A Long Weekend of Beautiful Surf

The long weekend here has ended. Unusually we have not flown away for it. But there's something to be said for staying home. Here was what we woke up to most mornings. 

12 seconds - yep that's all.

I even ventured in for a surf myself and a few swims on top of that. It's been a busy time of late getting to know young Amélie and keeping everything else happening in the background. A little time out was fantastic, and for me there's nothing quite like escaping in the winter to a surprisingly warm, crystal clear surf. It's like heaven for me, true bliss. And on the beach and in the surf there have been an assortment of eye catching men. Damn it. 

I'm looking forward to more weekends like this. Lots more. 

Chillaxed in Byron

The Frenchman catches a wave.

Bathing in the Kitchen Sink

Guess who built pyramids... (click to enlarge)

I never tire of Byron Bay. We spent this weekend there. A weekend of a bit of this and a bit of that. Some home cooked food, some dining out, some beaching, some running, some playing in the surf, some afternoon siestas and playing with our nephew. Sure there was some pouring rain and there was me too slowly getting through my first ever sinusitis, but they were mere hiccups. (in fact I love nothing more than rain belting onto the roof when you're in bed!!) The weekend was divine. I'll do it again - or maybe The Frenchman and I really will do it one day - and just move there... now wouldn't THAT be nice!

Easter Long Weekend : Western Australia

Western Australia is right now the place to be, and not just for the gorgeous men. It is very much still summer over there and accordingly our Easter Long Weekend was spent along the coast from Perth to the far south, exploring beaches, wineries and diving right in.

First and second stop was Cottesloe Beach which, while not the best for catching waves, is a beautiful protected beach just south east of Perth. Good Friday it was jam-packed with people, from families having picnics to friends out for some fun in the sun. The water heated to just perfect degrees and painted bright blue we ventured in again and again. Sylvain managed to find a brightly coloured jellyfish, which I proceeded to spend 10 minutes photographing, and we both spotted a similarly beautiful beach bound beauty who looked like an ad for apple ipods… let me just click the home delivery box.

A little later on, something stung me on my last swim for the day - maybe an over photographed jellyfish...

Subiaco fed us dinner, Japanese in a flash, and we headed to the Camelot Outdoor Cinema in Mosman Park to watch Juno under the stars. The warm evening was just perfect for it. I laughed out loud a lot more than once - film and cinema recommended.

Afterwards we went for a late night run around the city and along the swan river. I could have kept running it was so good, but we were due to pick up The Frenchman’s family from the airport at midnight. And so Perth welcomed them in summery style. Our Nephew had cried pretty much all the way from France, so sleep was something they all needed. (and possibly the rest of the plane)

The Ibis hotel was fine for just that but we won’t be going back there any time soon by choice.

Saturday had me taking the girls out shopping as The Frenchman took his Brother and Dad to get their campervans (not as easy as it sounds). With all the logistics sorted we headed back to Cottesloe where the crowd had thinned, yet the day was even more spectacular. We all hit the water and played in the sand, the Frenchies looking especially stark in contrast to the deeply tanned locals. The atmosphere here so good we stayed and had lunch – Italian by the sea.

Convoy in tow we headed south, to Yallingup – great name – better place. The waves are huge, all shades of blue, green and white, and filled with surfers and body boarders who provide more eye candy than is probably safe for human consumption. My sunset swim here was probably the most spectacular in a long time – I watched as these suddenly huge waves crashed over me – with the tubes of water so incredible I was laughing out loud in this crazy surf. Colours, light, movement – I needed my underwater camera – but it was too late – and given how I was dumped by the first wave I caught – probably safer without it.

The weekend continued with exploration of the Margaret River region, wine tasting, late night dinners and chocolate in so many guises.. Easter eggs, brownies, milkshakes, hot chocolate (just heavenly - from a gourmet vendor at the beach after my early morning swims) home made choc chip cookies, chocolate tasting at the chocolate factory… I think I’ve found my limit. We left the Frenchies at Cape Leeuwin as we headed back to Perth for our Red Eye back to reality.

I hope you all managed a great Easter break.

WA Full Report : Coming Soon

I'm just back from an Easter trip to Western Australia.

