From Sydney to The Oom
I'm whittling down my time in canberra so it's time i get back to blogging...
To The Oom:
The trip down to the omm jam with Max and Ben was pretty entertaining. The weather can change as quick as a flash. When we set out it was clear skies and sunshine, followed by torrential down pours, lightning and hail, which caused the princess highway to grind to a halt while the weather passed. Back to sunshine and enjoying the open road.
The scenery was incredible! every now and then the trees at the side of the road would open to reveal lush green hills and valleys that would roll on for miles.
We stopped at Berry, a small town on the princess highway just in from the coast. We parked and went to find food. The first place was closing in 5 minutes and nolonger taking orders, the second had forgotten to lockl the door and was closedm, the third place was locked. It was about 7pm... WTF? we settled for the IGA and bought sandwich fixings and bananas.
Back in the car we drove the final few hours to narooma and arrived at around 10. When service was available on my mobile i would recieve texts from those already there wondering when we were expected to arrive, which made me really excited to finally get there.
We had been told they were at the pub, so we made our way there directly when we arrived. No one was to be found... we jokingly mused that Narooma just might be large enough to have 2 pubs and we were at the wrong one.
Max called up Ian p, who had just dropped Dan B at his hostel and was going to be passing by the pub back to his lodgings and offered to direct us to Nathan Cope's (Copey) parent's place. Max, Ben, and i hurriedly finished our drinks and followed them back to Copey's.
Copey's parent's place is a beautiful BIG house overlooking narooma from the surrounding hills. We arrived at dark, so we only saw the city by lamp light, but the views during the day were incredible! we met Copey's mother, who graciously welcomed us, and fed, watered, and houseed us for the weekend. Copey's dad, the head of the national park service in the area, was away fighting bush fires that were scorching the surrounding area. We all shook hands, said our hellos, sipped beers, and watched the australia open qualifications late into the night.
I think the highlight of my weekend came about 15 minutes into the evening. We had already said our hello's but at one point copey said "hey Granty, want another beer?" (or something to that effect.
Oliver Adams (one of modified's pot-stirrers, yet a very funny and friendly bloke in person),who i was sitting beside at the time, said "Wait... you're ANDREW GRANT???"
"uhh... yeah..."
"Holy Fuck!!!"
Never once has any one who has met me been footbag star struck, so we all laughed and laughed for quite some time. He said something else like "i've wanted to meet you for ages, you're one of my favorite players," or something, which made me blush.
Another highlight was finally meeting Jeremy O'Wheel for the first time. We've both been on the forums for years and years, so it was nice to finally to a chipped tooth face to the name. I want to see all the cans of chunky soup he has wagered against Danger Dan when i get to Hobart.
Let me tell you this, Dear Reader, Jeremy is good shit! Yes, he annoys the crap out of me on the forums on many an occasion, and he argues just as much in person, but he's a very entertaining, intelligent, and interesting guy. Not many people i know are as solid in their ideals and willing to uphold what they believe as he is. And he is a sick ass shredder, despite saying he feels a bit rusty. I'm off to tasmania on the 17th of feb, and i'm really looking forward to kicking, partying, and generally causing a ruckus with him.
After the matches (can't remember which ones, but i do not that the australian Sam S-somthing won her match)we played some poker. Ollie, Jeremy, Caroline, Copey and I were playing, Leon having called it a night and Max and Ben off to their hotel, and i think caroline and i were the first ones out. Ollie's aggressive all-in-all-the-time strategy worked and i think he won in the end. Being the last one to get to the oom i wound up in the tent, which was quite nice as it was very cool in there and sleeping was easy.
I awoke the next morning to an amazing view, and snapped a bunch of pictures from the tent and the deck that surrounded the house. We had a nice breakfast and waited for copey to finally get up. We slowly made our way into town to meet up with Ian, Max, Benoite, and Dan Boyle. Dan is a good bloke and doesn't have a canadian accent, despite what people tell him all the time. Him and i would become quite good mates in the following weeks.
We went to the wharf to kick, but the wind made it difficult. We decided to change location and, for what ever reason, Max led the procession of cars. We wound up kicking at the local skate park; just as windy, but with a bit more shade. We kicked for maybe an hour and a half before deciding we had had enough. The rest of the crew went to get "narooma gourmet hot dogs" (i would have one later, much to the disappointment of my stomach), while dan and i wet-suited up for a surf.
Dan has a fantastic knowledge of the local beaches. His dad is quite keen on body boarding and brought dan up to love it as well. We wound up at a beach in Dalmeyney (sp?) where the surf was quite rough. Big waves about 6-8 feet breaking in very close succession made me very nervous just looking at them. These were, and still are, the biggest waves i have ever surfed and with it being my first time ever body boarding it gave me quite a fright as we paddled out to the break from the rocks. Having only one flipper also made it a bit sketchy...
