TaKN’ GOLD DOWN UNDER
Off to Australia!
Australia, the beginning of our international adventure and we had a hefty 30-hour travel day in front of us and within the first hour we already run into a problem… our first flight was delayed. Because of this we would have missed our connection in Dallas, so we rebooked our flight and then that one was also got delayed as well. No worries though, we had a very long layover (like 8 hours) in LAX. We walked through the entire airport, scouted out all the outlets, places to eat, coffee to drink, and hallways to take walks through. We played cards, stretched, did some band work, walked, made bets, watched volleyball, and read books. Literally anything to pass the time.
When we finally left LAX, I was asleep within the hour. We were each given three seats to ourselves, so we were able to lay horizontally, and both fall fast asleep. It had been a long day and we were so gracious for the extra space to stretch out. The only time both Kristen and I were up at the same time on the plane was during the last hour. We kept missing each other on our frequent bathroom trips but we would not stay up long as we were exhausted. To be honest, I was dreading the flight because everyone was talking about how long it was. We landed and it was the morning of the next day. Crazy to think that when we crossed the international date line that we literally did not have a March 26, 2022, day and now we get two April 4ths. The time change really made it difficult especially when talking with family and friends and they would ask “what did you do all day? I haven’t heard from you” – because its 6:30 AM and we just got up here!
Best purchase of the trip: an umbrella
The first few days… rain, wind, and more rain. There was a torrential downpour, and it would always be worse when we would try and walk to dinner or the grocery store. One thing we did not pack and will now never not pack is an umbrella and a rain coat. It was dinner time, pouring raining, and there were no ubers to be found, so we had only one option… walk in the rain and through the rivers (aka sidewalks) to get food. It was so bad that we sat down at the dinner table, and I had water swooshing around in my tennis shoes.
As we all know, Kristen and I are very new to the international scene. I was constantly checking my emails to make sure that we were not missing any meetings. We took our COVID tests and it was official. We were cleared and ready to play. I had been watching a significant amount of beach volleyball with the two Mexico events that have been streamed. Now we had a chance to compete internationally. We went down to the courts and got a practice in before the qualifier. The qualifier weather was wild! There was so much wind and rain, and the balls were so heavy after being soaked in water. But we were ready to play.
Heck, I was just excited to get an international uniform in the qualifier. Are they the cutest? Do they fit well? No & no but the concept of competing internationally in the sport that I love with USA on my uniform is a dream come true in itself. We were the last seed in the tournament, but honestly, I don’t think it discouraged either one of us. We knew we had to start somewhere, and we were just happy to be in the tournament and playing together! After two matches on Wednesday, we qualified.
post qualifier… this pretty much explains what the weather was like
Attendance on the Coolangatta Future FIVB trip: Kristen, Taryn, Bob & Jane. My grandparents, are the only two people crazy enough to drop everything and book a flight to follow us across the world and be there to support us. We would all get up around 5 am and be ready for the day. The first day Kristen was up and drinking a coffee for the day at 5:30 AM. The time change was crazy but we did our best to adapt. To make it even more challenging we were staying on Boundary Street. The street that separates Queensland and New South Wales, on one side of the street it would be 5 am and on the other it would be 6 am. We luckily figured this out after a great debate. The first 3 day’s time didn’t matter, we were stuck in our Airbnb when it was just pouring rain unless it was game time.
The Main Draw portion of the tournament started on Thursday, March 31st. First up, the #1 seed from Australia: Bell & Laird. A very decorated pair of athletes. The best part about going into the tournament the last seed, you are expected to lose every game so the pressure is on the other side. We got the win and that night Kristen discovered that Australia does not love to use Yelp to find restaurants like we do in the states. She probably went through each and every menu of the restaurants that were within walking distance. She created lists to choose from for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts. I am very grateful for her ability to research and find the best places to go!
After dinner we set off to find a grocery store to stock up on some more food so we could cook at home for breakfast and lunch. It was a sight to see us carry three large grocery bags with everything from watermelon to eggs to ‘ham leg’ back to our Airbnb. Our hands and fingers were going numb on our 10-minute walk back from the grocery store. We were trading off to get blood flow back to our hands. Those are the small things that get forgotten, it’s not always rainbows and butterflies traveling and trying to fuel up even though we are blessed to be on a beach. However, it was a great idea to stay in an Airbnb because we were able to cook, have more room, and do some laundry.
We were set to play our fellow Tiger alum, Toni Rodriguez and former UCLA Bruin, Zana Muno on Friday to decide the pool winner (the winner did not have to play in the round of 12, considering we played two extra games in the qualifier it would be very beneficial to avoid an additional game). We have played both opponents separately, but never together. We got the win and we were in the quarterfinals!
Aren’t we a cute family?