Full post to come in the next 24 hours... (I'm playing with the pictures - like this one above) and, quite happily, I have quite a few to choose from. In the meantime you can work on your wild wednesday challenge... (below)

Race Day

So on Saturday night I get some good sleep - though my dreams are vivid, in one a bunch of guys from a big ute are attacking The Frenchman, in another I'm supposed to jump from this insanely high waterfall off a mountain basically and glide to the river at the base in some raft. Both are disturbing and both wake me up. But I get back to sleep and wake in time to prepare for THE SWIM. Today's focus. Well, one of them.

I have a bit of a routine for pre-race mornings, and I follow the plan. Butterflies have started and I'm visiting the mens' room more than I'd like - but this is normal, so I go with it, no choice really. We arrive in Cronulla ahead of schedule and find our way to the beach past scores of cute fit men, (I'm sure there were others too, but I don't recall them so well.) They give us these new Powerade pre-race drinks - complete with added caffeine as we register. The sun is out in force and the day sparkling. We're surrounded by cuteness, and the world is a beautiful place.

I test the water - there is a lot of shallow water here today so I figure I'm going to have to use that running practice I've been doing at the beginning and the end of the race. I'm braced and ready - and bang we're off and running... and running... and finally swimming, and I manage to keep in the front pack - but some of them do slip by - I'm doing my best, any faster and I'm going to be too lactic for the guts of the race - so I settle into race mode and gradually pick up pace through the 2.3km. In the final - and longest leg - there are 2 competitors right behind me and I have to pick up my pace progressively right through to the finish - I'm actually sprinting by the time I get to the beach and then I have to run to the finish line, and run and run... beating them both and managing to take out 3rd place in my age category.

I can't breathe and take a minute or two before I can move again- I'm stoked - although not as stoked as when I was told I was 2nd, but they later found out there was a technical glitch... So I manage my aim - a podium finish - and get a prize to boot. The Frenchman has a great swim - his first for the season - and I manage to photograph him (kind of) as he finishes... as you can see below...

I've obviously used all my reflexes for the race... but he still looks cute.

In the afternoon we head to the everpopular diggies to catch up with good friends. It feels like home there and cocktails / food / more is accompanied by a most excellend DJ on the deck watching the waves (and men) roll in on North Beach. I envisage the DJ at the launch of their new CD series Cafe Del Diggies, but figure they'll have to find a better name.

I can't think of a better way to spend the afternoon quite frankly - heaven- so we stay a while longer. We all decide to buy the house across the road and then we leave to go and sell our houses and prepare for the move.

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?

Thursday Morning

It's my morning off, and I awake to a day they say is going to be 27 degrees and sunny. I look outside, I feel outside, and I think they're right. After downing breakfast - a mix of cereals and some peach slices on top, I head to the national park beach where I strip naked and jump into the surf that looks like this:

to float around a while. I eventually get out and rinse off in the freshwater creek that trickles down from the mountain and then in the shade I read "The Swimming Machine" which, contrary to popular opinion is not autobiographical. There's not a lot of people around, which is surprising for such a fantastic day, but I'm enjoying my solitude and I when I get hot again I dive back into the water and wonder what would happen if I swim too far from shore.

I treck back up the mountain and pass 8 people heading down, one guy swears at how steep it is... but he's going down, and I don't mention that he has to go back up some time, and it's getting hotter.

I get home and Norten, who looks like this:

has dug a few holes in the lawn, so he gets solitary confinement for a while. Once I think he understands what it's all about I take him for a walk to my nearby beach which is also looking pretty brilliant, and as I stand there watching the waves roll in (with Norten dragging me too and fro like a buoy in the swell), a surfer, who looks like this:

(only cuter and blonder) walks up from the beach and stands right next to me where he proceeds to takes off his full body wetsuit. I can't say he's the cutest thing since Brad Pitt was a young adult, but in fact, he is. It confirms another reason I like living near the beach, and while I could easily hang around a bit longer I take Norten back home because I have to go to work. And then I post this, making myself even later to work than I really should be. But the story had to be told.

