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
Sunday, 12 October 2008
NZ warriors so close and yet so far away
It was a while ago now but I've been busy, the NZ Warriors rugby league team made the semi finals of the NRL (National Rugby League) competition in Australia this year but came up against Manly - by far the best team this season. Not only did I go along to the game with a mate Ian, I'd decided the week before to grow a beard in support of retiring captain Ruben Wiki and the whole team. I created a group on facebook for the purpose of sharing the Ruben Wiki beard grow occasion and a few mates from around the world joined in and uploaded photos of their beard growing achievements. If you search for 'Ruben Wiki beard grow' you'll no doubt stumble upon our efforts!
Anyway Manly easily beat the NZ Warriors and have now gone on to easily beat Melbourne Storm in the grand final - I was a Manly supporter well before the NZ Warriors entered the competition so I was happy to see them win too!
Who knows what we'll decide to grow for next!
Tim
Anyway Manly easily beat the NZ Warriors and have now gone on to easily beat Melbourne Storm in the grand final - I was a Manly supporter well before the NZ Warriors entered the competition so I was happy to see them win too!
Who knows what we'll decide to grow for next!
Tim
Friday, 26 September 2008
Taronga Zoo
After a heavy night of boozing last weekend Mel and I decided to take a leisurely trip to Taronga Zoo to visit the animals. To be honest we did leave it late in the day and really only had around 2 hours to get around but I'm not the biggest Zoo fan anyway so focused on the bird show and gorillas - anything else was a bonus. Once you've been to African on safari it's really not the same. It's not cheap to get in either, (around $40 p/person) although you do get a discount if you've arrived by ferry (or at least say you have even if you've come by car/bus/foot/emu etc).
The bird show was genuinely good, hawks, doves and other birds I can't remember the names of all trained to cleverly do as the bird-keeper says (although the birds weren't behaving that well for the women running our show). They claim the bird show at Taronga Zoo is world renowned, I can't say I've been to many bird shows of this kind so will have to take their word for it.
The funniest thing of the day happened when watching the gorillas, they are so human like in many ways but not so much in others. There are cross sections of skulls (well not real ones, made of metal and wood) of both human and gorilla next to each other by the gorilla enclosure, you look at those and the teeth and hands of both and there is very little difference at all - then you walk over and watch the real gorillas for a while and there is big daddy gorilla eating his own crap (or his mates), fortunately most humans have moved on from that by now!
I'd recommend Taronga Zoo if you generally like Zoos and it does have the best back-drop you'd imagine a Zoo to have (the Sydney harbour) but allow plenty of time and don't miss the (apparently) world renowned bird show and the crap eating (if you're lucky) gorillas.
Cheers
Tim
The bird show was genuinely good, hawks, doves and other birds I can't remember the names of all trained to cleverly do as the bird-keeper says (although the birds weren't behaving that well for the women running our show). They claim the bird show at Taronga Zoo is world renowned, I can't say I've been to many bird shows of this kind so will have to take their word for it.
The funniest thing of the day happened when watching the gorillas, they are so human like in many ways but not so much in others. There are cross sections of skulls (well not real ones, made of metal and wood) of both human and gorilla next to each other by the gorilla enclosure, you look at those and the teeth and hands of both and there is very little difference at all - then you walk over and watch the real gorillas for a while and there is big daddy gorilla eating his own crap (or his mates), fortunately most humans have moved on from that by now!
I'd recommend Taronga Zoo if you generally like Zoos and it does have the best back-drop you'd imagine a Zoo to have (the Sydney harbour) but allow plenty of time and don't miss the (apparently) world renowned bird show and the crap eating (if you're lucky) gorillas.
Cheers
Tim
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Sydney Photobloggers meet-up
Usually my lack of regular blog posts is purely because I'm slack but this time it's because I've been so busy with stuff going on - those first few months of living in Sydney were relatively quiet due to lack of social life but that's all-a-changing! Between work and play there has not been much time left to hit the computer and post anything meaningful (debatable it ever is you might say) and all I've been able to keep updated are my Flickr photostream and facebook/twitter status.
Last week I had the pleasure of joining my first Flickr 'meet up' with the Sydney Photobloggers group and it was such a great evening. About 12 of us met at the Town Hall steps and took a slow stroll through the CBD to Circular Quay stopping on many occasions to chat and taking pictures of everything (incl each other) along the way.
