Day 0: Tuesday, October 13
Purpose: Celebrate entering my 30s with the trip of a lifetime to Australia, then New Zealand's North Island and back, and participate in my first World Championship race. I also want to have fun. To make good friends even better friends and to make new ones. And to finally meet some of my extended family.
Itinerary:
Itinerary:
- Depart for Adelaide Sunday, October 11 at 6 PM
- Depart for Auckland Monday, October 19th at 2 PM
- Return to US Sunday, October 25 at 6 AM
Goal: Stay awake all day till nightfall.
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| Least I had a whole row to myself on the plane! |
Activities:
- Day involved lots of relaxing and chilling. I had spent a couple days before travel trying to stay up as late as possible to aid my conversion to this time zone. It failed miserably. But all the sleep I got on the 14 hour flight helped me out, and I felt energized in the bright Australian sun. Plus I was in a new country. Who could sleep through that?!
- Met Maddie's family (Jenny, Wendy, and John) plus their puppy Gypsy, a real cutie patootie
- Went shopping to get a few essentials (peanut butter and jelly, to Wendy's delight)
- Spent evening at a park near CBD - Central Business District - of Adelaide (don't call it "downtown!") watching local practice 'cross races. They are organized into Cat A, B, C, D there. The women (although there are very few, which quite surprised me) don't have a separate race and ride with the boys in their respective categories. This is where I meet Jenny McP, Maddie's friend and an awesome racer (not to be confused with Maddie's sister Jenny). Jenny is hanging tough, pulling the boys around the race until the final loop, when she mysteriously disappears. Turns out she crashed, hard, and fell an other rider in front of her (at least he broke her fall?). She wasn't too bad considering, though she appeared to have some bruised ribs :( We drop her back at her place.
- Dinner with fam after. Jenny makes some delicious veg stir fry and even serves the little crispy Indian things my mom sometimes puts out - nice touch, that!
Notes: Luggage and bike did not arrive all day. Qantas swears it should be there by next day.
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