Surf / ATV

Good Morning-
         Life has been going very well but also very crazy over here. The rest of the house moved in so there is now 24 of us on the property and its a blast! Theres always something going on, maybe that'll change once classes start but hopefully not.
         I took another surf lesson and it went super well! I rode a few big boy waves all the way into shore! It was pretty neat theres a professional surf competition in town and some of the pros came out to the beach I was at and we surfed side by side.  My instructor was so star struck and just kept saying "you have no idea who you're meeting right now!" Id equate it to playing football with someone from the NFL.  They found it super funny watching me get killed by some of the waves.  My instruct spotted a "good" wave and told me to go for it... that wave turned out to be a real bit@h and I got realllllyyy slammed. All the pros were laughing and high-fiveing me! It was  a really awesome experience to entertain the pros.  I also got a chance to go surfing with two cute Ausie twins! I feel that at that in that very moment I hit the peak of my life. Don't get me wrong tho when I say "surfing" I mean I tried to paddle out and the girls flew right passed me.
         One of my friends had a car rented so four of us packed up for the day and headed out to the sand dunes about 40 mins away. We stooped at the air force base to hopefully see one of the fighter jets take off but we just missed it. The fighter jets are so active here there are multiple low passes every day, very cool to watch and listen too.  We went for a swim and had lunch at the park at the end of the 28 miles of sand dunes it was a very untouched place.

         After lunch we went ATVing on the dunes and it was awesome! It was about an hour and a half tour out to a ship wreck.  Riding the ATVs on endless soft sand almost felt just like skiing powder. There was a neat little natural race track they made with nice banked turns, it was really fun just to let loose in there and whip around in the sand.

          On our way home we decided to stop at a Fisherman's Co-Op and have ourselves a barby (barbecue). We got two snappers and they were delicious! Grilling dinner with some nice new friends on a balcony overlooking the harbor was a great end to the day.
         Other than that weve just been hanging out at the beach, watching the surf comp, and getting to know everyone. Oh yeah there was also a storm that came in and rained for 2 days and closed down the beaches. We still went for a swim and the power of the waves was unreal! did some night swimming too which was really neat.
         I had my first shove back into reality as orientation started on monday and got to see campus for the first time. It is very big and in the middle of the jungle basically, its kinda trick you can never see the building you're heading to. Oh and they gave us free beer, talk about best orientation ever! I got my class schedule all set up and got Monday Wednesday and Friday off. Technically I have one lecture on monday but they are uploaded online so ill just do that at my connivence and hopefully take advantage of a 4 day weekend and do some traveling.
                                                   Cheers,
                                                   Evan

First few days / surfing

Good day -

         Yesterday I had the pleasure of going surfing! and it was phenomenal! It was storming so the waves were very choppy but I still managed to get the hang of it. (dont get me wrong there were still plenty of falls). I had signed up for a group lesson but with the bad weather the rest of the group didnt show up. Having a private surf lesson with a cute female instructor definitely wasnt the worst thing that could have happened. 

          Later I went out for a walk and went up to explore the top of the cliffs, I found some pretty cool secluded areas with unreal views.  I got to one spot and these two guys came around on hang gliders. It was the coolest thing to see so up close. One of them was making swooping passes with his wing tip only about 7 feet away from me and the land.  Soon enough a group of 20 people or so gathered to watch. Some of them knew the guy hang gliding and were carrying out full conversations with him as he flew around, just very nonchalantly as if this happens all the time here.

         This morning I ventured out to take some pictures. ( I have limited internet data here so I cant upload a lot) 

(Bar Beach, 3 min. walk from the house)

Other than that i've been enjoying the beach and getting to know the area.

Cheers,

Evan 

 

Travels and arriving

Good morning world - 

            So my travels began a day later than expected because of bad weather in Chicago, not a huge problem just a buzz kill having to head home from the airport and wait another day. I went Buffalo ->  Chicago -> San Francisco -> Sydney -> then took a train to Newcastle which is home for the next 5 months. Everything went smoothly and took just over 41 hours door to door.  

            Arriving at the train station my landlord came and pick me up ( after i texted him from a pay phone, yeah a pay phone, i thought it was pretty cool.) He drove me around the area and it was awesome! It was mid 70's and sunny, this place is full of hills, beaches, cliffs and people out enjoying them. 

            At the house i'm staying at theres only two other people here so far and they are from norway, i think there may be up to 20 people staying at this property so that should be fun! This house is a lot nicer than I expected, even with seeing pictures of it before hand.

            My landlord took me to go get a bike , so naturally I thought we were going to a store... turns out it was a second hand community bike program run out of some guys house. There were old bikes stacked  5 foot high taking up every inch of this guys yard, and chained all over the fence.  I got a bike then had to ride home, which turned out to be a little harder than expected. The bike guys convinced me to take a different way home than I had came. So within no time I was lost, stuck trying to master left lane driving/riding and round-abouts in rush hour. I made it home eventually.

             I made my way down to the beach this morning at 5am and watched the sunrise over the Tasman Sea.  My original plan was to go for a run but I ended up just walking around near the cliffs and taking in the beauty. 

                    One Love,

                        Evan