It took me a while to catch a wave, as the timing is a bit different from surfing, but eventually i got a good one that toom me quite close to the beach. I paddled back out only to realize body boards are hard to duck dive (i would later find out i had the technique wrong) and struggled against the crashing waves to make it back out to the line up. Dan caught a couple good ones and i caught a couple more that were okay, before i messed up my timing...
i though the wave was going to break a bit closer to shore and started paddling to get in position, only to feel my self getting sucked back as the wave reared up to crash. I looked back and saw a wall of water about to crash down on me. I tried to paddle away from the break but no dice. It slammed me hard and i got rolled good. the saftey wrist strap snapped and the board got washed away. with my one flipper i paddled after it and waved to dan who quickly paddled over and scooped it up. We made our way to the shallows and played around on the small shore waves, as it was too risky to be out without a strap.
we called it a day and headed back to land, much to my pleasure, dried off and headed back to copey's place. We met up with every one and decided that the best thing to do would be to go for some bowls...
Yep, we went lawn bowling.
It's surprisingly fun, as you can grab a beer from the club house and wander on the greens barefoot as you play. Copey, Jeremy, Dan and I started it off, with leon, ollie, Caroline and Benoite coming in shortly there after. It was Copey and I vs. Jeremy and Ben. After loosing terribly at the start (11-1), copey and i brought it back to 12-14 by the end when we finally decided to hit the club house for eats.
We headed back to copey's, washed up and hit the pub. We all chatted and laughed as King Copey granted appointments to the ladies of Narooma through out the night. He seemed to know every one, and with him now in canberra it seemed that every one wanted to know what he was up to. After copey and jeremy unsucessfully hit on the local ladies, Copey introduced me to a nice gal, who later would turn out to be engaged to a police officer who was at the time on duty. In the morning when i related the story to him (as well as every thing else that happened as he was pretty far gone) he said "Oh yeah, i forgot she was engaged... sorry about that, mate!"
After closing down the pub we headed back to copey's where He and I went heads-up at the poker table. I won, but my victory was soured in the morning when we copey was unable to remember anything that happened after we drove to the pub at about 10pm, let alone playing poker at 5am...
photos from the first couple days...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86388&l=f7edb&id=521569922
I'm whittling down my time in canberra so it's time i get back to blogging...
To The Oom:
The trip down to the omm jam with Max and Ben was pretty entertaining. The weather can change as quick as a flash. When we set out it was clear skies and sunshine, followed by torrential down pours, lightning and hail, which caused the princess highway to grind to a halt while the weather passed. Back to sunshine and enjoying the open road.
The scenery was incredible! every now and then the trees at the side of the road would open to reveal lush green hills and valleys that would roll on for miles.
We stopped at Berry, a small town on the princess highway just in from the coast. We parked and went to find food. The first place was closing in 5 minutes and nolonger taking orders, the second had forgotten to lockl the door and was closedm, the third place was locked. It was about 7pm... WTF? we settled for the IGA and bought sandwich fixings and bananas.
Back in the car we drove the final few hours to narooma and arrived at around 10. When service was available on my mobile i would recieve texts from those already there wondering when we were expected to arrive, which made me really excited to finally get there.
We had been told they were at the pub, so we made our way there directly when we arrived. No one was to be found... we jokingly mused that Narooma just might be large enough to have 2 pubs and we were at the wrong one.
Max called up Ian p, who had just dropped Dan B at his hostel and was going to be passing by the pub back to his lodgings and offered to direct us to Nathan Cope's (Copey) parent's place. Max, Ben, and i hurriedly finished our drinks and followed them back to Copey's.
Copey's parent's place is a beautiful BIG house overlooking narooma from the surrounding hills. We arrived at dark, so we only saw the city by lamp light, but the views during the day were incredible! we met Copey's mother, who graciously welcomed us, and fed, watered, and houseed us for the weekend. Copey's dad, the head of the national park service in the area, was away fighting bush fires that were scorching the surrounding area. We all shook hands, said our hellos, sipped beers, and watched the australia open qualifications late into the night.
I think the highlight of my weekend came about 15 minutes into the evening. We had already said our hello's but at one point copey said "hey Granty, want another beer?" (or something to that effect.
Oliver Adams (one of modified's pot-stirrers, yet a very funny and friendly bloke in person),who i was sitting beside at the time, said "Wait... you're ANDREW GRANT???"
"uhh... yeah..."
"Holy Fuck!!!"
Never once has any one who has met me been footbag star struck, so we all laughed and laughed for quite some time. He said something else like "i've wanted to meet you for ages, you're one of my favorite players," or something, which made me blush.
