Birthday / Lunar eclipse

This is a really cool picture from the Sydney Morning Herald website. (It's the moon framed by the harbour bridge)
Last night we witnessed a lunar eclipse down under. It was pretty impressive. I've never seen one before I don't think. The moon got gradually darker and darker and then turned this eerie red colour. It went on for a couple of hours.

Yesterday was also my birthday so it was nice of them to put on a show for me.
Spent the evening with a dozen close friends at the Bank Hotel and I was really pleased that everyone managed to make the effort on a school night. I piked around 12.30 leaving behind 2 married couples who apparently went on a tour of Newtown's sex shops.....dirty, dirty birdies. Good effort! It was a lovely warm night so we sat outside on the decking. 27 Degrees during the day. Not bad for winter.

So I'm another year older. Reached the grand old age of 36. Yet still feel (and sometimes behave) like a teenager. I have so many things I want to have done by the time I'm 40 so I'd best get cracking.

One of those things is defintely to get my PADI scuba qualification. Snorkelling with seals at the weekend was a brilliant experience but I was very jealous of the divers who got to play with the seals at close range. There were hundreds of them. Planning a beach holiday in Asia at Christmas so it will be nice to tick this one off the list before then.

Seal Clubbing

My friend Steve works for a company called Adrenalin.
They do adventure activities like rock climbing, canyonnng, abseiling and shit.

This weekend he is taking a few of us along to a scuba diving adventure with Seals in Jervis Bay.
I don't have a diving cert so I can't do the scuba thing so have to be content with snorkelling.

I'm a bit concerned that floating on the surface in a black wetsuit a shark might mistake me for lunch.
Hmmm

This may be my last post ever.

Dafydd signing out.

City 2 Surf

For those not in the know City 2 Surf is an annual fun run that begins in Hyde Park ( in the middle of the city) and finishes up at Bondi 14 kms later. (Hence the name). This year there were 65,000 people taking part. A decent enough turn out.

Last year I managed to finish it in 80 mins. This time I completed it in 85 mins. Pretty happy with this considering the illness and injuries I’ve had lately. Pretty crap though when you consider the winner did in 41 minutes. I’m not sure I could even sprint that fast. Phenomenal.

It’s a great carnival atmosphere along the run and it takes in some great views of the city. Unfortunately the best views to be had are when you are negotiating the 1.5 km incline known as Heartbreak Hill and you are way too shagged to enjoy them.

As is tradition when we do a run which is good for your heart and cardio fitness we like to replace the lost calories with even more in the shape of food and beer. Hitting the bar at 11am when you are seriously dehydrated is probably not the best idea but it’s an incredibly good way of getting drunk very, very quickly. So you can imagine the state we were in by 6pm.

7 of us then decamped to Mark and Dylan’s (via a pie stop at Harry's Cafe de Wheels) for more beer and a Nintento Wii tournament. My body finally surrendered from the onslaught at around 8pm where I fell asleep face down on the carpet. Woke up with a killer headache. You’d think I’d learn but I will probably do exactly the same thing next year.

Mixed celebrations

Amazing weather today. We’re in the middle of winter and still managed to hit a high of 25 degrees today. Very appropriate for sending Kath off. After over 5 years here Kath has succumbed to her feelings of home sickness. She’s enjoyed a great time while she’s been here but feels the need to be spending some decent time with her family. It happened to me 2 years ago and I did a 6 month stint back home. It was needed and it helped me stay close to my family and made me appreciate Sydney even more. I’m of the belief that if there is even the smallest feeling that you should go back home for a while you should do it. Sydney will always be here, we will always keep our residency status, and life’s too short to live with regrets. We will miss Kath and she joins an ever increasing list of mates that have moved on, but I hope she has a great time while she is there. And I really hope she comes back one day.

Anyway, we had the sunshine out and spent the afternoon basking in the rays at the Opera Bar. A great way to spend her final Saturday.



Following this I went on to Crow’s Nest (yes folks, I went north of the harbour) for Lisa and Tyler’s engagement party. (Lisa and Tyler are lovely people with model looks who have lived in Sydney for a good few years now. They're from Utah and they keep on threatening to go back home but every few months they take an assessment of their Sydney lives and decide to stay on a while longer. This has been going on for a couple of years new and it’s good that they are still around) . It was really nice hanging out with them and if we didn’t have the run the next day would have been good to knock a few back. But sensibility took over and we left around 9 to get ourselves in bed ready for the big day ahead.

A damn good read

I read this book while I was on holiday. "The time traveller's wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. I used to be a pretty big reader but since I discovered the wonderful world of the macbook my reading of books has dropped off. As I said in an earlier post I am pretty much addicted to Wikipedia now. (I suppose not such a bad vice....at least I am learning stuff as I go). So the last book I devoured like this was a one I read on my last holiday at Christmas which was Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides which is another bloody good read.

The time travellers wife I guess could be described as a chick book. It is a love story but with a slight hint of science fiction I suppose. I found it all fascinating and weaved together so well. It details the struggle of a couple trying to live a normal life but the man is prone to jumping between different times whenever he is placed under too much stress. He sometimes goes to visit himself. The couple first meet when she is 6 and he is in his 30's. Then they continue to meet as she grows up and must keep him a secret and he can be a variety of ages with each encounter. It was pretty moving in an inplausible kind of way. Thumbs up from me.

Vegas Baby!

A short flight from Fresno and we land in Vegas. May as well be a different planet.
People can try and describe Vegas to you but nothing can prepare you for the sensory overload or sheer level of excess that you will experience in this strange desert city and gambling mecca.

We stayed at the Luxor hotel, a pyramid shaped building that is comparible in size to an average city suburb. It was rated at 4 star but could have done with a slight overhaul to be considered luxurious.

The first night was pretty special. Fraser has booked us some tickets to see Tears for Fears. They played Mandalay Bay which was the hotel next door to ours. They have an artifical beach there and the band played on a kind of island in the pool. Must have been just 1000 people in the audience so it felt pretty intimate. I was a huge fan of their first 3 albums. (We're talking knowing all the lyrics to all the songs) but after they split in the 90's and Roland carried on solo I lost interest. They played a few too many from the era for me but the old stuff they did play was excellent. Woman in Chains with a famles backing singer with a tremendous voice was the highlight for me.

For the second night had booked tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show "O". This rates of one of the most amazing spectacles I have ever seen. I watched the entire show with my jaw open. It's based around water ("O" = Eau = Water. Geddit?) They have this stage full of water. One minute there is a deep pool where cliff divers fall into. A few seconds later this is a solid stage there and acrobatics and stuff is going on. If you ever get to Vegas this show is a must do. I also checked out another show called Ka while I was there. Although this had an amazing stage that rotated and tilted every which was and some special stuff was going on there it wasn't as good as O.