Newport Beach Waves

If you ever doubted Newport Beach's wave potential, watch this video.  It was shot on 54th Street... I live on 41st.  This is my backyard. Free lessons to friends (although these kids are better than me!).

1 Morning in Newport Beach from David Lee Scales on Vimeo.

Puerto Rico - Bachelor Party and Surfing

Avery, a friend of mine for about 6 months that serves as my surfing sensei, is getting married soon and invited me to his bachelor party in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He promised a lot of surfing and a good time, so I booked my ticket for Friday - Monday. I actually PAID for my ticket this time... I'm getting pretty close to reaching Platinum status with Delta.

Since Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, you don't need a passport to go there. However, you definitely know you're not in the US when you land. Most signs are in Spanish and while most people can also speak English, I ran into a few that didn't.

View from our hotel suite

Avery's groomsmen booked adjoining rooms in a corner suite of the El San Juan Resort and Casino for Friday and Saturday nights. I had never met any of them before but they were all friendly guys, most from Avery's home state of Louisiana. The area of San Juan looked like an older, less polished version of Miami. There were lots of hotel and condo towers right on the coast, but it just wasn't quite as glamorous.

We spent most of the day lounging at the in-pool bar and went to Brava, El San Juan's nightclub, that night. It reminded me of a few of the dark and low-budget clubs I visited in Santiago, but there was one interesting twist. Sean Kingston happened to be in the VIP section - there goes any chance of getting attention from the girls. They were all too busy trying to get free drinks and pictures.

On Saturday Avery, his other California surfer friend Dave, and I were bent on finding some waves to surf. After checking the swell forecasts and talking to a few locals, we found that our best bet was only a quarter mile up the beach near the Ritz Carlton Hotel (if you're looking for a landmark). There were other breaks across the island that are all accessible and go off with different swells, but we would need a car, long board rentals, straps for the car, and more time. Avery was staying longer than the rest of us so he took notes about these breaks. We just rented soft boards on the beach for $25 per hour and headed out at the local break (I don't even remember if it had a name).

The waves weren't great by any means, but it was fun to get out there and catch some anyway. Most were ankle biters and there were a lot of people in the water to fight off. Not only that, I found a few pieces of floating wood spiked with rusty nails right on the break - yikes. Overall this break was worth visiting, but if you're coming to PR for a surf vacation you should go for the more remote locations and save this for a last resort.

***Note: we met a few ladies in their 40s on a women's weekend that rented SUPs (stand up paddle boards). They accidentally dropped their paddles, which sunk and cost them $250 per. I don't know why you would create a paddle that didn't float, but make sure you check if you go SUPing!***

On Saturday night we got back together with the rest of the crew... a few of them went to a cockfighting match near our hotel. This is still legal and sanctioned, with gambling and telecasts like horse racing back in Kentucky. We all had dinner and went back to Brava. The best man, Avery's brother, reserved a table and it was a special occasion - fight night. Puerto Ricans love boxing, especially when one of their own is fighting. Cotto vs. Margarito II was entertaining, mainly because of the atmosphere it created in the club. Everyone was singing and cheering Cotto's every move. When he won, it made the club go crazy.

Club Brava

The guys ended up running a bar tab in the $1500 range, but it wasn't so bad since there were so many of us. I ended up talking to a really cool girl from Florida for about 20 minutes before realizing that she had an engagement ring on her finger - doh. Oh well.

The next morning we had to be out of the hotel and most of the guys were going home. A few of us were staying for an extra night, but we booked a hotel in Old San Juan. Driving through that section of town really reminded me of Casco Viejo, the old section of Panama City that I visited earlier this year. All of the buildings were extremely old and it really took you back in time. The only downside was the massive cruise ship terminal nearby that kept a steady stream of typical American tourists clogging up the streets.

