The season comes to an end.

I had a lot of fun with my mom when she came out here.  It was only for eight days, but we tried to fit in everything we could.  I wish my Grandma and Grandpa could have came out as well, but it just wasn't able to happen.  Would have been nice to see the girl as well.
Below are a few pictures from the Australian Zoo.  Now I usually don't like zoo's, because all the animals just sit there, and it's not too much fun to look at an animal when it's doing nothing.  This one is amazing!  Some of the shows they put on are unreal, you can just walk around with kangaroos and pat a koala!  Definitely worth the $60 it costs to attend!!

Alexis Brudnicki, Mom, and I with the Irwin Family Statue

I guess they eat Eucalyptus plants and it makes them high, so they sleep about 18 hours a day. Rough Life!!

Mom and I on the Brisbane River

Our season is over. We ended up one game short of the playoffs. Which sucks, because I was really having a good time playing out here, and I think our team was getting hot at just the right time, but we just couldn't pull it off.

The Bandits last team talk

So now, I've been just hanging around here with my host family The Pinders, and Alex Maestri. 

Dave, Carla, Emma and Toby Pinder with Alex Maestri and Sean Jarrett

There is a great article on my host family here on the bandits website.

Alexis Brudnicki wrote a bunch of articles for us this season, and did a very good job.

Here are some of the ones that mentioned me: 1  2  3  4  5  6

So I am still throwing to keep my arm in shape for next season, hoping that an MLB team comes calling. Also I am trying to enjoy my last week or two here in Australia. Unfortunatally it has been raining here for the past 5 FIVE days in a row. We might get an hour or two that it stops, but then it starts pouring again!!  Brisbane had a terrible flood just last year, so I hope it's nothing like that.  Here is a picture of last years flood. It's the view of where was at for New Years Eve, except you cant see where I was standing. 

Great way to end my stay here in beautiful Australia huh?! I wouldn't want to spend it on the beach or anything, looking at this guy!

I would actually prefer this:

I'll be back in the states once I get my fill of Australia. Can't tell you when that will be though. Hope all is well!

Oh and here is a list of a few Australian words and terms that were very new to me:

Esky - Cooler

Stubbie - Bottle

Stubbie Cooler - Koozie (To keep your hand warm while you hold your cold beer)

Tin - Can

The Dull - Welfare

Carton (Kaa-ton) - case of beer

Seppy - An American, septic tank, full of shit.

Heap - A Lot

How'd you pull up? - how did you recover

(When my coach asked me that I replied, 'I took the bus today.')

The Mexican Wave - The Wave at sporting events

Do-na - Blanket

 Cheers,
 ~sEaN~

Photo Shoot!!

I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of two players on our team to be photographed for a promotion with the local Rugby players.  Now, Rugby over here is a frickin' huge deal, so the two guys we took pictures with are pretty much superstars.  It was a lot of fun, and I was able to get pictures from the ABL (Australian Baseball League) photographer Chris Tippelt.  He does some great work, and has photographed all of the stadiums we play at, so here is some of his work! They can also be found here.

Liam Gill 6' 212lbs, Beau Robinson 5'10", 214lbs, Rory Rhodes 6'7'' 205lbs, Me 6'6'', 210lbs.

 

Melbourne - Melbourne Showgrounds

Advance Australian Fair in Sydney  

Canberra - Narrabundah Ballpark 

Brisbane - RNA Showgrounds

 

Chris Mowday getting his mop chopped off for charity.

Sydney - Bleu Sox Stadium 

Roommate Alex Maestri dominating

Steven Chambers dealing 

Perth - Barbagallo ballpark 

Brisbane - RNA Showgrounds 

Adelaide - Norwood Oval

Me.



I got to start in our last series against the Melbourne Aces, and it just so happened that I was matched up against a fellow American, and friend Jason Hirsh.  It's pretty crazy that we both flew all the way over here to get some exposure and ended up starting against each other!  He is quite the blogger as well, and is a bit more eloquent in his writing than me.  So if you want a different perspective of the ABL you can check him out here.

We are headed to Adelaide tomorrow for our final road trip of the season.  We are currently in 6th place in the ABL, now that's not bad considering there are 6 teams. But we are only 2 games out of 2nd place, so it's going to come down to the last series of the season to see how the playoffs shape up!!  Wish us luck!

Cheers,

 Sean

Hodge Podge for $200

I'm a bit of a random person, so I thought…what better idea than to create a random post. 

So, just warning you now, this might be a bit hard to follow and will most likely not flow very well at all.  In that case, I'm sorry that Tebow's miracles didn't take the Broncos to the Super Bowl.

Yes…They even Tebow here in Australia.

Watch out for parents Hula-hooping???

Cricket seems big over here...

I borrowed the mascot head for a day.

This is what guys have to work with over here (you stand on the grate).

WTF?!

Kerb or Curb?!

I think America should make cigarette packs like this.

These are real prices over here.  I hear the only thing more painful than the prices over here is trying not to drink.

Hmmmmm....?

The view on a typical Australian beach!

Cheers,

 Sean.

Holidays

Christmas here in Australia is not nearly as big of a deal as it is in the states. I didn't really see too many light displays or decorations to speak of, so the few that I did see I had to snap a picture of them. 

French horns playing near the beach

Christmas on a bus.

I was invited over to a families house for Christmas Brekky. They are an awesome family that I have gotten to know pretty well, and have given a few baseball lessons to their boys as well.



A typical Christmas breakfast

Huge Prawns



 

Opening gifts

Hats that everyone wears during the meal.

I Missed this girl on Christmas

New Years Eve

Fireworks off the Story Bridge in Brisbane

Morning view of the Story Bridge

They have an entrée over here called 'Meat Pies'.  They are pretty popular all over Australia, and I was told that Yatela Pies was the God of all meat pies.  So I had to try it, and I was more than pleased!!!

To celebrate New Years I went to a music festival called Summafieldayze in the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane.  It was a good time, and I got some free Sunnys out of it! (Sunglasses)

Me, Alex Maestri, Steven Chambers, Ryan Searle

The Holidays are a pretty fun time of the year Down Under!!! 

I can't believe that it's already 2012.  Doesn't seem like it's been 12 years since everyone thought the world was going to end at Y2K.  Kinda sad that it goes by so fast.  Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Years!! 

My mom just got here today, so it's going to be awesome hanging out with her, and getting to show her around over here!

Cheers,

  Sean.