Easter at Tambac

There has been some pretty good Easter trips, 2006, 2007, 2008 to name a few. This year was no different! We made a trip up to a place called Pacific Palms, which is a little bit North of Seal Rocks. You can actually see Pacific Palms from Seal Rocks and vice versa. I’d previous been to Pacific Palms before for Marcus’ Australia Stag so I knew we would be in for a great weekend.

As is always the way with surfing, there was no waves for Marcus’ weekend but this weekend, with me being the only person who is dedicated to the cause, there were waves a plenty. In fact I’d have to say that the corner by the rocks in the picture below was one of my favourite surf spots as it was mostly lefts and protected enough to let you get out and then work your way into the bigger waves as and when you feel comfortable simply by paddling away from the rocks. It was kind of like a reverse Wategos at Byron. Obviously this isn’t how it always is but Easter weekend just had the right combination of pressure, swell and direction!

Morning Burn at Boomerang Beach

Chris took a few photos of me out there but didn’t  get any of me actually surfing any waves which is cool because I take ages, but here is one of some guy getting green room time –

Tube Time at Boomerang Beach

The place we stayed at was also fantastic. It is called TAMBAC and as you can see from the first picture has some fantastic views of the beach. The setup was one main house which had a bedroom and then two little smaller houses which had bedrooms and bathrooms. Here’s Amy and Lorraine on the first night –

Amy and Lorraine in the kitchen at TAMBAC

The kitchen area was used very well this Easter with some fantastic meals and drinks being prepared. Lorraine, Amy and I were the first to arrive with Lucy, Marcy and Chris arriving a bit later. Lorraine cooked a mexican based dish which was fantastic and which we ended up eating again for lunch the next day, it also started a food cooking arms race which was to last the entire holiday.

On the first full day Chris and I went surfing at Elizabeth Beach where when we paddled out a couple of dolphins swam past which sounds like a fantastic experience but it actually makes me a bit nervous, try to imagine how a dolphin would feel if you walked past it whilst it was out of water. So with that surf done we went back to the house and chillaxed on the decking with the weather which was forecast to rain –

Books, Scrabble, Braids and Sun

Lucy made some delicious hot cross buns from scratch (flour and other ingredients etc..) which were delicious  –

Hot Cross Buns with Lucy and Marcy

That night we celebrated Passover which is a is a Jewish holy day and festival commemorating the Hebrews escape from enslavement in Egypt. It was good fun and as the youngest person at the evening, I had to sing a song in Hebrew which was challenging but good fun. We drank King David – Concorde wine which probably the only wine I know of that doesn’t give me reflux and also had chocolate covered matzo which is delicious! Marcy cooked Brisket in some delicious sauce for passover which was very tasty.

Passover Reading

The next day I went for a morning surf at Elizabeth Beach again, this time with more people out and less dolphins and clearer water. I got a real nice wave which meant surfing was done and dusted for that day. I got back and we all went off on for a trip to Shelly Beach, which is a protected beach just to the right of Elizabeth Beach and much like the Shelly Beach that there is here in Manly, although this one had a rather large crowd of naked tubby old people on it which kind of ruined its tranquility.

Nudie Beach

That night Amy and I cooked BBQ with sausages, rissoles and salad. It was also the start of some serious poker games. The key with poker is to not allow any of the other players to be able to read your face –

Extreme Poker Face

The next morning the poker continued out on the deck with Lorraine showing a clear lead in the game. I went surfing three times that day out front, once in the morning, once again at lunch and once again at dusk. I went out on Boomerang Beach this time and it was brilliant fun. The waves were all breaking left and as an extra fun bonus there was a backwash giving every ride a Newport Wedge feel to it as whenever I was riding a wave there would be another smaller wave coming towards me at some point which when our paths crossed always ended badly. That night we played beer pong which is a good way to drink lots of beer, you basically have to throw the ping pong ball into one of your opponents cups, which is filled with a small quantity of beer. I imagine you could fill the cups with harder spirits but we are all too responsible for that –

Chris and the fine art of Beer Pong

That night we celebrated Chris finishing his MBA course with a roast dinner cooked up by Lorraine and chocolate cake with Easter eggs on it. It was delicious as per usual!

Lamb Pre Cooking

We finished the evening with sparklers and party hats on the deck. The next morning we went out on the deck to find this bad boy sitting on it –

Python on the Deck

The whole snake event turned into a media circus with me taking photos of it, the neighbors next door climbing over the fence to take photos of it with their mobile phones and the neighbors on the other side looking at it through the safety of binoculars. We finished the day with another BBQ after a delicious pumpkin soup that Lucy prepared for lunch. We played poker and watched Superbad on the huge TV the house had and then sadly the next morning had to make our trip back to Sydney.

Moon Rising (yes moon) over Boomerang Beach

Until next time!