A Weekend Of Parties & Sandboarding

On Saturday morning i went surfing down at Terrigal, while there i was chatting to Robby who pointed me to a surfcam that's on at Terrigal (i never knew there was one) - so if you want to check out the surf (or more likely, lack of surf) at Terrigal, go here: http://www.terrigalsurfclub.com/terrigalsurfcam/terrigalsurfcam.html

After my morning surf (which wasn't particularly good), a storm came in and it actually started hailing, this was at about 8am and i have never before seen it hail at that time in the morning. Because of the storm the Trotters christmas party got moved from the Haven and into the surf club (where i'd been the night before). They had a BBQ breakfast up there for everyone :)

On Sunday, Daniel and i went sandboarding up at Pebbley Beach, I had a few good runs, then got some good air of a jump and landed, so i thought i'd try and go a bit higher. Next run i got some big air and managed to completely stuff up the landing, going head first into the sand, rolled a bit, lost the board and had to lay still for a while cause my head really hurt, glad i didn't break anything.

After that Daniel and I went for a swim for a while, before i had a couple more goes at that jump. I didn't land either jump, but at least i didn't hurt myself anymore.

After the beach, we stopped around Leal's place where he demonstrated his skills on a quad bike, he was actually pretty good at it, getting up on two wheels and doing wheelies and stuff, i was impressed - i had a bit of a go, then stalled it. But it was still fun.


Me Sandboarding




Leal on the quad bike

Christmas with the E-Bees

On Friday night I went to my previous works Christmas party at Terrgial Surf club, The surf club was a pretty good setting cause you had a great view over the beach from out on the verandah.

The food was nice, I had fish cocktails with calamari & some sushi. With very very delicious profriter rolls for dessert.

Kudos to Amanda who organised the whole thing, the decorations (beach theme) & food were tops.

I had to leave the party early though cause after my first week of commuting i was feeling very tired, plus i was still trying to get over my last christmas party on Wednesday night.

Below are a few pics from the party (if they are not there, then i haven't got around to uploading them yet).




Pete & I


Mike, Julie, Michael


Amanda & Barb


Stuart


M@ & Russel

Lawn Bowls Christmas Party

This week I went to my new works Christmas party, it was pretty good, we played lawn bowls and North Sydney bowling club. I bowled a few good bowls and a few not so good bowls, but our team ended up winning :) Plus it was lots of fun.

Dinner was a very tasty bbq dinner afer which i had to leave very quickly to catch a train home, even after running to the train station and finding the entrance closed - I normally go through a shopping centre entrance, of course i had no idea where the entrance to the actual station was, so i had to spend the next five minutes running around trying to find my way into the station. I ended up getting home at about 11pm, which is way too late when you are getting up at 4:30am to go to work.

Boating

Today i went out on Tuggerah Lake with a group from Karate, we had a BBQ breakfast down in the park in the morning and then went out on the boat to mess around in the biscuit. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when i first got in the biscuit, but luckily it was a 2 person and i had Nichole in with me. Steve who was driving the boat started off fairly slow, so I couldn't really see anything cause of all the spray that was getting me in the face, then he started to speed up and swerve the boat left and right, so the biscuit behind was getting whipped from side to side and all i could do was hold on really tight as the biscuit hit a wave or some chop on the water and was flung into the air.

We both managed to stay in the whole time, even though i was sure Nichole was going to get thrown out when she lifted up out of it at one stage.

Brendan and Amy had a go next, Brendan did very well and manged to stay in the whole time, Amy did a very fancy backflip as she fell out.

Then Nichole and I had our second go, Steve was going very very fast and we both fell out at the same time when he whipped us around, then another time when he whipped us around, Nichole managed to hold on, while i went flying.

We waited on shore for a while, while Steve took a few of the kids out to have a go, when he came back in i went out by myself on the single biscuit and it was heaps heaps more scary then the double one. At least with the double one you have someone else sitting beside you, but with the single one it's just you hanging on, while you're getting thrown into the air and crashing into waves and all that good stuff. I managed to fall out 3 times before deciding that, that was enough... plus my arms had got really tired from holding on so much.

All in all it was a really good day, and if i ever get a boat, then i am definetly going to get one that can pull a biscuit & also make sure that there is someone else who can drive the boat, so I can be dragged behind.



The boat with the double biscuit behind it



Some of the happy boaters. (the rest are out on the boat)

Harry Potter

I went with Daniels family on Wednesday to see the new Harry Potter film The Goblet Of Fire. The movie was pretty alright - i guess i'm comparing it to the book a bit, cause it's nowhere near as good as the book. But as a movie it was good, i mean it kept me enthralled the whole time - even if i did know what was going to happen next.

There were quite a few parts of the book which were changed for the movie and stuff left out, that would have been good to see. But overall it was still a very good movie.

Shopping In Sydney

On tuesday i headed into the city to do a bit of shopping, and of course got lost as soon as i had left the train station. I did however come across the channel 7 studios where they were filming Sunrise, the morning news program. If you happened to be watching, you might have caught me in the background of a couple of shots.

Anyway, i didn't end up buying anything in the city and stopped at Chatswood on the way back, where i bought heaps. That Target there is soo sweet, and just perfect for the budget shopper looking for work clothes.


At Channel 7


At Channel 7

A Day At The Beach

On Sunday, Dave, Daniel and i all went over North Entrance for a day of sanboarding. it was really too hot to be stuck up in the dunes, so we spent most of the time down by the water. Dave had his first go on a skimboard and managed to stack it, injuring himself - it was very amusing.