While in Australia, I wanted to see kangaroos and hold a Koala. Lucky for us, after winning our pool in the morning we had the rest of the day off and we could go explore the Currumbin sanctuary. It was incredible. The Koala was much heavier than I anticipated, Kristen would not hold him but she did get in the photo. We attended the bird show, all four of us HATE birds. Not a good call on our end considering there were birds swooping near our heads the entire show. One quite literally almost flew directly into Kristen. We then went to the land of kangaroos, where there were probably 50+ of them just laying, hopping around, or eating out of the hands of the visitors. They were very friendly, and I even saw a momma kangaroo with a baby in her pouch. Unreal experience, I was blown away. Kristen, the city girl of all city girls, was sitting at the restaurant with wifi and no animals that could endanger her. She walked in and back our real quick.
That night we were waiting around for the draw that was next. The draw would determine our potential opponents – we would play the winner of Japan and Australia. We were refreshing our phones constantly so we could fall asleep, it was 8 pm. But to us 8 pm felt like 3 am. We did some recovery, watched some film, hydrated, and stretched before we were off to bed! That is a big goal of ours this year to recover and keep our bodies feeling as good as possible. We even have a board at home to mark our recovery, let me tell you if I see that Kristen has done her recovery I could be dead tired but I will do my recovery so I don’t let her down.
Was Bob excited?
The next morning, we strolled down to the courts, a .9 mile walk that we could do in our sleep in Kristen’s words. We were scouting our next competition, who happened to be yet another Australian team. Later that day we played Fleming and Kendal in the quarters, won, and we were into the semis! That night we found out about a Norceca playoff event in California that would be April 7th, we already had our returning flight from Sydney to LAX on April 4th so we found a place to stay, signed up, and paid our due for a chance to play in the upcoming Norceca playoff tournament for more international point opportunities.
Sunday morning (April 3rd), all of those plans changed. Thank goodness we were too tired to cancel and change our flight that night. Kristen went out on the porch catching up on some work and yells “Taryn, we got in”! We got into the Brazil Challenger event scheduled for April 14th – 17th. Of course, we just snuck in with still 0 points, but we were ecstatic to be in the qualifier and have another shot! However, we had a huge semi game. We had to put our focus on that! After we had won our semi game and we were into the gold medal match we ran to get a COVID test to return home. We sat there covered head to toe with sand while we were waiting for the results. Ever since the Doha testing, when I tested positive and had to cancel the trip, I have major PTSD with those tests! We passed, don’t worry, we can play the match and come back home.
We walked back to the Airbnb and immediately went to work trying to find a flight to Brazil that would work for our dates, times, and not outrageously expensive. BTW booking 7 days before departure is very, very challenging! We found a flight, pulled the trigger and we were set to go to Brazil. Again, focus had to switch back to the gold medal match! As Kristen said “we did not fly all the way here to lose” but that is exactly what we did in the first set. We came back out I the second set guns ablazing, fighting for the gold, more points, and for all of our family and friends that stayed up until the wee hours of the night to watch! We did it! Gold medal – or in Australia, we were given a hand painted Emu egg, of which I think is even cooler!
At the medal ceremony we stood up on the podium and honored our flag as it was flying above the rest with the National anthem playing. If that does not make you get the goosebumps and make every single ache and pain seem to vanish, then I don’t know what would. We were blown away by the support at home and we are so grateful for the kindness and love that you guys continuously show us! We were soaked in sweat, sand, and champagne and I wouldn’t have had it any other way!
We scrubbed off the sticky champagne, packed, and ordered our taxi for 4:30 am the next morning. We are headed back home for recovery, training, and then off to Brazil for Easter weekend! Thank you again Buddy & Jill Trahan for believing in our dreams. Thank you Bob & Jane for the live stream, score reports, and screaming during the matches. Thank you Wendy Jones for your generosity in sponsorship. Thank you family and friends for all the support watching, wearing TKN gear, and the overflow of messages and posts about this week in Australia. None of this would have been possible without each person! If you want to support, join a trip, or sponsor a trip please reach out!
Things we learned about Australia:
Lift – Elevator
Rubbish – Garbage *our favorite word
Roll – Sandwich
Entrée – NOT an entrée in Australia, more of an appetizer
There is no tipping at restaurants like we do in the states, therefore the customer/business connection is less important
They do not drink iced coffee like we do in the states
WALK ON THE LEFT – major mistake, almost died a couple times crossing the street
Even on day 8 I got this wrong! People knew I was an American when we would walk on the sidewalk
The roof of your mouth will be sliced open with all the sourdough bread
Tim Tams are a MUST, absolutely delicious
Australian BBQ sauce is NOT like our BBQ sauce
People walk around barefoot in the grocery stores
Dukkah on avocado toast is delicious!
There is a huge beach volleyball player and fan base, they even had a young boy’s 4s tournament from all the schools in the area
If you say thank you – they respond “okay” or “no worries”
Their birds are 10x louder than any birds in the US
Ordering an Uber or taxi = DIFFICULT
By: Taryn Kloth
