Best experience thus far: Now I am supposed to say having my sister and mom fly 348 hours across three planets to come visit me and spend a month in another country living off the land with only our wits to sustain us. That is what I am supposed to say and while that might be the best lifelong memory that I take from this trip, because it was pretty amazing. I am going to go with the whole scuba diving experience. Scuba diving is supposed to be a rich man's game full of clams with pearls in them and yachts. In Australia for $199 and some lying on a waiver form you can hop right down in the ocean and live underwater for a half an hour at a time. If you really take some time and think about what a feat that is, not for me, but just to be X feet underwater and pretty much a tank is keeping you alive, its pretty amazing. Add in all the stuff you get to see, people throwing up on the boat, staying up till 4am the night before, the Willy Wonka style elimination of my fellow divers and a dive instructor named Grace that pretty much let me do whatever I wanted and you have a pretty memorable life experience.
On to today:
This is how this story should have gone. A large group of us went kayaking in the harbor. It was sunny and we all had a great time.
What actually did happen was much less fun and exciting, but it does make for a decent story.
I woke up early so I could watch the 4-2 Huskies play against Arizona State. Could not get the game streaming online until after the first touchdown. 7-0 Dawgs and it seemed like we were rolling. Fast forward about 40 minutes of crap later and we are getting whipped on both sides of the ball, Keith Price can't complete a pass, the line can't block, and the D stopped tackling. Really fun to watch.
After the third quarter of more BS, our group packed up to make the trek to Manly Beach for a kayak adventure. I work for from town so I purchase an unlimited rides pass each week. This entitles me to all the bus, train, and ferry rides that I need to take for a week. The majority of the group takes the 12:10 fast ferry ($$$$) and I am going to wait for the 12:30 which is free. I am denied entrance into the ferry terminal, of course the rules have changed and my pass no longer works on the ferries. So, I get in the 50 person line and miss the 12:30. We are all meeting up at 1 by the way. So as to not miss the next ferry I get straight in line and am herded into the waiting area that is so packed you hold your wallets to make sure you don't get pick pocketed.
It is in this moment that a young Asian boy decides to yak his lunch on my leg. No big deal, at least I can move, go wash up, and still make the ferry.....................nope, no I cant. They offer me ONE wet nap and I proceed with a pukey leg cause we are so packed in there is no turning back. The ferry actually takes off early, things are turning around, and we are headed to das beach. Midway I get a call from Stu to learn where I can meet the rest of the group.
Phone dies, and I am lost forever. Luckily my specialty is wandering lost so I am fairly certain that I can find everyone, how many kayak stands can their be?? Too many is the answer, I never find anyone, wander aimlessly, and take the ferry home defeated.
The weather was perfect, the ferry ride beautiful and I did get a decent tan started. It was not a total loss of a day, minus that "football" game in the morning and my leg is starting to smell
We have recently had a crazy sting of bush fires out here. I guess the worst its been in nearly a decade or so. These are some pictures I took after work. One of my bosses houses was right on the edge, and I think she just missed losing her house by a few feet (I almost typed meters).
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