After the beach, we had lunch at a nearby park which had some pretty cool play equipment, which we of course had a got of - i mean if there's a rock climbing wall just sitting there, you might as well try and climb it. Dave once again injured himself, and again it was amusing.



Daniel and Dave



Dave showing off his manly muscles

Karate Grading

On Saturday i went to my last Karate grading for a while (with my new job in Sydney I won't be able to make it back to Karate in time). The grading wasn't too bad, the worst part was when I had to do the Kata by myself, twice! I don't mind Kata, i just hate doing it by myself when everyone is watching you.

The ground fighting was the most fun part, i largely suck at ground fightinjg (i pretty much always loose). But it is always fun to TRY and win, for me that mostly involves trying to rip the other persons head off.

The sparring which i mostly enjoy didn't go for heaps long, there were probably only about half a dozen rounds, although those few were tireing enough.


At the end of the day i managed to obtain my first black stripe (Brown Belt, with 1 black stripe), Jo also got her first black stripe and Kirsty got her first Dan.



I'm the one on the left, Jo on the right

New Laptop

Well i finally bought my new laptop, it's a Toshiba Satellite with 1.86ghz processor and i've upped the ram to 1.5gb, so it should be able to handle most things i try to run on it.

As you can see from the pics - i've already started to decorate it with stickers.

Laptop Shopping

Well if you don't already know, I've quit my current job and have accepted a new job down in Sydney. Which will include hours of commuting each day.....

Anyway, i'm currently shopping around for a laptop to keep me busy during my travels, so far i think i like the Toshiba M70 the best. The only thing i'm a bit dubious about is the processor which is only 1.86ghz - everything apart from that is sweet.

Currently i'm tossing up whether to go and buy one of them on the weekend or look for one while i'm down in sydney next Tuesday.

Drop me an email if you know of any good laptops with a screen no bigger then 15.4" (17" is just too big to lug around all the time)

Save The Bay (Catherine Hill Bay)

Catherine Hill Bay had a historical festival the other weekend which i went to with mum. We went on an organised bushwalk around the old mining sites and up to the bunkers that overlook the quarry and were used during the war.

The walk was pretty interesting, although it did move a bit slow cause there were heaps and heaps of people on it.

After the walk we went and had lunch by the beach and checked out the displays at the club, which of course was full of the "Save The Bay" propaganda, which is opposed to the nearby housing development. i have to say that i agree with the whole save the bay thing and don't think that it should be further developed.

Bushwalking at Girakool

On Sunday Daniel and I went bushwalking at Girakool. We went on the Piles Creek 4k loop track and it was a really good walk. The track followed the cliff edge for a fair way so the view was really good, there were also heaps of overhangs and little mini caves to check out, which always makes a walk real interesting.

Down the bottom of the track there was a suspensions bridge that went over Piles Creek, which was kind of cool. We stopped down there for lunch and a swim cause it was a really hot day, and the water was a lot warmer then it currently is at the beach :) Plus i haven't swam in anything but seawater for a ages - so it was actually rather fun.

There's a few pic of the walk below.....

Doom and Yum Cha

Went shopping with Daniel at Erina last weekend and then followed that up with a very very tasty lunch at the Yum Cha restaurant with Daniel, His Parents, Katie, Liam, Zoe and Bret. Cause there were heaps of us there was a whole range of dishes to try. I generally had no idea what i was eating (which may have been a good thing), but it was all very very tasty. I also managed to eat the whole thing using chopsticks.... eventhough most of the food ended up getting impaled rather then delicately picked up.

After teh very tasty lunch we headed off to the movies to see Doom, not really my first choice - i wanted to see Wolf Creek, but i can always see that later.

Doom was pretty much what i expected, it was a no brainer action movie - the only cool thing in it was when it switched into first person mode and the main guy (i've already forgotten his name) was running around with a gun, plus various other weapons, including the chainsaw :) (I always liked that in the game).

Throughout the movie i did notice that Liam and Daniel were both sitting there with stupid grins on their faces (mostly Liam) - so i guess if you're really into the games then it's not too bad.

I've really only played the first Doom, I tried to play Doom 3 but it was too much for me, there was one part where the door opened and some sort of creature jumped out at me, Which caused me to wheel back as fast as i could on the chair screaming and still clicking the mouse trying to shoot the creature (lucky it was a wireless mouse). That was enough for me.

 

Sandboarding

Last weekend Daniel, Liam, Katie, Shaun, Dave and I all went sandboarding. It was all their first time sandboarding excpet for Daniel. So it made for some pretty good entertainment.

Dave had brought a snow mat thing with him which turned out wasn't half bad as a toboggan.

We went to North Entrance first - Katie, Liam and Shaun got lost on the drive there, then got lost in the sandunes trying to find us, luckily we were on the biggest dune so we could see them wandering aimlessly around and they eventually headed in the right direction. Except for Shaun who disappeared for a while, but he eventually found the way.

Dave had his first go at jumping on the board and managed to get completely horizontal in the air before landing very hard on his back - It was hilarious. Luckily the sholw thing was captured on video which will soon be available on www.duneboarder.com

We spent a couple of hours at North Entrance, then headed up the coast a bit to Pebbley Beach (just nort of Soldiers). There we enjoyed a picnic lunch followed by some more sandboarding on the much steeper dune. The ride down was hapes of fun, but everyone was wearing out on the walk back up....

Since that day, Shaun has now ordered himself his own sandboard, so next time we go we can race and try out some other stuff, which should be sweet.

My First Drive In Daniel's Car

Well i went for my first drive in Daniel's car on the weekend and it wasn't anywhere near as scary as what i expected (yes Daniel, that was a compliment).

Below are a couple of pics that i took of him and his new (second hand) car.