Dave and Avery broke down and rented a car so they could try to surf the northwest coast breaks on Monday (I was flying out in the morning). Since we had a car, we decided to go explore the northeast coast a bit. We got directions to a break that wasn't too far away that broke right on some rocks. I don't know exactly where it was, but my best guess is near the El Chorro river mouth. Avery convinced a guy to let him borrow his board, but the rest of us just sat on the beach and watched. It looked pretty brutal and I've never seen Avery so shaken up after a session.

Old San Juan

Later that night we got a recommendation for a local dive bar/restaurant called Pa'l Cielo, which translates to 'Of Heaven.' It wasn't in the touristy part of town, which was refreshing. The food was delicious and as it got later the crowd started to pack in. You could pick out the few gringos in the room and Avery made the executive decision for us to leave. Dave and I were having a good time since we had both experienced similar bars in other countries, but no big deal. We left and headed back toward Old San Juan.

It just so happened that the 18th annual Southern Fortaleza Culinary Fest was happening a few blocks from our hotel that weekend. Every restaurant on Calle Fortaleza (aka Restaurant Row) was selling small portions of their menus along with decent mojitos, along with music, art and people walking around everywhere. It was a great way to end the weekend and felt like what the 'real' Puerto Rico would be like without the tourism and American influence.

If I ever get the chance to go back I'll try to explore El Yunque National Forest (the only rain forest in the US), maybe do some snorkeling and diving and tour a rum distillery or two :)

Aquabumps

Soon after I came back from Australia I signed up for Aquabumps daily emails picturing Bondi and the nearby beaches, beachgoers, surfers and sunrises.

Eugene, or 'Uge' as he signs off on most emails, has been featured in a documentary of his daily routine. Sign up for the emails - his photos are amazing. And if you're anywhere near Sydney, stop by his gallery and buy a print.

Check out the video and a few choice images below.

A Man, A Plan, A Vacation, Panama

Morro Negrito is near the western town of Tole

I just got back to Atlanta from Panama - ahhhhhhh AC. Time to catch up on all that went on.

Surprisingly, the flight to Panama City from Atlanta was only 3.5 hours. I've been flying out to California a lot lately, so that was a breeze. I landed in PC at 9 pm, picked up my bags and met the driver the surf camp arranged for me. Morro Negrito was a liiiiitle bit harder to reach.  I felt totally comfortable touching down by myself in a Spanish speaking country after all of the time I spent in Chile.

The taxi driver took me on the half an hour to the bus terminal and instructed the bus driver where to drop me off. Luckily the bus was a proper tour bus with reclining seats, although I sat in the very back row and the AC unit dripped on me every now and then. Annoying, but manageable. Steve, the owner of the surf camp, sent a bunch of email instructions that included - do not fall asleep on the bus. Since the bus left at 10:45 I definitely didn't make it without nodding off a few times.

The driver remembered my taxi drivers instructions and dropped me off at about 4 am. I realized why I was warned to pay attention. The bus stop was nothing more than a police checkpoint (for drugs) in the middle of the jungle. I sleepily staggered off of the bus and saw a car flash its lights at me. This was Jefe, the driver that was to take me to the port. About a half hour later, we pulled into the port for Morro Negrito. After a few honks a young Panamanian came out and unlocked the gate. I understood enough Spanish for him to tell me that the boat captain wouldn't be there until 6 am and I could sleep in a hammock on the patio until morning.

About a half an hour later a rooster started crowing, and has anyone actually tried to sleep in a hammock? Honestly, I don't know how. The boat captain finally arrived and I met a few of my campmates that had gotten to the port earlier in the day. They were lucky enough to get rooms since they got there earlier in the evening.

Morro Negrito

We all hopped on the outboard motorboat for the beautiful 45 minute to the camp. So after a plane, taxi, bus, taxi, boat, I finally arrived around 7 am just in time for breakfast. I don't want you to think I'm complaining. I was really tired but so pumped to start surfing.

Morro Negrito is on a peninsula but it can't be reached by road so they consider it an island.  There were a few locals driving the boats and working in the camp along with our surf guides, Keith and Lucas.  Keith is from Redondo Beach and comes to MN once a year to surf, fish and guide the guests.  He was an expert surfer but also brought his spear gun for something else to do.  Lucas was German, not very experienced and was planning to stay at the camp for about two months.  They were both really cool guys.

