Spring Break!

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Hey everyone,

I know it has been over a month since i have last updated. My apologies. But this entry will make up for it. This is very long, you might want to take a break at one point. Maybe walk around, stretch a little, get a cup of coffee, whatever helps you. the photos i added dont appear when i wanted them too, so ignore them until the correct time.

For the past two weeks i have been on spring break. For most of the first week i was in the Whitsunday Islands (north australia) on a pirate ship cruise. The second week i was in Melbourne (southern australia) for a soccer tournament.

The following is most of what happened in the past fortnight. I will try to go in chronological order, but i cannot promise anything. Some of the stories may not relate, and i do plead your forgiveness. There will also be random bits interjected throughout. just a warning.

i have also added a map of the cruise through the Whitsunday Islands. It goes along with the numbered section later on in this entry. i apologize that its so small, due to the demands of "travelblog", i had to mess around with it for close to an hour and even then it didnt come out right.

Here we go...

Introduction of characters...
Malcolm- the hero of the story
Billic, Dan, John, Alison- group of Americans from east coast who came to USC together.
Brooke, Luke- two Aussies
Andy- Billic's friend from back home who came to join us

the eight of us leave at 5:30 am to catch a bus to catch a train to catch the plane. We left overly early and ended up sitting waiting for the next mode of transportation for awhile. But better to be early then late and miss it.
we get to the airport... and i had to wait in a line! for those of you not familiar with my dad, he flies more than any other person. this means he is ultra golden platinum carbonite status and gets to skip every line. well we had to wait. at the airport none of us were ever asked for identification. let me say that again, at an international airport eight adults were not asked to ever show id. security was a joke, one of the guards actually made a joke to me. there was not a walkway/bridge thing from the terminal to the plane. we went outside and walked to plane. kind of cool.

we land at proserpine airport. joke of an airport. the waiting area for flights was outside on the grass. made our way to our hostel. very nice hostel again. pleasant staff, clean rooms, our own bathroom and fridge, and a balcony. only problem was the rest of the guests; gross, loud, and obnoxious. it was here that i saw what a seagull should look like. it was clean looking. i couldnt believe it. i would almost consider it a bird. that night we went out to a bar, and got to watch american football! i was so excited to watch it. packers vs. cowboys. decent game.

next day we board our ship, Solway Lass. I call it a pirate ship b/c it really does look like one. The ship was built in 1902, 127ft long, two masts, is the largest Tallship sailing on the Whitsunday Islands, and had the Jolly Roger flying. There were six crew; captain, first mate, deck mate (i forget the actual name, but the person in charge of all things deck related), cook, barmen, and a volunteer helper (this is a person who has been on the cruise before and wants to come back and help out by doing all the skut work). Cabins were small, no surprise there, and held 4 people in bunkbeds. Two bathrooms on the ship; one for girls and one for guys. Each bathroom housed two stalls that held both a toilet and shower right next to each other.

food on the ship. amazing! considering we were on a boat with a tiny little galley, i couldnt believe some of the food. some of the things we ate; cereal and toast every morning, sausages, quiche, midday fruit plate, steak (nasty gross steak, but steak nonetheless), greek salads, garlic bread, corn on the cob, curried rice, and plenty of other tasty food.

these numbers will follow the photo of the map that you probably cant see.
1. Airlie Beach. the harbor and where out hostel was (http://www.ccy.com.au/area/airliebeach/)
(more specifically, the boat was located at Abel Point Marina)
2. Nara Inlet. we spent the first night there in hammerhead shark breeding grounds, or at least thats what some of the crew told us (http://www.ccy.com.au/area/narainletsoutheast/)
traveled during the morning to
3. Whitehaven Beach. (http://www.ccy.com.au/area/whitehavenbeach/)
traveled through the afternoon and part of the evening to
4. Luncheon Bay (http://www.ccy.com.au/area/luncheonbay/)
the next morning we snorkeled here and then scuba dived nearby
traveled during lunch to
5. Maureen's Cove (http://www.ccy.com.au/area/maureenscove/)
amazing snorkeling here
traveled the rest of the day and slept around
6. Blue Pearl Bay (http://www.ccy.com.au/area/bluepearlbay/)
toured around the waters on our way to
7. Stonehaven (http://www.ccy.com.au/area/stonehaven/)
then headed back to Airlie Beach.

