Oye Mates!
This weekend was the much anticipated Cowboys Game! It’s HARD to find a deal in australia….it’s actually such a bummer…but a North Queensland Cowboys rugby game is only $14 for a student!!! Yay! So we played the Newcastle Knights (i have no idea where Newcastle is…lol) and we went to watch!
But first, we were all itching to spend a day at the Beach, so went around midday to the Strand. Despite it costing $4 and taking nearly a full hour to get to the Strand (which on a map is only 10 miles away!) the beach is SO NICE. If you know me, I just love the beach, but this was an extra nice trip because it the Strand had such a nice breeze. The perfect amount of wind kept the temperature feeling closer to 80 when it was really 96. So laying out and tanning was actually possible. (I actually have THE WORST tank and shorts tan lines it’s sad). Plus, there were actually some big waves, so where as last time we could stand up in the farthest end of the swimming area, today we couldn’t even touch the bottom two meters from the shore! The water was so much more refreshing and it was just THE PERFECT day. We swam, we tanned, I pretended to read a little and then we grabbed some food on the way back home. We stopped at Zambrero’s which is the closest thing they have to a Chipotle here, and by that I mean it’s double the price and 1/4 as good. But it totally hit the spot. While waiting for the bus back to Rotary we ran into some other Rotary kids who were also going to the game tonight, so small world!
The Strand
Because nothing we do is easy, there were dramas from the start with this game. I was the first to buy tickets online and had the system reserve seats for my friends. Everyone had bought tickets and we realized that the system never sent Micaela and I out ticket PDFs. Great. So we had to wait in line at the gate to get them after we spent a good 30 min trying to find parking. Anyways, we made it to our seats just in time for kickoff!!
Footy, or rugby, is beyond confusing. But after watching a whole game I get the gist. It’s too bad the stadium was rather elementary…think small college/extra large high school. They had two mini-jumbotrons but placed in awkward positions, so it was hard to tell what was going on when the players weren’t on your side of the field. But nonetheless we were up 14-4 before the half. At halftime we grabbed XXXX beer (the major aussie brand) for $7 and some hot chips for $6….and we we’re set. The game went fine until the last few mins when we lost it 😦 apparently the Cowboys are the opposite of the Seahawks and they lose it in the last two minutes after being up the whole game. Too bad.
Cowboys Game
We got back to the car and spend AN ENTIRE HOUR trying to get out the parking lot. It was a good thing our phones still had battery and we could have a dance party in the idle car to keep us from passing out from boredom.
Eventually we made it back to Rotary where we just chilled for the rest of the night. Luke and Jimmy came over and we all just stayed up drinking and talking and before we knew it, it was 5am. We got randomly excited to see the sunrise, so we stayed awake another hour to catch the first rays. The mornings are without a doubt my favorite time of day. The majority of fauna is out, birds chirping like crazy, some roos in the grass, and of course it’s the coolest temp of the day (and by that I mean closer to 82 rather than 102). We walked down to the common room and played ping pong for a while until we got hungry. We came back to our block and made a team brekky of scrambled eggs and waffles with the waffle iron we found hiding under our sink! We were all so tired so we slept the entire day (whoops!). I woke up around five pm….
You know you have a good night with good people when you can stay up talking forever and actually not notice hours and hours going by 🙂
This week marks my first major assignment due (eek!) so I actually have to do some schoolwork for the first time since…..November?!?! Not looking forward to it, haha. But Tuesday is St. Patricks Day so I’m sure that’ll be a long night. Even so, I’m planning to still bike to the Strand again on Wednesday! Wish me luck!
PS – my new room decor came in!! When I decide where to put them up I’ll post updated pics
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