As for the other guests, it was a Canadian invasion.  The leader of the group was a guy named Warren.  He visited MN a few years earlier and came back with his fiance, three friends (one of whom was a 2006 freestyle moguls Olympic skier) and their girlfriends/wives, plus a few other friends.  Another Canadian couple
rounded out our group of 13.  The guys were pretty good surfers and also helpful with tops on positioning and timing.

The 6 days were spent surfing, eating, sleeping, with a little bit of snorkeling in between.  I surfed Snickers and Chapel with the beginner group and attempted P-Land and Nestles with the more advanced guys.  The swell wasn't big enough for the other breaks and I'd be tempted to come back to see it.  The week after we left they were getting 20 foot waves!



I brought my camera out every now and then to get some underwater shots.  It was no Great Barrier Reef, but I'll take it.  I added a few at the bottom of this post but you can check out the full album on Picasa.  Keith and I went out for some night freediving to try to find lobsters (the ones there have no claws) to eat, but they were all too small.  Keith did get a wicked jellyfish sting and I flirted with danger as I tried to take a picture of it.

Most evenings were really hot and humid until the rain came.  May is the beginning of Panama's rainy season but don't let that discourage you from going.  It provided a cool off period after the long, hot day.  I heard stories about the conditions during the dry season and I'm glad I picked May.  We even used the runoff from the roof to take group showers.  The surrounding community shared the same water source and we were happy to conserve what they had.  The first few nights were really uncomfortable since I wasn't used to the heat.  I was expecting this from the time I spent in similar accommodations in Costa Rica back in 2008.  I ended up popping a Benadryl (or two) every night to help me cope with all of the mosquito bites and knock me out.

Should've gotten stitches - it's deep, trust me

I got to see a turtle, eat sushi 5 minutes after the fish was caught, and gained a lot of confidence in my abilities (the whole point of the trip).  I tried to push myself and surf with the guys on the reef a few times.  The wave faces were between 6-8 feet which were really big for me.  Unfortunately I got taken by a wave I wasn't trying to surf and dragged across the reef.  I gashed my leg pretty badly and spent the rest of the trip trying to superglue it together to keep out an infection.

Despite that setback I kept at it for the last few days.  I really lucked out with the guides and other guests - they could have easily made or ruined the week.  I started this adventure on my own but I was happy I didn't spend the week by myself.  I know have some people to see up in Vancouver on a trip I hope to take in the not so distant future.  I submitted my experience to Trip Advisor as something I'd definitely recommend to anyone that wants an atypical vacation and enjoys surfing (note that there's more to do than just surf, but it's definitely the focus).

Check out parts II (Boquete), III (Bocas del Toro) and IV (Panama City) of my series of posts on Panama to see all of the other places I visited during my second week.

Swellshots

Over the past few weeks I have been doing research on cameras and underwater housings. After the disposable underwater cameras on my trips to Fiji and the Great Barrier Reef produced (the expected) poor quality photos - I didn't even post them because they were so bad - I decided to make the jump to a better camera.

I have been using a point-and-shoot Kodak for the past few years on all of my travels and I wanted to upgrade to a DSLR.  I went to Beach Cities Scuba, the local dive shop in Newport Beach, to get some more information.  A really knowledgeable guy named Chob was their camera expert and he filled me in on all of the details.  Even if I went with the lowest level Canon (the Rebel T2i), when you add the lens(es), housing, flash and other accessories, I was looking at spending $7,000 at the very least.

The new rig

Because of the costs I started looking at "prosumer" cameras (designed with the serious amateur in mind).  Chob steered me toward the Canon Powershot G12 digital camera, Fisheye FIX G12 underwater housing and Sea & Sea YS-110a flash.  That's the one I went with and I've been pretty happy so far.


