Duke's Day at Freshwater Beach, Sydney

We're enjoying our weekends this summer with the warm weather. It was forecast to reach 39C in Sydney today after another warm night. I woke my family early at 7am to head out to one of our local beaches before it got too crowded. Little did we know that it was already crowded when we arrived as it was Duke's Day at Freshwater today. According the to Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club website, Duke's Day is a day to "honour and revere the father of surfing in Australia Duke Kahanamoku". It is also a day to raise awareness about the our coastal environment and how to look after it so that all can live in harmony and enjoy.

There were a number of different events held at the beach as well as the surf club to attract everyone - Testosterone Free Zone Surfing (strictly for females only), Tandem Surfing Tips and Demonstration by two couples (one was a 10 y.o. girl with her Dad), Vintage Classic Cars and Combi Vans display. There was also a sausage sizzle and a two stalls promoting coastal care.

We watched the ladies and young girls (youngest was 9 y.o) surfers and were impressed by their skills. It is not easy to surf, balance, walk the board etc but they did it well, despite getting dunk a few times. The next event really impressed all on the beach - tandem surfing. I have never seen this before but the two couples were awesome. One of the couple - Simon and Nicole - were more experienced. Simon was also very strong, he made it so easy to pick up Nicole, lift her high and Nicole was graceful in her moves.

Pair of Tandem Surfers

Apologies for the quality of photos, I only had my iPhone with me.

1st Fish Caught in 2011

Last Thursday, Ashleigh went fishing with her Dad and her Grandpa. They took our 3-men canoe and went out to Clontarf, near the Spit Bridge on the north side. They were out there for a few hours and only Ashleigh brought a fish home, a trevally. According to the men, there was quite a few fishes biting but the snappers were too small or the fishes got away.

A great start to 2011

We had a quiet one at home last night. We decided it was all too hard and tiring to take our girls down to see the fireworks and fight our way through the crowds. We just watch the fireworks on tv, actually it was only hubby who watched the fireworks at midnight to welcome the new year. Ash, Cait and I were fast asleep. Since we woke early at 7am, we decided to head down to Freshie Beach again.

It was a refreshing start to the new year diving into the cool clear waters. There was not a big crowd, which was great. The waves were not as good as yesterday, a bit messy, but lovely for a swim.

Caitlin - Bodyboarding

This summer has been relatively cool, but finally today it was beach day. We woke up early and headed to our fav beach, Freshwater (formerly known as Harbord). The water temperature was a perfect 21C, cool and refreshing. We decided that today we have to get Caitlin on a bodyboard and teach her how to bodyboard, especially when the waves were not too big this morning. Woohoo! She did it! She got dumped by a medium size wave on her last ride and that was the end of her first bodyboarding event. Back to sandcastles Mum, where it's safer.