Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Monday 19th
Vikki took Max to Kindi this morning, as the car was in the garage having the scratch fixed, so i stayed in bed a little longer than normal. it was so nice not to have to get up early. Checked out the internet for a bit and watched some tv. Cant really remember now what i did for the rest of the day but i imagine i popped on the bus and headed off the beach and chilled out for the rest of the day! sounds about right! hehe.....
Tuesday 20th
Today I finally met up with Emma down in Manly. I had been to Manly before but this time we got there around 11am so we had full sun coverage on the whole beach. I grabbed a Chai Latte before i saw Emma just to get some liquids inside me. We walked down the parade a bit and then settled in a not so crowded area. I hadn't seen Emma since before i left England so we had a lot to catch up on. She left for Oz the week before i left for Vietnam and she had been having a great time working her way down from Cairns in a camper van! She now lived in Fairlight which is just up a massive hill from Manly main beach. We had a bit of a dip in the sea when it got too hot and then Emma decided that she would show me a couple of the other beaches around Manly. We went along to the Wharf where the ferry comes to and from the City. We spoiled ourselves to an ice cream along the way (2 scoops for $4..bargain!) and then walked along to Fairlight beach. we settled down here and went for a little dip in the very calm waters. they were crystal clear and you could see the little fishes. However i freaked out a little when we went for a bit of a swim a little further out and she started then to tell me about the little sharks that are in the waters. as expected i quickly got out of there and vowed i would not swim again in those waters without firstly seeing what was down there for myself. note to self....buy some snorkels! After we dried out we headed up the big hill to the shops to grab some lunch and then off to her house on Williams Street. Emma is living in a really cute 4 bedroom house with 2 Kiwis, a Pom and an Ozzie chick. all very nice people. however none of them were in at 3pm so we made some lunch and sat in the back porch chilling out, listening to music and eating. i found out i like Avocado mixed with Philadelphia as a sandwich spread! yummy! Ben joined us after work and we played a couple of games of cards, i had recently shown Emma how to play Kings so she was eager to play that and then Rummy. However unlike me when i used to play Meg and Dan, she wasn't having much luck playing either! After lunch we headed back to the beach for 6pm because Emma had a date with a cure 21 year old Ozzie guy she'd met. I stayed for a couple of minutes and then headed back to the wharf to catch the bus. Dinner was waiting for me back home and i met Jenny a friend of Vikki's. We had spag bol and it was yummy. then in turns we tried to get Max to bed, my 20 minute solid book reading session was thwarted when Ralph came home from work and showed off his new work car.
Wednesday 21st
MAX KEMMLER'S 4th BIRTHDAY!!!!! also today we welcome the new President of the USA to office; Barack Obama (the 44th president of the USA and the 1st black president). I was up early today to wish little Maxy a happy birthday and see him off to Kindi. Then i luckily got to spend a little time on the computer checking emails and downloading a load of music onto my ipod before going to see Emma. Just before lunch i headed off to meet her at Manly Wharf to catch the ferry over to the city. I was a little excited because i got to see the city from yet another perspective. the bus however tried my nerves and took a while to get to my bus stop, if it had been any later i would have been waving Emma off on the ferry and i would have been on the other side of the barriers! luckily she bought me a ticket and we got on the ferry with seconds to spare. we grabbed a seat at the front on deck and i did the typical tourist photos! one in Circular Quay we waited around for a bit and then walked with her friend who was just on her lunch break so we had to be quick. we stopped off at some benches overlooking the quay and whilst they caught up i went for a bit of a stroll around the parade and then grabbed a tea at one of the stands on the corner. it was pretty busy along the parade, on a couple of occasions i nearly was mowed down by the lunchtime runners! We walked her friend back to the Quay and then we headed off down George street to do a bit of shopping. Emma had a couple of things she needed so we stopped off in a couple of shops on our way up to Pitt Street. Then after an hour or so we grabbed some lunch at Waggamamas and then off to Darling Harbor for a quick stroll. However this is when we realised that the storm was soon approaching so best we get back home before it hit. so we did a quick step back to Circular Quay and on the ferry which was a little choppier than before. Once off the bus at Dee Why the storm hit and it hit hard. Unfortunately i had not made it home in time and had to take shelter under the bus shelter till it passed. the thing was it didn't pass, it just got heavier! the hail soon started to create a loud banging sound on the roof and the thunder had the whole shelter shaking. the rain was getting heavier and the storm was literally on-top of me! i took off my shoes and legged it back to the house. arrived at the front door drenched like a drowned rat!! after a quick dry up the whole Kemmler family and me headed off to the Pizza restaurant in Dee Why for Max's birthday dinner. Unfortunately the food was a little disappointing as well as the service however we had lots of fun writing on the table cloth and taking silly photos! the boys were on top form! We then went next door to Chill Out, an ice-cream parlour and coffee shop. Vikki absolutely loves this place and introduced me to the guys who run this very popular joint.
Thursday 22nd
Lazy day today....by about mid day i decided it would be a good idea to get up and do something. I had spent the morning in front of the TV watching some of the crappy American talk shows, everyone was talking about the inauguration of Obama. After lunch i borrowed Vikki's bike and headed off for a bike ride. After about half an hour i headed back to Dee Why beach and settled there for a couple of hours. I went for a swim, surfed some waves and went for a nice long walk to the very end of the beach with my ipod. The time absolutely flew by today and before i knew it it was 6pm, so as promised last night i popped into Chill Bar to pick up my free Chai Latte from Joe, who very kindly also gave me a lemon sorbet ice cream! Once consumed and after a good old chin wag by the coffee machine i headed back home for some dinner. I made it half way up the hill without my shoes on and then had to get off the bike and walk the rest of the way. Ralph was home early which was nice and he had brought some ice cream/sorbet from Woollies for us all. We all ate a lovely Fajita dinner and then chilled out in front of the TV. I was meant to have an early night today but after a couple of the crime scene programs a film called "Evil Woman" came on with Jason Biggs, Jack Black and Steve Zahn. it was actually quite funny and so i ended up not getting to bed til 2am! damm it!
