Dolphins surf way better than I do.

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I surfed the same wave as a dolphin today. I was surfing today while tia was at work and I had seen a school of them pass by a bit earlier, it was cool and everything but they were about 20 feet out and the just keep going, about an hour later they were making thier way back up the beach and catching waves like mad, I had just popped up when I saw a huge grey thing beside me, only to realize it was a dolphin less than two feet away sharing a wave with me. Tia wasn't there to snap a sweet picture so I drew this which is pretty much better anyways.

Ta for now

Jeff (and Tia who is at work still)

How to Surf

A tutorial for all of you land-lovers.

Paddle for the wave.

Pop-up just as the wave starts to push you forwards.

Make sure you don't hold the rails.

Get your balance...

Cross-stepping to the nose.

Hang-Five Dudes!

Cliff walks, Birthday, Footy

Here are some picture of some of our adventures over the past few weeks. Highlights include, one of our nature walks, some pictures from my birthday, and a few snaps from the Swans game we went to. Miss you all. xxo

Here's Jeff enjoying some of the view on our walk around the North Head.

If you look closely, you'll notice some dolphins swimming amongst the surfers. This last weekend while Jeff and I were surfing Jeff paddled around with some penguins too! The ocean is amazing.

Jeff and I on our walk.

The views around the North Head are awesome.

Here is me enjoying my new sudoko game that Jeff got me for my birthday. We did a lot that day including visiting the Anzac memorial, picnicking in Hyde park, and watching a movie.

Jeff at the Anzac memorial.

These are some possums we spotted in the park.

Here's Jeff enjoying a Flat White with some cheese cake before the movie.

AFL is a confusing game. The field is round. The players wear tiny shorts. There's lots of pushing and mud. It rained really hard all night.

Here is us cheering on the Swans. GO THE SWANS!!! (ya, they always add the "the". So if cheering on the Leafs, you'd say "Go The Maple Leafs!" odd.)

Fruits and You

So Jeff and I have been experimenting with some new and exciting fruits over the past few months. Although most of our original pictures were stolen, here are a few shots of our most recent trials. This time the mangosteens were ripe.

This is a picture of some custard apples. The taste great and have a sort of banana texture.

The inside of a dragon fruit is the most luscious thing you've ever seen. It is HOT pink and looks really juicy.

The dragon fruit is beautiful to look at. But it totally tastes like soap. Looking so tempting and delicious, I imagine that the person who first discovered this fruit was incredibly disappointed.

Here we have a mangosteen and a dragon fruit.

Jeff gives Mangosteens a thumbs-up.

You only want to eat the white part of a Mangosteen. YUM!

Here is the inside of a Mangosteen.

This is a Mangosteen from the outside. I personally think they're really cute. The problem is that they're small and they cost about $3 each. Good thing I work at a fruit market. It tastes like a super juicy orange. Except when they're rotten. Then they taste horrible.

Bondi Good-Times

Greetings family and friends!

Unbelievably it is only 1 month until we are home again! Wow.
Our time here has gone in such rushing waves. Riding lulls of dragging time, sunshine and flat whites; and surging head-first towards our homeward instincts and non-refundable tickets.
It will not be long until we are sitting in your living rooms, on your patios, chatting oz talk and dishing out souvenirs. (You're all getting vegemite).

Today I spent the morning at Bondi, taking in my last surfing lesson (Thanks mom!); perfecting my technique. It was really nice to go back with a bit more skill under my belt and a bit more confidence. The huge 9 footers that they surf were so easy to get up on compared to my Yater, so our instructor switched me down to an 8' which was great. After paddling around in the whitewash the instructor took myself and another 2 blokes out past the break for some bigger waves. The rip was really strong, so it was, thankfully, an easy paddle. Story short, I caught a really amazing wave and had the longest ride that I have ever had. Amazing. Surfing is such an addiction. As soon as you get a nice wave like that you just want to charge out and get another. Even though I had to spend most of my time in the white wash, the instructor gave me a couple of pointers on my style, which I think is really going to help once I'm out on my own again. There was one other guy in the class that was catching the big waves and after the lesson he offered to give me a ride into Central Station (bonus because the Bondi buses are always packed and are super slow). Despite the beach-bum persona which most people associate with surfers, this guy must be a super businessman by day, because he had a sweet, black roadster convertible (likeness shown above). Amusingly, I went to the driver's side to get in, forgetting about the opposite-side stearing. So, not only did I catch my best wave to date, I also rode in my first convertible today. Top-down, cruising the streets of Sydney, feeling the wind in my face and the sand and salt in my ears. I think this weekend he might come up to Manly to surf with Jeff and I. All in all, a very good day.

