Getting to know Sydney

  Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The last couple of days have been spent getting to know our surroundings a bit.  Sunday was a really fun day for us and the family.  We got up early and went down to the beach to cheer the kids on for "Nippers" (pronounced: "Nippahs".)  It took us a little while to figure out what this was.  It's basically a day for the local kids to practice their water safety, swimming and surfing proficiency, and teamwork while building some community camaraderie.  They compete against each other in different age groups every Sunday and then a couple times a year, they compete against the nearby beaches.  It's a bit like gangs having turf wars, but instead of shooting each other, they have beach races and surfing competitions- that's way cooler.  The adults organize and coach the kids, really stressing water safety and imparting local knowledge of surf conditions.  Matt and Mel's businesses are partial sponsors of the activities during the year, among several others- there seems to be a high level of community involvement here.  Matt actually ended up vollunteering for the day in a pinch and was out in the water assisiting the kids a a good bit of the day.

Chloe - Nippers, Sunday Dec 14

 

Nate - Nippers, Sunday Dec 14

We watched from the beach and after the kids had finished and dispersed, we got in the ocean/sea- turns out, we're right at the divider between the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea.  It started to cloud over as soon as we got in, making our first dip a bit brief, but it was still fun to get tossed around for a bit.  The waves here are consistently surfable- there's always people out there on boards- and this is a much more secluded beach than closer to the city.   We even got a special treat on the way off the beach- someone spotted a pod of dolphins swimming about 100 meters out.  There was at least twenty of them.   
We then decided we needed to hit the store to get some food and supplies- it was obvious the little travel tubes of sunblock were not gonna cut it.  Matt and Mel offered their car to go to the store, which was only a few blocks away.  That was the most interesting three block drive possibly ever.  You see, Australia is one of those countries where the drive on the wrong side of the road.  Thus, the driver is positioned on the wrong side of the car to compensate.  I never thought about the little things in Right Wheel Drive cars- each time I tried to signal to turn, I flicked on the wipers- nearly every time.  We get so used to protecting our right side from the left, you think it would be easy to switch- it's not.  I gave Debbie one-time permission to critique my driving and tell me things like- you're about to sideswipe that parked car and the turn signals are on the right.  Once there, we discovered that Corona, which is the beer of choice in this household, was on sale- Score!  It was on blowout, marked down from $62 to $50.  For all the beer Aussies are reputed to drink, it doesn't come cheap.  We made up the difference in cheap local wine!  The taco fixings made for a good cheap family dinner, that we hope they enjoyed- we didn't think Mexican food was as common in the meal rotation as we are used to, and I think we were right!