Hunter Valley

Veronica was talking to coworkers this past when she found out about the three R’s her Australian mates learn at school. They are reading, (w)riting, and (a)rithmetic. Yeah, dig on that retardation!

This past weekend Veronica and I were given concert tickets and a free stay at a Bed and Breakfast in the Hunter Valley, which is Australian wine country. The concert ended up getting rained out, but despite the rain we managed to have a great time.

Lucky for me my buddies at Video Australasia needed a driver for the week, so I have been able to occupy my days this week with something other than surfing and writing. And some extra money for the holidays doesn’t hurt either.

Veronica and I are getting excited about leaving for the States in two-weeks, we can’t wait to eat inexpensive, fatty foods again. Bring on the monster American portions!

Forresters Beach

Another weekend has come and gone, always a bit of a bummer. Friday continued the week’s tradition of grey skies and rain, definitely not a promising start to a weekend at a beach house. Veronica had to work late, so we ended up leaving our place for Forresters Beach at about 7:30. Even though it was rainy, luckily the traffic wasn’t bad, so we made good time and arrived at to the house in 2 hours. That night was long as everyone there was ready to party after a long week. Poor Veronica was extremely tired as she had been working almost 12-hour days that week, trying to finish two reports.

I woke early the next morning to go surfing with Magnus and an Aussie named Matt. The waves were windblown and a bit crap, but while in the surf we witnessed a waterspout about 200 meters out to sea. Amazing stuff I must admit, seeing as I have never witnessed a water tornado in all my time living near the ocean. After the surf we headed back to the house where everyone was taking it easy and making lunch. It had begun raining on us out in the surf, and the rain continued until about 4 that afternoon. Once the rain cleared the clouds parted and the sun made an appearance, definitely a nice surprise after a gloomy day. I headed back out for another surf with Aussie Matt, but again the waves were a bit junky and lumpy. After watching the sunset we had dinner, some delicious Lemon Garlic Chicken and vegetables. Afterwards everyone again hung out on the huge deck outside, but luckily it was a bit warmer than on Friday night when it was damp and cold.

Sunday morning we awoke to a gorgeous day. Not a cloud in the sky, crisp air that was a bit humid due to the hot sun and leftover moisture in the air. After an egg sandwich, Veronica and I decided to walk the length of the beach over to the next town Terrigal. It was a nice walk, however, since we had started it a bit late we decided before reaching Terrigal to head back to the house. Unfortunately, Veronica still had work to do on her reports, so we needed to get back to Sydney so V could go to her office. We left the house after having lunch a little past 1, and we made good time back to Sydney, arriving at V’s office at 3. After catching up on some emails while Veronica worked, I decided to go see a movie at the Rhodes Mall, situated right next door to Veronica’s office. ’30 Days of Night’ was actually quite entertaining, and the movie theater was empty save for 3 other people. We ended up staying at V’s office until 11 that night, but unfortunately she still did not finish her work. We drove home, arriving back in Manly at midnight. A long weekend, but good times nonetheless.

Both Veronica and I just read a book called ‘Marching Powder’ by Rusty Young and Thomas McFadden. It is the true story of Thomas McFadden, an Englishman who gets thrown into jail in La Paz, Bolivia at the most bizarre jail, San Pedro Prison. The prison is it’s own economy, where prisoners have to buy their own cells, restaurants are everywhere, and of course where cocaine is manufactured. A great read, pick it up!

A concert and a great movie

It has been an eventful week since the last update. On Friday Veronica got a letter from work officially recognizing her promotion, very cool. Saturday we went to the Enmore Theatre to see Fat Freddy’s Drop (a dub/reggae band from New Zealand) play live. The show was fantastic, although the theatre was absolutely sticky and humid, good times were had by all of our friends. Like a moron, I forgot the camera and thus no pictures were taken. I apologize.

Sunday Veronica and I took it easy, waking late and going for a tasty coffee in the morning. We headed over to our friends Jase and Brenda’s house in Freshwater, and hung out with them a bit. Then we drove back out to Newtown to go see ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ at the Dendy, what a freaking stellar movie. Long, like don’t drink anything before or during the film because you will have to pee like a Russian race horse at the end of it (trust me, personal experience on this one), but stellar nonetheless. Afterwards we went and had some tacos for dinner, capping off a pretty nice weekend I would have to say.

The weather turned nasty on Monday, so while Veronica went to work, I stayed home and did some writing. I didn’t have to go into work because I had gotten a call on Friday from my boss stating that he had moved everything out of the office, and to meet him at a new office in Edgecliff on Wednesday. The best part about this whole situation is that yesterday I find out at the meeting with him that we no longer have an office, and we will be meeting once a week from now on. Brilliant. When I asked why we had suddenly moved out when on the previous Wednesday he had stated that we would be staying for another month, he kept dodging and redirecting the question. It was bizarre, and when I pressed him he would only say that the head of the office was making him feel unwelcome and was trying to cheat us out of a future commission. Craziness, but then, what do I expect from a man who claims to have studied psychology and fancies himself an astute expert on the behavior of others. Now, I am no doctor, but this dude is severely paranoid, and some of his actions are borderline delusional. I can honestly say I am over it, and I might look for a job at a surf shop because this is crazy. Anyways, I thought I would give an update on the career front, Good stuff I realize!

Last night we went to a party at our friends Martina and Gavin’s place. Martina has two friends in town from Italy and today they are headed up to Byron Bay, but last night they had a bunch of friends over for some drinks and pizza. Good times, and again we forgot the camera, sorry!

This weekend we are headed up the coast to a beach house about 2 hours North. Don’t worry, we will remember to bring the camera so we can get some shots for you kids for the next post!

Cheers.