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20 hours after we had taken off, we finally touched down in Sydney. The mad dash was on.

After The Pacemaker delay, we assumed we were about an hour behind the 1st flight.

Our clue told us to “TAKE IN A SOUTHERN SWAN ON THE ROCKS” to receive our next clue. It sounded like a drink, which we could all have used right about then, but a little research in LAX on a nice lady’s iphone had told us – and all the rest of the teams, unfortunately – that “The Southern Swan” was in fact a tall ship, and “The Rocks” was an area on Sydney Harbor.

We had to take a train from the airport into central Sydney, so we all sprinted through the airport to the below-ground metro.

The Globetrotters had beaten us through customs and were on the 1st train into Sydney… no surprise there. Don’t let Big Easy’s size fool you – those boys are fast.

We were on the 2nd train with the Cheerleaders, Kynt & Vyxsin, and Luke & Margie – but the doors closed just before Ron & Christina could get on, which didn’t upset us. It’s a game of inches sometimes.

Mike and Mel and the Cowboys would be with Ron & Christina bringing up the rear on the third train.

We got off the train at Circular Quay (pronounced “Key”) Station, which was right on the harbor, and ran along the water as some local Aussies had instructed us to do when we asked them for help on the plane.

On The Race you’re always looking for extra info, and the plane is a great place to get it.

As we ran up the harbor we passed the Globetrotters coming back the other way with a clue in their hands, which meant they had already found the ship, so we knew we were headed in the right direction.

It wasn’t a long run, but we had been on a plane for 20 hours and with the heavy bags it was easy to get tired quickly.

Zev did. Alarmingly so.
We had only been running for a few minutes, and he was lagging.

“Come on, bud. We’re just getting started here,” I said, trying to pump him up and keep pace with Luke & Margie, who were holding hands as they ran, as is their way… Luke seems to think it helps to literally pull his mother along as she runs.

“Just keep running, buddy,” I implored Zev. “No walking.”

He tried his best, but he was out of breath and slowing down quickly. Thankfully Margie was slowing also, and Kynt & Vyxsin were no speedsters either, so we were able to keep up with the pack.

After a 10 minute jog, the Southern Swan came into view. It was an old pirate ship with tall white masts – like a miniature version of a Pirates of the Caribbean set.

We boarded, and were greeted by a cheery Australian guy with a puffy pirate shirt straight out of Seinfeld.

“Welcome aboard the Southern Swan,” he said, and handed us our clue.

ROUTE INFO: MAKE YOUR WAY TO A WORLD OF OCEAN, 7 MILES FROM SYDNEY AND 1000 MILES FROM CARE.

The sentence meant very little to us, but the clue also told us we could only get to wherever we were going by foot or by ferry, so it stood to reason that someone back at the ferry area – near the train entrance – would be able to steer us in the right direction.

Not knowing the ferry schedule, we had to assume the ferry could be leaving any second – you always have to assume the worst on The Race – so again I refused to let Zev walk, no matter how badly he wanted to.

“Give me your bag,” I said as I jogged along next to him.
“I’m good,” he responded, trying to tough it out.
“No walking. If you can’t do it, I’ll take it. But no walking. I don’t care who carries what.”
“Ok, take it.”

Moving quicker now, we made it back to the ferry area in good time, where we were told by a ticket-taker that the ferry we needed was the one to Manly, just a little down the harbor.

We had ten minutes to get there. We made it with a few to spare.

The Globetrotters were there still waiting to board, and the rest of the teams from our train into Sydney had all made it as well. Ron & Christina, Mel & Mike, and The Cowboys would have to catch the next ferry, half an hour behind us, while the teams from the second-now-first plane were God-only-knew how far ahead of us.

So as our ferry pushed off, we were comfortably bunched together with a handful of other teams right in the middle of the pack. A fine place to be.

DBL.

The ferry was our first moment to catch our breath and take in the scenery. Sydney was actually quite beautiful – reminiscent of California port cities like San Diego and San Francisco, where much of the city is on the water and the sun shines often. Since our winter is their summer it was a beautiful November summer day, and boats dotted the basin as everyone was out taking advantage of the weather.

“Yo Zev, how you gonna let Justin carry your bag for you?” Flight Time asked, taking the down time to rib him a bit.

“I’m not Steve Prefontaine,” Zev said.

We all cracked up. There’s a time to Race, and there’s a time to appreciate what’s happening. This was the latter.

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