Another long gap between blog entries! Well this one is a good one, Amy and I met a real internet celebrity tonight, although from the 20 minute ferry journey chat we had I’m fairly sure Natalie Tran downplays her fame.
Natalie, as I mentioned before in this post is a YouTube video blogger, her videos have been watched almost one hundred and eighteen million times to date, she is the number one most subscribed Australian and sixtenth most subscribed in the world, she can probably get through to young Australians easier than the government.
Natalie and me at Manly Wharf
I felt like a bit of a dork going over and telling Natalie I was a fan but I am very glad I did as it was good fun talking to Nat and learning a bit more about the videos and her trip to NYC. She is as funny IRL (which means “in real life” for the grown ups reading) as she is in her videos, it felt like we were getting our very own interactive community channel video!
I’ve embedded Natalie’s latest video below, but you should also checkout her back log of videos on her YouTube Community Channel.
I now have to endure Amy taking the mick out of me for my star struck behaviour for a couple of weeks no doubt!
27 days without a blog entry, surely I’ve set a new record? We are down to one camera at the moment and that is a DSLR which doesn’t travel well, so anything we do normally doesn’t involve taking a camera. We recently went to Stu’s 30th Birthday at Table for 20 in the city which was excellent and a very different dining experience. We also went to Simone’s 31st Birthday dinner at a little restaurant in North Sydney which was also very nice.
This weekend was a big one and it involved cameras so here’s a proper blog entry to celebrate! Although most of the photos are from Nancy and Marcus’ camera.
Amy, Nancy, Marcus and I went up to the Gold Coast for a long weekend to relax, enjoy the more temperate climate of Queensland, do some surfing, eat out at nice restaurants and generally have a really good time. We covered most of that whilst we were away.
Amy’s parents kindly let us stay in their beach unit at Burleigh Heads for the long weekend. Queensland and Northern NSW were just coming out of some of the worst weather they’ve ever had (although the good news is the dams are full) and the surf was still pretty full on when we arrived. The first night we went to a Thai restaurant in Palm Beach that we knew was good from previous visits. Marcus and I went over to BWS (Beers, Wine and Spirits) to get a bottle of Rose. We weren’t sure which one to get but the guy there recommended we get one of the more expensive ones, which came to about six dollars each. I don’t think it was a very good one in the end.
As you can see from the picture below the beaches have all but gone following the storms -
Gold Coast Beaches Destroyed
On the first full day we went to a restaurant in Burleigh Heads and met up with Amy’s sisters for lunch. It was a good chance to see how the babies had grown up and see that Zara is walking now -
Lunch at Burleigh Heads
We then went for a little drive up to see the super bank and all the other surf spots along the coast there. They were all pretty brown and horrible from the storms but there were a couple of people out. We also drove up Boundary Street which has Queensland on one side and New South Wales on the other which Wade told us about last time we visited. In the summer they are in different timezones which must be confusing.
Amy, Marcus and Nancy at Burleigh Heads
That night we went to Broadbeach for dinner, which was very nice. The next day we met up with Uncle Jack (Marcus’ Uncle) for lunch at Connors, which is a nice cafe in Burleigh, Amy ordered a burger and it came out without the actual burger inside of it which was pretty funny.
Later in the afternoon we decided we would visit the Hinterland, so we drove the hire car inland, unfortunetly I didn’t see the signs saying “road closed due to landslide” so we didn’t get very far but we did have a nice hot drink at a tea house on the way back - it is funny how cold it is in the Hinterland compared to by the sea!
One of the highlights of the Gold Coast is the crazy golf coast (putt putt) that is just down the road from the unit. It has three different style of games, water, jungle and one I can’t remember the name of but looked liked a bad dream. It was good fun and we did the scoring properly as so it became competitive. Marcus did a fantastic shot where he said “this is how you do it” without looking, hit the ball, it bounced off two obstacles and went straight into the hole! I think he was fairly sure he was going to win, so when the winner of the first game was revealed… well, I’ll let the facial expression explain for itself -
Amy Wins Putt Putt
We then had another round and Amy won that one as well! Just behind the Putt Putt course was Hooters. I’ve always wanted to go to a Hooters, just to see what was going on. It turns out it’s a family restaurant, but we checked it out anyway. It is a strange concept because on the one hand there’s these girls wearing these outfits and on the other there’s children celebrating their birthdays. The waitresses are all wearing outfits that look like they are from the 80ies and the food is very American. It was good fun and wasn’t too bad, I got the impression that Nancy and Amy were not as keen on it as Marcus and I were -
Hooters Girls!
