Bug Surf Day

Zooooom!

This past week Sydney was deluged by 5 days of apocalyptic storms as winter made its presence known.

Fearless


Nice section at North Steyne

The only bright side out of this was when it eventually stopped, we were treated to some of the best surf conditions we have seen.

Paddleboarder riding the bommie Sunday morning

Hardcore surfers braved the gigantic swell and we went down to the beach a couple of times to witness the death-defying awesomeness.

He looks so small next to the gigantic wall of water chasing him

In addition to the beach breaks being larger than normal, the Queenscliff bommie was breaking as well in epic fashion.

Catching one last wave at the bommie as the sun goes down

At one point on Sunday, there were 3 helicopters and 2 boats out searching for a missing surfer. We saw them pull a surfboard out of the water but no body. Hopefully the poor guy made it to shore.

Try, try again

A few weeks ago, we had the good fortune of having our friend Webs down on the beach with us while we were surfing. Webs had his camera and these were the results:

Prepared to battle nature

Paddling out to the break is everyone least favorite part of surfing

Me on the left with a friend, Dan about to drop in on me.

Drop in (verb) - to intrude on a wave that another surfer is already riding

This is generally considered extremely poor form and should be avoided at all costs when you don't know the person who you are intruding upon. However, we were pretty stoked to have caught the same wave. Celebrations and high-fives followed.

Same wave

Same wave, I'm the last one standing, Dan in water below

GERONIMOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Amy coming in for a landing

This past Saturday we taunted death as a part of a weekend long bacchanal celebrating our mate Webs’ 40^th birthday.

Saturday morning we headed down to beautiful Wollongong (Wool-on-gong - Australians have the best names for things) for a coastal skydive with a local operator. Nervous jokes were made, followed up by even more nervous laughter as we were fitted for our jumps.

View Larger Map

Final preperations are made

View from the plane

The plane took a lazy loop around as it climbed over the beach, mountains, and clouds to the 14,000 feet that we were to jump from. Screams were heard all the way back in Sydney as we took our turns sitting with our legs dangling out of the plane door, awaiting the final push from our respective instructors.

Birthday boy prepares to jump

Plummeting.....

Floating like a bird

Really, there is nothing I can think of that would compare to the rush of plummeting towards the earth with the world spread out below you. It is simply awe inspiring and a rush like no other.

Wollongong was an absolutely beautiful place to skydive. As mentioned above, the area is a stunning combination of beach and mountains. As we descended and drifted out over the water, surfers could be spotted in the waves.

Touching down, smiling ear to ear

Upon touching down, big smiles and hugs were passed all around. Champagne was popped and drank in a toast to our survival.

Still alive!!!

We next ventured back to Sydney for the night’s festivities, stopping along the way at not one, but two gorgeous pubs built on cliffs overlooking the sea. The beers we drank while watching the waves crash tasted all the sweeter, knowing that we had just tempted fate and made it out.

The view from the first pub, there were actually 3 guys out surfing

The view from the second pub, possibly the best pub view in the world

On Sunday, we wrapped up the weekend with our first winter surf of the year and an afternoon barbecue. The swell has been quite large over the last few days and as the sun started going down, we ventured out to the rocks beneath Queenscliff headland to watch the surfers and the sunset. In addition to seeing some amazing displays of surfing talent, we were treated to a pod of dolphins breaching the surface out past the break.

A sublime ending to an incredible weekend.

View from the 1st post-jump pub

Nick's jump, he went after Amy and I. We start leaving the plane around 2:45.

It's been a good week

The first autumn swell has hit and the waves have been massive this week. Good enough that 10X world champion surfer Kelly Slater was in the area earlier in the week. We managed to go bodysurfing 2 days after work and had some great rides both times. On top of that, Amy's parents arrived on Thursday and brought many gifts from America with them, including a new camera from Chris' mom and dad.

The above picture was taken with the new camera on Friday evening before going out for dinner and drinks as the sun was setting. The double rainbow was actually so big that I could not get it in a single frame. I took several photos and put them together with Photostitch.

We are off tomorrow for boating and fishing with the Legrands and then if the weather holds out, some hiking on Sunday.

A Wet and English Xmas

We celebrated the recent Xmas holiday in style with our friends from around the world. Xmas day festivities were hosted by and English couple, Kat and Webs so we got to experience their traditions as an exciting novelty.

But first off, we started the day with driving up to the marina and taking our boat out for some Xmas morning skiing. Amy was akin to a kid waiting to open a present she has been asking for her whole life on the drive up, repeating over and over, "I can't believe we are going to ski on Christmas!!!!!!"

We got to the boat and the first thing we noticed was that we were the only people on the water. Apparently, everyone else in Australia decided to waste their time with family on this perfect opportunity to hit the water. We wasted no time.



After the ski, Amy and I sped home and grabbed the surf boards, determined to catch a wave before the Xmas festivities began. The beach was packed and the waves were pumping but we managed to catch a few in before rushing back home to finish cooking and change.


We brought our home made biscotti and store bought beer to Kat and Webs' and immediately began enjoying their delicious food. The Xmas meal started off with an English tradition of "Christmas Crackers" These are small, hand held firecrackers that you pull apart to make a bang and to get at the toys and party hats inside. The party hats were soon donned by all those in attendance and toys played with. Mine was a terrible fake mustache. It hurt to wear it.

Dumping snow on Amy, to make her feel, "at home"

In between courses we all opened our Secret Santa presents. Santa apparently does know how to get to Australia. We followed up dinner with our whole party heading down to the beach for a swim and bodysurf, completing our trifecta of watersports for the day. Amy broke out a can of fake snow that was subsequently made into snowballs and throw at eachother.