the first time we were able to get off the boat was at Whitehaven Beach. This is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. the sand is 99.7%!q(MISSING)uartz. They say you can take a blowtorch to it and make glass. The sand is extremely fine. It gets everywhere. and i mean everywhere; sunglasses, cameras, clothing, hair, fingernails, etc. I think i have found some over a week later.

during the long sailing voyages there were only a few things that could be done; sleep, read, relax, talk to people, play board games, and thats about it. it was amazing. i usually am not good at sitting for long periods of time but this ship was so relaxing and recharging for me. I used the time to read The Count of Monte Cristo , and amazing book that i highly suggest to anyone who has the time to read it. i got very tan on the trip. but then the tan turned to burnt, and then burn peeled away, and now i am just a little tanner. i had a few days with raccoon eyes thanks to my sunglasses.

i got to go snorkeling. i havent done this since the fifth grade when my mom and i were dropped in jellyfish infested waters and i was stung over and over. traumatic experience that will no doubt come out on the therapists couch in later years. nothing that exciting about the snorkeling. the water didnt have great visibility and there weren't that many fish. but right after snorkeling i got to go SCUBA diving!

i am not certified and i have never done it before. i get on the diving boat and i am the only one who has never gone diving before (there were five people that were going to dive). the instructor (who had to have been younger than me) sits me down and goes through a five minute talk about the physics of diving (pressure, breathing, etc). he then puts the equipment on and throws me in the water. he tells me the only thing i am allowed to touch is the regulator (the thing i breathe out of) and my goggles. he tests my ability to breathe and if i can get rid of water in the goggles without taking them off then dives under the water. let me say that again... he gave me little to no instruction and expects me to dive under the water?!? well i do and freak out for the first minute or so until my breathing becomes normal. then the diving experience becomes amazing. beautiful coral colors, incredible fish, and i was breathing underwater. it is impossible to describe the feeling of diving, but i want to do it again and again. so incredible. i wish the pictures had turned out better. it was coral "mating" season, so the water was a little murky. there was one fish, maurie tass, brawnie tass, something tass... i dont remember the exact name. but this thing was huge, over 1m long. it has this giant knob on its forehead that you can pet. and the fish will turn into a puppy, rolling over in the water and whatnot. but i didnt get to pet it while diving.

Later that day, we got to go snorkeling again. This time was amazing. it was low tide, so the coral and fish were unbelievably close. there were times i was afraid to put my arms below my chest b/c i would hit coral. i saw the something tass again and got to pet it. but only for a little bit. since this was the second snorkel of the day, most everyone got tired early on and stopped. but billic and i kept going. we found an area where there were hundreds and hundreds of fish. there were so many that just moving our arms, we would touch fish. we were about a meter away from each other and i could barely see him b/c there were so many fish. it was incredible.

keeping with the animal theme... saw a bunch of cool creatures on the trip. two humpback whales as we were pulling into port. the second largest bird of prey in australia, some sort of eagle, a dolphin during a sunset, a huge iguana, these ants that you can eat (in some areas they are put into vodka and it creates a citrusy vodka taste), and an eagle ray (think manta ray but it was jumping out of the water).

there was a rope swing hanging from our ship and we were able to have a rope swing competition. whenever we would anchor, the other boats would stare in admiration. how often do you get to see a pirate ship? saw some other amazing boats. huge things with two jetskis on the back, a dining room table outside on the deck, dinghies bigger than most boats, grills on the back (but fancy looking grills, not the hillbilly kinds in michigan), and other stuff.

