August 9, 2004

Finally, the long awaited trip has arrived. I was told before signing with the Hokies that Australia would be the next big trip taken, and I have been waiting ever since to experience a different culture and different part of the world - finally the opportunity is here. After practicing for two weeks in preparation for the five games that we will play while we are in Australia, we left on August 7^th to experience something, that for many of us, will be a once in a life time opportunity.

It was a full days travel. We pulled out of Blacksburg at 11 a.m. on Saturday to begin our journey to the "Land Down Under." First we had a three-hour bus ride to Douglas Airport in Charlotte, N.C., followed by a flight to Dallas Texas, and then on to Los Angeles where our first most interesting and thrilling occurrence happened. We had just got off the plane from Dallas, and were all in search of something to eat and drink in the LAX airport before our long flight to Australia. As we were walking down the terminal, we looked over and saw Lloyd Bank. For those that don't know, he is a rapper from G-UNIT, and he and his body guard were about to board their flight. Some of the players did try to take a picture with him, however, they informed us that he can't take photos with anyone. Well, you better believe someone in our group got a picture of him whether he liked it or not. Not only did we see him, but some of the players and coaches saw Pete Rose sitting in a cafe, autographing something for a little boy. Even though we had just seen a couple of famous people in the airport, nothing could prepare us for the flight from Los Angeles to Australia. It was a fourteen hour flight, in a plane that just wasn't made for women with long legs. So, needless to say our legs were a little cramped by the time we got off that plane. Our flight left at 11:45 p.m. Pacific, August 7^th, and we did not exit the 747 jet until 7 a.m., August 9^th after crossing the International Date Line. One interesting point is the fact that we skipped right over Sunday, August 8. There is a 14 hour time difference between Sydney and Blacksburg which has been a somewhat difficult adjustment for everyone.

After arriving in Sydney, a total of 31 hours of travel was completed, and needless to say we were thrilled just to have no more planes to get on. Next stop was customs, where we ran into a few minor problems. Some examples would be taking photos in the customs line where apparently it is FORBIDDEN; don't ask why because the security guard really didn't explain after yelling at us. Also, we were not informed that fruit wasn't allowed passed the guards until a guard told one of the players that she might take a disease into their country through an apple, and that he could fine her $200 dollars. Thus, the apple was freely given to the guard and we were then on our way.

Since we could not check into our hotel until mid-afternoon, we met our tour guide, Chris, who showed us around Sydney on the tour bus. We saw beautiful and expensive buildings overlooking the harbor (some belonging to Nicole Kidman and Russell Crow); scenic views of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge (some of the people in our group will be climbing this 50 story bridge on Wednesday); Bondi Beach, where we got to stop and eat breakfast in a small shop and see the beautiful beach where there were several people in the cold water trying to surf the Australian waves. Next we went to The Rocks to stop and view the rather expensive shopping district and then on to Darling Harbour, our last stop before coming to our beautiful hotel in downtown Sydney. We took plenty of pictures and video taped as much as we could for the day, and now we are all trying to keep our heads up enough to go to dinner together. We are all still trying to adjust to the time change, where its 3:30 am at home it is 5:30 p.m. in Australia as of this writing. So far the trip has been an eye-opener to all of us, and has allowed us to see a beautiful place that has just as much history as we do in America. Tomorrow we will tour the Sydney Opera House early in the afternoon and play our first game tomorrow night (Tuesday) against HSE Blues, a club team from Sydney.