Matt Harwood is not The Lounge Walrus
leave a comment on the blog
email me at any address on this site
Saturday, August 11, 2007
The Road to Splendour
Byron Bay is about two hours by plane, or about 12 hours by car, from Sydney. The cost in fuel and accomodation for one night and the cost in airfares is roughly equivalent. The view from the car, though, is far superior to the view from the plane, and the New South Wales coast is pretty quiet in the winter, so we drove up and enjoyed a couple of beaches on the way almost completely to ourselves.
We left on Thursday morning, and pulled up in Hawks Nest at about 2pm, at Elissa's parents house. Colin introduced me to his Old Grey Whistle Test DVDs and Vivienne put on the lamb roast, apologising several times for having slightly overcooked the lamb last time. The lamb last time was beautiful, for the record. Elissa and I headed to the beach and flew the kite a little bit, and we came back and ate, and played Rummikub for an hour or two, with more than a couple of remarks about turning tiles over and using them as blanks (as that had been a strategy by one of the players in the scrabble game last time!).
The following morning we headed out at 9am, and struck out for Coffs Harbour, and the Big Banana. The Big Banana is the first Big Thing in Australia, and is one of many, including The Big Merino, which we saw on our Melbourne road trip, and the Big Prawn, just up the road to Byron, at Ballina. My favourite is definitely the merino so far. The Big Banana was pretty tiny, and though the smoothies were pretty good, I feel like they could have done better. While we were there, some people on the next table were having a meeting about door to door sales, but we didn't establish what brand. It made our skin crawl to listen to their team leader, so we left and pressed on.
The next stop was on Harwood Island! We drove past a sign that said "All of Harwood has 50km/h streets" and Elissa asked, do you want to stop and take some photos? I said no, and then thought for a few seconds and said yes... So we went to the pub, picked up a stubby holder and a lighter, and took photos by the school and the sugar refinery. If it wasn't a tiny little country town with less going on in it than in Corby Glen, I'd probably consider trying to retire here.
From there, we headed up to Ballina, and the Big Prawn. There's not much to see here, so we pulled into the car park and took a photo and then pressed on. Byron Bay was only another 40km on or so, so we were excited to get there! We got into Byron at about 5.30pm and got ourselves a pie, and headed to the hostel. The traffic wasn't all that bad, but the town was packed with crazy hippies and music fans, and there were guitars and drums being strummed and beaten all over town.
We met Candice and Jo, who would be our housemates for the weekend, and were shown the chalet we'd booked for the weekend. Jaws most definitely dropped. The place was incredible! A full kitchen, a spacious lounge, a lovely bathroom, a balcony in front of the chalet with a really comfortable daybed and a table and chairs we used for breakfast. We were impressed. And Candice and Jo had got both colours of wine ready for our arrival, so we knew we'd get on well.
It works! And it's a danger to me and to other people! but a few design changes should fix that. By the time the next one comes down, it will be well out of sight, and may have gone out with any luck. Watch this space!
We had another go at the Sky Lantern thing last night, with mixed success. Well, no success really. The 140l bags were a massive improvement on the 36l ones we'd used previously. The frame we used would, in principle, be liftable by that sort of volume of hot air, but could be lighter - lighter is always better. At one point I got brave and let go to see what would happen. The thing went sideways for a bit, but never really went upwards. I'm hoping that the next time there's a flat calm we can give it another go with a bit more success, but I'm keeping an eye out for alternative frame materials in the meantime. Here's a few photos.
This evening I tried two forms of aviation. When I went out to fly the kite earlier there was no wind, but there had been a low-wind activity I was looking to try for a few days, so I gave Elissa a call. "Let's go down to the beach and make sky-lanterns!" I said. "You're on" she answered.
So we did. And the bin liners I'd chosen were worse than useless, so it didn't work, but the results were very pretty anyway, and I'm having another go next week.
I bought myself a kite! It's being posted in the next few days, and it's exactly the kite I've wanted, ever since I knew anything about kites. Anyway, that's an aside really, the crux of this post is the book club...
This evening, I've organised a book club, to meet somewhere in Central Sydney. All the responses I've had so far have been female (I'm kicking myself I didn't organise a book club when I was single), and interested in a wide variety of books. They're also the first people I've met socially through my own efforts, rather than Elissa's. After a month and a half, that's either a resounding seal of approval for Elissa's friends, or a pretty poor showing on my part. Possibly both.
