’09 was a pretty sweet year.

January

Nice waves in Del Mar, California.

February

Rugby Sevens in San Diego, California.

Rare powder at Mt. High, Wrightwood, California.

March

Noodle Scrabble in San Diego, California.

April

Crazy weather on Mt. Baldy, California.

White out at Mt. Baldy, California.

May

Hayley graduates with a Masters Degree in Journalism. San Diego, California.

June

Bellagio at night, Las Vegas, Nevada.

July

Visiting friends in San Francisco, California.

Epic surfing at Pipes in Cardiff by the Sea, California.

August

Tower Bridge in London, England.

Don’t stop! Somewhere north of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Elephant crossing in Kruger Park, South Africa.

A hyena and vultures feeding on a dead giraffe in Kruger Park, South Africa.

Just before one of our many elephant scares in Kruger Park, South Africa.

Impala horns in Kruger Park, South Africa.

African sunset over the bush in Kruger Park, South Africa.

Wine tasting in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

“Jackass” penguins- after you know what- in Boulder’s Beach, South Africa.

Hiking up Table Mountain on beautiful winter day in Cape Town, South Africa.

Monster surf at Sea Point in Cape Town, South Africa.

Protea at Kirstenbosch near Cape Town, South Africa.

Kudu Crossing in northern South African farmland.

Cheetah sighting at Pilanesberg, South Africa.

Trampoline at Sun City, South Africa.

Township homes outside Johannesburg, South Africa.

Playing with lion cubs in the Lion Park, just outside Johannesburg, South Africa.

September

First cockatoo sighting in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Sydney, Australia.

Flying foxes in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Sydney, Australia.

Dust storm in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia.

October

Destroying my only surfboard. Sydney, Australia.

Walking to Cremorne Point, Sydney, Australia.

November

Ford Ranger Cup. North Sydney, Australia.

Balmoral Beach, Mosman, Sydney, Australia.

December

Opera House, Sydney, Australia.

Work holiday party at the Watson’s Bay Hotel. Sydney, Australia.

Attacked by cockatoos in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia.

NYE Sydney, Australia.

Tags: california, kruger park, photography, photos, san diego, satara, south africa, surf, surfing, Sydney

Andrew and I met up at 6:45 this morning to play a quick set of tennis. Somehow, both courts at our usual park were taken- do Australians sleep? We would have been third up as well, so we walked down to the Primrose Park courts that I’d run passed recently. Set on the edge of a cliff, in the middle of a flourishing, green forest and overlooking one of the harbour inlets, the courts look spectacular, especially since they were empty. They are similar to the courts my Dad and I played on Maui- carpeted with sand in a tropical like setting with abundant bird life chirping away. We walked through the unlocked gate and played a full set; unfortunately, Andrew came out victorious, 7-6 in a tie breaker. A good game though, Andrew, a good game.

I climbed up to the top of the fence to take this shot with my iPhone.

Afterward, Andrew was chased down by the Pro Shop employee to pay the $20 per hour court fee. He had no money on him and I had already walked up the trail on the other side, so we escaped without paying a dime! Next time we will though. $20 may sound expensive, but the courts are spectacular, especially if you split it four ways by playing doubles.

I filmed three kookaburras afterward, but as usual they didn’t laugh, damn kookaburras. Whenever I hear them laughing, I run outside with my camcorder but they always stop laughing just as I press the record button. I hate those stupid birds.

Solo Kookaburra that was hanging out behind two others. Taken with my camcorder… the new SLR is coming soon!

At 10:15 I went surfing at Freshwater with Freddy and a friend of his. The report predicted windy conditions and two foot surf, but we probably had three foot surf that was surprisingly glassy. I left the wetsuit in the car and trunked it in the warm sun. Blue bottle jellies littered the beach on our way in, which was a little sketch. Luckily, I made it out sting free. On my last wave though, I narrowly avoided a rogue longboard. I turned, digging my fins into the nose of the other board but cracked the rail on mine. It should be illegal to suck at surfing and not wear a leash- I just don’t understand how the lifeguards permit this garbage. Anyway, no big deal- I’ll just fill up the ding with some sun cure and it will be good to go.

Tags: Australia, freshwater, kookaburra, primrose, surf, surfing, Sydney, tennis

Today was a pretty cool day. I woke up bright and early, relaxed after my first successful Australian work week ever. After making the rounds online, Hayley and I jogged down to Primrose Park for a quick run.

A nice sight on the way down to the park.

As usual, the kookaburra couple were in the park chasing each other around from tree to tree. I tried to get video footage of their unique laughing call, but Murphey’s Law took effect and they would stop chirping or fly away everytime I pressed the shutter. We jogged a bit around the huge field and then headed back to the studio.

One kookaburra, hanging out on a tree branch.

I took a quick shower and sat down to upload some photos when Andrew called and said that they were short a player for tennis. Glad I took a shower! It was definitely worth it as we played a full three sets and had a great time. I picked up a Prince Graphtech DB-90 a few weeks ago for $5 at a thrift store and I have used it more times in the last month than I used my expensive Wilson Pro Staffs in the last ten years. Afterward, I hitched a ride back with Andrew’s brother Paul and quickly got ready for our afternoon.

An ocean pool on the walk to Shelley.

Hayley and I packed the cooler, changed into beach attire and hopped on the 143 bus to Manly. We walked through the main promenade and checked out a few local surf vendors at the Manly Surf Festival. We also watched the longboard competition for a little bit before walking south around the coastline to Shelley Beach.

Shelley Beach is tucked away behind crowded South Steyne beach in Manly.

