One of the coolest things that we have had direct exposure to on our journey is the passion people have for Australian Rules Football, Rugby League, and Rugby Union (the game played for the World Cup). It all started in Mission Beach, where we saw the Rugby World Cup opening ceremonies on tv. After seeing one of the most amazing ceremonies I have ever seen, we watched the New Zealand All Blacks pummel Tonga 41 to 10. There just happened to be a New Zealander there amongst the Aussies and us Americans. After seeing how into the game they were, I only wished New Zealand was playing Australia so that we could see some head-butting between these guys! But as they say in Australia, no worries mate; we got to see that later near Melbourne when two guys were in each other's face over the Aussie rules football finals.

Aussie rules football (known as "footy"), is an adaptation of Irish Gaelic football and was invented in Victoria, not too far from Melbourne. Basically, the Irish got together with the Aborigines and came up with a game that us Americans would probably call a strange combination of soccer and football. Since the game started near Melbourne, it should be no surprise that it is definitely the biggest sport in the region. As I already mentioned, we saw how big it really is, especially with the playoff finals happening while we were there.

Unlike Victoria, people in Queensland are just as much, or more, into Rugby as Footy. However, they seem to be more into Rugby League than Rugby Union. I didn't even know there was a difference until we met an Australian high school teacher in our Mission Beach hostel who told us all about it. He was a former player himself in his youth, but is now simply using up his accumulated holiday time before retiring from teaching. We watched some of the Rugby League playoffs on tv and found out that because there are stricter rules about prolonged tackles, it involves a lot more running and ball movement than Rugby Union. This makes for a much faster and exciting game.

As for Rugby Union, well let me just say that it is just as much a religion in New Zealand as hockey is in Canada. We have been in Auckland for barely a day now, and have already been asked by at least five people, "Are you here for the Rugby World Cup?" There are literally thousands of people from all over the world who have come to be here to see the games at locations all over New Zealand. So, as you can imagine, Auckland has been quite congested. We got to experience the madness first hand last night when we attended a game at Northshore Stadium. We watched South Africa demolish Namibia 87 to 0! We had really good seats, about 12 rows up right between the field goal posts in the end zone. I loved watching the game since it was so fast paced and action packed. It's astounding how brutal the game is, especially considering they don't wear pads! Even though the game was very one sided, I can't put into words how awesome it was to see a filled stadium of fans sporting Namibia and South Africa colors, screaming, chanting, and singing all through the game!

~Jeff