Today I went kitesurfing, nearly. Neil, my instructor and Cecilia, who was also learning from Neil, and I hopped on a jetski and headed out across the bay. We set up kites, I got a safety briefing and a run down on keeping the kite in good condition and then we launched. I learnt relaunching and keeping the kite in the air, and then Neil led me into deeper water where I got the kite to drag me along on my belly. Then I learned how to drag myself upwind to my board. By this point I was getting pretty tired, and Cecilia's kite had packed up, so she took over for a while. Neil said "Right, watch this". It was obvious Cecilia had done it before, and she picked up out of the water and disappeared on the board. Well, for a few seconds anyway - she soon ducked back into the water. The wind was a bit patchy, but I did get a couple of goes at getting up on the board, but to no avail, and neither of us ended up doing anything like the bloke in the picture. I need more practice at wakeboarding I think, and I'll get it. On the upside, I'm now the proud owner of an instructive DVD and a pretty good quality wetsuit, so I'll be learning from home while I save up for my next lesson. And if I can find someone with an old surfboard I can borrow, I might give the wetsuit an airing before it gets warm again in October.
Huge, massive, colossal thanks to everyone at Abel & Cole for clubbing together to get me the lesson. You'll be pleased to know that the 3 hours you paid for overran to 5, so you got excellent value for money. Rest assured I'll be getting value from it and actually getting up on that board next time!
Elissa's graduation, my kite surfing and my employment prospects
Today, Elissa received her Master of Applied Anthropology degree from Macquairie University. The University motto is "And gladly teche". I thought perhaps they should teche bettar Englich, but I later discovered it was a quote from Chaucer, and we all know his spelling was pretty dodgy. We were shown an aboriginal dance of some sort during the ceremony, which was a new thing for me. Afterwards Elissa's parents, her sister and brother-in-law, and her friend Bec came round for a few drinks and a meal. They were all very proud, and in good spirits. Elissa was exhausted, but I think she was pretty happy to see everyone, and pick up her certificate properly.
Earlier in the day I had organised a day's kite surfing, and set myself up for a job for the next two weeks. I'll keep you posted on how that goes!
On Friday I went out with work. I was determined to take it easy, as I had a date the following evening with someone I hadn't really spoken to much before, and I wanted to make a good impression. The road to hangovers, however, is paved with good intentions, and after a fantastic evening, and the first work do in a while where I haven't been apprehensive about going to work on Monday afterwards, I did go home fully aware that the next morning would involve a headache. I woke at 8.30. I went out, fixed my exhaust, got a few bits for the new strimmer and mowed the lawn, tidies the garden, tidied parts of the house, hoovered, washed up, mopped, etc. My head still hurt, but I figured that's probably part of who I am, and they always say about these things, be yourself.
The date was a very pleasant evening in the Ritzy Cafe, with excellent music and excellent company, I'm glad to say. The girl in question was very understanding about the hangover, and very polite about my tendency to rant about jazz.
Today, I've watched about ten episodes of Frasier, experimented with cooking for the series of dinner parties I've planned for next week, flown a kite a little (a short aside - struggling to get my kite into the air today, I saw someone else unfold something in Ozone Samurai colours. I thought, that's quite a big kite. Then they unfolded it some more. It was about 30 square metres. On asking, it quickly became apparent that it wasn't a kite at all, but a paraglider, and they were just giving it a bit of a clean. Still, if the wind is going to be like that more often, I might have to get a 30m kite of my own), and had some very nice pork chops. I've also discovered that no matter how hard I try, I'm never going to be able to play Chromatic Fantasy on the four string bass. I'm settling in to a nice bottle of rose, some breaded pork chops (couldn't find any sage, but coriander seemed to work ok), and Top Gear. I am a picture of contentment.
On Saturday I spent a very strenuous two hours playing with the kite and the board on Tooting Bec Common. My shoulders are still recovering. During the two hour boarding session, I lost control of the kite slightly and as I regained control, the board started heading downwind. Just then the wind picked up and I got another twist in the kite lines, and treid to undo it. I jumped off the board - which was doing a steady 15mph at the time - and twirled round to untwist the lines and get my breath back. When I turned back towards the kite, it was sat in a tree.
'It's like kite prison' said a passing urchin. I agreed, through gritted teeth. The kite eventually came free, undamaged.
An interest becomes a passion, a passion becomes an obsession
... and Matt leaves home at 6am today, to get an hour of kiteboarding in before work. And it was the most successful kiteboarding yet, with speeds approaching 25mph (by my best reckoning - quick anyway) and using the large kite on the board for the first time. Some slight issues with turbulence, the kite folded in on itself at some inopportune moments, but all in all, a great way to start the day. Now to make it to 6pm without falling asleep...
