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Showing posts from June, 2017

Day 14: Last Day was a Blast, Yay!

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The last day of any vacation always has this pressure on it, more so than any other day. Most of the time this pressure is good, it stops you from going home with regrets about how you spent your time. I would have had regrets if I didn't go on another hike, so Tayla offered to take me to a spot with a waterfall and cliffs to jump from. I accepted and we set off on a journey to absolutely ruin the interior of her roommate's car. We took the dog to chase away other hikers I'm going to leave out a vast majority of pictures here for the sake of dramatic tension, also because most of it was taken on Tayla's GoPro and I'd rather let her reveal it. You guys will get the inside story, lucky you.  Or unlucky you, if you enjoy pretty pictures of nature. If that's more your style, just google "Waterfall", you'll find better pictures there anyway. The hike was more difficult than originally thought, which was indicated by the amount of hikers m...

Day 13: Time Travel Tuesday

*Writer's note. I neglected to take many pictures during this portion of the trip so this will be an exclusively text-based post. The day after this I took a lot of pictures so that will be a much different experience.* Tayla and I woke up in a scramble, an hour before checkout. I think that's mandatory when you're in a foreign country and you have a crazy night, everything sets up for the people to be like "OH shit! We need to freak out because if we don't leave by 11 then the CLEANING LADIES will show up and they will KILL US." I love how important it is for everyone to get out by check in time. You take a short shower where you have to choose between cleaning your body or your hair, you forget eight socks that you didn't even wear, they just fell out of your bag for some reason. You leave and check your pockets once over to make sure you got everything, then you check again, then a third time... then go back in anyway just to be safe. You sprin...

Day 12: Bringing down the house

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Alright, time to crack my knuckles and pump out some memories. My last full day in Sydney was a good one, even though, like many other mornings on this vacation, it started with a massive hangover. A wise man once told me: "The sign of a good night is a bad morning." An even wiser man once said "Fish and chips? Really? Alright, man, whatever you want" Milkshakes for breakfast makes it all the more disgusting This was the last breakfast I would have with the ol' squad. Even though I was bitching about my head and stomach problems throughout the entire thing, it was a nice way to end our little time together. We decided get together and actually be proper tourists, finding a nice spot along the water to get a picture. Unfortunately, we were directly in front of the sun so the picture was a little weird. Fortunatly, I was able to take enough selfies to actually capture the moment when they lose patience. She  was more well behaved the first 8 sho...

Day 11: Smash bros, Now for Adults!

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I'll say this in the beginning, if you arn't a Melee player then you won't fully understand what this post is about, at least the first half of it. Even if you don't really relate to Smash or the tournament scene or any of that, I hope you still get some sort of understanding of this world and think that it's at least a little bit cool. But let's be honest, it's cool whether or not you get it. The idea of traveling abroad for smash is a dream for every player. I'm no exception to this; often I picture a lifestyle where I can somehow afford to travel around the world playing melee. I'm nowhere near this goal, sadly, so when I travel for other reasons I make a distinct effort to find the local tournament scene and pretend like I'm sponsored. It's the best way to spend a vacation, honestly. Not even related to the game, it's so cool to just meet a bunch of new people and connect over a similar passion. Even better if you can kick their ...

Days 9 And 10: Hop, Jump, and a Skip to Sydney

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*Writers note* Im writing this three days behind. Due to the combination of an active schedule and a near consistent hangover over the last couple days it's been hard to find time to work on this entry. If you have been in agonizing anticipation then, well, I seriously feel bad for you. I also didn't edit this due to time constraints, so please send a message to me on FB if you see a spelling error so I can fix it. Thank you! Last morning in Narrabri! No!!! I finished my morning tribute of fighting with wifi for thirty minutes with a change of success. I got internet access! Aparently, at that exact moment, the verizon people fixed the internet of everybody in town, or something like that. Anyway, it was a nice little pick me up to an otherwise gloomy morning.  Mr and Mrs W. got home from their half days and we started getting ready to go. I requested we grab some of those kick ass wings on the way out but the B-Machine hooked me up with a plate when he got home. I app...

Day 8: What the Hell do we do in Narrabri?

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I woke up around 6 a.m. on a cool winter morning in the middle of bumblefu- er, Narrabri, Australia. I was warm In my bed with my blankets and space heater...but there was a problem. No Wi-Fi! I started hyperventilating and running circles around my room, knocking over pictures and other important personal mementos. I was about to wet myself when I heard people rummaging around in the kitchen. Sweet reprise! I dove headfirst out of my room in a frenzy. "WHERE'S THE WI-FI" I screamed, "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH IT?" Before I could finish my interrogation I felt the cold air brush up on my skin. It relaxed my fiery rage into a calm disappointment. "Its, uh, pretty cold too." I whimpered, "I need a blanket and the Wi-Fi password, please." "Our Wi-Fi is busted till tomorrow" said my pregnant sister Jacki. "They're fixing it all around town so it'll be spotty all day." My heart sank. As Jacki left for work I joined ...

Day 7: Mostly Complaining about Food

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G'day mates! Im a day behind and... you know what, I need to stop and apologize for opening with that. I'm disgusted with myself. Let's just get on with it. Waking up in the hotel feeling oodles better than the night before, I had high hopes for the day to come. After a ceremonial daily argument, Tayla and I decided to go downstairs and grab some breakfast at the hotel's buffet. The food was alright, it definitely was less flavorful than anything in the states. I guess it's because there's less salt in the food or something, a good change for some, but I missed my cholesterol-ridden breakfasts from home. Regardless, it was a full meal to start the day. It's like American food without the patriotism We needed to be at the airport at 2, but we were bored, so we asked our brother in law what we could do. He suggested a trampoline place called Skyzone and we were instantly on board. I was so excited that I took a shitty picture of the building out...