Sunrise on Bondi Beach

Not a real story to this one. After a long night of drinking it suddenly became a realisation that the sun was coming up out side so I thought Id take a walk down the road to Bondi Beach and take a few pics, so here they are.

Newcastle and the Rugby World Cup

After 9 months I finally made it out of Sydney on a weekend trip up to Newcastle. My mate Scott has been over from New Zealand to come and see England vs NZ. So we took a trip up to Newcastle with Ben and Rach. Its a 2.5 hour drive and upon arrival it became apparent that this is not a very happening town!!

Newcastle is an old industrial town and apart from a small water front there didn't really seem like there much to do there.

Anyway we were there for the rugby and it was a good game with England running in 3 tries in the first half and looking the strong favorites. Until the second half that was when a lack luster English performance and a strong NZ comeback left us holding our heads and wondering where it all went wrong!!!

After the game there seemed to be a distinct lack of transport around so we started to walk back to the city and made it as far as Hamilton and found a pub to quench our thirst. Several refreshments and food later we were back on the hunt for transport. Only there seemed to be about 3 taxis in the whole town and the train seemed to come once a day we were stuck at the train station for another 1.5 hours with a lot of jokes and general goofing around.

After finally making it back and a few hours sleep we spent a few hours looking round in the morning walking along the front out to the end of the water front and back along the beach before taking the drive home.

A good night had by all but a distinct lack of ever wanting to go back to Newcastle.

Belated Birthday Weekend!

And so it comes to that time of year when I turn a little bit older and although it was a couple of weeks later this weekend were the belated celebrations.

Friday night we went to see the Dandy Warhols at the Enmore theater in Newtown which is always and entertaining place to be but the gig was to make the night.

Back in Australia to promote their new album ‘…EARTH TO DANDY WARHOLS…’ and their modern day psychedelic, pop/rock sound it was a very cool gig in a small and intimate theatre and very chilled out with a good mix of the old and new and a few of the classics.

And then onto Saturday night where the madness begins down in Darling Harbour at the James Squire Brewery where they brew their own beers and have a large selection of quality beverages. We start the evening watching New Zealand beating Australia in the first leg of the Bledisloe Cup played for the first time on neutral ground in Hong Kong. Some food, some pool and a few more beers and then its time to move on to the Establishment in the centre of town where the drinking and madness really begins.

Some dancing ensued and of course drinking games, somebody having the bright idea of playing Chasing Me!!!

And so several hours and a lot of Vodka later the night carries on to Sydney's classiest part of town Kings Cross!! To a less than classey club more beer and to finish the whole evening of with the classic 4 in the morning cuisine the kebab. And so here we are on the Sunday following feeling a little sorry for myself.

A week of flying!!!

Ever wanted to fly? Me too. So last week I thought I would see if I could and spent the week jumping out of a plane!!!

As crazy as it may sound it was one ofthe most amazing things I have ever done. I spent the week in a small town called Picton about an hour outside of Sydney doing a course to learn how to jump from a plane at 14,000 feet and not die.

The course is 9 stages long starting with a day of ground training and then the next day you jump!! The first couple of jumps are with 2 instructors holding onto either side of you.

Once you can get yourself stable in the air falling at over 200km an hour you then move on to the next few stages and jump with just the one instructor until such time as you are deemed safe enough to finally jump on your own (obviousley with an instructor very close by) and you learn to do a few moves in the air on the way down. Some turns, some trackin (flying in a straight line) and some very fun backflips.

And then the last and most frightening stage (I almost shite myself when I was told). 2 low level jumps, 1 from 4,000 feet and 1 from 3,000 feet called hop and pop's. Basically you jump out and have about 5 seconds to pull your shute before it all goes horiblly wrong :)

So after a week of training I passed the last stage and learnt to skydive so to celebrate the occasion I went for my first solo jump, just me and the rappidly advancing earth!!!

So after a most amazing time this is now my new hobby and I would recommend it to anybody, just give it a try you can almost fly (if it wernt for gravity).

Update Part 1

Well seeing as I have been here for about seven months now I thought I would share my life so far with all you lovley people out there. This may take a few different posts but please bear with me I will try to make it short.

Firstly thanks to everybody who came to my leaving drinks in London, I know some of you came a longway to be there and I really appreciate it. It was a good night with the drinks flowing and a lot of laughs.

Arriving in Sydney after a brief stop in Hong Kong it was a quick turn around, landed on Friday and was in work on Monday......jet lag was of course imminent. More importantly a place to call home was needed as I only had 2 weeks to find a place. After a week of hunting I found what was origionally thought to be a great place big garden, close to the beach and station. As it goes it turned out to be occupied by some....lets say annoying people (slightly stronger words could be used but lets try and keep it clean). I did however meet a couple of cool people there that turned out to be good friends, if not a little strange....ha ha sorry guy's.

As I arrived at the end of summer and the beach was only a short walk away I thought a bit rude not to visit the famous Bondi Beach for a quick spot of sun worshiping and the first time I wonder down there is a Skateboarding championship on which was quite cool, lots of famous boarders apperently....although I didnt recognise any of them??? It was all held in a skate park and old pool.

Skipping forward a few weeks music was on the agenda and a great show. Out at the Sydney Olympic park on their Australian tour arrived the Foo Fighters on their Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace tour and what an awesome show. With a walkway inbetween the main stage and a circular stage in the middle of the arena we found a perfect spot to stand and rock out. With a superb set starting with pretender and including a mix of old and new songs with an acustic set in the middle and joined by a couple of Australian local artists it turned out to be one of the best shows I have seen yet.

As mentioned before I was living in a house although a great house I had to move so the hunt was on for a place of my own, which is not as easy as it would seem with each viewing there are at least 7 or 8 other people there at the same time you then put in an application and wait to see who the agent pics. So after 4 weeks of looking I finally snagged myself a great 2 bed place just up the road so I was still nice and close to the beach. After looking for a house mate and not getting much response (its winter so not many people looking) I decided to live on my own for a few months until summer. Its a great place which has been done up very well by the land lord with wooden floors and an open plan kitchen / living room with a breakfast bar to seperate. Of course a big shoping trip had to be made to buy the essentials....big screen tv, sofa and bed. It's right opposite a park where the local team plays rugby at the weekend and you can just go a lay out in the sun if you cant be bothered to walk to the beach.

With lots of new things to do and discover, I wont go into lots of detail but some of things I have been up to have been a trip to cockatoo island to see some very weird art exabitions and I had a midwinter christmas in July with some friends where we had some good food and a lot of good wine. Needless to say the next morning was very fuzzy.

This should just about bring me up to date alyhough I am sure I have left a load of stuff out there will be many more things to tell you about I am sure.

Oh and SUMMER is now here....bring on the beach!!!!

Welcome to the 21st Century

Ahahaha its about time I joined the revolution so here it is, my life in the form of a blog.....