Daylight Savings

Daylight Saving kicked in on Sunday morning and we are now 11 hours ahead of the UK. Whilst the nights draw in back there we are now only a month away from Summer. I got off the ferry this evening just after 7pm and it was light. It won't be long before I'll be home in time to go for a swim or a surf after work.

Anyway.

It was only a matter of time until we bought one of these.....















Paperwork aside, does this mean we are now "Aussies"?

It certainly looks the part and it costs the bucks but I reckon we will got our moneys worth. I'd wanted one of those huge BBQs but we had to take the space on our balcony into consideration. I fired it up for the first time on Saturday. After yet another quality Friday night out in the City bacon sandwiches were the order of the day and what better place to cook them up than on the new BBQ on the balcony in the sunshine. You've all seen pictures of the view from our balcony but thanks to the joy of You Tube (just brilliant for the football highlights that I'd otherwise miss) I was able to take a publish this for you to see - unfortunately the quality would have been better if I'd had my camera on a different setting.

The BBQ is great and very convenient to use. After we'd eaten we both went for a swim (well you would, wouldn't you?) before heading out to buy a quality mask and snorkel each. H bought me mine for my birthday and we are planning to use them off Shelly Beach as soon as we can. We are both thinking about getting back into the Scuba Diving as well.

Saturdays here are very different to the UK. Back there I used to play football in the morning and lie on the sofa all afternoon and watch the football results come in. Unfortunately here is none of that here. Instead I went for a surf (nice!) and H headed to Bondi to see Will. James, Will's flatmate, headed to Manly to hang out with me. We ended up going round a friends house (Damian and Katie's) to play poker and eat Thai. I lost $30. I haven't really played for cash before - except a few dollars online - and it was a good night, even though I lost both games.

James stayed over on Saturday night and I fired the BBQ up on Sunday morning for more breakfast in the morning sunshine. I took this.

Damian came round shortly after in his new car.....















.....and took us to play golf. Shotgun! I used to play a lot of golf but haven't been onto a course for at least seven or eight years, and it showed. Shooting 56 shots over 9 holes is rubbish, but that was by no means the worst score of the day so you can imagine how much we hacked our way around the course. All the holes were tree-lined and all you could hear was balls smashing into trees all over the place.











































Nice swing James.....















So it was another great weekend here in Sydney. And the week got off to flyer this morning when I managed to buy a few tickets to see this band. Tickets sold out in twenty minutes.

Book Twelve

Book Twelve. Thanks to Will for giving me this for my birthday.




















I nailed it in a week but at only 200 pages long, and given my current words-per-day ratio I would’ve been disappointed with anything less.

It’s actually a collection of short stories so I feel like I’ve cheated the system somewhat, but given the fact that a) it is a book and b) there is no other qualifying factor, this book becomes Book Twelve. I’ve been surfing now for about 5 months so it was about time that I got round to reading a book about the water. I thought all the stories were going to be about barrels, tubes, close-outs, lefts, rights, drop-ins, free falls, wipe outs and being gnarly, but they weren’t. The book is all about people’s attitude towards, and respect for, the ocean, and having been wiped out on numerous occasions (including two massive, frightening hits that I will never ever forget), as well as having nearly bust my neck and my nose (the latest injury happening on Sunday morning when I pulled the board back into my face) I have plenty of that.

It’s back to the Classic shelf for Book Thirteen and it may take some time, even though it is a little over 300 pages long. I think it's probably the most challenging book so far. I started to read it on the ferry home on Monday but fell asleep on the third page. I'll put that down to general Monday apathy as opposed to the book. But it's already Thursday and I'm only 60 pages in.

The Hawkesbury River Houseboat Extravaganza!

So last weekend 18 of us headed north, an hour out of Sydney, to the beautiful Hawkesbury River, where we'd hired two houseboats.







H and I have nearly been here for 6 months now and it was the first time we have left the City (although it feels like we do every day when we return to Manly). This trip had been in the pipeline for a few months now and all of a sudden it was here. Thanks to excellent planning and preparation by Will, Julia and Simo we all arrived on time with hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of booze and food already brought. Result! Naturally all of the booze for the weekend was pretty much drunk in the first night. The meals had been planned with military precision and no-one went hungry. We BBQ’d anything and everything.

