My birthday - Part 2: "Checking into the green room"

Dee Why Beach, 6:20 am - 27 October 2007

Clare's big surprise for my birthday was an individual surf lesson with a Dee Why local surfer/businessman named Wayne. Wayne was an absolute character - the ultimate Aussie surfing archetype, like a sun-tipped set of energetic froth and bubble.

He educated us on the benefits of hydration, the expertise of his pro-surfer daughter, the need for stretching and reading the waves before a surf, the amazing skills of his pro-surfer daughter, the best stance and the mode of action when catching a wave, the prodigious technique his pro-surfer daughter holds, and some of the dangers in the surf world, including sharks, rips and cranky locals.

Did you know that until the 80's, Dee Why Beach was only able to be surfed at by invitation only?

Whilst I might take the piss a little about the warm-up, it was perfectly balanced. I learnt that surfing is all about patience and respect for mother nature - a very humbling experience!

As you can see from the photo above, it was a really great morning for surf. As some of you may know, my ass needs a fair push, so the waves were large enough to get a good ride on, but had good enough form and shape not to throw Clare and I around too much. Clare managed to get up a few times - the majority of which she had her eyes closed!!

I managed to get up onto one knee and my front leg most times, and standing two or three times. I 'wiped out' a couple of times, but enjoyed the experience. One of the people on the beach managed to get this photo of me after getting onto a particularly big wave:

Gnarly...

Here's a few more pics of Clare and I after the session:

Totally tubular...

Do I have seaweed in my teeth?

Wayne, Clare and I, spotting some more tubes to shred...

Our beautiful breakfast...Clare's pancakes and my greaseman's feast - a very happy man!

My birthday - Part 1: "The morning"

Ok, Ok...so my birthday has been and gone, and this post is now about as newsworthy as Keating overthrowing Hawke in '91 for the role of Captain Australia. But as the man once said, "this is the blog post we had to have".

All in all, I had an absolutely perfect weekend with friends and family, all rolled into one extravaganza!

I called my sister Cass in Ireland pretty much as soon as I woke up, unwrapping the first of my presents for the day. A cracker of a pressie, Cass gifted me Peter Fitzsimons' Great Australian Sports Champions, which is shaping up to be a very enjoyable and informative read.

Strangely though, I couldn't find myself in the index.

It was about 6am after I thumbed through the back of the book a few times, so I threw on my smugglers ready for a morning of 'tubular' action...