For out last day before going back to Sydney we went to Byron Bay. It is only one hours drive South of the Gold Coast so it is definitely worth the trip. Byron is a really nice town which we have been to many times. The surf was a bit better at Byron and Marcus went out at Shipwrecks to get a few waves which looked good -
Byron Bay Shipwrecks
Then our holiday had to come to and end and we headed back to the airport to fly back to Sydney. A fantastic break I wish we were still there. In between going out we watched the entire original Office season 1, I forgot how good it is!
Last Wednesday was one of BhangLassi’s final gigs before a few months hiatus to enable some members of the band to become Dads and some other members of the band to get married.
BhangLassi in full swing
The gig was at the Hopetoun Hotel which I think was one of the bands targets to play at when they first started playing. It is small chips for them now as they’ve headlined the Gaelic Club (and smashed a guitar live on stage).
Last weekend Amy, Lucy and I had breakfast at the North end of Manly on the front, it just happened to coincide with what was possibly the best day surf on Manly Beach I’ve ever seen. I wish I had my camera (I took an iPhone shot but it looked rubbish). Fortunetly someone at swellnet made a video of the amazing surf which you can watch here (it is very good) - the first wave is the “Bombora” which breaks out to sea and the big sets were probably filmed at Queenscliff as that was were it was really massive.
There has been some pretty good Easter trips, 2006, 2007, 2008 to name a few. This year was no different! We made a trip up to a place called Pacific Palms, which is a little bit North of Seal Rocks. You can actually see Pacific Palms from Seal Rocks and vice versa. I’d previous been to Pacific Palms before for Marcus’ Australia Stag so I knew we would be in for a great weekend.
As is always the way with surfing, there was no waves for Marcus’ weekend but this weekend, with me being the only person who is dedicated to the cause, there were waves a plenty. In fact I’d have to say that the corner by the rocks in the picture below was one of my favourite surf spots as it was mostly lefts and protected enough to let you get out and then work your way into the bigger waves as and when you feel comfortable simply by paddling away from the rocks. It was kind of like a reverse Wategos at Byron. Obviously this isn’t how it always is but Easter weekend just had the right combination of pressure, swell and direction!
Morning Burn at Boomerang Beach
Chris took a few photos of me out there but didn’t get any of me actually surfing any waves which is cool because I take ages, but here is one of some guy getting green room time -
Tube Time at Boomerang Beach
The place we stayed at was also fantastic. It is called TAMBAC and as you can see from the first picture has some fantastic views of the beach. The setup was one main house which had a bedroom and then two little smaller houses which had bedrooms and bathrooms. Here’s Amy and Lorraine on the first night -
Amy and Lorraine in the kitchen at TAMBAC
The kitchen area was used very well this Easter with some fantastic meals and drinks being prepared. Lorraine, Amy and I were the first to arrive with Lucy, Marcy and Chris arriving a bit later. Lorraine cooked a mexican based dish which was fantastic and which we ended up eating again for lunch the next day, it also started a food cooking arms race which was to last the entire holiday.
On the first full day Chris and I went surfing at Elizabeth Beach where when we paddled out a couple of dolphins swam past which sounds like a fantastic experience but it actually makes me a bit nervous, try to imagine how a dolphin would feel if you walked past it whilst it was out of water. So with that surf done we went back to the house and chillaxed on the decking with the weather which was forecast to rain -
Books, Scrabble, Braids and Sun
Lucy made some delicious hot cross buns from scratch (flour and other ingredients etc..) which were delicious -
Hot Cross Buns with Lucy and Marcy
That night we celebrated Passover which is a is a Jewish holy day and festival commemorating the Hebrews escape from enslavement in Egypt. It was good fun and as the youngest person at the evening, I had to sing a song in Hebrew which was challenging but good fun. We drank King David - Concorde wine which probably the only wine I know of that doesn’t give me reflux and also had chocolate covered matzo which is delicious! Marcy cooked Brisket in some delicious sauce for passover which was very tasty.
Passover Reading
The next day I went for a morning surf at Elizabeth Beach again, this time with more people out and less dolphins and clearer water. I got a real nice wave which meant surfing was done and dusted for that day. I got back and we all went off on for a trip to Shelly Beach, which is a protected beach just to the right of Elizabeth Beach and much like the Shelly Beach that there is here in Manly, although this one had a rather large crowd of naked tubby old people on it which kind of ruined its tranquility.
