Swatch This

The thing with moving is, you're not just packing to leave, you're also preparing to arrive somewhere else, and that gives you a whole lot more work to do. This weekend has been filled with activities incorporating the old, the new and various events in between, like work and birthday parties (another post on that later this week) and swimming of course. Today's focus was the new place, not too far away from where we are now, but a lot closer to the water (which is always good, sparing tsunamis). 

In keeping with the aquatic theme the colours above have been shortlisted for living spaces in the new abode. I love the names they make up for paints, not just Stone, but Stone Pillar, and not just Blue but Blue Ridge. Of course these are relatively tame examples of paint names and they at least have some semblance of the actual colour. We have been varnishing and resurfacing and measuring and fitting (or de-fitting) things, discovering doors and gates that don't close quite how they're supposed to and wearing masks and gloves to protect from toxic chemicals and wearing paints that didn't quite make it to their destination. The place is already starting to sparkle, but when the new colours arrive and the new appliances & pieces of our current furniture & art, that's when it will start to feel like home.

I'm Boxing

We're talking cardboard boxes, I'm afraid. I have a stack of them in the garage ready to be inflated and filled with everything from books to bowls, candles to canvases, it all has to go out the door onto a truck and into somewhere new. I'm going to miss living here. It has been home for more than 9 years, 9 very good years. The garden has grown around us, the colours and fittings have changed and so have we. It's a very different place to the one we stepped into all those years ago, personalised, refreshed, and now it's time for someone else to enjoy it. I'm sad yet happy all at once. The times spent with friends and family, the laughs and the tears, all a part of the fabric of our history here. That will never go, but our presence here will. The future is so incredibly bright, and busy, and I'm looking forward to it and scared by it all at once. But if you don't jump you don't know if you can fly.

Home in Coalcliff: Going, going...

Have you wanted to live near the beach? Sit and watch the ocean as the waves roll in? Go to sleep to the sounds of the waves rather than the sound of the traffic? 

Now you can chill out at the beach in Coalcliff. Superchilled Coalcliff.

You can check out the people (read cute surfers) on the beach as you take the dog for a walk.

Plunge into the ocean blue (or ocean pool) after a hard day's work.

We're headed out - and our home needs new owners.

It's sad to leave. We've had a great 9 years here. 

More photos and details at the real estate website.

For Sale

It's a little unsettling, the prospect of selling your own home. But we're doing it. We've signed on the dotted line, it's on the market, and we're on our way to saying goodbye to our home of 9 years.  I love living here, so it's going to be a little sad to say goodbye, but it's time to move on. Time for change. 

We're going to have to keep it clean and tidy relentlessly for the next 5 weeks or so.

It's a bit exciting, a bit scary and even a little sad, having spent these years developing it into a  home that is very much us.

Hopefully it won't be too much of a roller-coaster ride. 

A SUPERCHILLED Weekend

Can you be exhausted and still full of energy? That's how I was Friday night. Eventually got to bed and slept like a baby, waking to the perfect summer weekend. Despite it being autumn.

The beach was a definite theme and we never got more than about 1km away from it. March is a great time at the beach - warm water, still warm air, and loads of guys at their physical peaks after months of outdoor activities, sigh... and with a Cuban themed cocktail party for the birthday of my favourite cafe, the theme was set in stone. Great and gregarious people, food and drinks aplenty, we were sad to leave. They sure know how to throw a party.

Sunday saw me out of my depth. It was fantastic. I was swimming in a sparkling ocean with schools of fish, armed with my camera to steal some images. I was in the water so long I was hypothermic when I got out, laying in the hot sun for 20 min before I stopped shivering. Sensational! Here are a few pics.It looks like I'm in a fish tank - apart from the waves...

Norten got into the action with a swim with us here in Coalcliff. While there we ran into some local friends who were having a BBQ on the rock platform by the beach (exposed in the low tide). It's kinda like seeing a dinner party in the dessert - I love the eccentricities of this place.

Anyone else have a beach themed weekend?

A Weekend of People

The world has a selection of great people strewn about it, and this weekend I was lucky enough to get to interact with quite a few of them: Someone new who The Frenchman and I have come to know who has been quite a remarkable find, and funnily enough pretty much as busy as we are in all manner of things, but we managed a quick rendesvous in a funky outdoor cafe in Kirribilli. My brother and his family who are a ball of chaos and laughter, with 2 girls growing up much faster that you expect. A friend who returned from a long flight from the States on Saturday yet despite any jetlag made time to catch up with us that same afternoon- always a delight, and even more so to see the changes that love brings. A friend who is conversely about to leave on a long flight - in the direction of London, who I would be happy to converse with for hours, but had to be content with 90 minutes over dinner. It was the most awesome summer evening as the sun set over Sydney Harbour, and The Wharf Restaurant served us an exceptional pre-theatre meal (the Cate Blanchett directed 'Blackbird' - unexpectedly good).

