AUTHOR: Kevin Kelly
DATE: 3:54 PM
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BODY:
Well here I am again, writing another blog entry. It's like a black hole! I write and write and put in pictures and stories and still the people clamor for more. Any by people I mean a few family members and friends. But as they say, if you can reach just ONE person, and that person tells two people, and they tell two people...then six people know about whatever it is they are talking about. So, six new people should now know about my travel blog, or a good quality shampoo. The choice, as always is yours. Only YOU can help prevent forest fires.
So, I'm not sure where I've left off story-wise, and I'm writing this from deep inside the set of a [SHIP NAME DELETED] in stage 2. This is a big bad spaceship used by the bad guys in our show. Basically imagine Darth Vader's ship, and it's something like that. Speaking of Darth, do you think he drove that thing himself sometimes? I mean, you have to get bored flying across interstellar distances. Maybe Darth would take the wheel for a spin around certain planets and such. Just for fun. We may never know.
So, we begin with the important news first, and that's me. I know, I'm in Sydney, Australia, another country, a giant island continent, millions of beaches, trillions of fish, amazing life forms, etc. HOWEVER, the important news is that I got a haircut. Why is this news? I'm not exactly sure. Although I did get it cut much shorter than I normally do, and I was had PRODUCT put into my hair. Now, I don't think I can ever get used to calling hair goop "product", but lo and behold, it is in my hair.
This is the haircut, only 15 minutes old. Still in it's infancy. It has been mildy "producted", but still yearns to be wild and free.
This picture is "Productus Maximus" and my hair has just gone insane. My hair may or may not look like this the next time you see me, so you have been warned.
And now, on to the other news.
What have I been doing since my last entry....let me see. I know I've been working 14 to 15 hour days every weekday, which means my social life during the week consists of reruns of bad American tv (Paradise Hotel! Survivor! The Bachelor! Extreme Makeover!) or hurried dinners and drinks. Chew! Gulp! Sleep! Zzzzz.
We did have a weekend off recently for Australia Day. Australia Day celebrates the day Australia became a nation. As a lot of you know, Australia started as a penal colony. The English loaded a bunch of ships up (the First Fleet) with convicts, soldiers, and sailors and sent them to Australia. Now, I really have trouble understanding this one. Australia is an incredibly gorgeous paradise. England is...well, England. England has balmy, muggy weather, a lot of rain, bad food, and let's face it folks, bad teeth. Australia has thousands of beaches, lush forests, mountains, incredible food (I know, I know, there weren't any restaurants here when the first English settlers came over, but humor me), sun most of the year, great views, and for the most part, straight teeth!
I imagine that England came up with the idea to send the convicts away to Australia and it went something, a little like this:
"So guv'nor, what are we doing to do with all of these convicts that keep piling up, hey?"
"Hmm my good man, that is quite a puzzler...let us come up with a good plan to send them far away to a desolate place so that they might learn the error of their ways and reflect upon their crimes."
"Capital idea, sire! Might I suggest the large island of Australia? It is so far away from our beloved England, and will no doubt ingrain fear, remorse, and rehabilitation into the hearts of these convicts."
"And thus, it shall be done."
And....SCENE. Don't worry, I'm not quitting my day job to become a writer.
So yes, Australia Day, everyone gets the Monday off, and it's a big party weekend! Because as you know, nothing really says "Australia Day" like drinking a ton. Or St. Partricks Day...or Mardi Gras....or Cinco de Mayo...or....well you get it.
So to that end, Kirsty and I went away to Jervis Bay, a lovely location about 2.5 hours away and down on the South Coast of Australia. We had booked a bed and breakfast called "Penny's on the Beach", and we drove down the Friday night of the holiday. You know you're really in the country when you see a sign that says "Caution, Kangaroos next 26km". Thankfully, we didn't hit any.
We got to the B&B around 9:30pm, and checked into our room. The place was awesome! Right on the beach, and our room had a private verandah that overlooked the beach. There are only three bedrooms, so it doesn't get crowded, and the other people there were all very nice.
Each morning Penny would cook us a big breakfast and bring it up to our room so we could eat while overlooking the water.
On Saturday we went to Cabbage Tree Beach, a short drive away, and we would have the entire beach to ourselves! It was like owning the beach. In fact, I would often pretend it was my beach, and have fun shooing away the imaginary people in my head.
The water was so clear and amazingly flat, like glass. We swam a ton the first day, and just spent the day lounging on the beach. Life could be worse.
The next day it decided to rain on us, BOO RAIN! We went out in it anyways, and hiked through a national park. Surprisingly, even though it rained on us the whole time, we had a blast.
We spent the day exploring all the little coves around the area, which was on one of the peninsulas that form the entrance to Jervis Bay.
Here Kirsty searches ardently for shells. She ended up finding 20 or so amazing ones that she plans to make into some sort of artsy thing.
Here I am snorkeling in the rain. The fish didn't seem to notice it was raining, and they would come right up to you and check you out.
Here I am pondering the deep, dark, mysterious questions of the universe. Did I leave the iron on?
Found a great snorkeling spot and I cleverly took a picture of it to remember it for when we come back. Never mind that ever spot looked almost exactly like this.
Funky little coves, great snorkeling area, look out for the crabs!
Here's a little video of the spot where the best snorkeling was, it's 6.6 mb or so, so wait for the download! And don't sue me if it doesn't work.
The next day, the sun was out again, we swam, layed out, and swam, in that order. Then we played Scrabble on the beach, which I've never done, but it was fun. Check out our four-letter words, we are geniuses.
On our last day I took a picture of this odd Christmas House. According to our B&B owners, this lady started putting up this enormous Christmas window each year, and it grew and grew. Every year it gets bigger, and people send her things from all over the world. She must have one patient (or insane) husband.
And look! Pelicans!
All in all, Jervis Bay was definitely a blast. I have to go back, if not just for the snorkeling. The seafood was amazing and fresh, the people were very friendly, and plus, my own beach! Stay off the sand, please.
After that, it's been back to work, back to long hours, back to...*thud*. Sorry, dozed off there for a second.
Other than working, I've been seeing a few movies, reading books, going out to dinner, sightseeing, spending time at the beach (I'm actually turning brown!), and spending time with Kirsty, although not in that order!
My friend Anthony Simcoe who plays D'Argo in our film has a band called "Signal Room". This past Saturday I went and saw them at a local pub, and they rocked! Anthony plays rhythm guitar and sings lead vocals, and Wayne Pygram who plays Scorpius in our film plays drums. A wild evening was had by all.
My mom is coming out to visit next Thursday and staying for a week, which will be a lot of fun. I do have to work part of the time while she's here, but I will be off on the weekend and will take her all over and do all the touristy stuff with her. I'll have some pix for that for next time.
Last I heard, I will be here through mid to late May for work, and I may take a week or two of vacation time after that to just enjoy myself before leaving. I'm moving to a new apartment on Bondi Beach fairly soon, so I'll post pictures of that after I move. No complaints here! Everything is going very well, and it's been hot, hot, hot lately.
Have a great Valentine's Day weekend, everyone!
Over and out.
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