Saturday, April 18, 2009

Easter








Easter here is a four-day weekend, which is good given that Eric and I have both been putting in 12+ hour days at work for the past several weeks. In Australia, public holidays are taken very seriously. Even the grocery stores aren't open. Even the bottle shops aren't open! Nothing to do but go surfing. While Friday was my worst surfing day EVER, to the point that I decided I should just sell the damn board and my wetuits, Easter Sunday was AMAZING. Eric has finally moved up to a shortboard, which he bought at our local auction house and repaired, so I inherited his much nicer, longer board. My board before was basically a mass-produced piece of crap from China that weighed about as much as I do. The surf was pretty small but I was catching waves and even beginning to travel down the wave a little bit instead of riding straight toward the shore. I think surfing must be one of the most frustrating sports to learn, but it really is elating when it goes well.

On Easter Monday I went to the Royal Sydney Easter Show. Don't let the word "royal" fool you; it was basically a bogan (white trash) state fair type event. I was disappointed that I couldn't get a view of the racing and diving pigs or the sheep shearing, but I did get to pet some cute animals. I love the sleeping piglets in the picture above; they were part of the "pat a pig" exhibit and were clearly left exhausted by their work.



Yesterday, I took the ferry over to Watson's Bay to meet friends for a hike to South Head (picture above) and fish and chips by the harbour. Then we went over to the Surry Hills festival. Rough day. I love the fact that public transport regularly involves ferries here. It's always beautiful on the harbour, and it's the cheapest way to spend some time on the harbour. If you look at this map, you'll see why we have so many ferries in Sydney! Eric and I live in the bottom left corner of this map, and I work in Circular Quay, which is where the Opera House is located.

2 comments:

Mary said...

Cool map! I was getting worried about you guys--I'm glad you were just working too hard!
--Aunt Mary G.

Unknown said...

You two are working too hard! But glad to hear that surfing on the new board was better for you, Mary. Sounds like Eric is just getting way too good now.

Take care!!!