I'm still surfing a lot but have been taking time out to practice with the camera in the water.  There are many more things to take into account with this camera - aperture, white balance, ISO, shutter speed.  It makes it even tougher to adjust these controls with the knobs of the housing... and then you have to take the waves into account.  If you don't watch out you'll be slammed by a wave while you're trying to change something.  I went out the first time without any tether and just help the camera with my hands.  I quickly realized that wasn't a good idea when I had to swim out of a weak rip current so I bought a wrist leash just in case I had to let go of the rig.


The first day I went out and shot some body boarders one of them asked me how much it would cost to get prints of him.  I hadn't even thought of that, but maybe I can make my money back.  I realized that I needed a name that people would remember (like Aquabumps), so I came up with SwellShots.  I'm hoping to add more to the linked Picasa album as I spend more time in the water.  Make sure to save it as a bookmark!

Why am I doing all of this?  I have a month off from work because the project got extended.  There is a big gap in the month of May and they asked me to go on leave to save money on the budget.  I started researching surf camps and vacations and found one called Morro Negrito.  It's a full week of surfing and nothing else.  I'm going to extend it another week to see the rest of the country, though I haven't figured out the details yet.  I already got the flight (with points) and put the deposit down for the week.

But back to the photos... here are a few of the best pics I've taken so far.

Austin Part II

After The Foals concert on Thursday night, we still had two full days left in the Austin.  I had to put in some hours for work and stopped into the BackOffice Associates to hang out with the team and get online.  The guys in the office pointed me to an awesome lunch spot in downtown that consisted of a collection of food trucks.  They highly recommended the Korean Mexican fusion truck called Chi'Lantro.  The kimchi tacos and kimchi fries were the best.

6th Street is hopping

I met up with Rameen, his girlfriend Katie and their Austin friend Christy that afternoon.  We all went out on 6th Street for some bar hopping but I couldn't tell you which ones we visited.  I would compare 6th Street to a mix between downtown Nashville and Bourbon Street in New Orleans (minus the open containers).  It has the country flare of Texas mixed with the concentration of bars and street closures to cars that you get in New Orleans.  6th Street is the center of South by Southwest and even though we were about a month late to see it.  Maybe next year.

On Saturday Rameen and Katie left to spend Easter with Katie's parents but Christy was cool enough to let me hang out for the rest of the weekend.  She brought me over to a friends' place and we hung out for a while, then took their boat out on Lake Austin (actually a reservoir created by a dammed section of the Colorado River).  One of the guys was Australian, so we had a lot to talk about.

Zappa wake surfing on Lake Austin

A few of the guys took turns wake surfing.  I had never seen it before, but they start out being pulled by the boat like a wake board.  Then they eventually let go of the rope because the forward force of the wake.  I never took a turn - growing up I never had any luck wake boarding, water skiing or anything else, plus I was having fun taking pictures with my new camera.

The guys were drinking a cocktail from a big thermos called Cariboo Lou that was pretty good.  I'll have to remember it whenever I'm looking for an easy drink to make.  They got the name and the ingredients from a TECH N9NE song, and I quote:

Half a bottle of 151
Off of the jug one cup of Malibu rum
Baby that's what's up
Then you fill the rest of the jug
With pineapple juice, and it's cracking

On Saturday night we hit 6th Street again and started out at a whiskey bar called Tenoak.  I noted this bar in particular because the bartender served me what might be my new favorite bourbon - Willett Reserve.  It's sippin' whiskey, not for mixing - just how I like it.  Thanks to Christy for putting me up an extra night in her house even though we just met!

On a side note, my friend Will got his undergrad degree at UT and made these recommendations.  I didn't get a chance to check any of them out, but will the next time I visit the city.  And there will be a next time.

