Perfect winter mornings

July 13, 2013 by Coastal Dweller

Some Sydney-siders grumble about the ‘cold’ mornings in winter. Others love the crisp, clear air, mild sunshine and lack of crowds at the beach. Not much surf this morning… but sometimes it’s just about getting wet.

Big Tuesday at Manly

January 29, 2013 by Coastal Dweller

Ex-cyclone Oswald brought some big swells to Sydney beaches today. Manly was looking pretty messy early this morning after last night’s storm, with a torrent of dirty brown run-off spewing out of Queenscliff lagoon into the sea. South Manly offered some decent waves for those who were game. Here’s a few photos I took this afternoon.

Blowing a hoolie

January 28, 2013 by Coastal Dweller

Wow. The wild weather that has caused so much devastation in Queensland arrived in Sydney today. Ex-tropical cyclone Oswald drenched the city and churned up the surf. I’ve battened down the hatches and hope that my ageing window frames survive the storm. The boys went for a sail on Sydney Harbour this morning before the weather turned really ugly.

Safely anchored inside

Gnarly waves, gnarly surfers

A summer sail on Sydney Harbour (before the wind set in)

A summer’s day on Sydney Harbour

Waiting for the sun

September 23, 2012 by Coastal Dweller

It’s the spring equinox today (according the Australian Bureau of Meteorology), which means that day and night are equal duration. Technically it’s when the Earth’s axis is perpendicular to the sun. I think! Anyway, we had a beautiful sunrise at Manly at around 5:43 this morning.

Spring equinox sunrise at Manly

Sunrise surf

September 6, 2012 by Coastal Dweller

It’s the first week of spring and we’ve had a run of beautiful, crystal clear days. There’s not been a great deal of surf though, but the early birds are getting what they can.

A magical sunrise at Queenscliff

Surfing the Bombie

March 8, 2012 by Coastal Dweller

I don't know who this is, but they look good surfing Queensliff bombora

I don’t know who this is, but they look good surfing Queenscliff bombie

Playtime

October 3, 2011 by Coastal Dweller

It’s spring and time to play! This will be the summer that I’m going to learn to surf — properly. I had lessons last summer, so I’ve got the basics and I can get to my feet. I just need practice and lots of it! My aspirations are modest: I’d like to be able to surf a gentle unbroken wave on a long-board with a fraction of an ounce of style. That’s all I ask of myself! I don’t think I’ll be sharing a wave with this lot just yet. But I love how everyone — surfers, surf-skiers, body-surfers — all share the waves….