Adventure Time! Earlier this week we hit the road to discover Catalina Park, a disused motor racing venue located at Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains.
So special, so emotional. Check out the entire feature here: http://zengarage.com.au/2014/01/catalinaraceway
Good morning Zen.
Morning Hugs – Lauren and Matty.
A German, a Japanese and an Aussie walk in to a bar…
First Stop: Car Wash.
Then a quick bite to eat.
Wide Load – Checking out Matty’s place to be by the beach.
Zen Cycling Squad. Couldn’t resist a blat on these hire bikes. Great fun for $2.60!
At Cookie’s rooftop bar for a refreshing bevy.
Then I forced the boys to choose a macaron each from La Belle Miette on Hardware Lane. Minds were blown. Cute ladies serving asked about Zen, and thought we were a dance crew (lol).
The plan today was to get cuts at the Barbers on Hardware Lane, unfortunately we got there too late and they were shut. In desperation we came across a random hairdressers, not quite the same experience, but they did the job!
Happy Matty.
Happy Mark.
Obligatory plane shot. I slept all the way as usual (teleporting is my specialty!).
Top Shop has changed! SO trendy now, amazing food and coffee!
Healthy hearty Byron Bay goodness. Made with so much love.
Caryn let Liz, Pete, Nancy and I rent her parent’s Solaris apartment. I’ve stayed in this very apartment when it was first built many years ago and fell in love with this silk painting of a lion fish. Loved seeing it again, and staying there again, such a sweet spot right on the main beach.
The plunge pool outside. Solaris has aged so well.
Dinner at Tree House the night before the wedding gave us all a chance to catch up with faces we hadn’t seen in over 10 years. Was a great night, live music, great food and amazing company (they make a really nice beer in-house too!).
Glorious Byron Bay food. I felt healthier with each bite!
We made it!
David walking Caryn down the aisle with Honey (who stole the show!).
Caryn and Greg. So so sweet.
Poached eggs with sourdough toast + pulled pork and chipotle relish at Bayleaf Cafe.
This poor puppy had to endure the ‘leave the bacon on the nose until told’ trick over and over again.
Pete’s T-shirt. Love it. Can you name them all? I could pretty easily!
Spotted at the airport on the way home.
Had a great weekend up in Byron for Caryn and Greg’s wedding. I went out with Caryn for 7 years. She was my hippy surfer girl. We first met when I was still doing my design internship during my last year of uni and we ended up running a really successful design business for many years (we even kept running it after we separated).
We’ve remained good friends since (I love that), and I couldn’t be happier that she’s met her man, Greg who I thought was a champ from the very first time I met him many years ago.
The wedding was so so sweet. Especially the heartfelt speeches. I’m honoured to be surrounded by such great friends. I’m also so glad I’ve been making the time to get out and do things lately. I impress myself! Once upon a time I was so lazy that I just found it easier to say no than yes, but this year has been a great year so far. I’ve done so much and feel like there’s a whole lot more to come.
Jamie’s hand made pressie to me, succulents! I’ve always wanted a succulent garden!
It even came with a spray bottle and this lovely card. She’s a talented cookie isn’t she?!
Richie the home brewer gave me this bottle and it’s delicious as expected (almost smashed it all last night!).
Mum gave me this little dude, and card. I was mad on robots as a kid. still remember the robot B’day cake mum made me, which looked a lot like this little fella!
My pressie to myself. Burton luggage complete with skate wheels. I did want Herschel luggage to go with the rest of my gear, but failed to find a plain black one in time for this weekend’s Byron trip so I settled for this instead.
Been so busy lately, and updating this blog less as less as I’ve been too lazy to take the GF1 out (and instead I’m relying on my iPhone + facebook + instagram). I’m off to Byron today for Caryn’s wedding. Pretty excited! I’ve packed the GF1, will be sure to take a few snaps! :)
The Holy Grail.
The boss’ toy. Spotted this in the garage next door to the Subway.
Nature Boner.
The last stop, we’re almost there.
Our house from the outside.
Awesome by night, even better in the morning (despite having a huge one on our first night).
Pimp kitchen.
Pool table went off all weekend.
We had our own private jetty too (shame I didn’t bring the rods!).
Hitting the strip was hilarious. The Maloo turns so many heads on looks alone, then my car confuses with it’s loud supercharger whine, then Dom’s intense GT-R just completes the diverse 3.
Back at the house, double apple sesh.
Love a rental house with nice things in it.
Hey Iris. The only (brave) girl bunking in the house.
Dat.
Paul and Glenny Boy.
Glenn trying to sneak up on a sting ray.
Media station.
Dat ass again.
Our Zen stand at All Stars Gold Coast.
Epic day was epic. The show from above.
Sergio’s catch.
Farewell group shot.
Waiting out front for the Acquired Taste boys.
On the long road home I got excited every time we came across tunnels.
Trouble!
Late lunch at Coffs.
That sunset.
Last Thursday morning the Zen Garage/All Stars Crew + Acquired Taste boys hit the road to Queensland for All Stars on the Gold Coast. The trip up was awesome, much classic karaoke was had and our convoy of car porn really made the epic trek feel a little easier.
The pimp house which greeted us was icing on the cake. Fantastic kitchen, a swimming pool, a pool table too. We partied hard that night (and every night after that).
QLD really turned on the weather, every single day was perfect. On the Sunday we set up early and our jaws dropped at the quality of the cars rolling in. The day was epic, the vibe was electric. The venue was so classy and the people were too. No hoons, perfect behaviour from everyone in attendance, even the cops who were doing laps in their buggy loved the show.
There will be a billion and one photos from the event popping up in the internet over the next few weeks (I missed a LOT of the action). In the meantime click here to check out some photos from the Downshift crew.
