Lots of Fun- Aussie Style

Still alive here in Australia (despite not having Killers tickets). Had a really good Australia Day with the BBQ and the party. It amazes me how accepting the people I have met have been. Dzido knew two guys here that he worked with in Banff 5 years ago, and they have welcomed us both with open arms. Even their friends are great and invite us out for beers, or to watch tennis or to surf with them. I guess that is why we are still in Sydney (its been 11 days)- we just love the lifestyle!

I have also discovered surfing. Yesterday I took my first lesson. It was fantastic. The instuctors were really cool. Exactly how you would imagine surfing instructors on Bondi beach (where we went) to be. Tanned, long hair and lots of sunscreen. The class was for beginners and as a result most of us were tourists. Everyone supported each other, laughed about the falls and cheered each other on when we caught waves. I shouldn't overstate it- neither of us are not movie-style surfered yet (though we do look great in wetsuits!) For the lesson you use longboards that are made of hard foam. The longboads are 8 feel long, making it much easier to balance on than the more traditional short boards. The hard foam is so that you don't kill the other surfers if you hit them in the head with your board. In actual fact I have only hit one person, but I have hit myself repeatedly. OUCH. The board is tied to one of your legs so that it can't get too far away from you.

With some good teaching and a very large surf board, I was standing most of the time during my first lesson. We didn't get out too deep and the waves were not huge, but they were big enough to pick up some good speed. It is such a great feeling when you catch the wave, feel the accelaration and actually stand up. I guess it is like learning anything new- you get really excited at the small successes.

Today we went back to the same place we had the lesson and just rented two of the big boards and tried it out for ourselves. Initially it was a bit frustrating because it was hard for us to tell where the good waves were, but once we got that figured out, it was a great time. The ocean was a lot rougher today and I had some great falls. Once or twice I tried to fight the laws of natures and try to breath underwater- turns out those laws are still very much enforced. A pair of gills would be rather useful.

There are a couple of pictures that I wanted to post with stories. This first one is a picture of the massive acorns that fall off the trees around here. Dzido and I were walking when heard a huge BANG. It was one of these things landing on the roof of a car. We could have been killed! In fact I think people have been killed by these things. Its larger than a baseball, heavy, hard and spiked. Mother natures fights back yet again!

Life in the van is still going well. We are currently parked on a residential street that has homes worth 3 million dollars. I am sure that they love us. But it is right in front of our friend Nate's house, so we are allowed...I hope.

And by popular demand, here is a picture of a Kangaroo from the zoo and another of a wallaby. Now you can all stop bothering Dzido about them! But we hope to get some more pictures of them when we drive though the outback next week.