Birthday Camping at Cave Beach

Welcome to Cave Beach

To celebrate Amy's and My birthdays, we ventured down to Jervis Bay where we explored Cave Beach Campground and the surrounding beautiful, deserted beaches.

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Amy and I set out early Friday with the rest of our party arriving Friday evening with a fire going and a Tyrannosaurs birthday cake waiting to be devoured.  The cake had to be defended from the kangaroos and possums roaming the campground but once it was made extinct we laid back and enjoyed the fire.  Smores soon followed.

Dino cake RAWRRRRRR!!!

Panoramic view of Cave Beach, click to expand

The Cave of Cave Beach

Saturday we woke up to sunshine and juevos rancheros a la Amy.  We took the short walk to Cave beach to enjoy the sunshine and waves.  The sun played hide and seek with us till early afternoon when it turned on full sunburn-inducing overdrive.

A well deserved break after bodysurfing

Cave Beach again

James relaxing as hard as he can

The waves were halfway decent and our mate John spent the whole day in the water on his surfboard, taking breaks here and there to have a beer or sandwich with us on the beach.  At times, he was literally the only person surfing on the beach.  A far cry from the relatively busy breaks of Manly.  Amy also tried out her new bodyboard and she was smiles from ear to ear.

Ahhhh....summer

Amy in a wave

That evening we settled in for a barbecue by way of Jeroen and Ramonda as well as having Simone join us with food reinforcements.  Kangaroos were everywhere in the afternoon and some came right up to check us out.

A curious kangaroo

Chris performing a mind-meld

MMMM.....bbq

On Sunday, Chris and Delia took a walk with their 3 month old (baby's 1st camping trip) and discovered a brand new beach, totally deserted.  After some chocolate-chip banana pancakes, we ventured out to it to find it sparsely populated with people but densely packed with beautiful waves.  We proceeded to play in the water till exhaustion and sunburn set in and then packed up for the trip home.

Amy bushwacking to a new beach

Worth the walk

Momma Roo with a Joey in the pouch

All by ourselves

I call this side of the beach!

Ryan's Swamp, near the campground

 We are greatly looking forward to going back in a couple weeks as part of the whirlwind tour when Oakley and Amy come out to visit!

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.

Don't trust anyone over 30

The boys, hard at work

Amy and I recently started the great downward decline towards senility and retirement this month when we both turned 30 years old.

Picnic on the beach

It's all pretty much over.

We celebrated the occasion by hosting a barbecue on the beautiful Shelly Beach.


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We had a beautiful day for it and there was even a shark that made an appearance off shore. For some reason, one of the other beach-goers called the cops.

The cops showed but no arrests were made.

Preparing for the kill

We topped of the day with cake and a pinata. Most of our non-US friends knew what a pinata was from TV and movies but had never had one at a party. What terrible childhoods they must have had.



As a great sage once said:

Don't trust anyone over 30.

-H.S.

Sunset over Manly

Drive fast and leave a trail of wreckage in your wake

Zoom Zoom!!!!! This past weekend we went go karting to celebrate our mate Debs’ birthday. Fun was had by all and no one ended up crying. Win/Win.

Chris explaining the finer points of driving victoriously to Amy

This was an excellent birthday activity and really highlights the better parts of being a grown-up. If you aren’t going to do all the fun stuff you weren’t able/allowed to as a kid, what is the point of growing up? Ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Why not?

We topped the day off with a barbeque at Kat and Webs’ and feasting on a delicious, psychedelic cake that Amy and James made for Debs.

Mmmmm....breakfast...