This is getting a bit ridiculous: each new activity seems to inspire a
dozen ideas for different adventures. Today's expensive, rewarding
expedition is canyoning. Basically, it's the hikes and swims my
family and I enjoy at Seven Tubs and Rickett's Glen taken to the
extreme. We're not just hiking trails and dipping into the occasional
pool. Instead, we're decked in full wetsuits, helmets, and climbing
harnesses made specifically for canyoning complete with carabiners and
some descending device that I think is called a figure 8. as we
rappel (called "abseiling" here) down / through ginormous waterfalls.
Aside from it being a bit chilly even with the wetsuits, this is just
about as close to an ideal activity as I can imagine. From Rickett's
Glen's many falls to accessing otherwise secluded beaches by the
Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road, my mind's reeling with the
possibilities if I get my own canyoning gear and gain proficiency.
I played rugby for not even one full semester during college, and that
was more than long enough for me to learn that it's one painful sport.
Within minutes of my first time in my first game, I managed to chip
multiple teeth. Think American football but without the pads. I
can't recall meeting a single rugby player without at least 1
concussion.
I bring this up because rugby is an obsession here. Especially
lately: New Zealand's All Blacks have beaten the English-Irish Lions
in a series of several games here. People take their rugby so
seriously that enough Brits are here for the games to significantly
increase the hostel prices. For me, one of the bigger mysteries of
the universe is why fans of a sport where men are regularly kicked in
the head with metal spikes interact so peacefully that the only
crime-related headline they've drawn is praise from a local police
chief for their good behavior. Keep in mind that we're talking about
the same England whose soccer thugs got so violent that the country
was actually suspended from some international league. Before we
start drinking too heavily, one of my newfound English buddies
explains it like "rugby is a hooligan's sport watched by gentlemen,
and foodball is a gentleman's sport watched by hooligans." Compared
to this same guy later diving chest-first onto the cement and me
climbing and running into various streetside items towards the
conclusion of our drunken night, this explanation almost makes sense:)