2-3 point lead most of the way. But we started to gel and fought 'til the end--definitely our best game yet. We (by which I mean "Charlie") turned the leftover lamb into a curried lamb stew.

Yesterday we beat Nomadic Tribe (Japan #2) to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals. In the afternoon we had a great win against Clapham (UK). They were up 9-8 at halftime, but we went on a small run to pull ahead in the second half and held on for a 14-12 victory and a more favourable seed heading into the quarterfinals. Dinner in Chinatown with Truesdale and JohnJohn and the Browns, pere et fils. We told our waiter we wanted spring rolls, fried rice and food for 5 and he took care of us--sweet and salty squid, duck with mushrooms, a baked chicken dish, prawns in a spicy bean sauce, peppercorn steak...

Today was quarters against Fakulti ("faculty", from AUS). We started strong and went up 5-0 quickly. They brought it back to 11-9, but we pulled away again for the 17-10 victory. So tomorrow at 12:30 we'll play the Buzz Bullets again in semis, fighting for a right to play the winner of Chilly (AUS #1) and Thong in the finals. Tonight Naz' dad is gonna make a paella dinner for all.

Tomorrow will be tough--the Bullets are pretty short but extremely quick with good throws and a defense unlike anything we've had to face before. They're too athletic for us to just throw jump balls to our taller players and when they get the turn they move the disc very quickly and really well. So tonight we'll strategize and ice.

Anyway, sorry to drone on about Ultimate. If you emailed me, I'll respond soon. If not, I might send something anyway.

The one where the terra-ists didn't win

I had to go through security twice at LAX.

On my way to the airport I stopped to buy some clear plastic bags. I put all of my and gels and stuff into a couple of them--I've got a decent assortment of stuff with me and I didn't want to check my pack if I could avoid it. But I saw a sign in the security line that you could only carry one clear bag, so I consolidated some of the stuff I didn't want to deal with replacing in one bag and just put the bag with my other stuff back in my pack.

They stopped me because the bag I did show them was a half-gallon bag rather than the allowable quart-sized bag. Never mind that I had some eye drops, a mini-tube of toothpaste, many sporins (well, a small tube of polysporin) , a tube of chapstick, and almost 2 quarts of empty space--security escorted me back to the ticket counter so I could check my bag. Instead, I bought a quart-sized baggie at the newsstand, put my two-quart bag inside of it, and went through security again. With no problem, despite the gallon or so of contraband that was still in my daypack.

Anyway, now I'm in Sydney. I've got a 7 hour layover before heading to Perth. I think it's Thursday afternoon here, but I could be wrong.

chao,
sg