Thanksgiving 2011

Table is set and manicotti is served

This past weekend we had out friends around to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It was a first for some of our guests and we took the time to explain its origins and traditions, as well as how America's indigenous people are so much better off today than they were when the Pilgrims arrived.

Best part of the turkey

We enjoyed a feast of manicotti, turkey, sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, greens, and ended it all with an apple pie and passionfruit cheesecake.  The manicotti and sweet potatoes were the biggest hits with the newcomers at the table.  Amy and I were saddened and dismayed that people grow up around the world without ever thinking of combining sweet potatoes with marshmallows.  My friend, you have never truly lived.

Mmmmm....beer

A special batch of cappuccino stout was also brewed and served for the occasion.

We even had some NFL piped in over the internet thanks to Amy's brother, James and we got to explain the comparatively byzantine rules and play structure to our local rugby fans.

Sunset over Manly, the pilgrims should have kept on sailing

Sunset looking inland

We were treated to a beautiful sunset as the clouds broke from a week of rain just in time for our guests to arrive.

Dig in!

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

First summer camping trip of 2011

Ahhh, tough life

Summer has arrived early this year and to celebrate we ventured back to Treachery Campground for some fun in the sun this past weekend.  Amy and I arrived early on Friday afternoon and set up camp for the rest of our expedition, hoarding the best camp site (always, always hoard) and getting the fire going.

Shaping punji stakes for perimeter defense.  These same stakes were later used to toast s'mores.

Splitting wood for the fire, still have all my fingers and toes

Treachery Campground, as I have highlighted in an earlier post is an awesome spot.  It is free form camping so you can set up anywhere in this huge area (once again, hoarding is key) and it has direct access to a massive and beautiful beach.  The last time we were up, the waves were massive and we weren't able to venture into the water.

Climbing the dune from the campsite to the beach.  It is a mountain of sand.

This past weekend though, the ocean must have known it owed us one as the swell was perfect for bodysurfing and swimming around.

We ended up bodysurfing for hours on Saturday.  I managed to catch a barrel for the first time - which is epic.  I have attached a video of this, it is not me but it is here so you can get an idea of what went down.  18, 26, and 30 seconds in are 3 examples.  The water cascading over your head and you shoot down a hollow tube of water was something I had never achieved before:

James, Chris, and Amy (left to right) catching the same wave

James and Chris venturing out for one last session

Chris dropping on on James' wave.  Sorry, mate.

James in the tube

Webs in the wave

James and Chris on a wave

Chris, full speed ahead

The girls watch on as we display our awesome bodysurfing prowess

After exhausting ourselves in the water all day, we took our beaten, sunburned bodies back to the camp site to start a fire and cook dinner.  There is something awseome about cooking over an open fire, food seems to taste better.

Mmmmm.....sausages

After a few more beers, it was time for an encore of s'mores, which have become a regular fixture of our camping (as they should be).

Debs and James contemplating another marshmallow

OK, just one more.....

Mother nature also put on a show for us over the weekend and we managed to see a pod of dolphins, a king parrot, a momma possum carrying her baby on her back, and several dingos.  There were also vaious fish swimming around us as we were swimming around.  Kat even mentioned to accidentally pick one up when she went to pick up a ball that we were chucking around.  We also managed to spot about a dozen shooting stars on Friday evening.

Dolphins, not sharks

We are looking forward to a nice long summer and lots of opportunities to top or fantastic weekend at Treachery.

The view of Treachery Beach from the headland

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.

The Kingfish are back!!!!

With the weather warming up, the kingfish have begun returning to Sydney's waters promising exciting fishing and delicious eating for the coming months.

Kingfish in hand, couldn't be happier

Amy and I were out this past Saturday with our friends James and Debs, doing battle with the children of mighty Poseidon.  We had our 2 boats out and have recently been exploring some of the hidden coves and beaches accessible only by boat in the harbour.  Trying to find that perfect beach to relax on all by ourselves come summertime.

After some bombing around, we settled in to fish our usual spot and after a while of catching small trevally and snapper, a monster struck my rod, bending it over the side of the boat and pulling us out of our tranquil state.  The fish was strong enough to actually move the boat itself.

65cm beast = sushi + dinner for 5

After a short battle, Amy had the fish in the net and it was what we had been waiting for all winter long, the first legal-sized kingfish (they have to be 65 centimeters or greater and can grow to well over a meter)!!!

