Saturday, February 16, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Weekend Adventures and Work
Weekend adventures and work
It’s been to long since I’ve updated the report! Sorry everyone!Since last weekend, all sorts of good stuff has happened, and even more fun stuff has occurred! That might sound like the same thing, but it’s not!
During the first week here in Perth, we were staying at Andy and Cass’s place. Since then, we have been staying at Charlie’s place. Charlie lives about 10 minutes away in a different neighborhood. Since the first week, and from now on, we’ll be staying at Charlie’s. Here is a picture of the back yard.
Near to Charlie’s house are a few shops that Kristi walks to when she feels like it. As I’m at work most of the time, she’s taking care of grocery shopping and the like.
In the same section of shops is the Post Office where Kristi sends off her multitude of post cards to friends and family.
Near to where we live is a park of sorts. We’re constantly seeing new things every day, among them being the flora and fauna. We certainly don’t have trees like this where we live in the States.
Here are some olive trees that Kristi spied growing in someone’s front yard. Awesome.
You reading this Mom? They’ve got a kick ass list of birds here.
Some Duck action. Or Swan? I don’t know.
The ugly duckling’s got a friend.
Apparently Cockatoos are wild here. More awesome.
After a week of working at Aquastack (Aquastackmarina.com.au) working 50 hours outside, and nearly cooking my arms and legs off, Kristi and I made our way over to Andy and Cass’s place for the third weekend in a row to head out for a weekend of boating.
Andy had to tow the boat with his 2 seater Holden Ute, so Kristi and I had the opportunity to head out to the launch area an hour away on Andy’s 2010 Yamaha Super Tenere. HELL YES
. And sooner than we knew it, we were out on the boat again! Life is tough here, can’t you tell?
For the weekend, Andy arranged for a two bedroom lake house next to the Murray River where we all would be staying the weekend. Eventually Charlie and his housemate Marian would make it out as well.
Here you can see Captain Splashy and First Mate Thirsty hard at work.
If Tom Reuter is reading this, he will enjoy knowing that people are kite boarding and windsurfing their asses off DAILY.
This is what I mean.
While we were out on the boat, we took some time to chance out luck at Crabbing. I got the duty of Puller. So I pulled the shit out of crap pots.
First grab the buoy, second, pull the shit out of it.
Crab Pot Pulling SUCCESS!
After the Crab Pot has been pulled, grab the crab, and measure it. Captain Splashy took that chore.
After a while, we had caught a few crabs, and decided to call it a day.
On the way back, we made an effort at trolling for some fish. No fish for us.
Sunsets in Western Australia set over the water just like home in Western Washington.
Another sunset photo to kick off the night.
By this time, Captain Splashy is flexing his muscle under the astute scrutiny of First Mate Thirsty.
By now, as per Captain Splashy’s rule, and First Mate Thirsty’s ongoing support, both the Captain and First mate are likely quite drunk at this moment.
The next morning, Kristi did her best at capturing the coy fish that have been introduced to the pond outside the rear sliding glass door. You can tell that the Duck just doesn’t give a shit.
The next morning, the Captain and First mate took on the task of cooking the crab that we had caught, not only the night before, but that morning as well. All four of us took off that morning to catch more crab, and while Andy and Cass were throwing out the pots, Kristi and I were scooping them off the sand in 3 feet deep water right off shore. We used a metal basket at the end of a wooden handle the length of a broom, specifically made for the purpose. We caught 15, but only 5 were of size. Andy and Cass caught 10.
First Mate Thirsty hard at work boiling crabs.
Cooked crabs, ready and waiting to be eaten.
Black swans and shit like that.
And a fat white duck being harassed by seagulls. F’ing seagulls.
And that is the kind of stuff we do on the weekends.
While we’re eating lunch at the riverside pub, the fat red-faced goose is eating his food, and Andy is planning our next weekend out and about.
However, as I lead a working man’s life at the moment, we’ve only got the weekends free so things take place on a 5 days on, 2 days off schedule.
Now, while awesome things are happening on the weekend, more awesomeness is has been cruising my way at work. First, I was the boat yard go to guy. Wash this boat, flush that engine, take this boat to that boat ramp, go get that boat at the other boat ramp and bring it back. Wash it, flush it, move the trailer, move that other trailer. Forget that it’s 38-41*C (100-105*F). Just drink more water.