The weather was very kind to us as well. The temperature hit the mid-thirties on Friday and Saturday, and although we didn’t arrive until about 3pm on the Friday, it meant for a warm, balmy evening lying on the deck, listening to tunes and watching the most beautiful night sky (with very little light pollution). I saw two shooting stars which is always nice.















Jumping off the boat into the pitch black river was good fun, although perhaps a little unnerving. Sharks have been pulled out of the Hawkesbury before. The phosphorescence was something else! Saturday meant a day of sunbathing, diving, swimming, drinking and eating. I think most people started polishing off the booze that was leftover before 8am on the Saturday. And even I was sensible with the suntan lotion. I hate the stuff but I have noticed myself getting more and more conscious of just how dangerous it can be down here. For the first time in my life I found myself using some Factor 30!





























The weather changed on Saturday night and the winds hit. I thought a rubbish bag had been blown over when I saw a shape in the water. It was very dark so I took a picture to see what it was.















It was a manta ray, honest.

Being in a houseboat.....















.....reminded me of being in a static caravan.















Except the scenery moves, thus making it anything but static, and there are no chav pubs or entertainment centres (Fat, sweaty comedians entertaining fat British Bulldogs and fat Gold Hoops) within a zillion miles. The set-up though, is essentially the same. Just add a top bunch of people and away you go. Who’d of thought you’d be able to draw comparisons between the Hawkesbury River in NSW and Chav Bay in Devon? Well you can, and I did.

The constant swaying played havoc with my 32 year old ear canals though. I managed to walk into two walls at work on Monday.

Although I took my camera with me on the trip I didn't take as many pictures as I'd like because my camera was often on the other boat. Simo took some great shots though and you can see them here. If you're interested you can also see his Parklife pictures on the same site.

Book Eleven

Here it is, finished on Monday.....




















I had wanted to give Grisham a go for a while now. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's because he has written a lot of books, and given that almost every book that is written by anybody these days is a "Best seller", then he has therefore written a lot of "Best Sellers". I often found myself looking through his work but something held me back. Maybe it's because most of his stories seem to be about one law or another, lawyers, judges and court houses. I wasn't really sure if I could take it. Anyway Will had recommended this one to me so when he'd finished with his copy, he lent it to me and Book Eleven was created.

Reading "The Testament" was like reading a movie, and one which I didn't fall asleep through, so it must've been pretty good. I surprised myself and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. And yes, it is about lawyers, judges and court houses, with a large inheritance, some greedy heirs and the Amazon thrown in for good measure. I read it at record pace. Given the words to page ratio, and the fact it is 472 pages long, I think it is a new PB.

The World Is Full Of Injustices.....

.....and the fact that this guy has just been voted out of Australian Idol is another.

Those of you that know me will know how much I love TV shows like this. It's no-brainer Sunday night TV where you can laugh at others (You Tube is full of too many funnies to stick here), hurl abuse from the comfort of your own sofa and watch dreams get shattered. And occasionally you see moments of genius. I love it, and I've managed to convert a few others along the way. Bobby Flynn has been a big talking point over the last few weeks and the mobile was red hot with collective "Noooooooooooooo's" and "Gutted" when his name was read out from the envelope.

And before you all lay into me, I'm sure most of you will remember how you felt when this happened.

Happy Birthday To Me!

I am 32 today. Happy Birthday to me (and the great Bobby Charlton).

It's also my first birthday in Australia. To celebrate I got up at 5.30am and went for a surf before work. It was a birthday first and great way to start the day. The finals of the richest ASP Women's World Tour surfing event also took place in Manly today. The event has been running all week just across the road from our flat but work commitments meant that I missed it all.

I've just got back from watching the Socceroos beat Bahrain 2-0 in the Asian Cup qualifier with H, Will and Satyan at Aussie Stadium, the home of Sydney FC. Tomorrow I am going out for a few beers in Manly and on Friday 20 of us are heading north on a boating holiday.















Two years ago I celebrated my 30th in Prague with H, Andy and Sam. Andy and Sam started a bar brawl in "the biggest music club in middle Europe". We drank Absinthe. We drank lots of beer. We saw lots of nice sights and we ate lots of dumplings. It was great.






























































Sam and H helped me celebrate the big 3 0 by having one of their legendary (play) fights.





