Sunday Swimday

This was the view that greeted us as we arrived in Manly, Sunday for my 2nd ocean swim this season. Absolutely stunning. The camera was tucked away as I was in competition mode, so these are comprehensively stolen from the brilliant oceanswims.com website . As you can appreciate, there was some awesome talent in and out of the water... It wasn't just the views that were breathtaking.
This is my wave (above) starting off in the race... I'm pretty sure I was farther ahead on the right of the woman in this photo. A competitive lot!
The water was crystal clear - I got distracted by loads of fish - maybe that's why I only managed to come 4th in my category (28th out of 452 overall). But I felt good - strong and was very happy with my 28minutes 33seconds for the 2km. But damn it, I didn't make it into the top 3!! We swam again a few times after the race and after lunching with friends - it was too nice a day to stay out of the water. It has been the best weekend of the summer here this year so far. I'm looking forward to more of the same! I have some training to do to get up with the leaders though.

That was Friday

I arrive at the beach this morning, it's sunny and warm, a perfect summer day like we've rarely had this summer. I look at the ocean and OH MY GOD!! The waves are HUGE. My first thought is, Surely we're not training here today?, followed rapidly by, I'm going to die! But I realise that for a change I'm not the only one who can perform CPR here so I might make it out alive after all. (And I could think of worse people to bring me back). So I dive on in and come face to face with waves that seem 3 or 4 times my height, and a lot more violent. At times I'm dragged, pummelled and sand blasted by waves in rapid succession, but I maintain my calm, if not my breath, and make it out to the buoy beyond the breakers (and feel like staying there a while as the others slowly make it out). Some of us haven't made it - and I see them retreating from the beach as we bob up and down contemplating the return journey, but the surf life savers have easily made it out - and I'm happy about that. We head back to shore and then do it all over again and I realise I've managed a surf I'd never previously have contemplated. The ocean race this weekend will be a breeze after this morning's swim I'm thinking as I shower off the sand that's by now quite literally everywhere.

The day gets more chaotic as I head to work and everyone it seems wants me to see more and more patients in all parts of the region, and I'm on the phone half the day triaging and sorting and managing on the hop. At last it's all done and I'm headed to Sydney where we're seeing "Pam Ann" at the Lyric theatre with friends. It's brilliant, she's brilliant and I'm laughing so much it hurts. The audience is almost all gay - a few strays have made it in too, but this girl is a definite gay hit, and she certainly knows her audience! Her last show is on Sat 23rd Feb. If you can get tickets - I'd highly recommend you go see her.

Wild Wednesday in Perspective

Sometimes it's good to take a different perspective, to look at the world from another point of view. Sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively, but always with feeling ;) . Taking someone new to your town on a tour of it can allow you to see it in a new way through their eyes, it may take you to places you rarely go. It certainly has for me over the years. In an argument, taking the opposite side to which you believe and arguing as if it were your own can be liberating. Stopping to photograph something that you'd normally pass by without pause. Taking the point of view of someone who is complaining about something you've done. Sitting in that park you walk past each day, and just watching the world go by for a few minutes, rather than being that world passing by...

The above photograph is taken at the uni pool where I swim - it's taken looking up at the sky through the water, there every time I swim but not a perspective I usually see.

See if you can find a new perspective on things this wild wednesday.

New Poll - Getting Wet

We all get wet, most of us at least daily - but how do you prefer to get wet?
Vote in the new poll, and see where you rate.

underwater musing

This is what you get when you submerse your camera (suspended on a very small float that really should be called a sink...) press record and try to swim in front of the lens...

The two almost evident people in the video are The Frenchman and myself.

I really should just call it something more like "study # 3", install it in a gallery of modern art projected onto a 30m wide screen, and hold lectures discussing it... but perhaps I'm being just a little bit cynical.

It's a long weekend here - and I want to be a little creative. Of course - it's when I am feeling most creative that I'm committed to other things, and when I have the time , I have not the inspiration.

Today was a hellish day at work - I'm not one to ever lose my cool - but I found myself telling a patient's relative off today. I'm tired of people who just don't listen - but are very ready to complain that they're not getting what they want (which, if they listened, they'd realise they were actually going to be getting exactly that) - I felt like changing my mind after their complaining. Last night I also had a nurse calling me for advice about a patient - and when I didn't answer my mobile, phoned back 3 minutes later to complain (to my voicemail again as I still didn't answer her) that I hadn't called back and that as I was on call I had to be tied to the other end of the phone waiting for her to call. Of course, I was in the shower at the time, and called her 5 minutes after her initial call. This time she didnt answer, so I called again and again for 10 minutes eventually getting her , explaining I was in the shower and not getting any kind of apology from her (she expected one from me and yes I was too kind and gave one as soon as I returned the call.)

