Jordan Thinks Aussie Rules!

So that's me at the end of the game in the Gabba. But my aussie rules football experience started early, 9am in fact, and my coach was a 5 year old boy named Jared.
Kylie's sister Natalie came over with the two kids she nannies for. The 6 of us walked over to the local park to play some footey. (note, all spelling is strictly phonetic. lol) We kicked around for about an hour, and they tried their best to teach this poor Yank about "handballs", "drop punts", and "torpedos". The scoring and the goals and points, it's all rather a bit much to take it, but this early morning lesson went well towards my understanding later that night at the pro game. Did i mention Jared is 5? He's gonna be a hoss when he gets bigger, he's got the build and I can picture him out on the field when he's older.
The preparations for the game continued with a search for some Brisbane Lion gear. I got myself a new jumper and a scarf to let everyone know which team I was barracking for. Translation: got myself a blue jacket and scarf with the Brisbane logo etc to let everyone know who I was cheering for.
By then it was close to time to catch the bus into the city and the game: Brisbane Lions vs the Melbourne Demons.
Home game for the Lions, and James was one of the very few Demon fans.
Now some of you will know what this next few comments mean. I go to UK, I love being down in the Eruption zone of Rupp Arena. I and many of my friends feel it's our JOB as a fan to get into the heads of the other players and refs if we can. I'm proud of Rupp being known as such a hostile place to play--and the warnings and letters the student fans have recieved due to our cheers and jeers.
So i thought this would be much the same. NOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo it was not! Defenitly a family affair, laid back and though there is cheering, some of the more wicked comments and jeers where things like "Ackka couldn't catch a flu in winter!" "And you bloody blind ref!"
I was in no way that tame. I learned to reel myself in some, but i was defenitly letting fly with both barrels most of the time. We had amazing seats, and the goal ref had my jeers constantly in his ears, and though i was able to keep it mostly clean, I was still able to have the majority of the crowd enjoying my excitement and jeers. It was a blast! And getting everyone fired up, and seeing the two teams battle it out on the field was a defenite highlight!
I have to say as well, that these guys hit, and hit hard. Football with no pads. I'm surprised every single one of them isn't taken off the field in stretchers throughout the game! Whether you know the rules or not, any sports fan can tell when two teams are playing their hearts out giving it their all. And that is what makes any game fun to watch.
Brisbane took the lead early, held it till almost the 4th quarter and then there was a hard fought game that found the Melbourne Demons up by 2 goals (12 pts) with only a few minutes left to go. Brisbane was able to score a goal, and the stadium shook with the shouts, and then it was a hard fought battle for the final two minutes of the game. Though Brisbane lost to the Demons in the end, i was screaming myself hoarse, along with many others, and having the time of my life.

Ever have a meat pie? Maybe you may know it as another name? how about: maggot pie, dogs eye and a horses ass, or maybe just a mince meat pie? There good, just don't think too long about what's in them.

Ride on Australian Transit

Notice I'm looking a little unkempt? That ride on the city cat, standing on the bow with the wind whizzing all around ya, defenitly messed up my hair.

Ah, but cousin Russel, he works part time with the Aussie bus transit system. And James and I got to go on his route tonight. I hadn't been on a bus in... well, a long time. And let me tell ya, if you want to get outta Brisbane on a friday afternoon, the bus is the way to go. They jump right on the "bus way" which is only for buses, and do about 60 K/hr while the typical roads out of town are jammed with bumper to bumper traffic. You may get a little cramped, but if you get a Yank like me onboard there's plenty of entertainment to keep you distracted.
I mean, looking back on it now, what would you think if a random passenger on the bus walked up to the driver and bluntly asked, 'when are we getting there?, no wait, Where the hell are we going?" And that was only the beginning.
I did learn a lot about the transit system, and what it means to get the "scenic route" at no extra charge (bus drivers will occastionally get lost, i mean, take "the scenic route"). It was fun re-telling the days adventures to Russel, and i guess the passengers notice my incredulity at the $30 steaks. They don't know too much about hungry Kentucky boys, 'cause when i made the suggestion of finding some Wallabee (apparently they're like our deer when it comes to roads and cars. i.e. they become roadkill) and making some rather lovely marianated and FREE steaks they just laughed. Yep i was a regular jim dandy on this trip!
Wrapped up the night with a aussie pizza and a movie at James' place. Oh ya, an aussie pizza, ham, onions, pineapple and eggs. Tasted pretty good.
Aussie rules football tomorrow, gonna join in the crowd. Brisbane Lions vs the Melbourne Demons. Good seats, row G, so like 7 rows off the field. Close enough to watch the teeth get knocked out! I got to get my beauty sleep, it's almost midnight here, so just about 10am back in the states. So my system is telling me it's around 4 or 5 in the morning. lol