the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. there was a semi-successful mutiny. the captain didnt really resist, and ended up being tied to the mast. got to see some beautiful looking islands. didnt get to see all 74 of them though.

the other people on board... i met some really cool people on the ship. i also met some weird people.
-kylie (the cook), amazing chef. she also works at two restaurants.
-chris (the barman), kind of a tool. he was hitting on brooke most of the trip. but she got free drinks b/c of it
-inga (the volunteer), some of the prettiest eyes i have ever seen)
-John, Gast, Davey, Lottie- group of backpackers. John and Gast were brits, Davey was welsh, Lottie i dont remember. these four have been traveling together for awhile. they were in china for a few weeks, then thailand, and are headed to brisbane soon. good group of blokes. the three guys were always drinking, i couldnt believe how much they could put back. they also gave me a lot of crap for not drinking on the boat, but all in fun. these guys would say english phrases and i would have no idea what they were talking about. silly english.
-John, Michael, and Greg- dad, son, uncle. Greg was a creepy guy. drunk at night every night and just awkward.
-Dave, Clare- couple from brit. dave gave me plenty of shit for being american.
-Vicky, 25 year old girl who came here on her own. she had found out about the pirate ship and got so excited. she acted like a pirate for most of the trip.

unfortunately the trip did have to end and we had to leave.
after getting off the boat, it still felt like everything was swaying back and forth. really cool feeling but after 15 minutes of it, you get sick of it and want it to end.

our flight wasnt until the afternoon so i got to spend the day just walking around checking out the town and sights. there was an art fair thingy going on. kind of cool. i tried crocodile and chips- tasty. we headed back to the airport and waited to check in. going back a few days... Dan had lost his camera on the bus that took us to the marina. He tried calling the office, bus company, police, everyone possible, but to no avail. At the airport the same bus with the same driver pulled up. Dan ran on, and found his camera! After more than three days, it hadnt moved. how awesome?


upon arrival in brisbane i say goodbye to the other seven and head to melbourne. upon arrival i am completely exhausted and dont have the energy to make it to St. Kilda (the southern part of melbourne, the place i will be staying for the following week). i find the closest hostel and ask for a room. unfortunately, their system just crashed and the front desk people didnt know where there was an open room. they asked if i minded sleeping in a room that wasnt cleaned yet. i didnt care, some rubbish wouldnt bother me. i made my way up to the room and found a circular power saw, crowbar, drill, screws, pieces of wood, broken radiators, and other tools. this room wasnt unclean, it was under construction. but at least i got the room to myself. this hostel was by far the grossest i have ever seen, there wasnt even a bathroom on my floor.

clarification here... the melbourne trip was all for the Uni Games; a week long event for pretty much any sport. I organized our team together since Otto was an idiot and didn't want to do any work. a lawn balls team was also organized and stayed at the same hostel as us. Our soccer team had 15 guys all getting to Melbourne a little differently. and since i was the organizer, i was kind of in charge. meaning for a week, i had 14 guys asking me how to get places and where to go. mom and dad, i cant imagine you guys having to put up with that for 21 years. you guys rock.

the following day i make my way towards St. Kilda. I get horribly lost and end up staring at a map for a good five minutes trying to find out where i am and where i need to do and in what direction it is. Fortunately someone noticed me and helped me out. I finally made my way to St. Kilda Road, yay! What i didn't know is that the numbering system for the addresses starts twice. so depending on where you are, you might not be headed in the correct direction. and of course, i head in the wrong direction. i find the area where 333 st kilda should be, but i cant find the hostel. after a good 15 minutes walking around in circles, i discover i am a 20 minute tram ride away from where i should be. damn. eventually find the hostel and some of the other soccer guys. i pass out for a few hours and wake up so i can make it to a sports meeting. on the way i meet up with 50 other students headed to the same meeting. Unfortunately, the bus we needed to take didn't show up for another 30 minutes, so we all started walking. Little did we know that our destination was about 5km away. But some Aussie student offered to drive a few of us there- aussies are so damn nice. All in all it took me 40+ minutes to make it to this meeting, and the meeting lasted 10 minutes. kind of frustrating but no worries.