After a short time trying to find his brothers and sisters, we packed up and headed home with big plans for our new friend.

Sunset on the Queenscliff rocks, I am holding the tray of sushi

Rice was boiled and we made part of him into sushi, which we brought down to the rocks where we had agreed to meet up with our mates to have a beer and watch the sun go down.  While we were out there, we potted a pod of dolphins who began to actually surf the waves that were breaking on the beach.  It was a sublime moment.  I don't have pictures of this but will remember the sight for a long, long time.

However in case you are saying, "yeah....right", here is some video from youtube to prove that dolphins actually do surf:


 
Then, it was back to our place for some kingfish tacos which were thoroughly enjoyed by all and washed down with the English Nut Brown Ale that we have on tap currently.  In addition to the usual avocado, tomatoes, lettuce, etc we had home made tortillas and the green sauce from Sophie's in NYC.  To anyone in NYC who does not know what that is, go to your local Sophie's and order the pernil.  The green sauce is on the tables for dousing your food.  Do it now.

The spread for tacos.  Green sauce in the middle, beer on the right.

Bring on summer and bring on the kingies!!!

Blue Mountains Horseback Riding

Big Red, contemplating kicking Amy's horse

This past weekend we celebrated our friend Debs' birthday by going up to the Blue Mountains where we went horseback riding and stayed over at a ranch.

It was a beautiful location and the scenery was amazing.  The weather was a bit testy at times but we persevered onward through wooded trails, onto pastures and eventually reached the crest of a large hill where we could see miles into the mountain ranges.

Ride 'em cowboy

In the woods we saw many packs of kangaroos and wallabies.  They hopped along, checking us out for a while.

My horse, named "Big Red" was overall a violent jerk, repeatedly biting and kicking the other horses.  By the end of the ride, the other people in our group, all mates were actively avoiding me.

Blue Mountains in the distance

The group at the crest of a hill, the view was amazing

Fording a stream

Some trees that had suffered the wrath of God on top of a hill

Amy on the trail

The pack emerges onto the pasture

This behavior thankfully did not extend into the evening when we relaxed around the ranch's guest house and grounds, enjoying a barbecue, campfire, some rugby, and then delicious cupcakes made by Amy.

MMMMMM.....horseburgers

Go Manly!!!!

 
This past weekend, our local rugby team, the Manly Sea Eagles won the 2011 Grand Final!!!!

We were on hand at a local pub to watch the game and enjoy the subsequent jubulation and it was AWESOME!!!!!

After the glorious victory (24 points to 10), the crowd could not be contained, the bar rolled out ever "eagle" related song in existence and people were chanting and singing and dancing on tables.  I took some video, below of the crowd in action.

Although we did already have our looting locations scouted out, no rioting broke out.  I guess we will have to wait until Australia wins the Rugby World Cup in a few weeks.

GO MANLY!!!

Visitor number 4 - Cousin Joe

We were lucky to have Chris's Cousin Joe visit us as a our first representative from his side of the family.  Joe was lucky enough to convince his company that he needed a trip to Melborne and managed to sneak up to Sydney for the warmest weekend of the spring so far.  Note to every who's worried about the steep price of tickets - get your job to send you - then it's free!

We took advantage of the 26 C day (that's 78.8 for those of you who only think in Fahrenheit) just two weekends into spring to rent a boat and tour the harbor.

 Checking out the various ocean monsters.

We docked the boat in Darling Harbor for a few hours to grab some lunch and check out the city sights.

The trip into the city had been fairly eventful, but when we turned around to head home the wind had picked up, and there was also a sailing event with well upwards of 200 sailboats participating in 4 or 5 different races through out the harbor.  Best part of the sailboats is that of course they have the right of way when under sail, so trying to make our way home was a three way cooperative exercise of spotters to make sure that no one was tacking directly in front of, or into us.

 

Asteroids anyone?

 Thankfully we made it back to Manly safely and rushed home for a few beers on the rocks while watching the sunset.  We wrapped up a great day with a bbq and some rum barrel porter on tap.

Sunday after some recovery pancakes we walked along the beach and up along the harbor heads to check out the views.  We rounded out the afternoon with a few pints at our favorite local pub before dropping Joe off at the airport after he insisted that he did have to go home and couldn't stay and have more fun with us. 

It's tough to drink sideways