Boating in the Harbor (Harbour)

Harbor Bridge in the background and a huge tanker coming at us

The forecast for this past weekend was looking absolutely beautiful so Amy and I rented a boat and ventured out into the harbor in search of dinner.

It was a stunning day, warm and sunny and we proceeded from the boat pickup in Drummoyne to Balmoral in search of some live bait to entice some monster kingfish.

After this it was up Middle Harbor to enjoy the idyllic, tree-lined waterways.  We had a quick lunch up there and then off to North Head to catch the big one.

James calm, cool, and collected

The ladies hard at work

North Head, Manly is on the other side of this

The city, off in the distance

We anchored up at a promising spot and all the lines were dropped down.  The sounder at times could not keep up with the volume of fish that were swimming by, although none of them were interested in what we had to offer.  Still, it was a promising glimpse of conditions as the weather warms up even more.

The sounder, struggling to keep up with the school of bait fish below us

We had also brought along James and Debs and this turned out to be good planning on our part as Debs caught the only edible fish of the day.

Debs clutching victory

The fish did not look large enough in the last shot, here is a closeup

It was a massive flathead, around 57cm which we brought back to their new place in Dee Why and devoured as the exhaustion of having fun in the sun all day long finally set in.

We are really happy we discovered this boat rental place and look forward to using it several more times this summer.  Eventually, we will find that monster fish and make him/her pay.

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.

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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.

Sydney Harbor Video

Here is a video clip shot by our friend Webs from the fast ferry into the main ferry terminal in the heart of the city, Circular Quay. The video is sped up, the ferry isn't quite this fast.


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This is the view though that commuters from or part of the city get every day. Beats the pants off of a subway ride any day.



As the ferry approaches, you can see the Opera House on the left and the Harbor Bridge straight ahead.

Thanks Webs!

Exploring Sydney

This past Saturday, Amy and I took the opportunity to join Debs and James on a trip to the city (note: not The City as a point of clarification for my NYC peeps) to check out some points of interest. Our ferry trip in was eventful in that there were huge waves and an armada of ships out to welcome home Jessica Watson, a 16 year old Aussie girl who was due to arrive home in Sydney that afternoon.

The city pulled out all the stops for her, making it a big PR event and giving her a hero's welcome. It was cool to see the myriad of boats out and people seemed really proud of her.
We didn't have to travel far before one of the ladies was detained on a shopping related errand. James and I ducked into the nearest bar, Bar 333 for sanctuary. We watched rugby and a bit of American Ice Hockey (Bruins vs I don't remember) oddly enough. Not a bad bar overall but a bit posh for our basic needs of shelter from shopping.

We ventured forth from there to what was probably the fanciest mall I have ever been in, The Queen Victorian Building complete with a giant victorian clock to grab a quick bite and then made our way to 3 Wise Monkeys, an English style pub. This was more our style and we luxuriated here among the dark wood and tasty beers.

Next was a stop in Sydney's Chinatown for lunch and...more beers. Chinatown is small but packed with places to eat. We found a great, random spot for lunch and sat out on the veranda, watching the crowds of tourists shuffle by.



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Lunch was a smorgasborg served family style. We gorged on calamari, chicken (satay perhaps? I realize that is not chinese), and a beef dish as well as eggrolls and another battered, fried concoction. It was a good find for random stumbling.



After lunch, we walked off our food hangovers at Paddy's Market, a place where we had heard one could find good deals on various goods. Although I won't dispute this I will say that this must be the place to go for knockoff American baseball jerseys, ugg boots, ninja weapons, and what looked like inferior quality electronics. If you have the good fortune of being in Sydney and having the opportunity to go to Paddy's famous Market, feel free to avoid it. Call me instead. We'll go surfing.

We now ventured onward to Darling Harbor, a large area in Sydney that often holds festivals and expos. We planted ourselves in the final bar for the day, the nautically named Helm Bar with a lovely view of the boats in the harbor and watched the sun go down over a few additional beers. This was a classy joint that wasn't too pretentious and was a great way to spend some time before we boarded the ferry back home to sweet Manly.



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We ended the evening in Manly - or "God's Country" as James calls it, I find it hard to disagree - at the delectable Ashiana Indian RestaurantAddress:‎ just off the Corso, which is the main strip that run between the ferry wharf and the beach. Here in addition to some great food, we enjoyed those last few beers which led to a rueful next morning.

In this and other matters, let my epitaph read:

Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah...Sydney?

In a taxi on the way to an interview yesterday, I drove by a street named, "Batman Lane". Not kidding:


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What could this be? A trick of The Joker meant to draw out the Caped Crusader? Is this a part of one of The Riddler's enigmas?

Only time will tell but I am off to locate the city's Bat Signal.

Old news

So we are all starting on the same page, allow me to fill you in on the basics of our living situation out here.

We moved down on February 15, 2010 and are currently living in a suburb of Sydney called Queenscliff. This is where our building actually is:
Our Apartment Location

Here is a picture of the view on the right.

We are close enough to the beach that we can hear the waves breaking at all hours and during the day can listen to the lifeguard announcements as they chastise surfers or swimmers or warn us of impending doom by blue bottle.

Some people have asked where we are relative to the opera house or harbor bridge, both major landmarks in the city of Sydney. The quick answer is that we are about 45 minutes away. 15 minute bike ride to the ferry, then a 30 minute ferry ride to the heart of the harbor, which is buttressed by both landmarks. Amy sees them every day on her way to work and took the picture embedded from the ferry.


So to wrap it up, we are very happy with our location. It includes the necessities:
1. porch
2. BBQ

And is far enough out of the heart of the city to have peace and quite as well as a decent commute in.