that night was the opening ceremony and i was to represent the USC team with Samantha (from lawn balls). there was a lot of pomp and circumstance with the whole thing. all of the reps from each team held a sign with their Uni name and walked to the front of the room of 7,000 students. Well Sam and I found that boring, so she and i decided to be a little crazier when making our way down the aisle. the crowd loved it. so did the rest of our Uni, they were going nuts in the stands.

the hostel. this place was incredible. better than some hotels that i have stayed in. rooms were clean, beds comfy, staff amazing, bathrooms clean, amazing kitchen (two ovens, 4 stove tops with 4 burners each, 3 toasters, 2 microwaves, 6 huge fridges, plenty of cupboard space, 24 other security cameras, a giant tv, and room to eat), great lounge, and located close to a tram stop. the only poor thing about the hostel was the rest of the guests. excluding other Uni Games participants, no one else was very friendly. learned something cool about our hostel. goes by the name of Cooee (if you ever find yourself in melbourne, stay there). "Cooee" is the call you yell out in the outback/brush if you are lost. Why you cant just yell "help", i dont know.

the rest of the week was usually the same routine. i would wake up first, and have to wake up the rest of the team. we would have brekky, which was provided by the hostel (though only for USC folks). sometimes shower in the morning. head over to the soccer field. play a game. then depending on our next game time either stay there or go back to the hostel and eat, maybe shower and sleep for a few hours. then head back to the field and play another game. then head back to the hostel, shower, eat, and sleep for a few hours. then have a few beers with the team and the lawn ballers and sometimes go out at night.

our team ended up winning twice, drawing three times, and losing three times. we ended up placing 8th out of 14. not great, but better than we have done in previous years at the Uni Games. the team that won our division, we tied with. the team that took second, we lost 1-0. there was one really good game that is worth mentioning. we were down 2-0 at halftime. the team was depressed and you could tell that everyone had kind of given up. after some words at halftime and a quick goal in the beginning of the second half, our team perked up. we played better, ran faster, hit harder. and b/c of it we made it 2-1. then the other team scored again making it 3-1. damn. but somehow we kept trying and trying and scored again! 3-2. we tried even harder and scored again! 3-3. we drew that match but it felt like a win. i played decently throughout the week considering i havent played competitive soccer since senior year.

our team was mentioned in a newspaper! we had over 11 nationalities on our team and by the time we were interviewed we didnt have an aussie on the team. i cant find the article anywhere but here is the transcript from the article, and the picture from the article is towards the top of the page.
-start article-
Football is one of the most multicultural sports there is, and this was certainly on display at Fawkner Park in South Yarra, Melbourne today as part of the 2008 Australian University Games (AUG) Deloitte Football Men’s Division 2.

In action on the field was the University of Sunshine Coast (USC) - self proclaimed "Team UN" - who have players representing 11 different countries.

Most of the team are international students in Australia for one semester, and come from as far as Zimbabwe.

"We all played in our home countries, and started training twice a week on the Sunshine Coast", says Canadian star forward Dani Noriega. "We found out about the Games, and Malcolm (team captain) made it happen for us."

Team captain, American Malcolm Campbell, could not speak highly enough of his international teammates, and points out his star players.

"Philipp and Dani are definitely our key players. Philipp is the play maker, and Dani is the scorer."

His words rang true in today’s exciting game against the University of South Australia (USA), with Dani getting an early goal in the first two minutes of play. After some fancy footwork and a second goal from German Philipp Havermann, USC led at half time. One more goal from the German in the 2nd half sealed the deal, with USC winning 3 -1.

