Gold Coast

I spent my first few days in Surfer’s Paradise wasting time in the ABF office trying to find things to do (the only thing of importance was a press release about the first ever IBAF (international baseball federation) rankings which put Australia at #10 and also helped me realize how little I know about international baseball). I watched a 20/20 cricket match on Tuesday night which is basically where they get 120 pitches to score as many runs as possible so the batters swing for the fences and it is over in 3 hours (basically cricket’s way of trying become less boring and closer to baseball)…I didn’t realize that the match was actually being played in Brisbane about an hour north of where I was staying and the half time ceremony was for cricket legend Matthew Hayden who had retired that morning after being left off the Australian team because he’s been sucking all season…but it was his home ground and it was a pretty big deal so I wish I could have been there (in other sporting news the Australian Open starts Monday and I’ll be in Melbourne and have already been offered to get hooked up with tickets so I’m pretty excited about that).

Thursday night I went out with the bloke I’m staying with, Andy Utting (Utz), who works for the ABF, played five years professionally in the US, and was on the 2004 silver medal team in Athens. Surfer’s is pretty happening with a countless clubs, pubs and bars and we did a good tour of most of them.

By Friday it was time to head to the grounds, the first two games were played in Redlands about 30 minutes from Brisbane and Sunday’s game was at Windsor just a short drive from the CBD (central business district…I just figured out this is what you’re supposed to call the downtown area). The only time I could get a ride was at 10am so I was at the field by 11am for a 7pm game in which I’d be doing the upstairs PA announcing. I really liked their setup with a balcony and tiered grass seating, and the guys that run the club were all cool. Chris Jarvis (Jarvo) was a 20 year old uni student majoring in event management who was working with his classmate Christie to run the whole event. The 2IC (2nd in command) was a 20 year old South African named Brad Erasmus who was cool so I hung out with him most of the afternoon “warming up” (aka drinking bundy (Bundaberg rum and coke)) and hanging out on the balcony watching the grass grow. The music dude was Dan “Nutzie” (never got his real last name) who was the first aussie to comprehend intro music forbatters, he was a 22 year old who had done a baseball tour in CA and gone to PacBell and Petco so he was a good running mate up in the press box. The game went well enough, as South Australia fell to 1-13 with another 10 run-rule loss…so I made the one hour drive back to Surfer’s Paradise to see what trouble I could get into.
Andy had to be up early Saturday, so I trekked it myself. Stopped by a couple of Irish pubs and started talking to these two girls with ozzie accents…turned out one of the girls was from Novato, CA and had been here less than a year and already married an Australian guy and apparently developed the accent. I talked to the them for a while and then started talking with their friend Jess who had studied at UMass and spent five years in the states. She was telling me how much she loved America and how I should do whatever I can to stay in Australia for the cultural experience. They were all in town from Brisbane for a music festival on Sunday called “Big Day Out” where like 50 bands play from 11am to 11pm (I’d be working Sunday afternoon but it sounded cool enough).

Saturday I had a rental car which afforded me some freedom (not too much though because the map directory was confusing and had a number of pages missing) so I followed the signs to Brisbane CBD. It’s a really modern/clean city center with a river that wraps all around it. I wanted to check out St. Lucia, the main campus of the University of Queensland, which is supposed to be one of the nicest in Australia. It reminded me a lot of UCLA with modern buildings that have the classic brick look and they had a number of nice sports facilities. I stopped for a few minutes to watch a game of cricket that was going on (my first experience with live cricket) but it was pretty much as boring as it is on TV so I moved on. It was about time to head to the field and I figured I’d get lost four times on the way so I left early. I was making good time and saw a sign for a national park 5km away so I turned off the main road and made my way to Venmoth National Park where I did a quick 2.5km walk along a creek (mainly trying to spot my first Koala). The only wildlife I saw were some huge spiders that I didn’t want any part of so it was a little disappointing but a good look at the lush forests of Queensland where they do get a good amount of rain. Saturday’s game was uneventful (same old thing as SA made an error in the 8th to blow a one run lead) but I made plans with Christie to go out to Brisbane after the game and crash at her place so I didn’t have to drive home and back for Sunday’s day game.We wandered around South Bank which was a modern looking “cultural” area that looked across the river at the CBD and then made our way to Kangaroo point (unfortunately no roo sightings on this night). We crossed over the bridge and went by some of the pubs and the casino…what I’ve failed to mention is that it was actually her boyfriend’s place I was crashing at and that he was out at the bars in CBD and she was avoiding meeting up with him because we were having a good time wandering around the city, on what could really only be described as a date. Anyway, we headed back home around 3am, where her bf stumbled in shortly after…luckily with nothing incriminating going on. The next morning I was on my way to Windsor when she called to invite me to go with her and the bf to Byron Bay for Sunday and Monday night…sounded pretty awkward but I couldn’t really pass up a chance at free accommodation in Byron Bay which from what I’ve heard is the hippie capital of Australia. Oh yeah SA lost 2-1 on Sunday to finish the season at 1-15…tough.