Workin' for The Man

You may have guessed by the steady decline in the frequency of our updates that I (Chris) went against my better judgement and got a job.

Stupid, I know.

Years of video games have prepared me for this moment

I have been slaving away at a solar power startup named, Solar Connect Australia. I started working as a labourer, installing systems on peoples' roofs and have since done everything from recruitment to marketing, scheduling of jobs, running our wharehouse, supervising the installs and teams, managing client relationships and dealing with customer complaints.

Solar panels ready to rock

All this has taken it's toll on my pro surfing/fishing/spearing/martial arts career. Fortunately as we all know, all good things must come to an end and Solar Connect Australia went out of business in late December. On to the next adventure.....

Happy Thanksgiving

This weekend we decided to introduce our non-American friends to the tradition of Thanksgiving and for several it was their first Thanksgiving dinner.

Chair fort anyone?

After the first chicken was in the oven we went on a shopping spree amongst our friends collecting chairs, silverware, plates, drinking glasses, serving and baking platters - everything you'd need to have 14 people to dinner that we didn't already have.

Mmmm - manicotti...

Now the few Americans were prepared for the feasting to come, but everyone else clearly had no idea what to expect as the dug into the first course of manicotti. We schooled them in the proper usage of the term "gravy" with the pasta course and quietly laughed at the ones who went back for seconds.

Can't believe we all fit at the table!

At this point no one was possibly hungry but of course it's time now to move on to the full dinner. Everyone gamely tried to stuff in as much food as possible as they shook their heads in dismay because they were so full.

Too full to move.

At this point we all sacked out and wished for a nap one the couch while watching some football before we tackled dessert but unfortunately Aussie TV didn't cooperate with us. Everyone loosened their belts for a bit to relax and later in the evening most of us managed to sample some of Web's amazing cheese cake.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that we weren't able to celebrate with.

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