About five hours after my call to Anthony, I found myself diving off the boat into the waters of Sydney Harbor just off Little Manly Beach. For a second, I expected these pacific waters to be the same unforgiving cold of the Puget Sound. But no, it was just a liquid salty cradle welcoming me to Australia. The harbor is huge, extending long fingers of blue from the mouth of the pacific several miles inland. Anthony is on his summer break between finishing up the last of University; until then he gets the use of his parent’s house overlooking one of the many nooks and crannies of the harbor. Below their very modern house sits the refurbished original structure; what appeared to me to be a classic 1930s bungalow that is, for all intents and purposes, the "Emmett Fish Camp." The fragrance of the humidity and the fishy smell of bait shrimp reminded me of the coast of southern Alabama. The only difference being the high bluffs around the harbor as opposed to Alabama’s lowlands. We motored out, joined by two of Anthony's friends form high school, Banks and Hamish. We spent an hour or so at three different fishing spots, managing to pull up a flat head. A decent eating fish I was told, but no one wanted to bother with the hassle of cleaning and cooking, so we threw him back. We settled on our spot at a little off Manly, roughly 100 meters from shore, but by this time the motivation for fishing was waning, and we had become just sweaty enough to make not jumping in a crime. We swam, fished a little bit more, and headed back in, returning with a little color in my cheeks after pallid tan of a Washington fall and nearly 20 hours in an airplane.
I made my flight with time to spare and am in Perth right now, the Shiralee Hostel, staying here for a few days to get my bearings and get out on the road. In a day or so, I will have some new pictures on the website and on face book.
Click here for pictures: Fishing in Sydney
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