New Blog for our travels

Hey kids, it's your favorite Globetrotters here, Matt and Veronica. We have a new blog, Adfrit @ http://luttrellsadrift.blogspot.com/ so check it out for the latest pictures and news. Bye for now!

The End of Living in Sydney

Geez, it is insane to think that almost 2 and half years have passed since Veronica and I moved to Sydney. Definitely feel confident in saying that we have seen the good, the bad, the ugly, and the absolutely moments that a new city has to offer. While the experience hasn't always been 'a gravy train on biscuit wheels', it has been an epic ride.

We will miss our friends dearly. And of course, Barefoot, quite possibly the greatest coffee in the Southern Hemisphere.

Here are a few pics from our farewell barbie this past Saturday in Freshwater. We leave for Noosa tomorrow morning. Tonight we have one last dinner at the Bavarian with some amigos.

6 months of travel await, I am thinking a new blog will be created to document this next chapter. STOOOOOOOOOOKED!

Coolest thing ever?

Perhaps.

We moved

As some of you might know, Veronica and I moved out of our apartment in Manly this past weekend. How much does moving suck, btw?

So we are now living in Freshwater, in a house right next to the beach. Cha-ching! It's literally a 30 second walk to check the waves now. We are officially living the dream.

Actually, as of April 1st we will be living the dream when we take off for 6 months of continuous travel. Pretty freaking excited by the idea of being on the road in less than 3 weeks. These past 2 years have been a fun time. We have made some great friends, seen some real cool places, and I have finally learned to not associate my worth as a human being on the job I perform. Once we depart I am not sure what will happen with this blog. Since technically we won't be living here I see no point in continuing it, but perhaps we will start a new blog detailing our travels. Anyone have an idea for a new blog name?

Last Thursday was Gavin and Martina's wedding, of which Veronica was a bridesmaid. It was a great time. But as evidenced by some of the dancing photos, I had a little too much fun.

Murphy's Law

On Monday I was out surfing at South Narrabeen with my bro Jay. The waves were big and meaty, and mostly suicidal closeouts breaking on a shallow sandbar. To top it off, the water and air temperature were quite cold. As I sat out the back shivering, Jay made the observation that there were a ton of blue bottle jellyfish surrounding us. I immediately had the thought that it didn't really matter if they were out or not, because in the two years I have lived and surfed in Australia I had yet to be stung by one. Mind you I didn't verbalize this thought, merely I kept it bottled up for fear of jinxing myself.

So yesterday (Tuesday) Jay and I are back at South Narrebeen for a morning surf. After wiping out on my first wave, I paddle back out and proceed to duck dive underneath a chunky wave. I sit up on my board and brush something from off my left eye socket. I look down at my fingers and notice two jellyfish tentacles. My eyebrow, nose and underneath my eyelid immediately starts burning.

Today my left eye is still swollen and puffy. Good times.

I've included a few pictures from this past weekend. Our friend Andy turned 30 and we celebrated at the Wharf Bar.

The NY Times is surf crazed in 2009

Everyday at work I inevitably make a visit to the New York Times webpage to read the days news. Incredibly, 2009 seems to be the year of surfing. Perhaps it is due the melting economy, or maybe it's because our new Commander in Chief is a wave rider, nonetheless, the preeminent American newspaper has featured 3 frigging articles about wave riding in January alone. In case your remotely interested, I have included the three links below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/sports/othersports/23surfing.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/travel/escapes/16superior.html?ref=travel
http://nytimes.com/2009/01/04/nyregion/thecity/04rock.html?pagewanted=1&%20_r=2&ref=thecity/

Sadly, it is not all happy news in the wave riding universe. The supreme ballbag of Hollywood, Mr. Matthew McConaughey has produced and starred in the most pathetic, despicable, deplorable, asinine movie to ever feature surfing, Surfer Dude. This flaming heap of dung was most likely concocted after Mr. No Shirt and his homeboys (both co-writers of the film, and one the director) from Longview had smoked a few too many joints dipped in his son Levi's placenta. To say the movie lacks a discernable plot would be way too kind. Furthermore, I would argue that the film was devoid of an actual script. Of course, this really shouldn't surprise anyone as the movie went straight to DVD, which is the most obvious sign a film is utterly terrible. I know I haven't given one reason as to why I deplore this film yet, so here are three.

1) Mr. Ballbag wears the same pair of boardshorts the entire film. Not only that, el douche never dons a shirt or even wears sandals. At the airport, at a store, in a meeting, or driving, he always appears in the Greg 'Da Bull' Noll's iconic black and white striped boardies.
2) Woody Harrelson. I am beyond peeved that one of my favorite actors would have agreed to be in such limp dick movie. It's like he completely usurped the love I felt for him after his performance from 'No Country for Old Men'. His best line in SD, 'Don't harsh my mellow, brah.' Heady stuff for any true thespian.
3) The incessant weed smoking. Seriously, I haven't seen that many joints toked since a Cheech and Chong movie. It bordered on the ludicrous, and McDouchwad's theory that life was all about sweet waves and sticky green stuff will further tarnish the largely inarticulate, and highly misunderstood tribes even further amongst the land-lubbing public.