Wait a minute. Boss man Dan figures out that you have an international business degree, know a fair bit about business, and can answer phone calls and reply to emails? Well then, take this smart phone and answer every call that comes your way. Don’t forget to answer the emails to. Oh, I haven’t answered a call or replied to an email since Christmas, so you have some catching up to do.
Riiiiiight.
Oh, you need to be able to respond to emails all the time, no matter where you are? Yeah, take this Ipad and docking station and get to work.
So, now I spend half of my time reading emails, calling potential clients, and answering their phone calls. However, none of this is for AquaStack Marina, but instead, for Westcoastboatsales.com a Western Australia based US Boat Importer.
So now, not only am I the new “Boat Bitch” I’m also the Office Bitch. But it comes with perks, as long as I start selling boats!
--Alex
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Continued...
Hello again!
Cass, Andy Daltons significant other, had picked us up at the airport and brought us back to their home, where Kristi promptly made use of the sleeping facilities and took a short nap. Not too long after that, Andy came back from work and started cooking on the grill.
That first night at Andy’s had us stuffed to our gills with BBQ’ed meats. I love eating meat. What I love even more the eating meat, is eating LOTS of meat.
The next day, being Friday and the beginning of the weekend, we were loaded up in Cass’s station wagon, headed for the boat ramp to haul out to Rottnest Island for a weekend of boating, boozing, and scuba diving for crayfish amongst other shenanigans.
With everything on the jetty and unloaded from the car, we’re nearly ready to go!
Sooner than later, we are on the boat, and Andy is demanding a beer be opened. We are on a boat. It is 10am. But we ARE on a boat.
The river that leads out to the ocean has a max speed of 8knots. Cass and Kristi enjoyed it on the front of the boat.
I didn’t remember to bring a hat with me to Australia. For one reason or another, it never made it in my bag. Captain Andy let me borrow one.
Pretty soon we were clear of the 8knot speed limit and in the open ocean, hauling ass for Rottnest.
Captain Andy at his finest.
First thing on the list of activities is Scuba Diving. Last time I went Scuba diving was in Honduras in June of 2010. So it’s been a while!
Mean while, while Andy and I are underwater searching for Crayfish, Kristi and Cass were hanging out on the boat. I imagine that this is what they looked like.
When we came up, we had caught one Crayfish, though we should have caught more. I was a half assed hunting partner on that first dive.
A short while later, we had the boat ted up to shore buoys and were marveling at Pelicans. Neither Kristi nor I knew first had how ENORMOUS these pelicans are in real life. They were BIG.
HUGE!
Seriously, they are big. And, remember, my Madre likes to look at birds, and this bird is kick ass.
After a while, Andy decided to teach Kristi how to rip a crayfish in half.
She gave it a shot, as you can tell in the video I posted a few days back, but she wasn’t able to manage it. So Andy stepped in, tore/twisted it in half, and tossed the head into the water. Soon thereafter, the Sting Rays started showing up.
At Rottnest, there are enough Sting Rays around to justify the removal of their barbs, as they become a danger to the beach goers. So while Kristi was inches from this Sting Ray, it posed no danger.
She even fed it a baby octopus that a neighbor boat offered her to feed them.
She petted this one and wrote, “HI” on its back. Hahaha!
Kristi was having a pretty damn good time. It was fun.
She was even happier when Andy chopped up Garlic, tossed it in the butter and started cooking the crayfish.
YUM! Beer and Crayfish!
Throughout the rest of the night, all 4 of us were drinking beer like we had nothing better to do. In truth, we didn’t really have anything better to do. Captain Andy spent part of that time challenging the boat next door in an Australian song play off. We think we won. They think they won. It was good fun either way.
This was our neighbor’s boat.
These are our neighbors.
That night, the BIG sting rays showed up. This one was about 7 feet across. The other one we saw was well over 9 feet. It was massive.
This guy was scared out of his mind, but he “petted” the sting ray anyhow.
Kristi got in on the action too.
The next morning, after a night of dancing at the bar just on shore, we were still debating with our neighbors over who won the Aussie Song play off from the night before.
I forgot to mention that Saturday morning was the beginning of Australia Day, and boat mooring spots are at a premium. As we left our shore mooring spot that morning, there was a boat waiting to take our place immediately.
On the way back to the mainland, Andy and I first went for another dive, and again came back with only one crayfish. Of course, the goal is more than one, but it doesn’t always work out.
