September 24th, 2005 – Aussie Rules

Saturday we went to Bondi for a relaxing day on the beach. There were tons of surfers and skate boarders all out in numbers for the great weather. We read, slept and lounged for a good portion of the day and then headed into town to catch some of the footy game. The Australian Football Finals (AFL) were in Sydney on Saturday afternoon and we hit up the closest sports bar to catch the 1^st half. Although it took most of the first quarter to figure out the rules of the game, we left the first half with the Swans having a commanding lead over Western Australia. At home we caught the last part of the fourth quarter and found out that they had not scored a point since we’d left and were now slightly behind WA. With their newest supporter freshly installed in front of a blurry TV in our living room, the Sydney Swans capitalized and pulled away with a narrow victory after almost a record breaking comeback for the other guys.

That night we succumbed to our temptation for Indian food after a week of Pasta. Not having previously found a descent place, I took it upon myself to go exploring for one. I went for a jog and discovered the Sydney University campus and a trendy part of Glebe, through which I hit the jackpot and discovered 3 restaurants with take out. I continued my run back towards Ultimo and stumbled across the Greyhound race track in Wentworth park just blocks from our house on race day. The lights were shining and the dogs were roaming the park in preparation for the races. I quickly grabbed the nearest authoritative figure and figured out when the races were held and for how much. For 5$, I’m sure we’ll be hitting the tracks one of these weekends down the line.