Big Bend People: Been down in Australia, Y’all

It turned out Fox was be the only Texan on a squad made up mostly of athletes from Michigan and Illinois. And because of her Texan-ness, she said, “They made fun of me because I said y’all all the time.”

However, her “hangout crew” was made up of Louisiana girls “because they know what it is to be from the South.”

Fox said her team did really well in the competition, placing second overall in both beach and indoor volleyball.

“We stayed mainly in Gold Coast, playing ball most of the time,” she said. “We were there for a full week, but we did get to see the bush and the tropical area, and we went on a canopy walk — they have a wooden bridge you walk cross in the top of trees, and it sways, and you’re holding on for dear life.

“But it was beautiful.”

When the Down Under Sports teams played beach volleyball, they had to put up with the cold — this is the winter season in Australia. “We were freezing,” Fox said, “playing out there in our thin uniforms.”

The group went to Sydney, home of the much-photographed, modernistic Sydney Opera House. However, they didn’t get to tour the Opera House because Pope Benedict was there.

“The roads were closed, and we were at the airport the whole time,” Fox said. “They wouldn’t let us leave because our flight was in four hours.”

Fox did get a little taste of Australia: She watched Aboriginal dancing, saw kangaroos and went to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary where she held a 16-month-old koala. Although the creatures look cuddly, she said koalas stink because of their all-eucalyptus diet. And because they have a very low metabolism, they tend to sleep a lot, parking on tree branches.

“It was funny,” she said, “you’d hear this ‘thunk, thunk,’ and it would be koalas falling on the ground.”

Falling to the ground was almost what Fox and her teammates did after spending 14 hours on a plane — no stops, no running around.

“It was insane,” she said. “Right after we got off the flight, we had to go practice. It was 6 in the morning!”

Fox had always wanted to go to Australia, and she finally got her chance — but she didn’t become much of a fan of the food.

“They didn’t have Dr. Pepper in the entire [state] of Queensland,” Fox said in disbelief.

“They had Pepsi, and they had this stuff … you’d ask for lemonade and get this clear substance that tasted like Sprite. And their meat tasted so different: Their hot dogs were really, really red, and what they called a corn dog was sausage with pancake batter. Their favorite was meat pies, like a pot pie with shredded meat. And they had this stuff called Vegemite—it tastes like vitamins in a paste.

“It was interesting,” Fox added diplomatically.

She did become a fan of Australian chocolate cookies called Tim Tam; she brought home three packages and they’re already eaten. “But I know where to order them online,” she said.

A week after returning home, Fox was still enthusiastic about her experience.

“I had no idea [Down Under Sports] existed until they sent an invitation, so I read up on it,” Fox said. “I got the invitation in December, pretty much after volleyball season ended, but it was wonderful. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. In February I started planning, and my parents said it was OK, so I had to get the money. … A lot of people had fundraisers for, but all my money was raised through stock shows. That’s what allowed me to do this.”

Fox has raised animals since the fourth grade, starting with goats, “then lambs crept in,” she said. As an FFA member at Alpine High, Fox won numerous ribbons and trophies with her animals.

Now, she said, “I’m already missing it. This summer I don’t have any animals to show.”

Fox intends to keep in touch with Alpine friends and, of course, her parents, Caroline and Doug.

She won’t stray far from her FFA and athletic roots when she heads to Texas Tech University on Aug. 17: Fox plans to major in ag communications with an eye toward marketing or advertising.

“I’m interested in traveling, even more now that I’ve been somewhere,” she said. “I want … something where I can do public speaking, go with my strengths,” she said, referring to her high school accomplishments in UIL informative speaking and poetry interpretation competition.

And she wants to keep her volleyball skills sharp.

“I’m definitely going to play intramurals, maybe try to walk on [the Tech team] as a defensive player. … I plan to stay active.”