The BBQ at Shelley was great. We caught up with Rodney, who is leaving for Mexico in a few days, and chatted with Scott and Brooke for a few hours. I took a dip in the surprisingly warm water and feasted on a fine lunch that Hayley made and the chips and dips that Scott and Brooke brought. On the way back we saw the coolest lizard ever:

The Lizard King.

Afterward, we headed back to the studio, had a small dinner and turned on the tube. As if the day wasn’t awesome enough already, Independence Day was just starting. Sweet!

More pictures here and here. As usual, thanks for reading.

Tags: Australia, beach, festival, manly, shelley, surf, Sydney

Continuing from where my last post left off, we had a quick lunch and drove to the lower cable car entrance at Table Mountain, the large 1000 meter plateau that is Cape Town’s most recognizable natural icon. Confirming news that we heard earlier in the week, the cable car was closed for maintenance. Being the second to last fully sunny day of our trip, we made the impulse decision to hike up the Platteklip Gorge trail to the top of Table Mountain. The hour and a half long hike was brutal but rewarding. The views from the top are spectacular, and we really felt good about ourselves. The walk down was just a painful race to the bottom to beat the clouds that were rolling in.

The next day we drove down the west coast of False Bay to see the penguins at Boulders Beach. It was definitely worth it, especially since we saw an entire penguin mating ritual from start to finish. We walked around Kalk Bay and visited the locally owned shops. Afterward, we ate at the Brass Bell restaurant and watched a whale swim by while we ate hake and chips, and calamari.

It was around 2 PM and the water in Kalk Bay was rough from onshore winds. As we drove back around the bay towards Muizenberg, the wind slowly became more and more favorable for surfing. After spotting the main surf spot, I made another last minute decision to turn off the M4 and rent a wetsuit and board. We went to Gary’s Surf School in Muizenberg and I picked up a bright yellow and blue wetsuit and a thick 5’10″ NSP board. I paddled out and caught as many waves as possible in an hour. They were mostly mellow chest high waves with groomed offshore conditions. I couldn’t really ask for anything better given the time of day.

The next few days were stormy. Driving in the VW CitiSport (a South African Rabbit built in 2009 but designed in the 70s), was challenging, but despite a broken wind shield wiper from fierce winds and heavy rain, we had fun. We saw Bruno which was hilarious, shopped at the V&A waterfront, and had tea and scones at a coffee shop.

I also read a lot, finishing both Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons.” I had to see what the hype was all about. The verdict: entertaining, but incredibly cheeseball. As an English and Journalism graduate, Hayley recommended Wuthering Heights as my next read to curb my normal, academic selection of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Thriller novels. I’m enjoying it the story, although the book itself is so old that the spine has completely fallen apart. Luckily, I haven’t found any missing pages- yet.

We drove all over Cape Town. We saw Hout Bay, home to Dungeons the big wave surf spot, which we didn’t actually see. We visited Kirstenbosch, the largest and most diverse botanical garden that I’ve ever seen. We also saw the Rhodes Memorial, a large Romanesque monument in the hills overlooking the University. It was a great trip and I can’t wait to go back to Cape Town in the future.

We’re now back in Johannesburg for a few days. Yesterday, we both went to Warwic and Robyn’s Bachelor and Bachelorette parties and had a great time celebrating with their friends and family. Next weekend is the wedding in Kyalami. We’ll be traveling around the Joburg area until then, and afterward we only have two days before flying to Sydney.

I’ll probably write again at the end of our trip, or after we arrive in Sydney. Thanks for reading!

Tags: Cape Town, Kirstenbosch, south africa, surf, surfing, Table Mountain

I always check Earth 911 before Surfing to reduce the chances of contracting staph infections or other horrible diseases from the Ocean. See here for the gory details. Today I checked the report and as usual, it’s not up to date. The little bubbles for my local beaches are all filled white, meaning “No Data Available.” I checked a few days ago, and they were all Yellow and Red from the last month-long cluster of storms.

So I decided to do some research. According to Earth 911, the San Diego Department of Environmental Health (DEH) takes hundreds of samples weekly and posts findings on the Earth 911 website. I did a quick google search and found the main San Diego DEH website. The top of the website reads:

Unfortunately due to the Governor’s line item veto of funding for the Beach Safety Act from the State Budget on September 23rd, 2008, DEH will no longer be able to provide the following services:

• Routine water quality sampling and analysis of results for the County’s beaches
• Issuance of water contact advisories based upon bacterial exceedances
• Complaint investigation of suspected contamination
• Daily email, web updates (beaches911.com), pod-casts and fax updates of beach water quality.

DEH will provide limited services listed below:

• Receive reports of sewage spills and issue water contact closures when those reports indicate possible sewage contamination at public beaches
• Notification of closures will be limited to a press release, signs posted on the beach and messages on the DEH phone hotline 619-338-2073.

We would like to remind the beach going public that:

• Beaches with the highest risk of contamination are near flowing storm drain, river, and lagoon outlets.
• Water quality at all beaches can be contaminated by urban runoff for up to 3 days following significant rainfall
• Historical monitoring data indicates water quality at most beaches in the county is generally good during dry weather.

I know everyone has to sacrifice something in this economic crisis, but how much could these samples possibly cost the state? We are forty billion dollars in debt. I would be surprised if this topped five million dollars per year. That is one eight-thousandth of our debt. If you had eight thousand dollars, what is a dollar to you?

The governor sucks. Line item veto, my @.

Tags: budget, california, deficit, deh, governor, h2o, san diego, surf, surfing, water, water quality