Running Around

Hey team. We are slowly. Moving. Up. In. The. World. Major update from this week: I have found a home! I’m living with two roommates for the next three months in a pretty ideal setup. I’m living in an area called Fairlight across the street from a small beach and a 15 minute walk from where I work and play. When I saw the room pop up online, I immediately jumped on it and did everything I could to get it.

Having my own place is huge. I can finally start buying the things I want and do simple things like cooking meals. It can be a bit of a pain at times because there isn’t really a convenient bus to get into town, but that’s just me being lazy. The coastline walk is stunning.

The past two weeks have been working my way into a more regular schedule and going on mini adventures. I really love working evenings. I generally look forward to work. I like my coworkers. I’ve never worked hospitality before, and I like getting a little better at my job each shift. I like getting paid a little extra by Australian law for working “unsociable hours,” (after 7pm) while getting to run around in the sun the way I was made to.

Since acquiring my boards, there have been few days I haven’t made use of them. Immediately north of Manly is a beach called Freshwater which I have come to love, particularly for its optimal skimboarding conditions. Typically at a good skimboarding beach, conditions will be ideal for about 2 hours prior to low tide. I couldn’t explain why, perhaps because the beach is so flat, Freshwater has fantastic skin conditions for 3-4 hours before low tide. I’ve never seen anything like it. My friends love to make fun of me for my mild addiction to the sport, yet continue to ask for coaching whenever I go out.

I’ve been skimboarding on and off for about a year, but my greater priority in Australia is learning to surf. My 7ft foamie has been riding like an absolute dream. On Sunday morning, I went to a social surf club meeting. Surf culture can be a bit intense, but this group prides themselves on being a group of kooks just there for a good time. Although I struggled to have substantial chit chat given a few too many drinks and too few hours of sleep the night prior, it was a great time to catch some waves with them. Who knew crazy swells were the ultimate hangover cure.

Another crazy hangover cure is Budgy Smugglers. I’m a little obsessed with them. Budgy Smugglers is a high quality swimsuit brand known for making men’s speedos with silly fun designs that say “Budgy Smuggler” across the bum. After their drastic success, they ventured into women’s suits. Although the women’s suits don’t display the brand name as the men’s suits do, I still love them. I came to Australia with only one breathing suit which is deteriorating by the day, so it was only fitting for my next investment to be in a light blue Budgy Smuggler with yellow rubber duckies.

I’ve done a bit of adventuring with friends! Notably I went up to the ever so stunning Palm Beach. There is a short hike up to a light house where you could look down onto a small strip of land separating the bay and the ocean. My drone nerd friends got tons of great footage of the scenery. Footage of me wiping out surfing Palm Beach dropping soon!

I also went on an incredible waterfall adventure. We hiked down to an incredible waterfall, swam in the freezing water, played some ukulele, and had a delicious sausage sizzle on a camp stove. This is the second sausage sizzle I’ve had which is a sausage and onions in a slice of Wonder bread. It’s a little rogue but they are surely on to something.

In conclusion, many sunny days and goon bags consumed with friends I’ll be close with for a long time.