It was a great day, filled with lots of fun in the sun and fantastic food. A warm and wet Xmas is the way to go.

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

Big Surf Day

Catch the wave or die trying

Winter is rolling in which means 2 things. 1. It gets slightly colder 2. The surf is picking up. This past Sunday had the biggest surf of the year thus far with swells up up to 10' high on the Manly/Queenscliff beach. If Amy and I went out in this, it is likely we would perish but it made for good watching as the pros came out of the woodwork and put on a show. All weekend the beach was lined up with spectators, ooohhhing when someone pulled off a nice ride and grimacing when some poor soul got crushed out there.

A brave soul ventures forth

We took a hike out to on the rocky headland just below our apartment with out mate Webs to check out the waves and surfers and took some pictures along the way.

It was a truly impressive set of sites. To start off with, the surf was big enough that the Queenscliff Bombura (Queensie Bombie in Aust-speak) was breaking. Let me take a moment to explain what this is and the significance of sighting it is.

The Bombie is a monstrous wave that breaks about a kilometer off the beach only when the surf is truly huge - anywhere from 8 to 16 feet. That means that it doesn't even bother getting out of bed most days. But, when it does come out to play, it is when the surf is big enough to be treacherous for newbies and a calculated risk even for experts. Just to get out to it, you need to paddle for a kilometer or if you are smart/lucky, take a boat and then when you do, you are running the risk of injury or death.

Tooling around in the Queensie Bombie

Although we saw some surfers in the vicinity, the only people that were actually playing around it in were some members of the Surf & Lifesaving Club who were riding down the face of the wave in a zodiac raft.

Looking, judging

We hiked around the headland from the Queenscliff side to the Freshwater side to take a look at the surfers there. This is a sweet little walk that has you stalking through a cave and scrambling over a field of broken boulders.

Hiking around, Freshwater Headland behind me

By the time we made it back to Queenscliff/Manly, the sun was setting and the waves were still pumping. It was an awesome and beautiful sight watching the sunset reflecting off of the clouds and water with the surfers shredding below us, one that I will remember for a long time.

Next big thing: Beachball Jousting

Shred it, sister.

We lucked out again this past weekend with beautiful weather and made the most out of it with lots of fun stuff packed in.

We kicked things off with the Volcom Surfing Competition down the beach. It was a youth competition and the kids were running all over the place. The waves and weather weren't exactly cooperating on Friday but things picked up for the finals on Saturday.

To the victor go the spoils...

There was a bit of a carvival atmosphere (no carnies though) with lots of families and kids running all over the place. Volcom, the hosting sponsor had games set up and was giving away swag all day. The games were creative, to say the least. They included a pineapple chucking contest and some kind of extreme mini golf. All of this was going on while the contest was underway so if the competition got boring, the announces would stoke up the crowd with the games, etc. The best however was being played by a large group of kids and this actually had a more people cheering than the surfers did.

Gilligan's Island on the left was really jealous

Bombs away

The kids had gotten their hands on some large beach balls that were either part of the scenery or were given away and were taking turns sprinting at eachother and crashing, like the knightly jousters of yore. Words are inadequate to explain the hilarity that ensued:

On top of all this fun, we squeezed in some time for a surf of our own, followed by a body surf and then wrapped up with a barbecue which we hosted. Lamb, salmon, and many, many beers were enjoyed by all. This was topped off by a delicious homemade tiramisu, courtesy of Delia.

We also celebrated our mate Ian's birthday at the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel in Sydney, an event which was so much fun as to make the next day bright, loud, and painful for all those involved. Happy birthday, mate.

Sunday's sunset

You are not as good as you think you are

Amy and I have been keeping at surfing since we got here, each making marginal improvements. We are now able to catch waves and stand up pretty regularly - a large feat for novices such as ourselves. So anyways, this has me feeling pretty good about my progress, even though 10 year olds regularly catch bigger waves than me and stare with contempt and pity as I drag my gigantic board down the beach. Point is, I'm feeling pretty good about where I'm at. As things generally go, this is the perfect time for a reality check, which happened earlier today.


I was out surfing solo (Amy being at work, or some other nonsense) when I hear the sharp report of the lifeguard's whistle. I look around and he is pointing at what can only be me and waving for me to come in to him. It appears that he would like to have a word with me. Now, I have seen this happen many times before and this generally occurs when a surfer, kayaker, etc strays too close to the swimming area, which is clearly marked out and separated from the surfcraft area of the beach. Usually it involves the surfer getting yelled at for violating this clearly delineated area and having to sulk down the beach. It is one of the few things that the lifeguards actually do during the day, and they appear to enjoy it.

I paddle my way in, devising various desperate excuses and elaborate lies about my poor eyesight and sense of direction, mighty Neptune's grudge against me, and so on.

Before I can even begin to explain away my transgression, the lifeguard, who is tanned beyond bronze, has bleached blond hair and looks exactly like he has done nothing for the past 10 years but sit on the beach and surf says, "Hey mate, while you are learning to surf, can you take your board down there and go in so you are as far away from the swimming area as possible?" At this point, he is pointing at an area of the beach that is so far away from where we are standing that it may well be part of the territorial waters of New Zealand. It is worth noting that he immediately knew:

1. I have little or no control of where I go once I catch a wave
   
2. I do not actually know how to surf
3. I am a danger to both myself and anyone who happens to be within 1 Astronomical Unit of me

So, off I went down the beach to learn some more, practice my timing and popping up, and avoid making direct eye contact with those damn 10 year olds.

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.