MN Freeze,

G'day everybody! I hope everyone is doing well back home and excited for nationals. This is actually my last day in Mt. Barker, Western Australia before I begin my long journey home. We finished up our footy season in fourth place in Great Southern Football League (GSFL) and it was a really fun season. We won a few games along the way and it was pretty cool because I was able to notice some improvement from week to week in how I played. I'm excited to get back and help the team out with training sessions and bringing a few new drills back. I'm especially excited for nationals too. I'm looking forward to catching up with everybody in the club and hearing about the MN Freeze's season and all of the crazy stories from the year as well.

MN Freeze,
     Good'ay MN Freeze! How ya goin? I hope everybody is enjoying their summer back in the states! Everything here in Western Australia is going great and as I am beginning to near the end of my trip and time is absolutely flying. We only have one round of games left before finals start. Our team secured our spot in the finals with a solid win over Mergen's team, the Denmark Magpies. With only four games left it's time to start locking stuff in and preparing for the first round of finals. Our footy games have been going okay as we're currently in fourth place in our five team comp, and we've beaten the third place team the last couple times we've played them. Our team has a lot of talent on it but throughout the season our fitness has let us down when we play the top two sides and we've only been able to put two or three quarters together against the top sides. Things are finally starting to come around fitness wise across the roster and we've been playing some good footy lately. I've been getting in a few 5K's a week down here so you guys whould be able to put in at least one during the week outside of training. We need to be ready for nationals this year. Speaking of nationals, I'm really excited about getting back and playing with you guys in Ohio! I'll be getting back to the cities on Tuesday, October 6th and I'll be looking to have a couple of kicks with you guys before heading of to Ohio.

MN Freeze,
     Good'ay MN Freeze! I hope everybody is awesome back in warm MN. Right now it's windy and rainy, and 10º C at the moment, and we have training in about an hour...reminds me of Colorado last October. Hopefully Ohio is a little bit warmer this year.

G'day Freeze, et al: 
Ever think Minnesota could be warmer than Australia?  Well when I was back a few weeks ago, the warm Minnesota weather was a treat.  As Tiger stated in his previous post, it’s getting cooler, the autumn is here and winter is around the corner.  Last week we had about 4 full days of rain, which sounds like it is needed in Minnesota more than here.  People here say they have never seen snow, but last week’s storms brought us some BB-sized hail too! Footy is becoming interesting with the addition of the bad weather, our evening trainings under the lights are reminiscent of the USFooty National Championships in Colorado Springs this last fall.  Unfortunately the weekend day games will equal last year’s tournament as winter rolls in.  Welcome to Denmark, Western Australia! Read more »

Wow, some things in life occur suddenly. Although I made this decision before I decided I was interested in going to Australia for a year, it’s weird to think I am going home right now for my Grandfather’s funeral. When my mother called 19 hours ago, when it was 4am back in Minnesota, I knew the news wasn’t going to be pleasant. Basically, she said, “Grandpa passed away”. Read more »

The job is going well, working hard (or hardly working) into my seventh week at Supa IGA here in Denmark. I have got to say it has exceeded expectations, although I don’t know if I had any expectations before arrival because I was not too informed. I just knew I was going to be ‘doing accounts for the Albany Supa IGA while working in Denmark’. Since I have begun and learned what I AM doing for the next year, let’s see if I can put this into perspective for you. Read more »

Good'ay MN Freeze!

I hope this letter finds everybody in warmth and happpiness. The seasons are a changing down here in southern Western Australia. It's starting to get a bit cooler and the days are getting shorter as autumn wears on. It's been a little while since my last update and a lot has happened since then. I have since begun playing in the local golf league here in Mt. Barker which is every saturday afternoon. The golf is a bit different down here as most of the course in the country have sand greens instead of grass greens and I'm still getting used to playing on them. Also on saturday mornings I've been helping out with the local Auskick program, which is a junior developement program for kids from ages 6-10. It's a lot of fun to get out with the little tikes in the morning and kick the little footy's around. It's pretty cute as they always are asking me to talk with my accent, so I just ask it right back for them to talk in theirs. Work is going pretty good too as I am still working with the local brick paver here in Mt. Barker and we've been doing quite a few random jobs from driveways, to chimney's, to pathways. I should be getting out to the vineyards in a couple of weeks to start pruning the vines.

G'Day,

So, I was just cleaning out my inbox and found Tony Fairhead's response to this email, and read it through about four times now.  I find it interesting looking back to my first thoughts of this unknown adventure, at a time when I was only expressing interest in the opportunity. Read more »

 
G'day,
 
4 hard weeks of training have finally culminated, and I have my first game today! I am more than excited, moreover, I am getting the start on the Seniors team as Ruck. We’ll see how we go. From weekly kicks at SJU beginning in January, to a first week up in Fremantle where Tiger and I took a 9-mile RT run to Cottesloe Beach and had 5 trainings between the Yankaroos and CBC Fremantle Football Clubs, to three intensive weeks of training down here with my team the Denmark-Walpole Magpies…I hope I am ready!
  Read more »

 
Hey Freeze,
 
Back in Melbourne Friday afternoon was a great tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) where we got a chance to step into the clubhouses, locker rooms, press conference room, the prep room for the cricketers and ultimately we stood on the lawn of the MCG (should have stole a blade of grass)! As well, we took a moment while touring the Long Room to have a seat in the leather couches. Quite the photo opportunity it was, to sit in a seat where only Cricket Club members who have been a member for over 50 years can sit to watch a game. Not planning on paying $99,000 a year for membership, I decided to take a picture! So do a little math, 50 years X $99,000 or a $15 tour of the MCG to sit in the Cricket Club’s leather couches, I choose the latter.