A Rainy Easter

After promising that we would be more diligent with our weekly blogging, we are back again, a full week later. Pathetic indeed.

Easter weekend here was indeed full of activity and extremely crappy weather. The weekend began Thursday night at the Ben Harper concert. Senor Harper was only playing two shows here in Sydney, and the venue was at the Enmore Theatre. The Enmore is a small 2-storey building that might hold 500 people; so getting tickets to the show was a miracle in and of itself. Veronica and I went to the concert with our friends Andy, Morgan, Charlotte and Annie. Even though Ben didn’t play my favorite song it was still an absolutely kick a** show. Good times were had by all, maybe too good of a time. J

Friday morning we awoke, quite groggy, to a cold, gray and wet Manly. Being in a delicate state, the bad weather actually didn’t bother us all that much. The day was spent lounging, napping and watching movies at our place. Speaking our place, it is so nice having a decent place to live again. A nice couch to lay on, a decent fridge to put milk and groceries in, oh, it is so nice. The only bummer to our place it the amount of cockroaches that live in our building. It is insane. I have not seen so many cockroaches since I lived in Chuuk!

Saturday was still grey, but not as rainy. Morgan, Andy and myself went for a surf around mid-morning at Warriewood (a beach north of Narrabeen). It was cold there in the water, and the waves were sub par, but it was still a fun time. Afterwards we came back and decided to go see the new movie “300” at the Warringah Mall theater. While the film will most certainly not win an Oscar it was still an entertaining movie nonetheless.

Easter Sunday Veronica and I decided to spend the day together, without our friends. After enjoying a hot beverage at Candy’s, we walked through the market that sets up every weekend in the Corso perusing through multiple arts and crafts. I had my eye on a painting, but let’s be honest, I probably should get a job before I start buying artwork. After a small sandwich Veronica and I caught a bus and headed into North Sydney to do some research. (After my interview with the commercial real estate developer, he sent me a packet of papers detailing a bunch of buildings in the North Sydney area.) Veronica and I walked around and I took photos of all 110 buildings while taking notes on some of the buildings. While out taking photos we got rained on, but Veronica was a trooper throughout, keeping me company and making me laugh as we walked the deserted streets. That night we went to eat at the Bavarian Tavern, a bar/restaurant that serves a pasta dish that Veronica had seen while walking past the restaurant on her way from the ferry to our house. Veronica’s pasta was delicious, while my roasted pork was good, but not nearly as delicious as her pasta. The place also has a mango beer that is just heavenly. If you have the means, I highly recommend it. Afterwards we went back and watched a movie, “Reign of Fire”. (Yeah, I know it’s a movie about dragons, but it actually wasn’t that bad)

Monday morning was great because we did not have to work again. 4-day weekends are truly the way to go! Instead I woke up and went surfing. Even though the weather wasn’t perfect it was still much warmer than Saturday, so that was good news. After a surf we loaded up on some of America’s delicious grinds, the always-reliable Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yep, the Colonel (with his wee beady eyes) delivered some tasty chicken strips. The rest of the day was spent lazing on the couch, watching movies, and taking a nice stroll along the beach at Manly.

Waking on Tuesday was hard, but since my friends and I are working the late shift at work this week (10:30 to 7) we went out for a morning surf. The weather was perfect with not a cloud in the sky. When we arrived at Long Reef we were greeted by the most beautiful sight; perfect 3 foot turquoise waves barreling along the sandbar. The best part was sharing the peak with just my two mates. The day was truly a surfer’s idea of Nirvana.

The rest of this week we have enjoyed great weather. With sunshine but a cool breeze the fall seems to be a great time to be living in Sydney.

There is a swell on the way this weekend and Tuesday Veronica and I are headed to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Life is good.