The golden year?

Wow! The last few weeks have flown by... a few things have happened that I reckon are worthy of a mention.

Last weekend I headed north 120km with a few mates to a little village called Lancelin. The surf up there is much cleaner & more consistent than the gnarly beach breaks around Perth (if you don't know what I mean - believe me, it's better fun & easier up there) so we went up on Saturday afo in time for a sunset surf, which was absolutely beautiful. After a BBQ & a few drinks in the only bar up there a few of us slept on the beach. A mate forget his sleeping bag, so slept in my surfboard bag! It was such a beautiful & warm night - & the stars were astounding. We awoke pre-sunrise & so were the first out in the surf the next morning. Awesome.


Yesterday was my birthday. Thank you to everyone who sent cards, emails, facebook messages etc. I had a cool day - got some cool presents from home... seems my sis & gf may think I just turned 12 by the presents they gave me!


So, I actually turned 22 on the 22nd. Apparently (if you are superstitious of course), that makes it my 'golden year'. It has been a good one so far, but we will have to wait & see what else is in store.


In the afo, I went with a few guys from college to Blackwell Reach, overlooking the swan river (see pic). There is a few fairly cool jumps off the rocks - here I am caught in action about to launch myself off... a good buzz.


In the evening I went out to Subiaco with a few friends from college & church. We went to a few bars & had a good night - there was a live acid jazz band playing in one bar, which was very cool too.


I got a sneaky surf in this morning, & in an hour or so I will be heading to the airport to pick up my folks. Will be good to see them again & show them my life here.

The life of Jonny

This is my life in the last week - the public domain, brief version:

Perth has been one hot hot place this last week. There were a few days where it only just dipped below 40 during the night! Needless to say it has been a little uncomfortable at times without AC, but generally I don't mind the heat greatly & quite enjoyed it - I guess its a fairly 'clean' & dry heat here, & not too often muggy which would be horrible.

On Tuesday night, my (some might say apostate!) Bible study group played the part of renegade & slinked off to the ice cream parlour & the beach instead of having a study at the church. We got a massive tub of 'Irish cream' & 'cookies n cream' ice cream at Cold Rock (with sweets & chocolates crunched in) & sat outside in the evening heat refreshing ourselves with pleasant company & the joy of cold, cold tastiness. After that, we headed to City Beach where there are floodlights in the evening. It is the first time I have been there, but it is such a beautiful beach & there were a few groups of people there having bbq's or playing sports. We arrived just after sunset, so it was getting dark but there was still a dominant red & orange canvas of residual sunlight sitting on the horizon. We decided to go for an impromptu swim as the water was so hot - it was very cool to swim out a fair way & just tread water whilst having a good chat with my friend Dan under the starry sky & drifting along the beach in the current. It was such a refreshing night.

On Thursday, I rocked up at UWA football (unfortuantely 'soccer' out here) training. I had planned to go to the rugby instead, but didn't make it - so may try that in a few weeks. Today I played in a trial game (football) & it went quite well. For some reason, they don't consider playing evening games despite the severe heat, so I braved 90 minutes in the late afternoon sun! We got a 2-2 draw, which wasn't bad considering it was a team that had hardly played together before.

Surfed on Friday & Saturday mornings. Friday was a strong but fairly consistent wind swell. 4 of us were out together & we had a very cool time. On Saturday, we were up before dawn & at the beach early. Unfortunately, I got fairly scratched up amongst the surf & got nailed by a sizeable wave... in the ensuing melee one of the fins on my board got swiped clean off by my heel. The board came worse off by far, which is a shame, but something I guess it's good to be thankful for!? So, I am parted from my board for another week, whilst it is in the repair shop. The joy. Think I must be clumsy, or very unlucky. Still, had an enjoyable time as it was a beautiful morning.

Lots coming up this week, so better stick to it. Take care.

The year in pictures...

So, I have been very successful in uploading a good number of pictures to share (at last I hear you cry!) but not so good at ordering them chronologically. Therefore, I will try and date them as accurately as poss in the comments under each one. Enjoy.

Oct 06: At the college cocktail party with Jenny from Leciester (left) & Jennie, a tutor at college who goes to my church (right).

Aug 06: Dave's visit & a day biking round the Margaret river region. Great fun with an 'old mate'!

Dec 06: An icon.

Jan 07: Trying my hand at some Tom Cruise action at my cousins bar in Melbourne.

A Perth sunset: just beautiful.

Dec 06: With Josh, Tim & Andrew - Perth students helping on church outreach in Sydney.

Oct 06: Eug & Ponti - two great guys who I hang out with a bit.

Aug 06: A local hunter... scary!

Feb 07: Beautiful, beautiful Piha at sunset. A week surfing on the west coast of North Island (NZ) before returning to Perth.

Aug 06: With Ben from Leicester at the door of my hall before the annual college ball.

Aug 06: Ian & Nigel who are good mates of mine, living it up at that ball.

Nov 06: Very cool to see Stephen & Jo, & hike the Kalbarri National Park, WA.

Jan 07: With Joey, my eastern states 'travel buddy' at Bells Beach, victoria (we have mutual friends in Leicester).

Aug 06: Enjoying a wine tour of a premier wine region with Dave.... thankfully keeping sober throughout.

Sept 06: A social night with my 'hub' Bible study group - Zalton, Toby & Mark.

Nov 06: The first Church outreach team to Sydney - Rory, Jon Rumble, Matt Dodd, JR, Jess Rumble, Sandy, Julianne, Mandy Dodd.

Feb 07: A very very cool few weeks with Anneli & Paul in NZ... much needed. Matauri beach on valentines day!

Mar 07: First college party of the new year & I am an emo kid (from the band 'Simple Plan' who I had never heard of!) whilst Nigel is doing wonders for the Kiss look!

Hopefully that is a cool catch up, & gives you a vibe of my year. Fingers crossed that this bad boy publishes... I hope you appreciate it if it does!