Just before Christmas the three of us spent a week in lovely Kiama and the allure of another visit was too tempting to resist. The thing about Kiama is that is gets very, very busy on weekends and a jazz festival in town only adds to the numbers. Consequently, all the van parks were full for the weekend so our plan was to spend 4 nights at our favourite park at Kendalls Beach before moving to the nearby Berry show grounds for the weekend.
The swell height was only a foot or two which gave a nice opportunity to build up some much needed paddling strength. I had several surfs at Bombo, just north of the town. There was a consistent peak in the middle of the beach where I spent most of my time sharpening my skills. It was a rip affected break and took some effort to maintain position in the lineup so that a fair amount of paddling was required. At the end of the week I felt confident that I could cope with the fitness required should the swell bump up in size.
During our last visit we had lunch at the local Vietnamese restaurant and Tomoko was keen to relive the experience albeit solo as I was charged with dog minding duties. When she entered the establishment she was greeted with the scene of a poor elderly lady being comforted as she spewed copious amounts of vomit while others nervously waited for an ambulance to arrive. It spoiled the atmos somewhat, dampened her appetite and she returned to the caravan disappointed and hungry. She can get quite upset when one of her culinary escapades go awry so I reminded her that the Kiama markets were soon coming up. It did little to cheer her up and it wasn't until we visited the seaside market and she was loaded up on macaroons that happy Tomoko returned.
Bombo also seemed to be a likely spot to catch some fish and I did a dawn patrol one morning, again armed with my Ballina beach worms. There wasn't an obvious gutter to attract me so I fished the edge of a rip. There was little action over the course of a few hours but I did manage to land a 33cm whiting. My catches of late have consisted of just the one keeper so I am looking forward to getting a few more to a least be able to make a meal. The relatively flat seas and clear waters made for good spearfishing conditions too and I ventured out late one afternoon off Kendalls Beach. The fish were scarce but I noticed a healthy population of sea urchins so I ditched the gun and filled a bucket with them, much to Tomoko's delight.
We had a spot of good luck mid week. Tomoko had been badgering me to ask about cancellations for the weekend at the caravan park. Being such a popular weekend destination I was convinced that it was a futile exercise but just to keep Tomoko appeased we enquired at reception one morning to find that they had only just had a cancellation and we were able to secure a site for the weekend. We still had to move our van two sites down but it was a great deal more convenient than having to relocate to Berry.
Come Friday it was time to head to into Sydney to watch my beloved Manly Sea Eagles take on the old arch rivals at Parramatta. It was a great coincidence that we just happened to be a train ride away from the game when Round 1 kicked off. A fun surf at Bombo in the morning followed by a refreshing post lunch nap was a good omen for the day as I boarded the train at Kiama. It's a 2 and a 1/2 hour trip so in keeping with the theme of the day I bought along a copy of 'Beaver - The Steve Menzies Story' which I picked up for $2 from a book fair in Canberra to read.
After changing trains at Redfern it was not long before I was in Parra. I didn't know the route to the ground but followed the predominately blue and gold jerseys through the streets to the stadium. There was a lot of energy around the place and you got the feeling parra fans feel excited about their chances this year. I had a seat in the away supporters area and it was reassuring to be amongst the likeminded. We all cheered when the players came over to our part of the ground for warm up and there was a feeling of quiet confidence among our fans. At half time trailing by just 4 points felt we were right in the game. This feeling gradually evolved to disappointment as history shows Parramatta scored 26 unanswered points in the second half to run away with the game 42 -12. I was very impressed with the resilience of the Manly crowd who mostly stayed till the final siren and were for the most part well humoured despite the occasional taunt from opposition fans. It was a long and lonely walk back to the station where the news only got worse for us manly fans as I learnt that our gun no. 7, DCE had just announced he's signed with the Titans from next year. I admit to feeling a little glum as I boarded the 10:45pm train back to Kiama.
The train ride home was not without incident. Near Albion Park I watched through the glass doors into the next carriage as two overweight blokes had a massive punch up. It lasted a good 30 seconds before reaching it's conclusion. Not surprisingly a woman appeared to be at the heart of the dispute.
At one point I moved to change seats when I heard 'Go the Sharkys'. I turned around to see a smiling Cronulla supporter obviously happy to see Manly take a beating. He began boasting that DCE was coming to the Sharks. I told him he just signed with the Titans but it didn't seem to register as he assured me he had it on good authority that he was Shire bound. I spoke again, this time slowly and using simple words so I could get my message across. He looked at me in shock, lowered his head and swore before logging on to his smart phone to get the latest news. I'll admit it put a smile on my face and the well being stayed with me until I arrived back at the caravan at 1:30am. It had been a long day & it took me most of the weekend to recover before exploring more of what the South Coast has to offer. Until then...adios amigos.