Back on the first weekend for Nov I went camping with a couple of mates from work Morgan and Tony. I've always been a keen camper since my parents started taking us kids to Ruatiti Domain back home in NZ. This particular trip was born out of a night in the pub where another mate and I (Ian Cooper) had a few beers and came up with the idea of going fishing somewhere remote with just tents and whatever other camping gear we could pull together in time.
Anyway Ian decided a tennis semi-final was more important and after a few brief discussions in passing Morgan, Tony and myself agreed on Jervis Bay as a good location. I'd borrowed a fly fishing line from my mate in NZ mad Geof so was pretty keen to get some fishing in during the trip as well. Tony took his surf board as there is a surf beach near the Green Patch campsite we were staying in, Morgan took his camera and some tins of sardines to keep him going too!
The drive from Sydney to Jervis Bay is do-able after work, we left around 6pm and although it was dark when we arrived with car lights we had no trouble pitching tents around 9:30pm - even with the friendly resident possum hanging around.
Our first morning was spent walking to an old derelict lighthouse, Morgans impressive GPS system keeping us on track for the most part and getting us back to the car safely. In the afternoon we headed to the beach but the waves were not great and the beach had blue-bottles around so we kicked a soccer ball for a bit then headed back to camp for some bbq steaks. Whilst enjoying dinner out in the wilderness with various birds and animals around us a cheeky Kookaburra who has earlier swooped across the picnic table in search of food decided my steak was the best and proceeded to swoop in again and take it right from between the pieces of bread in my hands! That Kookaburra is probably still trying to digest the steak now - serves him/her right.
Day 2 we decided to pack up in the morning and take a slow trip back to Sydney via the Shoalhaven River so I could drop the fishing line in the water. The fish were way too tiny for my line, I got onto a couple of small ones that fell straight off the hook! It's good to keep the practice up with fly fishing though.
I'd definately recommend Green Patch camp ground at Jervis Bay to anyone, stunning scenery and great facilities.
Cheers
Tim
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Shoe fence in Tutira
OK, I'm on catch up here. Two posts in a week and I'm still blogging about Oct! Quick mention that NZ has just beaten Australia in the Rugby League World Cup, we are now world champions at league for the first time ever.
Mel and I took a trip to NZ in Oct, the main purpose was to see our good friends Steve and Sara get married in Gisborne. The trip started with a NZ$200 fine for forgetting to eat the banana and apple in my bag before entering Wellington airport - I commend NZ for having such strict rules and for not letting people like me convince them to waive the fine, it's how we manage to keep NZ so clean of foreign parasites and disease.
We drove around 1200 km in total during the trip which sounds a lot for only a week but it's always a pleasure for me to drive back in NZ. The roads are always quiet and the scenery spectacular, it reminds me how lucky I am for being a Kiwi. Along the way I spotted the fence in the picture, I have no idea what all the shoes people have left on it means but Tutira, NZ must get more than it's fair share of cars stopping just to check it out (or perhaps just me)!
Not only was it great to see friends from the UK at Steve and Sara Rofe's wedding in Gisborne but to catch up with family in Wellington was extra special with the recent arrival of my first blood niece Ella - and what a beautiful little girl she is. We even found some time to go fishing with mad Geof, Tavis and Sarah - always a lot of fun with those guys and we landed 2 fish one of which we ate a few hours later at a BBQ with Tav and his family!
It's nice the flight to NZ is only 3 hours now, all the more reason to spend more time over there while we can. We'll be back for Christmas - but hopefully more blog posts to come before then!
Go the Kiwi cricket team, beating the Aussies is too much fun to stop now!!
Tim
Mel and I took a trip to NZ in Oct, the main purpose was to see our good friends Steve and Sara get married in Gisborne. The trip started with a NZ$200 fine for forgetting to eat the banana and apple in my bag before entering Wellington airport - I commend NZ for having such strict rules and for not letting people like me convince them to waive the fine, it's how we manage to keep NZ so clean of foreign parasites and disease.
We drove around 1200 km in total during the trip which sounds a lot for only a week but it's always a pleasure for me to drive back in NZ. The roads are always quiet and the scenery spectacular, it reminds me how lucky I am for being a Kiwi. Along the way I spotted the fence in the picture, I have no idea what all the shoes people have left on it means but Tutira, NZ must get more than it's fair share of cars stopping just to check it out (or perhaps just me)!
Not only was it great to see friends from the UK at Steve and Sara Rofe's wedding in Gisborne but to catch up with family in Wellington was extra special with the recent arrival of my first blood niece Ella - and what a beautiful little girl she is. We even found some time to go fishing with mad Geof, Tavis and Sarah - always a lot of fun with those guys and we landed 2 fish one of which we ate a few hours later at a BBQ with Tav and his family!
It's nice the flight to NZ is only 3 hours now, all the more reason to spend more time over there while we can. We'll be back for Christmas - but hopefully more blog posts to come before then!
Go the Kiwi cricket team, beating the Aussies is too much fun to stop now!!
Tim
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Vineyards around Yass, NSW, Australia
12th of Oct since my last post (not to draw attention to my pathetic effort of keeping a regular blog) - sad!
Works been pretty busy and I've been reffing lots of touch rugby in preparation for reffing at the NSW State Cup - I was invited to represent Sydney University which is awesome. The competition is in Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia. I'll finally be able to pick up my level 2 badge and start working towards level 3.
Anyway, back in Oct Mel and I joined friends of friends Nat and Kallan + a friend of theirs Annie (or crazy Annie as I like to call her) on a vineyard hopping session in Yass, NSW, Australia. It was wine festival weekend and all the vineyards we visited (around 5 or 6 I think - it's a bit hazy) had food on offer to give an excuse to drink more wine. The Yass region (near the current Australian capital Canberra) produce some awesome wines and to be honest it's so long ago now I can't remember them all. Two I do remember and well worth a visit are Jeir Creek and Clonakilla. The pies (and wine) were also notably tasty at whichever vineyard we we're at in the picture (we were too tanked to know where we we're by then)!
A great time and worth the trip down to good ole (if not tiny) Yass!
Cheers
Tim
Works been pretty busy and I've been reffing lots of touch rugby in preparation for reffing at the NSW State Cup - I was invited to represent Sydney University which is awesome. The competition is in Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia. I'll finally be able to pick up my level 2 badge and start working towards level 3.
Anyway, back in Oct Mel and I joined friends of friends Nat and Kallan + a friend of theirs Annie (or crazy Annie as I like to call her) on a vineyard hopping session in Yass, NSW, Australia. It was wine festival weekend and all the vineyards we visited (around 5 or 6 I think - it's a bit hazy) had food on offer to give an excuse to drink more wine. The Yass region (near the current Australian capital Canberra) produce some awesome wines and to be honest it's so long ago now I can't remember them all. Two I do remember and well worth a visit are Jeir Creek and Clonakilla. The pies (and wine) were also notably tasty at whichever vineyard we we're at in the picture (we were too tanked to know where we we're by then)!
A great time and worth the trip down to good ole (if not tiny) Yass!
Cheers
Tim
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