Men's Lacrosse in Australia

The Bridge Climb

It’s hard to believe our trip is almost over, and this is our final day in Australia. It will certainly be tough to return to the cold Philadelphia winter after experiencing the Australian summer, but at least we did our last day right. During the morning we were free, and many of us went over to Paddy’s Market to purchase some final souvenirs. One group, on the other hand, took the opportunity to do the famous Harbor Bridge Climb. The Harbor Bridge is the bridge across Sydney Harbor that frequently shares equal billing with the Opera House on postcards, but the postcards don’t show that there’s actually a set of metal steps that run along the top of the arch of the bridge. From these steps, you get an incredible view of the city from a staggering 150 meter height.

After that, we boarded a ferry next to the Opera House for the 30 minute trip out to Manly Beach, a popular surfing area. We had a team surfing lesson scheduled, even though the conditions didn’t entirely comply. The rain from the day before was still lingering, but the swells were consequently as high as 4-5 feet and a wetsuit was more than enough to keep us going Read the rest of this entry »

The Seniors in Sydney

No offense to Melbourne, but Sydney blew our expectations out of the water. Sydney is just an hour and a half flight northeast of Melbourne and is the largest city in Australia with 5 million in the greater metropolitan area. At the airport, our new guide Carmel picked us up and, since we couldn’t check into the hotel yet, made the wise decision to drop us off at the beach. We got off at Bronte Beach and were assigned to take a 30 minute walk along the coast to Bondi Beach, and it didn’t disappoint. The trail wove through the cliffs along the water (by far the bluest water I’ve ever seen anywhere close to a major city) before arriving at Bondi, a mile-long stretch of beach packed with waterfront food shacks, countless sunbathers, and 4-foot waves. What a great first impression.

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Our final game with the National Team took place at 1pm on Sunday. The promised 110 degree heat was fortunately postponed to the next day. We came out strong early on and kept it tied until late in the first half before the Aussies pulled ahead. Alex Douglas ’12 lobbed a great pass to an open Myles Monaghan ’11 on a fast break for our first goal. Unfortunately, after the first half our opportunities dried up and the game got away from us. We closed up the series by exchanging gear and returned to the hotel for a free afternoon.

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Saturday was our second game with the National Team. This time, we slept in until breakfast and then jogged over to a nearby park for some stretching. Already, the heat was starting to build. Temperatures climbed past 90 degrees before we even got back to the hotel.

After stretching, we were free until our game at 7. We filled the time in a variety of ways; many of the guys headed back to the beach, now that they had mastered the tram system and could get there in minimal time. Several others went back to Queen Victoria Market and returned with plenty of gifts and souvenirs, including Australian Football apparel and boomerangs. A lot of other players just took the opportunity to rest up for what promised to be a demanding game. Read the rest of this entry »

Friday marked our first game with the Australian National Team. We woke up early and took a YarraTram (the streetcars that connect all of Melbourne) back over to Melbourne University, where we had a final walkthrough to cover our gameplan. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel for a big Australian breakfast and then we went over to the south bank of the Yarra for a tour of the cricket pitch. The pitch, also called MCG, is home to the Australian National Cricket Team, the Victoria Bushrangers Cricket Club, and four prominent Australian Rules Football teams. Aussie Football, unsurprisingly, is followed as religiously in Australia as the NFL is in America. It’s a much closer relative of rugby than American Football, but still has all the contact and action to pack the MCG full of 100,000 rabid fans for the finals. The tour took us through almost every part of the stadium imaginable, from the cricket equivalent of the batting cages to the Long Room, where 50-year members of the Melbourne Cricket Club could enjoy the matches in a rich, mahogany environment with a glass of champagne and a myriad of screens to follow the game. Unfortunately, the dress code for the Long Room is about as classy as you’d expect, so our guide informed us in a tongue-in-cheek manner that we were “by far the worst group that’s ever been let in.” Undaunted, we loaded up on AFL and cricket gear and returned to downtown Melbourne. Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry for the late start on the blog. We’ve had a busy couple of days since we arrived in Melbourne and it’s been hard to find a spare minute.

Our actual flight to Australia took an unexpected early turn after an unremarkable start. All of us arrived a day early to campus to prepare, before we all boarded a flight from Philadelphia to Dallas. In Dallas, we connected to a flight to LA where we would finally catch our flight for Melbourne. On the Dallas to LA leg, we even got a PA announcement from the pilot in honor of one of our defensemen who had never flown on a plane before. We’re all so proud of him. Read the rest of this entry »

Senior Ian Holmes will be bringing to life the men’s lacrosse team trip to Australia beginning January 4, 2010.