Brunch/Breakfast tacos

• Juan in a Million - really cheap and really good, probably won’t leave hungry
• Maria’s Taco Express
• Torchy’s
• El Chilito

Lunch

• Texadelphia - great cheesesteaks, chips & queso, the one on the main drag is the original and the best
• Chuy’s - good Tex-Mex
• El Arroyo - good at Tex-Mex at the end of 6th Street
• Dirty Martin’s - good, greasy burger close to campus

Drinks

• Trudy’s - home of the Mexican martini (they’ll stop you after 2)
• Iron Cactus - good place to grab drinks and watch 6th Street from bird’s eye view

BBQ

• Franklin’s - someone told me that this place was really good, it started as a food truck and just opened a regular restaurant
• Stubb’s - food is ok, but usually have good live music
• County Line - all you can eat, not as far of a drive as the Salt Lick; probably 20 minutes from downtown
• Iron Works - good spot close to downtown

OC Living

The past few weeks have been great - I'm surfing after work pretty much every day. I see dolphins about every other day when I'm out in the water. I'm not catching the big waves yet, but I am getting better. The water is cold enough that I had to buy neoprene boots to keep them warm, but I'm still enjoying it.

I have a friend from high school named Anna that moved to Orange County after we graduated. Every time I've come through LA over the past year I've tried to stop and have dinner with her and Eric (her once boyfriend, fiance and now husband). I got a text on Sunday afternoon from her asking me if I was interested in some Lakers tickets. I was just sitting around on the couch, so I was in.

I dropped everything and drove 15 minutes over to Anna's house. Eric and I left almost immediately and drove to Staples Center. One of Eric's friends had a vendor that had a connection to Lakers owner Jerry Buss' assistant.  Our tickets got us seats at a table in the restaurant on the mid-level baseline.  We had a waitress and didn't have to get up at all.  The Lakers were down for the whole game until Kobe pulled through in the clutch in the last minute for a 4 point win.

After the game our tickets also got us access to a bar underneath Staples Center.  When you see cameras following players through the concrete block lined passageways - that's where we were.  The guy that got us the tickets said that the bar was right in between the locker room and player exit, so if we stood outside we would see them all walk by.  He had also seen players and Khloe Kardashian (Lamar Odom's wife).  We decided to go inside and hang out as well as thank Buss' assistant for the tickets instead of standing around with cameras like groupies.  We did see Buss' ex-wife and an assistant coach, but that was it.

It was a very unplanned event, but lots of fun - especially because the tickets were free!

Last Week in Oz

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working a lot, so not much has been going on. We had a birthday/goodbye dinner for Carolien at Opera Bar that also served as my brother’s farewell. It had been the most continuous time we spent together in the past 10 years… it wasn’t always smooth but we both had a great time.

As soon as I got back to work I had to hit the ground running as we went live with SAP at the client site. Nothing too exciting happened and I stayed really busy. After 3 weeks of long hours and weekend work, we finished the project and everything is running smoothly. We scheduled my return to the US a week after go-live just in case there were any problems. Since there weren’t, I really had nothing left to do except a few clean up items every day. That being the case, I skipped out of work early every afternoon and hit the surf.

Krista and I said our goodbyes early... she had planned a two week trip to western Australia and left a week before me. We made tentative plans to have a surf vacation somewhere in the world... Hawaii, Bali, California... it was all very vague and pie in the sky.  One of our last days together was Australia's version of Independence Day - Australia Day.  We found a party on the rocks next to Tamarama that was amazing.  Every outcrop and spot of sand had people dancing, laughing and drinking.  Someone brought a generator and set up a DJ booth.  It was one of the coolest parties I've ever been to.

I rented a car during the week so that I didn’t waste too much time on buses getting from work to home and home to the beach. I had lived the past 10 months without a car and I forgot how nice it was to be able to get places quickly. It was a week of record heat in Sydney, with 6 days in a row over 95 degrees. One day it got up to 105 but I didn’t really notice when I was in the water. If you tried to walk across the sand your feet burned.

I went down to Maroubra one afternoon and saw a pretty scary incident. I was surfing in the chest deep whitewash (I’m still not up to the green waves yet) and I saw a few people crowded around someone laying down at the edge of the rip. I got out of the water because they were talking with animated motions and pointing out to the water.