Nudie Beach
That night Amy and I cooked BBQ with sausages, rissoles and salad. It was also the start of some serious poker games. The key with poker is to not allow any of the other players to be able to read your face -
Extreme Poker Face
The next morning the poker continued out on the deck with Lorraine showing a clear lead in the game. I went surfing three times that day out front, once in the morning, once again at lunch and once again at dusk. I went out on Boomerang Beach this time and it was brilliant fun. The waves were all breaking left and as an extra fun bonus there was a backwash giving every ride a Newport Wedge feel to it as whenever I was riding a wave there would be another smaller wave coming towards me at some point which when our paths crossed always ended badly. That night we played beer pong which is a good way to drink lots of beer, you basically have to throw the ping pong ball into one of your opponents cups, which is filled with a small quantity of beer. I imagine you could fill the cups with harder spirits but we are all too responsible for that -
Chris and the fine art of Beer Pong
That night we celebrated Chris finishing his MBA course with a roast dinner cooked up by Lorraine and chocolate cake with Easter eggs on it. It was delicious as per usual!
Lamb Pre Cooking
We finished the evening with sparklers and party hats on the deck. The next morning we went out on the deck to find this bad boy sitting on it -
Python on the Deck
The whole snake event turned into a media circus with me taking photos of it, the neighbors next door climbing over the fence to take photos of it with their mobile phones and the neighbors on the other side looking at it through the safety of binoculars. We finished the day with another BBQ after a delicious pumpkin soup that Lucy prepared for lunch. We played poker and watched Superbad on the huge TV the house had and then sadly the next morning had to make our trip back to Sydney.
Moon Rising (yes moon) over Boomerang Beach
Until next time!
A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Marcus’ birthday at Manly Dam. Manly Dam is a exactly what its name describes although it is very difficult to find, most people who live in Manly don’t actually know it exists and those that do normally spend about 2 years looking for it. It is not very well sign posted.
Party at the Dam
It was a fun day cooking on the BBQ and cooling off in the dam. One of the presents Marcus got was an inflatable thing you sit on which I think was probably for ages 6-12 as it was impossible to stay on it for more than 2 seconds. We all gave it a good try and in the end Marcus got a black eye trying to stay on it -
Manly Dam with Inflatable Thingy
The weather was fantastic for the day we were very lucky. Recently though the weather took a turn for the worse bringing in some persistent rain and winds, however, this has its benefits as the surf reached 12 metres out at sea which meant there were some big waves around, checkout these shots of surfing at Shark Beach in the Harbour near Vaucluse (waves don’t normally break in the Harbour). I went around to the Bower one morning between the rain to see if there was anyone out, there were three people - it wasn’t actually as big as I thought it would be but big enough -
Beat the Breaker
This didn’t end as badly as you think it might -
Commit
Until next time!
Earth Hour is an initiative of the World Wrestling Foundation where individuals, businesses and governments turn off their lights for one hour to show their support for action on climate change. The largest climate event in history where millions of people around the world will unite by turning off their lights for one hour, Earth Hour, to demand action on the climate crisis.
I was excited as most people were here in Manly to get in on the Earthhour spirit. Like most things in the world, it takes the people at the top to start doing something to really make a difference so we look to the governments to get in on these things. Here’s Manly Wharf at 19h56 -
19h56 - Earth Hour T-Minus 34 minutes
As the count down began to the start of earth hour where people get to show the world how much we care about looking after the planet, crowds came from near and far and arrived at Manly Wharf beach with their candles and drums to witness this great event. Drums played and cheers were being expelled by the crowd as the seconds of time ticked away to the start of this amazing event as we all in union switch the lights off and sit in darkness for a short period of time to tell the world we understand its plight.
And then, the moment arrived, the moment of time where human beings can stand together and say lets fight climate change, protect the future for our children and our childrens children and change the world -
BEHOLD! Earth Hour Manly Wharf 2009
This post was created because I felt sorry for the kids counting down to Earth Hour in the group on the beach (you can see them in the second picture) and then nothing actually happening.
Amy, Ennette, Bobby, Troy, Tom, Marcus and myself went to see Russell Brand live at the Hordern Pavillion on Wednesday night. It was a really good evening and was very funny. The tour was called “Scandalous” and was about his recent outing with the UK press over the Manuel scandal his hosting of the VMA awards and various other times of getting into trouble.
