Aotearoa pt. 1

Pearcy, our trusty campervan. stove, fridge, table, bed, sink...everything you need!
the beach at raglan, the points weren't working, but the black sand beach left no complaints
the lefthand points...bummer i missed out again...that makes me 0-2.
sheep!
at the top of the falls


We found some great deals on flights to NZ in early March and popped over the ditch. We rented a campervan and hit the road for about a week.

Crowdy Bay National Park

country road bring me home!

the aussie bush...fun 'til a large critter says hello a bit too close...if only we had our camera when we saw an iguana the size of my arm (yeah, it was huge!;))

cheers!

sand impressions, probably a good print eh?

some say the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...and some say the road less travelled...

country towns, a little surf, sign me up in 20 years!

aaawwwwwww yeah outlander, let's get this mini-beast sandy! ok, but seriously, on the way back, we (i) got stuck, bri swapped to driving, i pushed, we were out in 2...good times! and people we're having a laugh at our trials...at least we got out before the rangers came and noticed our lack of beach driving sticker

just around a bit south from crescent head...miles and miles, excuse me, km's and km's of emptiness

how cool is this track to the beach...nothing like home.

good times, minus the high school kids that came out on our last night there and partied and kept the whole campsite up til late....damn kids;)

it's a long walk to the other end...game on!

Crowdy is probably the last word we'd use...isolated is more like it. About 4-5 hours north of the city (Sydney), well, you don't have to go that far for endless beach after endless beach. It's a little out of control, tiresome really;), how many empty beaches can one country have? Unfair, and Australia only has 2 people per sq km or something along those lines...share some with Cali will ya!?!? We found a great campsite that wasn't on the website, thank god, b/c everyone else and their mother was camping that Australia Day weekend. We were expecting that, but we weren't expecting whole campgrounds to be sold out. Luckily we came across this campground that the ranger told us was just finished a couple of years ago and wasn't on the internet yet. Nice, sometimes when you turn down the wrong country dirt road, you get lucky eh?

If you had to choose one type of food to live on for the rest of your life...

all you can eat sushi washed down by a Coopers? yes please!

mmm, it always seems to taste better when you make it yourself...don't forget the wasabi!

more than you can eat sushi on the oceanview balcony

...mine would be salmon. We talked circles around this topic the other day at a bbq we hosted...ice cream came up, potato, snapper, gummi bears...you name it, it all sounds good. however, with salmon, you can eat it raw or cooked...so i figure we have a winner right there? btw, the rules were that was it...you could only eat the item of food chosen...no toppings, seasonings, etc. salmon it is....right?!?! comment away...

Field Day '10

it's tough to catch this icon on a perfectly sunny day, not really, we just haven't made it a focus

Field Day! a few different stages, food, tents, good times

a few people turned up

rockNroll!!! yes, i don't shave on the weekends, couldn't be bothered really

these guys were good, a blend of electronica and rock, solid.

the local bats were out and about from the domain, you've seen them in all their glory in previous posts yeah?

watch out for these two!

andrew, deena, and brad, the other 3/7ths of our Field Day crew

So we had a great NYE up on the north head of Manly with our mates Brad and Deena, and their mate from NZ, Andrew. Heaps of fireworks, there was about 5 barges in the Sydney harbour entertaining the hundreds of thousands that came out to welcome in the new year. we got a great spot up on the heads. of course we brought the umbrellas to guard ourselves from the aussie sun. brad, andrew and i hiked down to the bay to jump in the ocean to cool off. it's always a little weird jumping into the tasman sea around here...b/c you know sharks are out there somewhere. the next day we got up bright and early -ahem- and headed over to Field Day in the Domain, Sydney's park next to the CBD. As usual when headed to the city, we took the ferrry over, then walked up to the domain. Heaps of bands made it another good time...

big south swells

another calm falls over 34 monash parade

if the guy surfing is 1/3 the size of the whitewater, how big was the wave?

ha, one thing that's popular here is "chaining"...kids go down to one of the pools that built into the cliffs next to the ocean, hold on to the chain closest to the waves...and hold on until a big one washes up and blows them off the chain and into the pool! good times.

i want a waverunner and tow board...looks fun eh? and how 'bout that sailboat? seas are 2m+ and this guy could care less! or maybe he has a date in manly and is doing his best to anchor in manly asap?

they seem to come by often around here, well, let's be honest, most of the swell that NSW gets is from the nasty storms that are generated around Tassie/NZ. the problem with these swells is that they are generated so close to NSW that there isn't much time to mold them into nice long period groundswell. however, the bommies (aussie for waves only break on offshore reefs when the surf goes DOH, double overhead) we're blowing up and a few guys were out on their skis.

Our lorikeet friends

we're lucky enough to have found a spot next to a nature reserve, and these lorikeets pop by every so often. most evenings, they congregate down in the pine trees that line dee why beach...but sometimes we get lucky and they stop by our place for happy hour first.

could you get that...a little to the left....mmmm, there you go, perfect

two peas in a pod

buffet! it's like souplantation for birds!

don't take away our bowl!

Surf Contest!!

brazil!

tag team! usa and peru

slotted, when no one else could find a tube

i woulda gone

Have I blogged this before? Can't remember, anyways, the woman's side of the WCT came down to our local beach to show us how they get down. Women's surfing has come a long way, very impressive. The conditions didn't give them much to work with, but they made it look fun out there, even a barrel or two!

Halloween!!

ok, so we really have blogged in awhile eh? posting halloween pics in march of the next year, geez, get on it! superwoman and el borracho went to a halloween party at our friend's brad and deena's. good times!

Royal National Park

we took a drive down to the southern end of sydney to the royal national park. it's another gorgeous one by the ocean, and a few people have shacks down there that have been there for 70+ years, must be nice. we did a couple hikes, one to a beach just south of the beach you park at, and another through a rainforest type of area. very green, both in the ocean and forest!

creepy crawly!

about to rock off

down the other side to Era beach (left hand point here, shhhhh)

walking over the hill from Garie beach to Era

overlooking Garie beach on the drive down

lefts!!

Animals of Oz

we visited the Koala Sanctuary here in Sydney a weekend awhile back, and these are some of the creatures of Oz!

dingo!

"come on in, i dare ya!"

it's always cuddle time for this crew

ahhhhhhhh the life

wombat!