20/02/09

I met up with Elodie today and went surfing at Tamarama Beach. Elodie is from a town near Biarritz in France and is a keen body boarder. The waves were pretty big (about 6ft which is big in my beginners eyes) and being hung over didn’t help. I was absolutely buggered once I had got through the break and waited about for the waves. They were about 10 to 20 other surfers out and the sun was beaming down. I caught a couple of waves but got wiped out on all of them. Practice makes perfect. On my way back to out, I tried to dip under a massive waves but I didn’t go down far enough so it crashed on me pushing and rolling me underwater. I started to swim which I thought was upwards (lucky it was) and thought I was near the surface but it took another 3 or 4 breast strokes before I got there. Its not a good idea to go surfing with a hang over. Especially with strong currents and big waves!

I got out of the water after that and cooked myself up in the sun. Elodie was a lot better at body boarding than I was at surfing so she stayed out a little longer.

Fabrizio, an Italian who stays in the same room as me got a job on an olive grove in Perth. He leaves in 2 days so tonight he’s having a good bye BBQ on Bronte Beach. He said just to bring beer so that’s what I did.

Massive steaks and loads of Italian salads were on the menu and it was pretty much all you can eat so of course I had a good time. There were loads of other Italians and some Germans too. We all went and chilled in the sand after we’d finished with the BBQ and had a Dutch guy playing well know rock, reggae and blues songs on an acoustic guitar which was very relaxing with the Tasman Sea breeze. Lovely Jubbly.

18/02/09

So today was my first surfing day. It was a lot harder than I thought. I surfed a little years ago and can snowboard and skateboard so thought I’d pick it up quite quickly. The waves were fairly big so the hardest part was getting out beyond the break. Very tiring indeed! I caught a wave but could only get up onto my knees. Slowly but surely.

On the way back from Bondi Junction, me and Phil get on the bus. “Hello mate” says Phil. Daragh was on the bus too and I didn’t recognise him even though he was wearing an ultra violet construction worker t-shirt which made us laugh.

17/02/09

I’m writing this entry (like a lot of these entries) a week in front as I either forgot to write down what I’ve been up to or I didn’t not have time. The past few days were spent well just like every other day (when it doesn’t rain) , chilling on the beach during the day then off for a few beers (or many) in the evening. On the way back from the beach, Jimi had his board under his arm. “Going for a surf Jimi? I asked. “No, Im off to sell it.” He replied. Jokingly I said I’ll give you a tenner for it and he burst out laughing. “How about $20?” I asked and he just carried on walking and laughing. Well if you don’t ask you don’t get so it was worth a try. Me and Phil went back to the hostel and chilled out in the lounge. About 30 mins after, Jimi walked in with his board, “Gimme $20 and you can have it.” He said. I was amazed. He had no luck trying to sell it down the beach so he was left with the options of leaving it for someone to take or sell it to me for $20, we settled on $25 and that was that. He was flying out that day so he had to get rid of it. It was advertised for $200 in the hostel lounge but he had no buyers so I got a pukka deal :-D

15/02/09

In The Shack again for a few jugs. Talking about how its difficult to see the difference between Thai lady boys and genuine Thai girls, Phil said that its because of their build and their facial features; “must be something in their genes” he said and then burst out laughing along with all of us due. We met up with a dutch guy from the hostel, his name is Hendrik but I thought Jimi was an appropriate nickname so it stayed. As the Shack started to close, we headed down the beach front to find somewhere else that would be open, but due to the fact it was a Sunday it was proving to be difficult. A taxi driver mentioned the Tea Gardens, which is an Irish pub in Bondi Junction. As we arrived it was packed so in we went. Only place that is open, you gotta love the Irish.

14/02/09

Wow! I managed to wake up on time! I got everything together and headed along the coast to Clovelly. “No need to rush over dude” Mickey text me when I was about half way to his. Never mind I thought then it started to rain which was not very welcomed, I might as well be back home in England.

Mickey and I went to the bottle shop for some vodka to take into the festival with us. At about 11am, we got back to his and Mickey cracked opened the Vodka, bad idea I think. We headed over to the festival with our discretely hidden vodka that made us look very endowed (not that we aren’t already)!

We luckily smuggled the booze in no problem and the party started. It started to rain heavily so flash backs of Glastonbury came flooding in (excuse the pun). We saw some amazing acts; Sam Sparrow, Kid Kanobe, Roni Size, Stanton Worriors, Pharcyde, Q-Tip and finished off with Deadmau5. Lots of booze, lots of music and lots of fun. The only bad part of the event was the weather. There were constant showers for most of the afternoon and didn’t stop until the morning. We were staying at Mickey’s mate Amy’s house which was in Double Bay so we were soaked through by the time we got there but we had an amazing day!

13/02/09

Very hung over, we had a lovely steak at Icebergs. I’m off to the festival tomorrow so best to have an early night. I need to be at Mickey’s at 9:30am so I have to leave the hostel at about 9am. A few jugs later in the shack, I ended up getting back to the hostel at about 1am, so much for an early night!

12/02/09

We went to The Shack again which was great fun. The American chicks from the pool competition were there and when the Shack closed we went to find somewhere else that sold beer. I still hadn’t washed off TWAT from my forehead so we were refused entry to many fine establishments. We got a cab to The Gaff on Oxford street. I can’t remember what music was playing but know they served beer as I drank lots of it. There were men dressed as women which was funny. A friend told me later that you get free beer if you dress up as a woman; looks like I’m going to the charity shop to get myself a new dress!

11/02/09

Today I sorted some bits and bobs out in Bondi Junction which was harder with a hang over for some reason. My mate Tom from Uni was in Perth and flew to Sydney today so I went to meet him in Bondi as he couldn’t find the hostel. He was with his mate Tom in a bar called Ravesi’s. After showing Tom the hostel, we met up with Paul and an Irish geeza he had met (Daragh) and headed to The Eastern which is a club in Bondi Junction. It was meant to be good on a Wednesday but we were turned away due to the “ratio” not being good. The doorman said for us to go to the bar downstairs and try again in 10 minutes or so. We found out that he probably didn’t like the look of us as the “ratio” was never good when we got to the front of the queue. Either that or I had TWAT written on my forehead. We got a taxi and headed to good old Side Bar. Many beers and Yager Bombs later we were all over the place. We had a good night.