Sunday was a sailing day, Lisa and I woke up and I went and got us breakfast and we lounged on the Costco chase that we bought several years ago with a broken leg at a reduced price. When we bought it, we said that it would just be around for a short while. Well it travelled to Sydney and is still the number one used piece of furniture in the apartment.
I told Lisa to relax and took a cab to Rushcutters bay for sailing. There I ran into my yacht mate, Yumi, from Japan and the instructor Mark. It was a bit windy, even at 9 am on a Sunday morning. For beginning sailing students, the Pacific Sailing School won’t go out if the winds are more than 15-20 knots. How do you tell if the winds are hitting 15 knots? That is a the approximate point where the waves start white capping. Terry, the owner of the school came out and announced that the winds were hitting earlier than they had hoped and all classes were canceled, but we could all go over to the yacht club next door and Terry would buy the cappuccino or mocha or whatever.
I was kind of bummed and didn’t think the winds were that strong, but as the morning progressed I realized that the school knew best as the waves got bigger and the caps closer together. It was a pretty consistent 20-25 knots with gusts well over 40. And C-O-L-D-! An Antarctic blast from the south x southwest was ripping across Sydney.
I had coffee with Yumi, a crazy German guy, and a Hungarian dude. Then I gave Lisa a call that I was going to have a walk back to the apartment and we could start our day once I got there. It is about an hour walk from Rushcutters to Walsh bay, but is an enjoyable walk through Kings Cross an the edge of Darlinghurst, Through Hyde Park and the CBD.
Sunday is a ‘free’ day for eating whatever junk we want and drinking whatever we want. So we headed to our favorite hotel (read bar), The Mercantile Hotel, and found a table outside that at least blocked a little of the wind and I went inside and got a glass of Shiraz for Lisa and a New for me, as in Toohey’s New, and a bowl of Wedges that come with sour cream and sweet chili and Tabasco if you go to the bar and ask for it.
The boats that were on the water earlier this morning, were few and far between and ones with their sails up were pretty much non-existent.
After grabbing a bite, we headed to the Sydney fish market (need to get some snaps of it for you, gentle reader). On Weekends the fish market is a pain to find a parking place and this was made even worse by all the tour buses that had descended upon the market. We picked up OJ, fruit, pawns, snapper, Balmain bugs and oysters. Once back home, we grilled the bugs and oysters on the grill. Lisa did an excellent job with blue cheese, bread crumbs and other toppings on the oysters and we dined outside in the sun and away from the wind while drinking Aqua de Valencia. If Lisa and I mix up a pitcher of Aqua, it means we aint going no where for the rest of the day. Rough mix:
1.5 Brut Champagne
2.0 OJ
.75 Vodka
You figure out what the numbers mean. cheers