Another highlight was finally meeting Jeremy O'Wheel for the first time. We've both been on the forums for years and years, so it was nice to finally to a chipped tooth face to the name. I want to see all the cans of chunky soup he has wagered against Danger Dan when i get to Hobart.
Let me tell you this, Dear Reader, Jeremy is good shit! Yes, he annoys the crap out of me on the forums on many an occasion, and he argues just as much in person, but he's a very entertaining, intelligent, and interesting guy. Not many people i know are as solid in their ideals and willing to uphold what they believe as he is. And he is a sick ass shredder, despite saying he feels a bit rusty. I'm off to tasmania on the 17th of feb, and i'm really looking forward to kicking, partying, and generally causing a ruckus with him.
After the matches (can't remember which ones, but i do not that the australian Sam S-somthing won her match)we played some poker. Ollie, Jeremy, Caroline, Copey and I were playing, Leon having called it a night and Max and Ben off to their hotel, and i think caroline and i were the first ones out. Ollie's aggressive all-in-all-the-time strategy worked and i think he won in the end. Being the last one to get to the oom i wound up in the tent, which was quite nice as it was very cool in there and sleeping was easy.
I awoke the next morning to an amazing view, and snapped a bunch of pictures from the tent and the deck that surrounded the house. We had a nice breakfast and waited for copey to finally get up. We slowly made our way into town to meet up with Ian, Max, Benoite, and Dan Boyle. Dan is a good bloke and doesn't have a canadian accent, despite what people tell him all the time. Him and i would become quite good mates in the following weeks.
We went to the wharf to kick, but the wind made it difficult. We decided to change location and, for what ever reason, Max led the procession of cars. We wound up kicking at the local skate park; just as windy, but with a bit more shade. We kicked for maybe an hour and a half before deciding we had had enough. The rest of the crew went to get "narooma gourmet hot dogs" (i would have one later, much to the disappointment of my stomach), while dan and i wet-suited up for a surf.
Dan has a fantastic knowledge of the local beaches. His dad is quite keen on body boarding and brought dan up to love it as well. We wound up at a beach in Dalmeyney (sp?) where the surf was quite rough. Big waves about 6-8 feet breaking in very close succession made me very nervous just looking at them. These were, and still are, the biggest waves i have ever surfed and with it being my first time ever body boarding it gave me quite a fright as we paddled out to the break from the rocks. Having only one flipper also made it a bit sketchy...
It took me a while to catch a wave, as the timing is a bit different from surfing, but eventually i got a good one that toom me quite close to the beach. I paddled back out only to realize body boards are hard to duck dive (i would later find out i had the technique wrong) and struggled against the crashing waves to make it back out to the line up. Dan caught a couple good ones and i caught a couple more that were okay, before i messed up my timing...
i though the wave was going to break a bit closer to shore and started paddling to get in position, only to feel my self getting sucked back as the wave reared up to crash. I looked back and saw a wall of water about to crash down on me. I tried to paddle away from the break but no dice. It slammed me hard and i got rolled good. the saftey wrist strap snapped and the board got washed away. with my one flipper i paddled after it and waved to dan who quickly paddled over and scooped it up. We made our way to the shallows and played around on the small shore waves, as it was too risky to be out without a strap.
we called it a day and headed back to land, much to my pleasure, dried off and headed back to copey's place. We met up with every one and decided that the best thing to do would be to go for some bowls...
Yep, we went lawn bowling.
It's surprisingly fun, as you can grab a beer from the club house and wander on the greens barefoot as you play. Copey, Jeremy, Dan and I started it off, with leon, ollie, Caroline and Benoite coming in shortly there after. It was Copey and I vs. Jeremy and Ben. After loosing terribly at the start (11-1), copey and i brought it back to 12-14 by the end when we finally decided to hit the club house for eats.
We headed back to copey's, washed up and hit the pub. We all chatted and laughed as King Copey granted appointments to the ladies of Narooma through out the night. He seemed to know every one, and with him now in canberra it seemed that every one wanted to know what he was up to. After copey and jeremy unsucessfully hit on the local ladies, Copey introduced me to a nice gal, who later would turn out to be engaged to a police officer who was at the time on duty. In the morning when i related the story to him (as well as every thing else that happened as he was pretty far gone) he said "Oh yeah, i forgot she was engaged... sorry about that, mate!"
After closing down the pub we headed back to copey's where He and I went heads-up at the poker table. I won, but my victory was soured in the morning when we copey was unable to remember anything that happened after we drove to the pub at about 10pm, let alone playing poker at 5am...
photos from the first couple days...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86388&l=f7edb&id=521569922