Why are people so impatient and so unkind?

Reconnecting

The past few days have been good for the soul. I've spent time with a few friends with whom I have a strong connection, but for various reasons haven't been in touch with at any great depth for some time.

Thursday morning one of these friends came and visited. The day was one of those unforecast perfect days - the weather report had said stormy, but not a cloud in the sky it was sunny and delightfully warm. And so we decided to venture to the national park beach. Having not seen him for a some time it was like being on holidays, and walking through a place he'd not been before made it all feel new to me as well.

The beach was pristine, with barely one or two others there, crystal clear blue-green waves rolling in. The water was chilly but we dived in and stayed a while, thrown about occasionally by unexpected waves as we chatted, floating and meandering in the water like contented seals. We got out and lay naked in the sun and then I started shivering uncontrollably. Obviously the water was cooler than I realised, or my insulation thinner, but to sit in the warmth of the sun and be shivering all at once was strangely exhilarating. And to have the space to ourselves was priceless. I smiled and laughed a lot as we caught up on things we had missed.

We could have stayed there all day.

At The Beach

It was a sunny day - and I figured it was as good a time as any to get out into the surf with my camera and do some experimenting. Here are some of the results. It was a lot of fun - although I was occasionally thrown into the rocks as a result of trying to protect the camera and 'get the shot' rather than look after myself, but it was worth it.

(For larger versions just click on the images, as usual)

swim squad

Swim squad Tuesday Night

-it was high intensity-

This is what we did...
Warm up: 1km freestyle with fins: 50m easy 50m hard 100m easy 100m hard 200m easy 200m hard, and then back down again, that was 1km.
8x50m 1/2 butterfly, 1/2 freestyle with each 50m on 50seconds
Main Set: 8x50m freestyle with bands on (ie around your ankles so you can't kick) it's sink or swim , these were again every 50seconds followed immediately by 400m intense freestyle, and this 800m set was repeated for a total of 3 times.
Warm down: 8x75m freestyle variable pace and 200m cool off.
All up 4.6km - I was completely exhausted, but feeling fantastic... and then I went to gym.

toes in the adriatic

Another swim in the Adriatic this morning - three of us have been doing a swim of between 1 and 2 km each day (and I've usually swum a little more another time in the day) and it has been great fun - exploring the coastlines and islands. Last night as we sat at an outdoor cafe watching the moonrise in the balmy evening I took my shoes off and walked down to the water and just immersed my feet for a while - it's therapy for me, calming - I can't keep out of the water - even if it is just my feet.... the drinks into the evening were awesome. sigh...
I'll post a pic a little later.... - updated - should be very clear now...

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.

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!!

Ebbs and Flows and Friends

Standing in the warmth of the sun, watching the waves roll in at the beach today, I was reflecting on the waves of interaction I have with the people in my life. It's like being out there in the surf, there are those who swim with me who are always around catching the same waves and keeping in line of sight; others occasionally catch a different wave or move in a different rip and we continue to swim and surf and play in the water, just in different parts of the water. Then there are those who are mostly at other beaches, but occasionally we'll both find ourselves in common water. Sometimes you can control where you go and who you're with - sometimes the tide and waves and the lifesavers around will control where you end up, so there are people you want to spend more time with, and who are swimming your way too, but the circumstances pull you apart.

I quite like the fluidity of it all, the ebbs and flows. Sometimes though it's frustrating, like when you're really trying to catch up with someone and the tides are all wrong. Other times they swim far away trying to avoid contact because things are not going well, and they just want to escape, but the beach they swim to is often desolate, and I can't see them to give them a helping hand. I'll think that they don't want to see me, but the reality may be quite different.

Making an effort to patrol the surf for my friends has been rewarding. It can take considerable effort at times, because I too can find myself in a dodgy swell, and lose sight of people regardless of how I may try not to. Out of the blue, just like the occasional dolphin in the surf, there are swimmers out there who unexpectedly come crashing into my wave and hang about to become new friends.

It's a dynamic and chaotic world, but the soothing of the ceaseless rolling of these waves and the constancy that is there within the randomness of it all that makes life such a special thing.