Last year I went out for a Mexican, and then to Revolution Vodka Bar (the scene of our Leaving Party), in Bristol.




















Yes, that's me with the GB Triathlete.















See what I mean about Sam and H?

























































And there's a good chance Sam will be out here for my 33rd.....

Parklife 2006

First of all, apologies for the poor formatting in this blog. I have no idea why Blogger has decided to wrap text where it shouldn't but I can't be arsed to recreate the blog again and no-one will really care anyway. It's taken me more than enough time putting it together as it is. So, enjoy.....

Last weekend was a long weekend in New South Wales (Monday was Labour Day, whatever that means) and H and I had an absolute winner. After the excellent Hard-Fi gig on Friday we headed back to Manly for the night before heading to Bondi on Saturday. It was a big day for Will as he was moving there from the City and we’d planned to spend the weekend there as well.

This is the view from his balcony. Vans used to live there and we had a few "Where's Vans?" moments.....

Whilst he unpacked I sat on my arse and watched the AFL final between the West Coast Eagles and the Swans. If was a fantastic game, won by the Eagles by 1 point. I watched the final quarter with James, Wills flatmate, in the unbelievably busy Beach Road Hotel.

Anyway, Saturday was the calm before the storm and we enjoyed a nice night out with our Bondi chums in Bondi. Sunday was the big one though.

PARKLIFE had arrived. H and I had heard so much about it, and as veterans of the UK festival scene (Glastonbury, Essential and Ashton Court for me and many many more for H) we were really excited to see what all the fuss was about and how different it would be, if at all, to thousands of ravers dancing in a field in the UK.

The gig was held around Kippax Lake in Moore Park, which is next to Aussie Stadium and the SCG. It was a beautiful setting, on a nice sunny day. I was really looking forward to seeing the Stanton Warriors and Krafty Kuts, and they didn’t disappoint (check out my very own videos of the Krafty Kuts set here and here). But for me, the highlights were Coldcut (amazing sound and visuals) and Mixmaster Mike, the Beastie Boys DJ, who scratched and mixed his way through the big anthems the crowd loved to hear. Peter Hook was excellent value for money as well. For someone who was at the forefront of the dance movement as we know it, he was still going strong years later. He’s a bit like Shaun Ryder but he can still speak

I guess the main difference when compared to a UK gig was that everyone looked like they had just stepped off the beach. Shorts and flip-flops were the go. And everyone looked like they were used to the sunshine. I didn’t see any sunburn at all. Mind you, it wasn’t that hot, maybe 23-24 degrees. Although we had just hit the second month of Spring, Parklife, for many people, is the unofficial start of a 6 month summer season.

Here's some more pictures of the festival (and the people).

As is always the case at these things, a lot of time is spent on the phone texting everyone. My sent messages folder on Monday told me I'd sent things like "At mixxy mike, right of stage, 20yds back from fuzzy banner on metal walkway", "2 the right, 30 yds from fuzzy sign, on metal. Make the mission, we are all here", "We r at the front in front of f" and "Who r u?". They all did the job, eventually.

Being at an event like Parklife brought back so many festival memories, mainly of Ashton Court which H and I used to go to with most of our Bristol chums, year in, year out (how I was craving an overpriced ice-cold can of the mighty Thorn (instead of overpriced can of Heineken)).

You were all missed, but a lucky few will be able to sample the ozzie festival experience on New Years Day. H and I have sorted out tickets for the Field Day festival in the Domain (which is part of the Royal Botanical Gardens) which is promoted by the same people as Parklife. Tickets for this sold out in 24 hours or so and given the success of Parklife, I think we have definitely made the right choice (I’m pretty sure that Mike, Ella, Mark, Kim and the Wichards won’t be disappointed – we had to make the decision for them given the urgency required to score tickets, the 12k miles separating us and the 9 hour time difference). It’s going to be a lot hotter than Parklife though - this year it was 46 degrees on NYD.

Post festival, dirty minging feet.....

We stayed in Bondi after the festival and enjoyed a lazy day on Monday in recovery on the beach. Being able to go for a dip in the ocean certainly helped the recovery process! Three weekends ago there were three six-foot sharks 50m off the beach at Bondi which had to be scared off with a helicopter and lifeguards on jet skis. Luckily that wasn’t the case this time around.