Friday 23rd
Up and in front of the computer today, i even forgot to eat lunch! i downloaded loads of music to my ipod, i set up a couple of new playlists from all the music i had heard since being away. I even made a couple of lists of music that Vikki might like for her work. At about 2pm i got ready and made my way back down to Manly to meet up with Emma at the beach. we only stayed on Manly main beach for a bit and then we popped into Sufalicious and bought myself the snorkel i had promised myself. so once i had it all out of its packaging we headed off to Shelly Beach. the walk there from Manly was really nice and we got to see the sculptures along the walkway. when i had read about these in the Lonely PLanet i thought they would be full on sculptures, unfortunately they were much smaller and there weren't that many! We didn't waste any time in getting in the water with out kit on. Emma's snorkels had cost her $140 so they were really nice, unfortunately mine were budget traveller standard! hehe... we went off to the rocks and had a look at some interesting fish. Emma said she had seen something that looked like a penguin, so i was very interested to see these penguin looking creatures....in actual fact they were Southern Calamari Squid which i later found out are throughout NSW usually to a depth of less than 100m. A short while later i found myself face to face with a very small jellyfish! oh my lord, i just freaked out and I saw many more on my way out of the water. Emma assured me, once she joined me on the beach, that these jellyfish didn't sting but i didnt believe her too much until i went to the internet and tried to do a bit of research on it myself. We dried ourselves off and then Emma got a call from her friend Mandy who happened to have finished work and was sitting in the pub with a bunch of their friends. So off we went to the Wharf Hotel, in our beach clothes and Emma's wet arse. She was complaining about chaffing but the walk back to hers was a little way up a massive hill and we decided to just stay in what we had on. After the sun went down we all headed off to Henry Afrikas and after a couple of drinks in here we went to the worst place in Manly......The Steyne. It had the worst music but it meant that we were able to dance which is what we wanted. Emma pulled out a couple of moves but Mike won the prize for best dancer. Unfortunatley he wouldnt break dance for us against the Brazilian guy that was stutting his stuff around the dance floor, however he did do a little routine for us! Emma and I renamed the song by Lady Gaga to Rummie face rather than Poker Face and the snorkles from earlier made a small appearance! When the night was over Emma and I went back to hers, stopped off to pick up a sausage roll for the walk home and brekky and off to bed!
Saturday 24th
Up by 10.30am and straight in the living room to do nothing! it was brilliant. Ben and Emma cooked a mean bacon and scrambled egg sarnie, which was just what i think we all needed this morning. Ben then decided he wanted to make M&M cookies...so thats what he did. Off to the shops and then without any measruring equipment he made the cookies. Note to self, always use brown sugar, because by the end of the cooking time instead of 5 solid cookies we had one tray of cooked multicoloured cookies! however with some icecream and caramel they were so so so tasty! big big mistake 5 minutes later. we were all so full we couldnt move from the sofa. so we watched more of the Australian Open 2009. By around 3pm we got together our snorkeling gear and Emma, her housemate and i all went off to Fairlight beach for a bit more snorkeling. The sand was so hot, so as always we ran to the water and got straight in and yet again i saw more of these blessed jellyfish!
By 6.30pm after an afternoon of shell collection i headed back to the bus shelter by the Wharf and headed home. Vikki and the family had gone to her parents for dinner so i got ready to go out with Joe and his friend Eden. I got picked up and off we went for dinner at this very nice Italian restaurant near the Wharf called Manly Italian (2E The Corso, Manly) which was run by one of Joe's friends from school. I must say that the cheesy garlic bread was really tasty and the main dish was soo tasty, pasta, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and chicken in a creamy sauce. heavenly!! Then off to Wharf Bar for a couple of malibu and pineapples. i lost count of how many i had, but i remember having a good old laugh with the boys who were just taking the piss out of each other! by 12am we were kicked out and i knew it was time to head home to bed! i was shattered.
Sunday 25th
I sat on the computer for most of the morning and lunchtime sorting out my trip up the east coast. I was so excited cos i booked my surf camp from Sydney to Byron Bay. I had spoken to a couple of people and they had recommended Mojo Surf School, so thats who i booked with. they didnt have any space on the Monday trip so the next group was to leave on the Wednesday 4th. So cool. Today Emma and I were going to go to Bondi beach to the cool market which they have there every Sunday. I really wanted to buy myself a tan coloured shoulder bag to go out with cos at the moment i am carrying around a beach bag in the evenings and it doesnt look cool at all. unfortunately i didnt hear from Emma till gone 2pm. She was recovering from her massive hang over from Saturday night. We were going to meet up last night and hang out with her house mates, but for some reason she didnt come to the Wharf Bar and by the time we were kicked out of the bar she had gone to the Surf club with her lifeguard house mate and i was just knackered. from her photos it actually looked like i had missed out on a really fun night. Never mind. Anyway, i went on the internet and found out that the market closed at 4pm and it would take me over an hour to get to Bondi so in the end i didnt bother going on my own. I decided to get ready for my surf camp and off i went with my gym stuff on for a run to the beach. I ran the whole length of Dee Why beach just on the shore. it was so nice, i didnt have to wear shoes and it was kinda cool running in the water and on the sand. After my run i sat down and listened to my ipod for what seemed like a couple of minutes, turned out to be a couple of hours. Afterwards i popped into Chill Bar to say hi to Joe and grab another Chai Latte. Back home i just chilled out infront of the tv as peeps were busy and the family were out for the night.
- comments