That night, Andy had a couple of friends over, and while Andy was grilling up a storm, Mr. Charlie Hamersley showed up! Here is Charlie, Kristi and the Grill Master Andrew Dalton!
Since the Australia day BBQ, life has been straight forward. I’m working now, and therefore I’ll be saving up some money as well. I’m having a kick ass time so far!
--Alex
Cass, Andy Daltons significant other, had picked us up at the airport and brought us back to their home, where Kristi promptly made use of the sleeping facilities and took a short nap. Not too long after that, Andy came back from work and started cooking on the grill.
That first night at Andy’s had us stuffed to our gills with BBQ’ed meats. I love eating meat. What I love even more the eating meat, is eating LOTS of meat.
The next day, being Friday and the beginning of the weekend, we were loaded up in Cass’s station wagon, headed for the boat ramp to haul out to Rottnest Island for a weekend of boating, boozing, and scuba diving for crayfish amongst other shenanigans.
With everything on the jetty and unloaded from the car, we’re nearly ready to go!
Sooner than later, we are on the boat, and Andy is demanding a beer be opened. We are on a boat. It is 10am. But we ARE on a boat.
The river that leads out to the ocean has a max speed of 8knots. Cass and Kristi enjoyed it on the front of the boat.
I didn’t remember to bring a hat with me to Australia. For one reason or another, it never made it in my bag. Captain Andy let me borrow one.
Pretty soon we were clear of the 8knot speed limit and in the open ocean, hauling ass for Rottnest.
Captain Andy at his finest.
First thing on the list of activities is Scuba Diving. Last time I went Scuba diving was in Honduras in June of 2010. So it’s been a while!
Mean while, while Andy and I are underwater searching for Crayfish, Kristi and Cass were hanging out on the boat. I imagine that this is what they looked like.
When we came up, we had caught one Crayfish, though we should have caught more. I was a half assed hunting partner on that first dive.
A short while later, we had the boat ted up to shore buoys and were marveling at Pelicans. Neither Kristi nor I knew first had how ENORMOUS these pelicans are in real life. They were BIG.
HUGE!
Seriously, they are big. And, remember, my Madre likes to look at birds, and this bird is kick ass.
After a while, Andy decided to teach Kristi how to rip a crayfish in half.
She gave it a shot, as you can tell in the video I posted a few days back, but she wasn’t able to manage it. So Andy stepped in, tore/twisted it in half, and tossed the head into the water. Soon thereafter, the Sting Rays started showing up.
At Rottnest, there are enough Sting Rays around to justify the removal of their barbs, as they become a danger to the beach goers. So while Kristi was inches from this Sting Ray, it posed no danger.
She even fed it a baby octopus that a neighbor boat offered her to feed them.
She petted this one and wrote, “HI” on its back. Hahaha!
Kristi was having a pretty damn good time. It was fun.
She was even happier when Andy chopped up Garlic, tossed it in the butter and started cooking the crayfish.
YUM! Beer and Crayfish!
Throughout the rest of the night, all 4 of us were drinking beer like we had nothing better to do. In truth, we didn’t really have anything better to do. Captain Andy spent part of that time challenging the boat next door in an Australian song play off. We think we won. They think they won. It was good fun either way.
This was our neighbor’s boat.
These are our neighbors.
That night, the BIG sting rays showed up. This one was about 7 feet across. The other one we saw was well over 9 feet. It was massive.
This guy was scared out of his mind, but he “petted” the sting ray anyhow.
Kristi got in on the action too.
The next morning, after a night of dancing at the bar just on shore, we were still debating with our neighbors over who won the Aussie Song play off from the night before.
I forgot to mention that Saturday morning was the beginning of Australia Day, and boat mooring spots are at a premium. As we left our shore mooring spot that morning, there was a boat waiting to take our place immediately.
On the way back to the mainland, Andy and I first went for another dive, and again came back with only one crayfish. Of course, the goal is more than one, but it doesn’t always work out.
That night, Andy had a couple of friends over, and while Andy was grilling up a storm, Mr. Charlie Hamersley showed up! Here is Charlie, Kristi and the Grill Master Andrew Dalton!
Since the Australia day BBQ, life has been straight forward. I’m working now, and therefore I’ll be saving up some money as well. I’m having a kick ass time so far!
--Alex
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