The Manuel scandal really annoyed me because the radio 2 show he used to do with Matt Morgan, Mr G and Noel Gallagher was absolutely brilliant. The funny thing is if that had happened in Australia probably nothing would have happened as you can get away with pretty much anything on the radio here (swearing is allowed all day). In fact Russell even says they run TV and Radio over here like you would a farm or boot menders (watch the video with guest appearance by the Manly Ferry).
Russell Brand @ Enmore (previous night) - (C) Tea is Lovely - reproduced with permission
It was really good to see Russell again (after passing him walking out of a shop a few months ago) and really hope he comes back to Australia soon. Luckily there’s some more comedy coming our way -
Steve Coogan Live at the Enmore
Steve’s first tour to Australia and we got the tickets! Brilliant!
Sunday morning saw the arrival of loads of Kayakers to Manly who had started off from the harbour bridge, which is about seven miles of kayaking. We watched them for a little bit then met up with Marcus, Nancy and Lorraine which was very nice.
The night came and Amy and I went to see Coldplay at the Acer Arena at Sydney Olympic Park, before we even left home we’d met the 3rd best golfer over the age of fifty in Australia who doubled as a NRMA battery replacer as the car battery was flat. The night before we’d had a massive lightening storm and I wondered if the car battery being flat might have been related to the lightening storm. Apparently it isn’t but I think the jury is still out as I’ve yet to find evidence stating otherwise.
When we got to Coldplay we parked on level 7 of the multi-storey car park which meant we’d probably have to wait ages to get out of the carpark after the gig.
The actual gig was fantastic, we had standing tickets which we bought off Hari for face price, we were very lucky to get them as the place was sold out and its a fairly big venue. They had lots of props, butterflies fell from the sky (paper ones) and during “yellow” big yellow balls bounced around the crowd.
Coldplay with the lights up
The amount of cameras and phone cameras taking photos was crazy! Lots of Gen-Y’ers I think. When we got back to the car this was in the parking space next to us -
Acer Arena Car Parked next to us
Not sure why it was there but it was pretty funny. I know over on the Coldplay blog they have little dolls that represent the band, maybe this was their ride.
Last night Amy and I went to the AIMIA Awards at the Australian Technology Park that I was kindly invited to judge at. It was a good night with free booze flowing and little mini mexican food bowls, satay chicken and rice balls which was fantastic. The section I judged was won by the entry that I was hoping would win which was good news.
1984 won’t be like “1984″ stage setup
One of the highlights of the evening was finding out about Natalie Tran. She presented one of the awards and was introduced as having over 63 million views on YouTube and 150,000 subscribers which she didn’t seem to be that fussed about. Amy and I had never heard of her but we watched some of the videos she creates on YouTube and they are very funny. She starts off with an observation that she recreates using herself as all of the roles and then engages her fans based on comments they’ve left, I’ve embedded a recent video of hers called “to run or not to run” -
It was ashame I didn’t know who she was at the AIMIA awards as I think it would have been a fun person to meet.
Amy with the new Garden
I recently bought back a Yucca plant from the dead (the far left one, you can see it has one non-dead branch) and got so into it I ended up getting another one and then after I realised that it didn’t need much watering I got a much more demanding shrub (closest to camera) which requires watering twice a week. I’d love to get something which had fruit but our balcony doesn’t get much sun. I asked the guy at the garden center was he recommendation was and he said “move”. Amy has also got a new haircut which looks really nice don’t you think?
Last Sunday Amy and I hosted dinner for Nancy, Lorraine and Marcus around our house. We cooked the same thing that we cooked on Valentines day for our guests as we knew it was tried and tested and wasn’t going to explode in our faces if it went wrong.
Anecdote: I once cooked dinner for Karine and Mark in London and used green pepper which I thought I’d try out before they arrived, anyway it ended up being so hot when they arrived I was still no where near ready to serve dinner and had yogurt all over my face to try and cool down the burning from the chilli on my mouth and lips.
This dinner party went off very smoothly even if we did cook the food 40 degrees hotter than we were supposed to, woops. I gave Marcus tomatoe sauce with ice cubes as a starter but he didn’t like them.
Marcus, Nancy, Lorraine and Amy enjoying Dinner
Afterwards “So You Think You Can Dance” was on television and it is necessary viewing for Amy and Lorraine so the girls sat around watching that whilst eating chocolates.
So You Think You Can Dance Required Viewing Plus Chocolates
That night I had a go at making melon cocktails based on the previous nights dinner at Rosie and Sean’s house where melon martini was the order of the day which was good fun and went down well!
