MELBOURNE, Australia--After four flights, with one lasting 17 hours across the Pacific, the South Dakota women's basketball team has arrived in Melbourne, Australia. The team departed from Vermillion Sunday afternoon, but the lengthy flight and 15-hour time difference meant an arrival in Melbourne Tuesday morning with Monday lost in transit. After landing, the Coyotes explored Queen Victoria Market, an open-air market selling food, clothing and specialties over a span of two city blocks. The Coyotes also got a chance to shake out their legs in a practice session in Melbourne. After a team dinner at the Meat and Wine Company, the Coyotes turned in to rest for the next eight days of exploring Australia's sights.
The first player blog comes from senior guard
Caitlin Duffy.
Hey everyone!
Well, after a few bus rides, a five hour layover and more than 20 hours on an airplane, we've finally made it safely to Australia! It's been a long trip and our bodies are still trying to adjust to the drastic time zone difference, but we could not be more excited to be here! Up to this point, most of our trip has consisted of traveling, but we were able to visit the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne before our first practice this afternoon. The market was a huge maze of vendors selling fresh local produce, hand crafted jewelry, clothes and everything in between. It was incredible! One of the coolest parts of the market was that although we were only there for about an hour, we felt like we got a glimpse into the cultural diversity of Australia's population. We were able to see the influences of many different ethnicities at the market, which led to a wide selection of different products and cuisine. Everything we tried was delicious!
After the market, we headed to practice at a high school Melbourne. It felt good to get our bodies moving after so many hours of traveling and it helped focus our attention on our first game tomorrow night. After practice, we went to dinner at the Meat and Wine Co. restaurant. Before coming to Australia, Jasmine Trimboli had told me that a lot of their food was better than American. I thought she was just biased, but after the two meals we have had in Melbourne I'm starting to believe her! I'm already excited to wake up for breakfast in the morning. It's hard to believe that just a short time ago we were on the other side of the world in Vermillion, S.D., sitting on the bus as Joe Glenn kicked off the trip by leading us in singing the USD fight song... now we are sitting here in our hotel rooms in Melbourne, Australia!
We are so blessed to have this opportunity. On behalf of the entire women's basketball team, I want to thank everyone who made this trip possible for us. We know that not many teams are given the chance to do something like this and we are not going to take a single second of our time here for granted. We cannot wait to represent USD on the court tomorrow and start off this trip with a win!
Thank you again and Go Yotes!
- Caitlin Duffy
A full day's recap and player blogs will be featured on GoYotes.com over the course of the trip. Fans can follow the action live in real time on Twitter (@SDCoyotesWBB), Instagram (@SDCoyotesWBB) and Snapchat (SDCoyotes).
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