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.

Invasion of the Flies

Well, this past week back in Sydney has seen Veronica spending a lot of time at work. She has working like a farmer trying to finish up a few reports, so this week my main contribution to our domestic bliss has been in making dinners. I have to say I am getting used to being a quasi Mr. Mom domestic type. Otherwise, I have been busy trying to surf as much as possible each morning before work. Mostly the surf has been pretty average the past month, but on Friday the waves started turning on. By Saturday morning the waves were pretty much epic, 3 to 4 and just barreling. Mike and I went out early to Dee Why/Long Reef on Saturday, and walking along the beach we were both in disbelief at how insane the waves were. Unfortunately my skills did not shine and I got beat out there. A humbling experience out in the soup for me, no doubt somehow brought on by my sour mood at not finding a job.

Veronica went for a long run that morning, and afterwards we went and had a coffee at our favorite coffee shop in Manly, Barefoot. We then went and met up with our friends to walk around the Corso and have some lunch. Later on, closer to sunset, we met our friends Gavin and Martina at the Bavarian to have a few mango beers (where both of the photos were taken). These beers, while quite delicious, are also a tad on the expensive side, which is why we consider these beers to be a treat and usually limit ourselves to only 2 each.

After the sunset, we headed over to our friend Andy’s place for a barbie. While we expected a bigger crowd, it ended up only being our close group of friends, and the night ended early as the boys were going out for a night on the town.

On Sunday morning Veronica and I both slept in. Since we had not been to Carlos’s Coffee in a while (one of the finest purveyors of coffee on the Northern Beaches), we took a drive over to Freshwater in order to quaff a tasty flat white. Carlos delivered his usual dose of caffeine goodness, and then Veronica went up to work, leaving me alone. I ended up going over our former flat mate Morgan’s house, and then we went surfing, after an extended shopping trip to surf shops looking for a pair of sunglasses. The surf was fun, and quite warm. It seems that very soon I won’t need to wear a full wetsuit in the surf, which is a shame since I just got my Patagonia suit a little over a month ago.

I finished reading an excellent novel “Absolute Beginners” by Colin MacInnes. The novel is considered to be the British equivalent of “The Catcher and the Rye”, and it turned out to be one of the best novels I have read in quite some time. It is actually out of print, but you can still find used copies of it on Amazon.com. I highly recommend anyone who loves literature to pick this book up as it is magic.

Monday is now here and the flies continue to get worse. Apparently they will keep getting worse in November, until they leave a little after Christmas. Suck.

The Big Merino

As I had previously noted in the last entry, Veronica and I were lucky enough to experience the visual splendor of a big ass ram in Goulburn. However, after some quick research it appears the giant landmark (which is 45 feet tall) is actually called The Big Merino. I apoligize for the mistake, and in the future will try my darndest to perform a little more research before posting. Hope you enjoy the picture of Veronica and "Biggie Merino".

More pictures from the Bush

The Outback

No doubt you are all wondering how our adventure into the netherworld of the Outback went, and I can sum it up in 3 words. Small, flat, flies.

The town of Hay is very small. Lonely Planet has it listed with a population of 2,200, whereas the sign introducing travelers to the town cites the population as 3,400. Regardless, the place is truly a one street town. I half expected to see some tumbleweed slowly rolling across the street, Grapes of Wrath style.

Our drive into the bush on Monday was long. Surprisingly, the countryside past Sydney is quite rolling and lush. It is only when you get around an hour or two away from Hay that the landscape completely flattens and starts turning a dull brown. We stopped for lunch at the town of Gundagai, and ate at the famous Niagara Café, which was listed in the Lonely Planet. The guidebook said that stepping into the restaurant would transport you back to the 1930’s; however, the TV and huge refrigerator’s dampened the nostalgic mood a bit. The food was good, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the place. The former Prime Minister had eaten a meal there in 1942, and they actually had a 50th year anniversary in 1992 celebrating the momentous day. Depressing to say the least.

Back on the road, we took a picture smack dab in the middle of road, just to show how little traffic there is on that stretch of road. Arriving at the Comfort Inn around 6:30, both Veronica and I were quite tired from having spent the day in the Ute. We opted to go grab a pizza from one of the two restaurants that were open in town.

The next morning Veronica woke early to go do her fieldwork. I stayed in the hotel room and worked on my assignment, and then met up with her for lunch at the Roadhouse (the Mobil’s on site restaurant). There we dined on fried chicken and chips (fries) and afterwards I felt as if I were about to have a heart attack. On my walk back to the motel I was swarmed by a group of flies. 10 dirty little buggers kept buzzing around my head, Africa-style. Unfortunately, that was what Veronica had to deal with all day on Tuesday and Wednesday. I really cannot stress enough how badly flies suck here in Australia. They have no fear, flying up your nose and into your mouth. It is now extremely obvious why 90% of the population of Australia lives along the coast. That night we dined at the Jolly Jumbuck Bistro, a delightful little restaurant that made a mean steak and chicken parmigiana. We actually ended up eating there on Wednesday night as well, because the food was good and there really wasn’t any other option

Wednesday Veronica finished work a little early so we took a stroll around the town. We visited the mighty Murrumbidgee River, and took a few pictures at Sandy Point. As you can see, I took a nice picture with a stuffed kangaroo, real classy indeed! The fire station is now a bookshop, the water fountain Veronica is under was built in 1882, which is perhaps the oldest water fountain I have ever seen. Exciting stuff I realize!

The drive back yesterday was again long, but we managed to have a fun time with our road trip. We stopped in a filed with a solitary tree surrounded by some very pretty flowers. Veronica reckons that the flowers are the national flower, however, I am not too sure, but I will be sure to check up on that. I forgot to mention that during the drive to Hay and back we saw a plethora of dead kangaroo’s on the side of the road. Apparently they get plowed over trying to cross the road at night. On a less depressing note, we stopped in Goulburn for lunch. The lunch was fairly good, but the highlight is the gigantic ram that the town is constructing right next to the Subway (restaurant). I don’t know what it is about Australian’s and their love of building gigantic creatures, but they get hog wild excited about that crap. To each there own I say! At least it made for a pretty kick ass picture, eh?

Well, it’s time to sign off, but I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Just had a fun surf this morning, and now it is time to head into work. Tomorrow our friend Jase is having his 40th birthday party; no doubt it will be a crazy time.