There's no such thing as sharks

When we were initially telling our friends and family that we were moving to Australia, a common line of questioning went a little like, "Don't they have deadly spiders/snakes/sharks there?" We would typically laugh this off in a brave and glorious fashion. Recently it has been brought to my attention that at least one of these creatures is actually lurking just out of view, waiting for us to drop our guard.

Here is an article from our local newspaper: The Manly Daily

Has a pretty clear picture in there of someone surfing with a large fin behind them. This is in the area where we went surfing today. The waves were great.

Additionally, after talking with someone about where we had been spearfishing last weekend off Long Reef, they directed me to this clip:



We've managed to avoid being eaten thus far, so why not press our luck?

"Treat every breath as your first and every day as your last"

-Hilltop Hoods

Saturday: Best. Day. Ever.

Awesome sunset from our balcony to end an awesome day

Saturday has a special place in the hearts and minds of the working - or recently working *cough* stiffs of the world. After 5 days of toiling, finally you don't HAVE to get up early and trudge to work with all of the other worker bees (even though the queen is their slave).

Despite this widely accepted concept of sleeping in, Amy dragged me out of bed at the ungodly hour of 8AM for a morning surf. It turned out to be sublime. Nice waves, uncrowded surf and the sun peeking through the few clouds in the morning sky. This was followed by a quick breakfast and then a call from James saying that Ian and him were ready for a surf. I ventured out again for a few rides with the boys.

Exhausted from the exertion, I took a quick nap and upon waking saw that the tide was perfect for....spearfishing! Amy and I suited up and went out for a swim. The results will not be discussed here but it will suffice to say that a trip to the store would be required if we were going to eat fish that night.

The view from the water while spearing

After exiting the water, we noticed a good amount of people bodysurfing at our end of the beach. We decided to show them how it was done. We dropped off our gear and dove in, catching some nice, long waves in as the sun was setting.

We capped off this perfect day with some Thai food, that included seafood curry served in a coconut and bad movies on the TV in the restaurant and then met up with Dan and Mel at a pub to watch the rugby game over drinks.

So, in closing, we pack the following into Saturday:

1. Surfing
2. More surfing
3. Nap
4. Spearfishing
5. Bodysurfing
6. Great food
7. Drinks
   

Best. Day. Ever.

Spearfishing: Take 2

I'll get you my pretties...

This past weekend Amy and I were joined by our Aussie (pronounced "Ozzie" as we have been repeatedly corrected) friend James for a spearfishing expedition. We went back out to Long Reef to avenge my previous loss there versus the resident fish.

We were encouraged by the sight of a dozen or so other spearfishers either entering or exiting the water when we pulled into the parking lot, assuring us that we were at least in the right spot. The fact that these people weren't walking out with any fish was the least of our concerns. Clearly they were doing it wrong.

We suited up, strapped on our knives, snorkels and fins and headed out along the headland.

We swam along the reef, seeing many, many fish but few that were big enough to eat. We took a few potshots at the larger wrasse that we spotted but the bastards would simply not stay still long enough to be impaled. Towards the end of the swim, Amy frantically called me over with the gun as she had spotted a big boy, just lying in some seaweed. Dark thoughts flashed through my mind and I could taste this fish, would be fantastic pan fried or maybe grilled....
I dove down a few feet away from the fish and swam/crept up to it. It got spooked and slowly started swimming away. But not fast enough!!!! I took aim and fired, (STOP READING NOW IF you have a weak stomach) spearing him through the stomach. This the fish apparently did not like as he swam hard enough away to tear the spear out of his belly. He darted into a cleft and Amy and I were left dumbfounded, staring at pieces of floating intestine. So although we didn't catch any fish, we at minimum killed one to show them that we mean business.

The view from the water

OK TO START READING AGAIN


Beyond that, we saw lots of fish and coral and it was a great way to spend an afternoon. It culminated in Amy and James seeing a five foot wobbegong shark on their way back to shore and me beginning to devise increasingly coyote-esque schemes to catch dinner. Needless to say, the Acme brand Rocket Speargun is on the way.

Spearfishing fail/win?

Prepared to sneak into the hidden submarine base

So the final box with our stuff arrived yesterday (thank you LeGrands), supplying us with essential martial arts protective gear and the speargun. I was most excited by the latter as I had only fired it a few times in our apartment in NY to subdue various species of couch and boxes.

Took it out for a spin yesterday to Long Reef and by means of explaining the name of the post:

Fail:

• Shot exclusively rocks and seaweed
• Had no idea what fish I was shooting at - the spearing shop I went to was out of guides and only briefly described he 2 kinds of fish that are illegal to shoot
  

Win:

• Did not drown
• Did not impale myself with the spear
• Saw a bigass (3' across) stingray in the water
• Looked totally badass

So I guess on the fail/win scale - on which we are all judged - it was kind of a wash. Amy and I are going to go out this weekend to see what damage we can do, will update you on the results after.