Blogs from Manly, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 7

so 15 hours later...i made it...flight was not that bad! there wasnt anyone in the middle seat so that made it a little more bearable...i slept for the first about 7-8 hours... then watched a documentary on Captian Cook (how appropriate right?!) and then slept some more..then watched the sex and the city movie and finally we were flying into the harbor...it was so cool to see the bridge and opera house...i cant wait to see them upclose and not from the air... i made it through customs..boy that was a work out with my longboard!! then my friend picked me up and the tour started there...i am definately a little curious george...then we went for a little surf...no waves but it was nice to get in the water after that flight...then just toured around and ... read more

We made it! We're in OZ! and its pure awesome dude. We got an overnight bus back from Ko Samui to Bangkok then spent the day hanging around the airport and got a night flight to Sydney. So we got off the plane 6am, and it was so Sunny! The first thing I noticed was how friendly everyone was. People ask you how you are doing all the time, and they're not trying to sell things! So we got to our hostel, free shuttle service, legend. Unfortunately it was a bit of a hole and the staff didnt turn up for hours. then when we let into our extremely messy room, there was nothing to do but dump backpacks and go exploring, which we did. Got to the Opera House first thing, beautiful! And the first ... read more

Okay this is going to be a brief entry because I only have a few minutes left on my internet card! So the story really starts from the begining as my FIRST flight cancelled. I was blessed with 8 glorious hours in the Victoria airport waiting for Paul the United Air attendant to help me find a new flight. Which he did. I then flew to Vancouver where I watched the Canucks game and drank Granville Island beer before my 15.5 hour flight to Sydney. The flight was LONG!! and I was in the window seat beside and older couple that didn't say a WORD to me until we were in the Sydney airport where they were super nice to me, go figure! the plane was great. I had my own little tv and watched whichever ... read more

I thought that I'd put some pictures on to remind the old school Australia crew of some of the old haunts in Manly. It was a long time ago now but most of Manly has stayed the same. The Steyne is now much posher, there are no 1 dollar shops anymore and loads of the designer surf shops have moved in. the 2 pubs the Steyne and the Shark bar are still there, they are as rough as ever. Hope that the pics remind you of the old days. It was quite weird to be back, lots of very funny memories came back to me.... read more

Wow, am I ever pooped! Since it's the middle of winter in Sydney and 25 C is quite comfortable for us Canadians to strip down, we decided to go surfing. When we went to go and rent the boards, the guy was too stubborn to let us go without wetsuits, so we donned our protective neoprene and hit the surf. Now as beginners, you only get these massive, foam, banana boards. Inititally, I was a little embarassed hauling this monstrosity to the beach, but once out there on the swells, it all made sense. We attemped to ride for about 2 hrs, successfully standing a handful of times, and getting sand in more awkward places than beach vball. We had a blast nonetheless, kickin ass on the poor suckers in the surfing lesson next to us. ... read more