I got out and started scanning the waves and a woman with a surfboard came up to me. “Do you see anyone out there? I pulled that guy in (pointing to the one laying down) and I swear I saw another one.”

Over the next few minutes the lifeguards towed two jet skis across the sand and put them in the water. I went back out and continued surfing for a little while, still keeping my eye on the action 50 yards away. A few life rafts came and then two helicopters joined the search. The lifeguards eventually waved all of the surfers in so they could search the entire beach. As I left a news crew showed up but they never found the guy’s body.

I advise everyone that goes to beaches in Australia or anywhere else with big waves to understand rip currents and how they work and how to swim out of them.

Driving Up the Coast

I had planned for weeks to rent a car to drive up the eastern coast. It cost about $300 for a rental car, so I thought it would be a good idea to find people to ride with us. I created a little flier and posted it in a few of the popular hostels. It said "Need a ride to Byron Bay/Surfer's Paradise/Brisbane?" along with my contact info and a few other details on the dates.  By the next day I already received 10 calls or texts, all from females. Why there were no males interested, I have no idea. If you ever get lonely in Sydney, just rent a car for the weekend and start posting fliers in hostels – you’ll make friends really quickly.

The first people to call me were Germans Melanie and Britta, who needed to get to Brisbane on the same day that we were flying to Hamilton Island. Brian and I went to meet them for a quick drink to make sure we got along (and they wanted to be sure we weren't weirdos). They agreed to pay $75 each which covered about half of the cost of the car excluding gas.  It was a deal for them since bus trips up the coast are really expensive.

We left Sydney early on Monday morning and headed north. We passed through Port Macquarie for lunch and made it to our goal of Byron Bay after about 12 hours. Byron is less than 500 miles from Sydney but there are not true interstates in between. We went through a lot of towns and two lane highways along the way. It was kind of nice because we got to see more scenery which included a random water tank with ‘Kentucky’ painted on the side and some wild kangaroos.

Coincidentally, Krista had already planned a trip up that way with her brother and flew into Gold Coast a few days ahead of us. She drove down to spend the next few days surfing with us instead of playing golf with her brother. We stayed at a popular hostel in Byron Bay called Aquarius. It was only $38 per night and was within walking distance to the bars. I read a lot of reviews that spoke poorly of it, saying there were bed bugs (sometimes a huge problem with backpacker hostels), but we had no issues.

The waves at Byron Bay

Byron Bay is famous around the world for its world class waves. It’s a cool, relaxed beach town that is centered on one thing – surfing. When we rented our boards from a corner shop, the cashier told us that Jack Johnson had stopped in a few weeks before (he owns a house in Byron). On a side note, I learned that Johnson almost became a pro surfer before he was injured while surfing Hawaii’s famous Pipeline wave. He lost a few teeth and had to get stitches, then switched to music.

The nightlife in Byron Bay reminded me or Cairns. The city was laid out in a less touristy way (if that even makes sense), with all of the bars and restaurants concentrated in a 3 or 4 block area. We didn’t stay out too late because we wanted to be fresh and ready to surf in the morning.

We took some steps down a hill to the beach to find it fairly empty compared to Sydney. The entire beach stretched for about 2 miles with the best surf on the south end at ‘The Pass’. We hopped on our boards and were immediately slammed with the strongest rip current I have ever experienced. Within 5 minutes I was about 50 meters out in the water behind the break, which is great. But the current also pulled me 200 meters down the beach where no good waves were breaking. I lost sight of Krista, but she was after bigger waves anyway. I tried to paddle against the rip and even hopped off my board, letting it drag behind me as I swam – no luck. I finally gave up and paddled back to shore. From that point on I stayed in the relatively shallow water and only caught the small waves. Even then, the current was so strong that you could barely walk against it.

After we were exhausted from fighting the waves, we drove up to a lighthouse and lookout nearby that claimed to be the easterly most point in the country. Next we packed up the car and drove to Surfer’s Paradise.

