First full day in Oz: Rain, Roos, and Rugby

While dealing with the rain on the Routeburn track in the southern end of New Zealand, I was looking forward to visiting the Sunshine Coast in Australia, which boasts 300 days of sunshine per year.

It turns out that when you throw a couple of cyclones off the coast, the weather goes a bit sideways and the beautiful sunshine is interrupted every 30 minutes for a dose of rain. We still had fun, both indoors and out, regardless.

After a very wet run, Jay, Mindy, and I headed to Mooloolaba so that Mindy could pick up her race packet for the next day's triathlon, a huge event with about 5,000 age-group competitors and a world cup event in the afternoon for the pros.

We had a nice driving tour of the area in the afternoon, which included a stop at the local university to look for kangaroos. It seemed fitting that we found them at the athletic complex, on and around the track. Along the drive we stopped at Maleny Cheese factory, Lake Baroon, and Kondalilla National Park, home to the 84-meter Kondalilla Falls.

After picking up some more meat at the grocery store, Jay and Mindy grilled and steamed and baked up an Australian feast of pumpkin, corn, sweet potato, crocodile sausage, beef steak and kangaroo!

With very full bellies Jay tried to explain the rules of AFL rugby (Australian Football League) while watching a game on TV. It's an amazing game that features some of the most impressive athletes I've ever seen: most of the players play for the entire 2-hour game of nonstop action. Players need to be tough (tackling is legal), good with their hands, arms, and feet (drop-kicking is one of the ways to pass to a teammate), and able to run... and run... and run... It looks tough but really fun!

It was an early night to bed (around 9 p.m.) - we had to wake up at 4:40 a.m. the next morning!