Tasting, Climbing, and Footie

GOAL!!!!!

This past weekend Amy and I ventured forth to try out 3 new things.

These lines would move faster if everyone would push harder

The first was trying the offerings of the various restaurants in Manly at the Manly Food and Wine Festival. We ended up trying out some Thai food and a couple of glasses of wine before giving up on the lines. the food was good though and it was situated right on the beach which made it a great stroll. We sat on the seawall and watched surfers ride the waves and tourists roast in the sun.

Spiderman's got nuthin' on me

We followed up the food and wine fest with some exercise and ventured out to the rock climbing gym Climbfit. We went with some friends, some of whom were veterans. Amy had never tried this before but took to it well once I tricked her into thinking that I wouldn't let her fall. Yeah, yeah, I'm watching. Just jump already.

Do a flip!!!

We capped off the evening with a barbecue of entirely too much food and just enough beer and wine. I have been eating leftover chicken and sausages all week. Mmmmmm....

Sunday's new venture was an Aussie Rules Football game. You may have seen this on Sunday afternoons in the NFL offseason on ESPN2 or some other random, space filling time. Taken at a glance the sport resembles a pack of large men chasing a greased football around a gigantic field, occasionally kicking it and frequently waylaying eachother with reckless abandon. Upon closer inspection.....it pretty much looks the same only even more awesome.

Go for the weak spots- eyes, throat, groin, etc.

I simply cannot understand why this sport is not more popular. The athletes are all gigantic and run miles every game, the gameplay is like a cross of keep away, soccer, and one of the better scenes from Braveheart. Also of note is when the ball goes out of bounds, it is returned to play by a referee who faces away from the players and blindly chucks the ball as high and hard as he can back onto the field. The only real oddities are that it is played on a cricket oval and the game length - 2 hours. Neither of these however should be a real impediment to its growth. Seriously, people are choosing cricket and baseball over this? There is no justice in the world.

Guy on the left is clearly throwing an elbow