The team is proud of their international roots, and Noriega thinks it’s what makes them unique. "We have the most fun out of any team, I can guarantee you that," he said.
-end article-
kind of cool that i was mentioned in a newspaper in Australia. Just wish i could have found the actual article. oh well. and by the way, the goal that was scored on us that game... i may have taken someone down in the box that resulted in a penalty kick.

playing 2 games of soccer a day for three days then two more games in the next two days for a total of eight games takes a lot out of you. most of our team got injured somehow. i bruised up one of my feet so much that it couldnt fit into my sandal. and thanks to the horrible playing fields, scrapped up one of my legs on a slide tackle. the fields were shoddy. sand everywhere. one of the fields had a raised cricket pitch in the middle of it.

lawn ballers. now this is a drinking sport. they are actually allowed to drink while playing. "the drink balances out the weight of the ball", as one of them put it. these guys would start drinking around 11am and wouldnt stop till 3am. i dont know how they did it. we were able to make it to one of their games. its like one big party btwn the teams. USC and Griffin Uni got along so well that they "joined" together. Griffin University of the Sunshine Coast (GUSC). clever.

it wasnt until thursday that i finally had enough energy to make it out to the city (we only had one game that day). melbourne is an awesome town. i loved it. the trams were able to take us almost anywhere. And two other guys and i spent a few hours just walking around and seeing the sights. i got to eat a sylvaki! i havent had one in many many years. we walked for 20 minutes just to find one. and it was definitely worth the wait. delicious. melbourne is like a warm michigan. the weather would change constantly. one morning it was bright and sunny and hot, later in the day it became cloudy, rainy, and very cold. it cracked me up how similar it was to MI, except there were palm trees everywhere.

the final day it ended up raining, pretty heavily, during the final match and medals ceremony. one of our guys, Philipp, was placed on the "green and gold" team. this is the paper team of the best 15 players out of both divisions (we were in Div 2). Philipp was one of 2 guys to out of div 2 to make it on the team. This guy is an amazing player. He can embarrass any player one on one. its scary how good he is. but whats really scary is he only plays in 4th division back in germany.

five of us make the 22 hour car ride home. we left around 6pm and kept driving until 4pm the next day. i got to drive! kind of a weird feeling at first. fortunately, i started off on the highway so there wasnt much of a difference btwn the two countries. the strangest thing was just getting used to having new focus points (making sure i didnt veer too far into one lane). later on in the drive i drove through a town and got to navigate through actual traffic and turnabouts. i enjoyed it. the guys in the car made fun of me plenty of times. i ended up using the side view mirror a lot instead of the rearview mirror, i felt like the rearview was placed farther away than i was used to. there were two times when i had to make a quick lane change and both times i reverted back to my old driving habits and tried to hit the turn signal but ended up turning on the windshield wipers. other than that, i was a good driver. very weird to be driving and see 130 down on the speedometer. we made it home safe and sound though.

overall i had such an amazing time. huge thanks to the padres, especially for bailing me out when i needed it.

random thing... a lot of people think i am australian. several of the guys from the soccer team thought so. and became very confused when i told them i was american. i had to show them my drivers license to prove it. same thing when i was in melbourne. i think i have a very american accent.
now, when i was on the cruiseship, everyone knew i was american, b/c of my accent. when i told them that some people think i was an aussies they couldnt stop laughing.

links to pictures...
plane ride, airlie beach, cruise
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2238676&l=21cbc&id=22412632

cruise, sunset, sunrise, rope swing competition, proserpine airport
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2238677&l=cf5fc&id=22412632

scary hostel, hanging out with USC folks, soccer stuff, tour of melbourne
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2238678&l=a4acc&id=22412632

making our way home
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2238679&l=5c9f8&id=22412632

underwater camera
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2238916&l=4aa82&id=22412632

if you made it all the way through, thank you. i hope you enjoyed reading.

thanks much,
malcolm
[e-mail]

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Photos

Whitsunday Cruise
the journey we took

Soccer Team
this is the picture taken for the newspaper article