The only thing I am thankful about regarding this movie is that we watched a pirated copy from the internet. Honestly, if I had spent even a penny on this brainless garbage I would have gone mental. As it is, I feel cheated out of 90 minutes of my life that I can never regain. Truly, those ninety minutes would have been better served eating paint chips, sniffing gasoline, or examining dog feces. I award this film negative 4 stars, and may God (and surfers around the World) have mercy on his McShirtless soul.

New Years Eve

We spent NYE at Luna Park, right across the Harbour from the Sydney Opera House and almost directly underneath the Harbour bridge. Our besties from Hawaii, Nic and Jeff, were here visiting, and we had an epic time partying, riding amusement rides, and watching the incredible fireworks. Usually New Years is a huge let down, but this year it completely lived up to the hype. Ended the night watching the sun rise on Manly Beach. Good times.

Hot Buttered goodness

This is my new surfboard, a Hot Buttered 'Drifta' shaped by the Sultan of Speed, Terry Fitzgerald.

You might remember my last post when I whined about not having received my board yet. Right after I put that up, I left the office and walked into the CBD to meet Veronica. While walking I got a call saying my board was ready to be picked up.

The board is magic, btw.

Melbourne

Had a nice, short trip to Melbourne this past weekend. The VA Xmas party was Friday night, so Jamie and I flew down for that. Fun night that featured a long walk from the office in Port Melbourne to the Crown Casino in town. Cabs don't go around that neighborhood since there isn't much business, so I had a nice 90 minute walking tour of the burbs of Melbourne.

Veronica flew in early Saturday morning. Went to Pellegrinis for coffee, a famous Italian cafe/diner situated in the CBD of Melbourne. Very tasty. Did some shopping and walked around the city center taking in the sites. For lunch we headed to the State Library to eat at the cafe. Tasty. Hung out on the grass in front of the library, watching the trams and street traffic hustle along. Loved the murals painted on random alley walls that seemed to be everywhere.

We met up with Jamie's ex-girlfriend who took us to a few bars. The first bar was right on the river and pretty chill. The second bar was a 'Pop Up Bar', which means it is not a permanent bar, but rather a bar that is thrown together for a few months and is made of all recycled materials. No pictures of this bar because the stupid camera batteries died on the way there. Bollocks! Then headed over to Section 8, a bar set in the middle of an alley in Chinatown. Super cool and the bar is actually constructed from a shipping crate. And yeah, no pictures again. Perhaps the coolest thing we did was that night when we headed to the Rooftop Cinema. As the name implies, you actually watch a movie on the roof of a 7 story building in downtown Melbourne. Super cool layout up there with a bar, astroturf flooring and comfy chairs to viddy the movie. What wasn't cool was the movie we saw, 'Funny Games' with Tim Roth and Naomi Watts. Trust me, don't watch that pile of German directed brown doodoo. And no pictures of the rooftop cinema.

Sunday, after getting batteries for the camera, we headed on a tram out to St. Kilda beach. St. Kilda's reminded me of Venice Beach in LA. Very trendy, cool restaurants and shops, and tons of choppers. Amazing bikes looking like they came straight out of West Coast Choppers. Walked around the market, had lunch at a place called Big Mouth (tasty), and then perused the stores in the area.

Was quite impressed with Melbourne. It's definitely a cooler city than Sydney, with innovative businesses, shops and cafes with style and substance. If it wasn't for surfing I could see living there. But who am I kidding, I probably couldn't get a job in that city either.

Which brings me to the final note concerning 2008. Yesterday I received another rejection email for a job I applied for a couple weeks back. Like a complete jackass I had thought I would give it a go since the company was a client of ours, plus I had people there at the company that could vouch for me, and I was actually qualified for the position. I had told Veronica all I wanted was the opportunity to at least have an interview and I would be happy. Moral of the story, it looks like I should search for happiness elsewhere. And to add insult to injury, I still have not received the surfboard I ordered back in August!

So, as you sit down and have a delightful Christmas dinner with you and your loved ones, you will no doubt give thanks for all you have. Inevitably you will think about the less fortunate amongst us; those who don't have a home, a job, or food to eat. I implore you to please think about me as well. The fact that I haven't got my new surfboard yet surely puts me into the less fortunate category, right? :)

Merry Christmas. See you in 2009.

2 months later

Wow, I am terrible! Nary a post in almost 2 months. In my defense, I did warn everyone that the blog had begun to feel like an enormous chore, but still, a pretty poor performance nonetheless. Additionally, Veronica and I hadn't taken a single photo since her birthday, and I know how everyone really only checks the blog to look at the pictures.

But as you will have noticed, there are new pictures up. These pics are from Veronica's Xmas party (after party in Kings Cross), and I think they tell the story far better than words possibly can. :)

On a hokier note, I decided to make a Top Ten List of my favorite songs of 2008. Pretty sure I have mentioned a few of these songs in previous posts, but here they are and not necessarily in this order.

1) Department of Eagles 'No One Does It Like You'
2) Little Joy 'Brand New Start'
3) Okkervil River 'Lost Coastlines'
4) Vampire Weekend 'A-Punk'
5) Santogold 'L.E.S. Artistes'
6) Beck 'Vampire Voltage No.6'
7) Elbow 'Grounds for Divorce'
8) The Black Keys 'I Got Mine'
9) Cold War Kids 'I've Seen Enough'
10) Bon Iver 'Skinny Love'

And fear not, there will be future posts as V and I head to Melbourne next weekend for my work Xmas party.