There was breakfast with some old friends who are just so giving and humble, it's kind of humbling itself, and dinner with others who are kinda like family and great to have around and just be with. In the middle of it all The Frenchman and I managed to swim a few times - once in the Boy Charlton Pool, once at night naked in the surf here in Coalcliff (too much fun, but only Norten joined me for that - someone else was worried about things that can't be seen in the ocean at night...), and again in the day time surfing, though we both need a lot more practice in that department; the cute surfers around certainly make that a more attractive proposition though. Just chatting with some of the very warm and engaging locals in the surf and on the beach really makes us feel a part of the community here. And it feels good.

Let the working week begin!

Christmas Gay

Last Sunday we had our annual "Christmas Gay" where some of our gay friends come for a relaxed lunch and afternoon - (and for some dinner as well) . It's a no-gift event and more of an escape from the traditional Christmas than a celebration of it. We usually head to the beach at some point in the afternoon for a swim en masse, but this year the rain kept us indoors eating and chatting - at length, which was loads of fun and a great annual tradition. I decided against taking photos this year as I didn't want people to be worried about the threat of being "blogged" and sometimes keeping the camera at bay makes an event a lilttle more special - dont' ask my how or why, it just does. The fact that everyone brings an item of food to add to the menu makes it a lot more fun both for the variety of food, and the fact that we have more time to spend actually interacting with people and not all the time in the kitchen (where it seems everyone else wants to be anyway!). Thanks everyone for helping create a great afternoon, evening & night. Same time next year!

The Perfect Weekend?

Utterly sensational, the weekend just gone.

The festive season brings with it the usual parties and gatherings of course, but above and beyond all that this weekend was some great connection with some great people. Sometimes when I least expected it.

The inimitable Sam returned home from Sudan, and while he looked somewhat waif-like in his "don't feed the models" t-shirt, he ate well and told us stories of great adventures, Jaclyn being probably the most significant one. (If you're reading this J, it's time to say g'day/ hi howareya... or whatever it is you Americans say. I know what you look like now... so there's no escape.)

Ain't love grand!

Colin introduced us to a brand new puppy who gnawed us just a little, then took us on a backstreet tour to Bondi, where we wandered upon a collection of men so buff they bounced.

With Jon & Gordon we discovered how early cafes close on Saturdays in Sydney, and wondered where the international city we thought we had really existed. Jon then joined us for a perfect swim at the Boy Charlton pool. All in all a most excellent afternoon in the setting sun.

Sunday started delightfully hot, even before the sun rose. We spent time with my folks (and some family friends) in their new apartment, now so funky we're kicking them out to hold all our parties there! They have the most kick arse sound / video system, stunning views and a constant sea breeze that makes you feel like you're floating on the ocean - I can visualise things we could do there they haven't ever imagined.

Closer to home we had the yearly street party chez our good friends Sean & Philip. Their newly renovated beach house, also seemingly floating on the ocean, was the perfect venue for a summer evening. (Thanks guys - you're both stars!) Apart from catching up with friends, locals, and a few newbies, what stood out for me was probably the very easy intermingling of the heavily mixed crowd. Sexuality wasn't an issue and life experience was fluid. Being a local doctor here it was very satisfying to have people, including the local surfer lads, say that they really appreciate me being their GP. It's nice to feel wanted, and for my being gay to not be an issue. But above all - it was a load of fun.

The Perfect weekend?

Pretty damn close.

I'm living with a black man.

I arrive home from work on Saturday and am confronted with this man who seems to have replaced The Frenchman. He looks a lot like him, but is caked in blackness that I am not familiar with. Norten seems a little frightened too. Once he is attacked with a garden hose The Frenchman returns and I discover he has been cleaning the guttering on the house (why he's managed to get this black I don't quite understand, but he seems to be revelling in it, so I make appreciative comments and collapse in a heap on the couch).

A little later in the evening we attend an opening. The hosts are immaculate in their attention to detail and we manage to catch up with a number of friends we have not really spent time with for a while. On to the next late-night social event and we find ourselves with buddies from our Croatia Cruise earlier in the year, some of whom are staying over at ours. More catching up on Sunday is in order and the day is again perfect.

Here we are spotting migrating whales...

A trip to the beach finds me chasing stingrays in the surf, as you will see below and then the late afternoon brings even more interesting people into our world, so we chat ceaselessly into the sunset. I'm just getting into this weekend thing, and it seems it's all over. But I've managed to connect with some fantastic people and life feels not entirely unreasonable.

Chasing a stingray

Tuesday - Coalcliff

The colours at the beach were stunning today.