New Years Eve

My New Years Eve started off by taking a surfing lesson with Brian at Maroubra - $50 for 2 hours. I definitely recommend taking lessons here over the other beaches in Sydney (especially over Bondi, which is twice the price and 10 times as crowded). I had also heard that if you can surf at Maroubra, you can surf anywhere. The waves are a bit more rough and currents stronger.

I used an 8.5 footer and Brian had a 9. By the end of the lesson I was getting the hang of it and rode a wave for a good 5 seconds. I don’t think Brian had the same success but he still had a blast. I got stung by a Blue Bottle on my ankle at one point but didn’t let that stop me – I was hooked. We chilled out for the rest of the day and Brian made plans to meet up with a friend from Valdosta for New Years. Carolien also went to meet up with Dutch friends that were posting up in the botanical garden near the opera house. That let Krista and I make our own plans to watch the fireworks together courtesy of Daniel, who I know through MeetUp.



When I first met Daniel and Carol (aunt and uncle of my friend Laura) back on the 4th of July, they invited me to watch the harbor fireworks from the top of the Four Seasons Hotel. I immediately accepted although I didn’t know how serious he was or if he would even remember six months later. There are two rounds of fireworks – one at 9:30 and another at midnight. Daniel was only able to get us up to the roof for the early showing which was good enough for me. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

The downside to the hotel roof was that there was no bar or restaurant. It was all air conditioning units, pipes and gravel everywhere. We made our way to the edge with glasses of champagne and had a great view. I didn’t have a tripod for my camera so almost none of my shots came out, but seeing it was enough. It was definitely a great experience and I would much rather do that than post up on the grass to reserve a good spot near the opera house. You have to get there early in the morning and there is a strict no alcohol policy. If you want shade, you’re not going to get a good view that night. If you don’t take the shade, you die in the heat during the day. But tens of thousands of people suffered through the heat to reserve a spot – that’s not for me. Thanks to Daniel for making it an easy, stress free and free way to celebrate the new year.

On the red carpet

Krista and I joined the mass exodus with all of the other observers and hopped a train to northern Sydney where we met up with her brother at a party of a friend in a high-rise condo. The crowd was young and flashy, dressed to impress. They set up a red carpet and photo board (see pic) where everyone was taking pictures... it was mostly there as a joke though the pictures look legit.

We mingled and ended up crowding out on the balcony for the midnight fireworks. I had visions of the whole thing collapsing down the 30 stories since there were so many people crammed out there. The view wasn’t as good as our rooftop spot but the fireworks weren’t that much better. We got our fill and headed back inside to dance and hang out. Toward the end of the night a girl had her purse stolen and got mad enough to hit a glass table with a champagne bottle, shattering them both. She was a friend of the host (can we say crazy?). We all left after that and luckily found a taxi back to the city. Happy New Year!

Holidays Continued

A few interesting things have happened over the week... I’ve been in contact with Carolien as she traveled the South Pacific on her most recent adventure. She has been crashing at my place for the past few days. It’s been cool to hang out with her again in country #4 (the others were Chile, Argentina and Holland).

Surfing with Krista

My brother and I have been going to the beach a lot to body surf. Growing up in the Eastern US and vacationing in the Atlantic/Caribbean, you don’t get real waves like you do out here. We can go out in chest deep water and catch a wave for 20 yards by just paddling as it approaches and then stretching out. Sometimes you get tumbled over the top of the wave if you don’t catch it exactly right which can be scary if you don’t get a full breath. Then you come up for air and another wave is slamming down on top of you. But once you’re used to the wave periods and intensity, you can figure out the best place to catch them. It’s almost as fun as surfing, but 1000 times easier.

Other than that, I have been seeing Krista pretty regularly over the past few weeks. The way I looked at it, we have nothing to lose. The chances of us staying together after I leave are pretty slim, but it’s still worth the effort. It took some convincing on my part to give this a shot, but I think she feels the same way I do. Besides, she’s a cool chick and it’s nice to have someone around that knows how to surf.