Over down under

Down the Coast

dan-isaacson — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 14:55:00 GMT

Seven Mile Beach
I left Sydney in a thunderstorm that turned the entire sky bright orange. Which should have served a warning to the weather ahead. Made it to Seven Mile Beach late and setup camp. This beautiful stretch of beach would fit most of Sydney and still not be crowded.

Gerringong
I had a late breakfast at the Vegetarian Café and despite the weather sat on the upstairs deck. Looking out over the green hills, I was at peace with my musli.

Jervis Bay
My visit to Jervis Bay was regrettably short. The weather was still blah.

Batemans Bay

The weather started to clear a bit.
Batemans Bay has more fish and chips than you can shake a stick at and most places offer you a variety of fish when you order. This place is heaven for fish and chips or fishING (if you like to catch them).

Broulee

The next morning I decided to get another fish and chippy and go for a swim at Broulee. This is definitely one of my favourite beaches along the South Coast. When I arrived the surf was pretty small, so I opted not to rent a board. By late afternoon the surf picked up and out came the surfers in force. Swimming out there among the local surfers with my snorkel mask and digital camera, I felt like a fish out of water… but in the water… hmm… aahh haiku.

I felt like a fish
out of water, but in water
waves are real good time.

Here’s a Bashō classic:
初しぐれ猿も小蓑をほしげ也
Hatsu shigure saru mo komino wo hoshige nari
the first cold shower;
even the monkey seems to want
a little coat of straw.

ahhh haiku...

Bega

Stopped at the Bega Valley Lookout and had dinner while watching the sunset.

Marimbula
I had heard the name several times before and was curious to discover what it was all about. I read in the Lonely Planer guide that there are some great wreck dives here and being recently certified I was eager to dive on a wreck. I signed up with Diver’s Den who were more that helpful in setting me up for a double dive on one of the wrecks. Unfortunatly once again the weather turned on me and diving was cancelled.

Ok I'm headed West.. South West..

Sydney

dan-isaacson — Fri, 9 Feb 2007 11:59:00 GMT

I finnaly made it to Sydney after a week of being sick in Canberra. First things first; I headed to Bondi quickly found a parking space and headed for a swim. I met up with some friends there who were headed to a free poker tournament at the Bondi RSL club. I've never played in a tournament and it showed. I came in 64th out of 76. But in a side game, with a $20 buy in, I placed 2nd!

The next evening we headed for the Botanical Gardens to have a picknick and get a spy on the OpenAir Cinema. Which is one of the best ideas to make it into existance.

what better place for a movie, huh?

Ok. I'm off for the South Coast...

Gallery: Sydney and South Coast NSW

dan-isaacson — Fri, 9 Feb 2007 11:43:00 GMT

Gallery: Canberra

dan-isaacson — Thu, 1 Feb 2007 13:00:00 GMT

Australia Day in Canberra

dan-isaacson — Thu, 1 Feb 2007 13:00:00 GMT

At the National Museum of Australia where there is currently an exhibit commemorating 100 Years of Surf Lifesaving. (link)

Duncan and Oliver working on the new surfboard design for Quicksilver

Oliver giving it the final OK

Some of the older designs on exhibit

Later that afternoon we decided to head for the Canberra Yacht Club for dinner. You might be thinking ‘Canberra has a yacht club’ but it’s really a nice place to enjoy fish and chippys lakeside. (no keels)

After dinner I headed up to the top of Red Hill to watch the fireworks.

Australia Day fireworks over the Parliament House.

On Friday Amber, Oliver and I went to the National Zoo & Aquarium.

Oliver and Mom visiting friends at the zoo. I think the sharks were Oliver’s favourite.

Saturday we headed for the beach. It’s about a 2 ½ hour drive from Canberra to Broulee which is one of the nicer beaches along the South Coast NSW. It’s a great place to swim or learn how to swim if you’re only 2.

The boys playing in the sand at Broulee

This was eventually going to happen

Ok, I'm headed north to Sydney and then down the coast...