Spontaneous Dinner Party

We'd planned to catch up with some friends on Saturday night, organised much earlier in the week, dinner at our place was the go, figured we'd put something together on the night. Turns out they cancelled, but it was a perfect winter evening for a dinner party - and I just felt like cooking, (I rarely feel like actually cooking for dinner parties, though we often have them). So it didn't end there. We'd already had another guest locked in (Ursula) because she had called and was available and I just couldn't let her go to waste on a Saturday evening . Then I coerced The Patient Man and Brenton out of whatever they were to be doing, down to my completely experimental cooking extravaganza - (I think they came because they adore Ursula) - in any case we all get on like a house on fire - which it sometimes is when The Patient Man visits.

So I cooked more courses than a French Banquet, some of which were surprisingly edible, and none to any standard recipe - I did look up a few of those after I cooked, just out of interest - and no I was nowhere near the instructions, but creativity is embedded in my genes, and we all made it though - perhaps it was Ursula's Lemon Cake that settled all those tummies, yum. We had a cameo call from the Tasmanian Mountain Woman whose vacant spot at the table whimpered in her absence, but the night was a roaring success.

Thanks boys and girls.
Perhaps I have learned a little French after all.

The Perfect Long Weekend

Rain, gail force winds, thundering seas and chilly temperatures... not what one might expect to make for a perfect long weekend, but it was the perfect weekend. Friends, some old, some new, and some who are metamorphosising made for one the best weekends in a long time - and we hardly left Coalcliff. There was enough natural wonder happening right outside to keep us entertained, with a selection of DVD's, some random ipod music (some less random), decadent brunches daily, liberal doses of photography and plans for new creative outlets... (watch this space); along with some deep and meaningful conversations, some decidedly less so, some snuggling in the warmth, and toying with the ocean chill. Can I do it all again? and again... I've thrown in a selection of the photos above (click to enlarge) and you may find more on aussielicious and the patient man, who feature. I'm not sure I'm going to want to work this week, but I know I'll have great memories and strengthened friendships to keep me going.

Looks like an Indoor long weekend

This is the scene at Coalcliff pool today. Not exactly inviting... We've had storms pounding through overnight; the surf's up, there's debris and water everywhere and we're deliciously ensconced inside looking out at it all. I'm pretty sure neither running nor swimming will be happening today, but it will be an entertaining weekend as it has been so far... guests guests guests... winter food, dvd's, chatting, music, and more. So far I'm loving it. Let's see what we have in store. Keep tuned for details...

underwater

Told you I was like a kid with this new toy. Here we are (Norten on the left , Me on the right) when Norten was behaving, down at the rockpool this afternoon. (as always, click to enlarge)

new underwater cam

I'm like a kid in a toystore with my new waterproof camera (yep - a birthday gift). I've only had like 15 minutes to play with it today at lunch - but I managed a couple of photos - a very cute local lad managed to distract me anyway - as they do... so anyway, have a look at the first pics -click them to see the better quality versions (it's the Olympus 770 for those with an interest in things photographic), waterproof, shock proof... let's see what I can do with it!!

Coalcliff at Night

A night time walk for Norten (our labrador), so I took along the camera and took a few snaps. The working week is about to begin, have a good one!

Saturday - Drying off with Norten

click to enlarge

Rainy Days

The rain has set in, in the land of the sun. We pray for rain one day - curse it the next. Our dams are emptying - yet the rain falls well away from them - and in bucket loads. Here's a pic from my balcony just minutes ago - a little rain explosion.

My favourite rainy day thing is to go swimming. I remember lazy summer days as a kid on school holidays we'd go camping on the Myall Lakes about 3 hours north of Sydney (although in those days it was more like 6 hours). I loved when it rained. We'd race out into warm lake and sit on or in whatever we had that floated, the rain pouring and reducing the waves on the lake to an enforced calm. Siblings and cousins all out in the water playing and splashing about. There was a silence that came with the rain - the lake would be empty of boats and water skiers, the water glassy, just the noise of us in our own world. Sometimes I'd go windsurfing on these days - it felt like you were the only one on the planet, gliding silently through the water...

And now I'm off for swim training.
I hope it pours.

What's YOUR favourite rainy day thing?

Weather Phenomenon in Coalcliff

In the early afternoon here in Coalcliff on Sunday, a storm rolled in and, lo and behold, a twisting funnel of water and wind developed on the ocean right before us. I raced for the camera (who needs to batten the hatches?! - we don't have any) and shot off a few frames before it disappeared a few minutes later. Spectacular.

No dolphins that we know of were harmed in the making of this event, (if one lands on your back yard shortly, we may need to revise that).

when blogs meet

Me, Craig, Norten

Overnight, Craig (of The Patient Man blog fame) came down to stay. Now we met and became good friends way before blogging became a verb but curiously decided to start blogs independently of each other, simultaneously. So we're both building empires together and you'll see a very cool video, that he discovered and I helped post, on his blog right now. After an awesome roast salmon meal (he is a very good guest and cooks for us!!) we strolled down to the beach and took a few photos some of which you're looking at. This also introduces you to Norten, the labrador ('the white wolf' in Craig's blog).