I went kiting yesterday. I went kiting the day before, but on the day before I wasn't approached by a small child, wearing a badge that said '5'. When you're flying a 6.3 sq.m kite, capable of lifting your weight (in my case around 90kg) and more in the right wind, and you're flying it in that right wind, a child that weighs around 7 kg offering to help launch the kite can be a little worrying. When the kite is dragging you forward, much as you try to stay still, the same child standing directly in front of you can also be worrying. The fact that a child is able to just wander along and come and say hi, when she's only 5, and when she has only a vague idea of which direction she should walk to get back to her parents, is also a little concerning. Even so, it really made my day.
She very quickly understood that standing in front of me was a bad idea. She also managed to actually help launch the kite, by holding one end of it up, to catch the wind (mostly children wanting to help get to hold the kite as the adult launches it, but she actually made it easier). And her parents seemed to be pretty easy going. We had a conversation about how the kite could probably pick her up and take her 25 metres into the sky. Dad said 'Well, she'd probably really enjoy it'. I said 'Yes, on the way up...'. As they left, she insisted on coming to say bye-bye to her new friend, and I picked her up by the wrists and put her down again, which she seemed to enjoy. Hopefully there'll be another kite enthusiast in ten or so years' time. And it kind of makes me think that one day I might be lucky enough to make little powerkiters of my own...
On Saturday I went to Hampstead Heath to meet Chris for some kite flying. I walked with kite to the top of the hill, casually passing through the English National Cross Country Championships on the way. At the top of the hill I discovered a problem. The windspeed was 20-25, gusting 30 miles an hour. I considered flying the small kite, then I watched someone flying a 3.0m kite (my smaller kite is 3.6m) and being dragged around on their front with very little control of it. So we stayed on top of the hill for half an hour, watching people fall over, and helping a pretty lady fly her much smaller, more sensible kite. As I was launching the lady's kite, I noticed something disastrous happening with another kite flyer, so I turned, ran up the hill as fast as I could, and when I arrived there, saw that the kite was spinning round on the spot, a few inches off the ground, and the guy was still attached to it, being held down by a friend of his. I didn't know what to do that wouldn't injure me, but just then someone rode up on a bike, jumped off it and onto the kite. I joined him, and we held it down, and the guy on the end of the kite looked very relieved!
On Sunday I came back, and despite the fact it was still ludicrously windy, I flew anyway. I have a couple of minor bruises for my troubles, but Julie managed to fly the kite for about twenty minutes without injury!
After owning the thing for around 10 weeks, I finally got off the ground with my Beamer 3.6 kite! In gusts of 17mph, and a steady 11mph wind, I managed to get around 5 feet off the ground for about two or three seconds. Admittedly the shock of having finally done it right meant I landed and fell on the ground immediately, laughing like a fool, but I have to say, that was a hell of a lot of fun. I can't wait to try it again!
Yesterday's trip to Tooting Bec was my most successful attempt at kiteboarding yet, and saw me zigzagging down the field to the point of exhaustion. Aside from finally having the perfect conditions to use my kite and board together, yesterday will stick in my memory for another reason.
I was flying my kite, minding my own business, and catching my breath from the last hour or so, when all of a sudden a small white dog dashed out of nowhere and headed straight for the grass beneath my kite. Considering how small he was, he was moving like lightning - clearly the kite had offended him somehow, and he was going to do everything he could to stop it from ever bothering anyone again. He ran around as the kite swung back and forth in the sky, and jumped occasionally, all the time barking. This was ok, if slightly irritating, so I looked around for the owner. No-one was around. Then the wind dropped.
For the next 10 minutes, I staggered backwards, stopping and edging forward when there was enough wind to allow it, and desperately trying to keep the kite above the ground. The small dog stayed where it was, still barking, still overexcited. Then more dogs came. A young woman was walking about 4 dogs of her own, and they thought the little white dog was on to something. So they all gathered in a little group, chasing the kite back and forth, as my shoulders became more and more sore, and as sweat began to form on my forehead (a surprise, considering how dehydrated I was from the night before).
Eventually, the young woman offered to put the dog on a lead, leaving one of her more obedient dogs off the lead, and she went off to find its owner. I got back to the board and, after a 10 minute rest with the kite on the ground (and not under threat), I got on with boarding. Half an hour later, another, similar dog arrived, also barking. The owner wandered over and said 'It's pretty funny, isn't it?'. It was all I could do not to drop the kite and throttle him. Gritting my teeth, I politely remarked that, yes, it was funny the first time.
Photos of kite and board, (and possibly movies - a first for this site) will be available on the photos page some time today.
At last! After Bank Holiday's pitiful effort, I finally made it all the way down London's tallest hill, in some style. Guy, naturally, did it in rather more style, but I'm not by nature a jealous man, and he has put a lot into snowboarding. As usual there are no photos, which seems a shame. I'll get a new camera some time and sort it all out. The ankle is making remarkable progress, and I may even start cycling to work by the end of the week!
