Crikey!: Myself and Jim were hanging out on Curl Curl beach one day after a morning of job hunting. We copped a crowd gathering down one end of the beach so we headed down to investigate. It was unbelievable. They had shovelled a small stream in the sand to let the creek out to the sea to stop rising levels from the rain over the last few nights. The small stream only a foot wide then took on incredible momentum from the creek water washing out to sea and grew into a mass of waves crashing down to the sea expanding the gap to the width of 4-5 cars like a bursting dam. What once was a flat beach you could walk across was now a humungous river flowing out to the sea with a drop of 3-4 metres from where we were standing on the edge. While this was going on all the Aussies rounded up from all over the beach, grabbed their body boards and dived into the crashing waves to ride the surf. The crazies! Since that day the stream has reclosed and the creek back to its original spot up from the sea.
Fishing is a tough job but I’m willing to tackle it! Haha: Girls v Boys team the ultimate decider. Fishing day today. Armed with Al’s new pink fishing rod we couldn’t lose. Girls team 3 – Boys team Nil!! O yeah go on the girls!! Myself and Al caught a little small fish each but let them go again because they were not fish for eating. Then just as we were running out a prawns for bait I caught a Silver Bream fish which are good to eat but the one I caught was a little bit small unfortunately for us but fortunately for the fish as we let him back out into the river.
La La Bamba…: Tonight myself, Jim, Al, John and a bunch of their friends headed into the Domain in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney for the ‘Summer Sounds in the Domain’ free outdoor concert featuring Los Lobos. Picnic basket and beer cooler at the ready and we were good to go. The highlight of the night was everyone up dancing on their picnic mats beneath the stars in the heat of the night. It was an incredible feeling.
Cheers from down under: Today the weather started off a bit dull so we decided to head for Sydney Aquarium down by Darling Harbour. We saw masses of different fish including sharks, manta rays and random looking eels. You name it and they had it! It was brilliant the big debate had come to an end. We were finally able to put names to a few fish we had seen when diving in Koh Tao but hadn’t worked out what they were yet. We also had our first experience in a shark cage but thankfully it was on dry land and not actually out in the sea and surrounded by real life sharks. After we’d had enough fish for one day we headed back out into the day light where we were greeted by a sundrenched Darling Harbour. The sun was out and the evening was set to be gorgeous. Of course the only solution was to honour this fabulous weather and celebrate Jamesy’s birthday down under with $10 steaks and a few schooners of Toohey’s finest larger. All while sitting out under the blue harbour sky watching the world go by. Fair Dinkum’. We won’t mention how many schooners later but after the sun had fallen we decided to walk Sydney Harbour Bridge. We had to be the happiest people on the bridge that night! We soaked up the incredible views of the city and Opera house.
Panoramic 360° Views of the City and then some: We decided to check out a bit more of what Sydney has to offer today. The sky was clear so we caught the lift 250m above the streets of Sydney to the observation deck of Sydney Central Tower. One footstep from the lift and we were engulfed by the breathtaking views of the city. We could see the harbour bridge on the north, picturesque Blue Mountains to the west, historical Botany Bay on the south and to the east, the magnificent Pacific Ocean. (Yes I sole that description from the brochure!) Most importantly we (meaning I) used the binoculars to hone in on Russell Crowes house and take a sneak peek to see if he was lying out in his garden soaking up the sun, sadly not today! On the advice of a few friends we hopped on the train out to Newtown. Newtown is Sydney’s University town. It holsters an intriguing funky vintage vibe similar to Hate Ashbury in San Fran but less second hand shops and more extensive cafes and eateries. It’s a great place to check out somewhere different and grab a bite to eat.
Eat my Dust: Next stop the Sydney Speedway out in Paramatta. It was a night of track racing for wingless sprints, midgets, fender benders and stock cars. An unforgettable experience to say the least. We had a brilliant time literally eating dust when some of the cars took the 1st bend at an unbelievable speed. What was even sweeter when we were heading for the ticket stand a guy came over to us with two free tickets! NICE! Everyone has to go watch fender benders at some point. They are mad craic stock cars bashed and dinted in every spot possible. They ‘race’ each other which inevitably lead to loads of cars spinning out of the race after a few tight corners and nudging the competition. Picture Nascar Racing or Talladega Nights level of rivalry between drivers but way cheaper cars. Top Priority – knock your opponent out of the race!! The other end of the scale then was the wingless sprints and midget car racers which shot around the track at blistering speed. Great night had by all.