We made it to the Glenmore pub in the Rocks without losing anyone and enjoyed a few beers and some food together - what a fantastic group of people all sharing a common interest for photography (and Flickr). Everyone was happy I'd brought along some free Flickr schwag too, and of course some of them bent my ear about new features coming along and about what they liked and disliked (fortunately not much dislike at all) as well.
I'll def head out with the Sydney Photobloggers again some time, great fun!
Bonza!
Tim
Last week I had the pleasure of joining my first Flickr 'meet up' with the Sydney Photobloggers group and it was such a great evening. About 12 of us met at the Town Hall steps and took a slow stroll through the CBD to Circular Quay stopping on many occasions to chat and taking pictures of everything (incl each other) along the way.
We made it to the Glenmore pub in the Rocks without losing anyone and enjoyed a few beers and some food together - what a fantastic group of people all sharing a common interest for photography (and Flickr). Everyone was happy I'd brought along some free Flickr schwag too, and of course some of them bent my ear about new features coming along and about what they liked and disliked (fortunately not much dislike at all) as well.
I'll def head out with the Sydney Photobloggers again some time, great fun!
Bonza!
Tim
Monday, 8 September 2008
Pool at Leichhardt, Sydney
It's been awhile since I played pool but when I'm playing I always wish I could more, when I was a kid I had a pool table in my bedroom and even though you had to play "up the wall' on a few shots it was a blast - this table in a Leichhardt suburb pub near Balmain was so old the casing outside the slot where the balls roll down had come off and so the balls rolled down the slot and dropped onto the floor. I can tell you that after the number of beers I'd had before, during and after the West (Balmain) Tigers rugby league match that night I could not stop laughing every time a ball would hit the floor and roll across the room – it was hilarious.
After playing a few games and getting in the mood for more we were kicked out but moved on to the Unity Hall pub in Balmain who you guess it, have a pool table as well. Coops (Ian Cooper) and I played many more games and eventually drew a crowd who in the beginning did not seem to want to challenge us but many many many beers later could see we were a bit worse for wear (which was drastically effecting the way we played) so put the coin on the table. We were in no fit state to be challenged by fresh players so let them have the table.
One other thing to note that night was the Guinness at the Unity Hall pub in Balmain. So you order a pint of Guinness (they have what looks like Guinness on tap) and they get a can out of the fridge, pour it into a glass then place it on the Guinness looking pump and flick a switch - some minor vibrations occur and hey presto a perfect looking Guinness head forms. It even tastes ok which kinda proves the head adds a purely psychological factor - everyone knows Guinness from a can can't taste as good as the real thing!
I'm so close to getting the wetsuit I want (a Rip Curl e3 with chest zip) and hitting the waves I can almost smell the salt water. I’ll take the body-board out to begin with but plan to take a couple of surf lessons (I’ve not surfed for 15 years now) and go out with the big boys… that coupled with the classical guitar I'm picking up from my mums in NZ in Oct and attempting to learn I might have to grow those dreads back again soon eh!
See ya!
Tim
After playing a few games and getting in the mood for more we were kicked out but moved on to the Unity Hall pub in Balmain who you guess it, have a pool table as well. Coops (Ian Cooper) and I played many more games and eventually drew a crowd who in the beginning did not seem to want to challenge us but many many many beers later could see we were a bit worse for wear (which was drastically effecting the way we played) so put the coin on the table. We were in no fit state to be challenged by fresh players so let them have the table.
One other thing to note that night was the Guinness at the Unity Hall pub in Balmain. So you order a pint of Guinness (they have what looks like Guinness on tap) and they get a can out of the fridge, pour it into a glass then place it on the Guinness looking pump and flick a switch - some minor vibrations occur and hey presto a perfect looking Guinness head forms. It even tastes ok which kinda proves the head adds a purely psychological factor - everyone knows Guinness from a can can't taste as good as the real thing!
I'm so close to getting the wetsuit I want (a Rip Curl e3 with chest zip) and hitting the waves I can almost smell the salt water. I’ll take the body-board out to begin with but plan to take a couple of surf lessons (I’ve not surfed for 15 years now) and go out with the big boys… that coupled with the classical guitar I'm picking up from my mums in NZ in Oct and attempting to learn I might have to grow those dreads back again soon eh!
See ya!
Tim
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