On Saturday evening, as the sun was going down, Rob and I drove through Richmond Park. We watched the deer frolicking through the trees, and the shards of light through the gaps in the branches. And we wandered from the car park to the cycle path that runs down a hill on the east side of the park. There, we found a gravel path full of turns (apparenlty called Beverley Brook) and we jumped on the mountainboard and off we went.
The hill has a sign at the top, advising cyclists to dismount. As we felt we were more at risk than the average cyclist, we decided to start halfway down. The path had just enough turns in it to be challenging and entertaining, yet accessible to the complete beginner, and to a man with a swollen ankle. We slowly worked our way up the hill, and I'm sure we'll be back there in a couple of weeks, to tear it up some more. Maybe even from the top.
Once again, my camera is not in the best state of repair, so I'll be leaving taking mountainboarding photos until after Braunwin and I head to Ottawa together in October - everything is so much cheaper there than here. But photos will come; I think this is a particularly photogenic sport.
Yesterday I went to Hampstead Heath, to go mountainboarding on the highest point in London, Parliament Hill. After a couple of warm-up runs, we found the hill and I jumped on the board, and in the process of making my way down the hill, I managed to run the blunt front end of the board into my leg. I've been limping ever since, but I can tell that I'm going to enjoy that hill the next time there's a little more room on it (there were a lot of people enjoying the weather) and of course, once my ankle is healed.
So, rushing home from work yesterday, very aware of the steady breeze in the air, I ran into the flat, grabbed my kite and board, and got back in the car and drove to Tooting Common. After some difficulty, I managed to get the kite consistently airborne, and actually get some motion on the board. At one stage I may have even exceeded walking speed, for at least 3 metres... well, it's a start.
While I was working on getting the kite into the air, a small child asked 'Can I have a go?'. He claimed to be 9 stone, but he wasn't an ounce over 7. I explained to him that the kite had every chance of picking him off the ground, and then his friend arrived. His friend said 'Can I 'ave a go?'.
All in all, there were four of them. By the time I'd got them to go away (for their own safety - they were dangerounsly close to the lines on at least one occasion) the best of the wind had gone for the night. The pitfalls of flying in public. Eventually, when I own a big estate in the country, then these problems will be replaced by a butler, who will occasionally drift by and offer me port.
I mean, that's not actually me, but in principle. There was almost no wind, so just keeping the kite in the air proved impossible. For a brief moment, though, the wind blew, and I jumped on the board, and all in all, it felt good. I think it will feel better with a proper breeze.
We also used the mountainboard on its own. The hill at the back of Streatham Common is now the training slope, and we hope to find something a bit more interesting as a beginner's slope, on Bank Holiday Monday, and hopefully a bit of a breeze. And I'll take some real photos, so you can all have a giggle at the slightly podgy, slightly too old guy on the overgrown skateboard.
However i suspect I won't be doing it to quite this level for a while. And I can't find anywhere in London that would be suitable to do it (apparently it's banned in Richmond Park).
roast, apologising several times for having slightly overcooked the lamb last time. The lamb last time was beautiful, for the record. Elissa and I headed to the beach and flew the kite a little bit, and we came back and ate, and played Rummikub for an hour or two, with more than a couple of remarks about turning tiles over and using them as blanks (as that had been a strategy by one of the players in the scrabble game last time!).
The Big Banana is the first Big Thing in Australia, and is one of many, including The Big Merino, which we saw on our Melbourne road trip, and the Big Prawn, just up the road to Byron, at Ballina. My favourite is definitely the merino so far. The Big Banana was pretty tiny, and though the smoothies were pretty good, I feel like they could have done better. While we were there, some people on the next table were having a meeting about door to door sales, but we didn't establish what brand. It made our skin crawl to listen to their team leader, so we left and pressed on.
50km/h streets" and Elissa asked, do you want to stop and take some photos? I said no, and then thought for a few seconds and said yes... So we went to the pub, picked up a stubby holder and a lighter, and took photos by the school and the sugar refinery. If it wasn't a tiny little country town with less going on in it than in Corby Glen, I'd probably consider trying to retire here.
allina, and the Big Prawn. There's not much to see here, so we pulled into the car park and took a photo and then pressed on. Byron Bay was only another 40km on or so, so we were excited to get there! We got into Byron at about 5.30pm and got ourselves a pie, and headed to the hostel. The traffic wasn't all that bad, but the town was packed with crazy hippies and music fans, and there were guitars and drums being strummed and beaten all over town.