I've also just purchased our tickets to Christchurch. We will officially be flying into New Zealand on the 29th of June, and will be returning to Sydney on July 5th. Hopefully we'll be able to stay a night or two with our friend Lindsay in Dunedin and with Sean's parents at their B&B. We're planning on renting a car for the week (it's quite cheap) and have basically mapped out a route down the East coast and then up along the mountains to the glaciers along the West. Even if the country is covered in snow, it should be an amazing trip. Everything that I have heard about New Zealand has been fantastic. Hopefully we'll be able to afford a few of the adventure activities that NZ is so famous for.

Well, we are sincerely looking forward to seeing everyone again. Getting home to Ohia, Ottawa, old haunts, friends and family. Our time is feeling extremely short now, only one more rent to pay. Jeff is seriously looking forward to finishing off work next week and celebrating his birthday. It is going to be an exciting few weeks all around.

Lots of hugs,
Tia

Birthday 1

Just a quick note to comment that I had a great birthday!

Well, actually the day of was less good, but Jeff took me into the city on Sunday and we had a really nice day. We went to the weekend market at the Rocks and bought roasted chestnuts and homemade lemonade while we walked around looking at everything. After checking out a really neat nautical antiques store, we bought some vintage postcards, went to Hyde park for a picnic, watched the Three Burials of M...... (I forget the title, but it was a great movie), had some coffee and cake and finished the night off book shopping and enjoying a pitcher of VB near the harbor.
So I'm an aged 22, finished uni for the semester and am heading to New Zealand with Jeff for a little vacation in a couple of weeks. Life is pretty good.

I spent the morning surfing. Caught some really good waves and got tossed a few times as well.
This weekend we are going to see the swans play (AFL) which should be interesting.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.
xxo
Tia

Duh Vinci, Midnite, School + Work

So, I guess it's time for an update. Really, we haven't been up to too much in the last week and a bit. I am nearly done school for the semester (one more class) and the last week has been quite the crunch getting all of my final assignments done and handed in.
Jeff is still working hard selling insurance and has been doing pretty well apparently. In the last few weeks he has won a cd player, 6 cinema tickets, 3 bottles of wine, a few cans of soda, internet time, and some snacks.
On Tuesday we went to see the Da Vinci Code at the greater union theatre on George street. We both found the movie to be about the same caliber as the book. Just like the author, the director makes connections between characters and symbols painfully obvious (ex. Illuminating objects to draw slow-audience-members attention; "just in case you missed it, this is important"). The book read at about a grade 6 level and I don't think that the movie achieved anything spectacular either. It's understandable that the book drew such a huge audience, what with the many (certainly not all) Christians and Catholics unable to understand the term fiction, but I still think that it's all a little over done. The book was a mediocre crime novel and the movie is a mediocre suspense film.
On the upside, Jeff bought us a huge box of popcorn and some fanta.

Other than that, we've been working on our surfing skills, reading a lot of longboarding magazines, drinking litre beers at the Bavarian Cafe (with pretzels), watching some theatre in Killara (Midnite), reading "100 Years of Solitude" and making plans to go to New Zealand near the end of June. Getting tickets for the trip has been a fiasco, but hopefully it will be all sorted out this evening, and the more intricate details can be worked out.

Plans for this weekend we will probably involve:
surfing,
lunching,
kayaking,
and an evening at the Rocks (A beautiful and historical part of Sydney with lots of pubs and pastry shops).
Since, we've got so many free tickets, maybe we'll try to catch another movie as well.

In total, things are going pretty great. I think we're both starting to feel the pressure to take the last bit of advantage of our time here. Still on the list are: New Zealand and The Blue Mountains.
We're both looking forward to being home again, but it is going to be pretty crushing having to leave our oceanside home. Trips to the Atlantic are already in the works.

Don't forget, this month is birthday month. So we'll both be expecting some congratulations come the 5th and 24th of June.
XXO