Blogs from Mosman, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 4

It’s my turn now to write an entry since Mike says that I have to write the ones about boats. Honestly, I don’t know anything about sailboats. Mike says this one was relatively small, about 40 feet long and had a crew of 3. I had never gone sailing before so here are the things I’ve learned: 1. Do not drink excessively on a sailboat. You and all your mates will be seasick. 2. Sailboats tilt. 3. Getting scratched by coral really stings. We went sailing for 2 nights around the Whitsundays on a sailboat called Prima. There were 11 onboard. We weren’t blessed with the best weather, nor the best snorkeling conditions, but we still had a good time. The people we sailed with were really great and laidback backpackers around the same age. ... read more

Our assesments for becoming insructors start next week. We have one day to work on everything we need to work on, then we have pre assesments on Tuesday, meteorology and mavigation laectures on Wednesday and then full on assesments in dinghys, motor boats and seamanship and some written stuff oh yeah and a presentation and self assesment. Oy! I can now see why USSailing qualifications are worth shit to anyone else. Level I was 4 days of a joke. I'm ready to go on seamanship, dinghy sailing (minus getting around a triangle rudderless! That's wicked hard especially if I get matched with an incompetant crew!), motorboat. The self assesment, I've got to work on keep a balance of I know everything and beign humble. And the presentation, ok get this. So yesterday we were given topics ... read more

Ready for the rant: What a wicked week so far, been hanging out with the band 'Lamb of Gob' which sound like complete heavy metal, and they are, only back stage they were there, drinking redwine from glasses, and talking about topical issues of the music industry!!! so not THAT mental!! Again, i was given the task of being tour photographer for the sydney leg of their tour! met at sony, Playing 'Guitar hero' on the PS2, because there song is on the new version!, jumped into a van, down to the opera house, jumped on a speed boat, ragged round the harbour and took promo shots and ID's for the websites, with opera house, and bridge in the background! then burned it over to the Zoo, choppy water, but wicked funb trying to shap shots ... read more

Australia, it’s hard to write about, the people, the humour, the food, the climate, the buildings and even the traffic laws are so like home it’s almost like being back. I can see why so many ex-pats live here; it must be such an easy transition, sort of like moving to slightly odd part of the UK with better weather. Nowhere was this more true than Melbourne which reminded me of a modern European city where I was expecting a cityscape more akin to New York. Throughout my stay in Melbourne I was staying with my godmother, having a home cooked meal and a decent bed did me wonders. On my first day I went to an animal sanctuary called Healesville where I saw (and in some cases stroked) Koalas, Kangaroos, Wombats, Spotted Quolls and even ... read more