Brisbane

So I'm not entirely sure how many miles, , Kilometers James and I walked, but I'm going to say it was around 5 or 6 kilometers. So 3, 4 miles?
Parked downtown Brisbane, got to see where James worked. It was kinda shady, if you've ever seen Vin Diesels "Boiler Room", very similar. Checked out the shopping areas, just taking in the local flavors at Queen Street Mall, more like an open air shopping center. Then made our way into the historical city mint, which is now a casino. No worries though, just went to look, haven't lost any of my hard earned money.
Walked across the bridge to SouthBank, kinda like a boardwalk with shopping but mostly restaurants and places to picnic. Good view of the city. Grabbed some lunch at one of the taverns, a steak burger was $15!!! A real steak is something around $30. Ouch. But with lunch had to have a good Australian beer, a Carlton Draught. Bit early to be having a pint, wasn't even noon yet, but "when in Rome...."
Toured the botanical gardens, the trees were interesting as well as some of the birds, rather noisy though.
One of the highlights was riding on the "City Cat" which is a river cab service. I've got a video of it I may try and post later. But for now i've got a pic. It was a 2 1/2 hour ride just up and down the river. Chance to check things out and see the city and the surrounding neighborhoods. That was the end of the day in Brisbane, but we did go to Mt Cootha for the view of the city.

Catching up

So from the time I walked off the terminal, through the hair raising (for me) drive on the wrong side of the road to James' house, and dinner it was a non stop chorus of voices telling stories, catching up on both sides of the families. In fact, I learned more in ten minutes with my cousin Russel about my Grandmother and the Australian side of the family than I ever knew.
Apparently some ancestors of mine, the Beverage brothers had a nack for "tickling trout". Which is the art of catching fish barehanded using a "tickling" technique. Now some of that is still in my blood, though I may not "tickle" trout out of the streams, I'm pretty nifty with a fly rod!

Dinner was good as well, true fish and chips and some sea scallops. And finally got to me James' wife Kylie. Who is kinda quiet but James' makes up for it. She's not on holiday, but it is almost the weekend, so she'll be out with all the rest of the family to introduce me to Australian life.

For now, off to see the city of Brisbane. Tomorrow we've got killer seats for an aussie rules football game. That will be a saturday, oh man, what the heck happened to my wednesday? I left on Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Brisbane thursday afternoon. ??? lol

Finally made it!

Traveling on the fourth of July, cheapest ticket available, but I was also resigned to miss out on the festivities: our small town festival, the parade, the fireworks. What kid, and kid at heart would want to miss those?
But as my plane was taking off from LAX and climbed into the sky I couldn't help but notice all the fireworks bursting around Los Angelas. There was the large city display, but from my vantage point I was also able to watch the smaller neighborhood and personal fireworks display. It was a real royal sendoff for me. I hadn't missed out on teh fireworks afterall.
Didn't sleep much on the plane, rather uncomfortable, but i was able to make a few new friends on the flight and the layover in Auckland NZ. Talking with a family from Gainesvill (fl) as well as a girl studying abroad with boston college I was able to pass the time and actually had a lot of fun talking to them both.
We arrived in Melbourne 20 minutes behind schedule, and my connecting flight to Brisbane left in about an hour. I naively thought i could make it. HAH! Customs took an hour and half to get through, and they were non to happy to see me munching on slim jims while waiting in line. Beef is a big no no to bring in here. Missed the connecting flight but caught the next one out. Oh ya, side note, there pay phones are bloody impossible here!
The flight to brisbane was cake, about 2 hours, and after a 12 hour or so flight from LA that was defenitly easy as cake.
Walked out of the terminal and there was the whole Aussie clan to meet me. Russel, Lydia, James and Crystal. The adventure was about to truly begin.

The Countdown...

Jordan is scheduled to land in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia this Thursday 6th July at 12:10pm local time.

Jordan says: "aight. about 14 hours or so till i get to catch my first plane. kinda feels... like before christmas... all antzy and excited, trying to wait through the night, but time seems to pass by so slowly."