Long story short, but I was the first to get in and I didn’t have a key, and the guy on the phone at Quest didn’t have my booking. I sat outside and had to wait for him to let me in. Once I was in I ducked out to buy some beer and a bottle of red. I just popped the red, started to relax and I got a call from the Quest guy saying I’m in the wrong room and that a party of 6 were in the lobby trying to get in (they couldn’t as I took the key in the security key deposit out on the street). Zann then rocks up, and luckily for us they had another room to put us in for the night.
Damien got in the next day and along with some volunteers we spent the afternoon packing the Field Trip tote bags with all sorts of goodies form our sponsors. Late that night back at the apartment Zann got his ticket scanning gear sorted.
6am we were at ACMI Fed Square setting up.
A tote bag on every seat in the house! Seriously sweaty work!
8.30am and the doors were open for registration.
3 speakers in and it was lunch time. Charlotte from the Jacky Winter Group killed it with this amazing lunch box for us. Love eating in Melbourne, so good!
Typographer Luke Lucas was a standout. Love his work. Also, Mimi Leung blew my mind, her process is so fresh.
Panel discussion with all speakers.
An enso on the wall at the apartment, was meant to be! :)
Damien left super early on Saturday morning, then there were 2 again. A Garry Trinh inspired shot of Zann and I.
Hosier Lane is always worth the visit.
Spotted a Low Bicycle. Love the look of these.
Heard good things about the Meatball & Wine Bar. An hour wait, but we were all up for it!
Right into the wine (I’ve forgotten what I ordered, but damn it was smooth).
Sliders were delicious!
Meatballs! The pork meatball with pesto sauce on smashed potato was such a killer combo.
Happy Zann.
Mei and Colin were in town too, so good to catch up with these guys again so soon (after Easter break).
The amazing Todd Proctor in the house.
We hit numerous pubs and in search of more food towards the end of the night we hit Chin Chin.
Chin Chin was shut upstairs, so we settled for their bar downstairs where we found a DJ spinning some pretty awesome tunes.
Paul Kotz, Zann and Todd. Both Paul and Todd run Small Studio, be sure to check them out.
Home, so beautiful.
Had an epic weekend in Melbourne for Field Trip which was a sold out event and went really really well. So glad that Zann organised for both him and I to have that once extra night just to come back down to Earth post event.
I’m exhausted, didn’t help that I went straight to an event in Sydney once I got off the plane! More on that event soon. Right now I’ve got to crash.
EDIT: We had a pro shooter on the day, some of his (amazing) pics are up here.
The house was so pimp. SO PIMP!!!
Jess and Mei in the kitchen, in which Colin and Mei performed much magic in over the 3 nights.
Check the size of it. The house opens up on to a shaded outdoor BBQ area…
…which leads to a private jetty.
Aw yeah! Upstairs we found this theatre room with 8 reclining seats.
Cloud 9. Colin and Mei didn’t want the master bedroom (which took up half of the 2nd floor of the house) and suggested we had first dibs as we beat everyone else there so greedily, we took it!
The bedroom had a massive built in wardrobe, a balcony, a TV which popped up out of a low wall which separated the bedroom from an open bathroom. Our rule was simple. No #2’s allowed!
We woke up every morning to cafe sounds and great coffee. Despite having a Nespresso machine built into the kitchen, Zi and Colin brought their own gear and smashed out perfect coffee’s the whole trip.
We had too many people for the one boat, luckily the property came with another. Colin, Mei and I went out and killed it at sunset. The right time and place we picked up some decent sized brim.
I had a mad fight with this guy. This year I purposely went out and bought a tiny lightweight rod which made fishing so much more fun as every decent sized fish made for a rod bending experience.
That’s Jess on the other boat (who’s never fished before!) pulling up her 2nd fish of the day.
Stevey driving our boat (which had engine problems, and was leaking too, but hey we caught fish!).
Successful and happy we got in before it was too dark.
Sunset at the Jetty, so beautiful.
After a massive feast of fresh fish and the best beef rendang I’ve ever eaten we hit the movie room.
Epic fail though, we were all too smashed and tired to keep our eyes open (doesn’t help when the seats recline so much!).
Like last year, Cherry and Meatball made the trip but both were too scared to come out and play.
Eating so well. Fishing wasn’t really on the 2nd day. Not many bites but Zi managed to pull up a big flathead which we had tempura style.
Colin and Mei brought up a whole lot of brim too.
Colin and Mei also cooked up a massive lamb roast. Too good, so spoilt!
Feasting.
The 3rd day was grey and choppy. Colin, Mei and I set off again in our lucky sinking boat with temperamental engine, we spotted this massive flock of sea birds land and take off right next to us.
The water was choppy further out but we pulled up a couple of squid! We caught some Taylor too, which kept cutting Mei’s line, so we headed back to the comfortable still water of the lake (the trip back in our little dingy was intense due to the waves).
Once at our secret little spot we once again caught some big brim. One so big it ran off with Colins line and eventually broke his rod too (the tip snapped off!).
Back at the jetty after another successful outing.
The house viewed from the jetty.
Takoyaki! Mei put the freshly caught squid to great use.
SO delicious!
At sunset the crew went out again and Colin caught this monster Long Tom!
Gloria pointing at Zi’s massive flathead which we deep fried fish and chips style.
Mei and her bucket full of of brim.
Day 4; So sad. Willy and Zi cleaning the boat, getting ready to hit the road home.
Traffic was pretty bad initially but eventually it got moving. We had dinner together in Homebush at a restaurant which Collin’s family eats at. Someone ordered lobster, we were still ballin’ out of control!
Had an awesome 3 night stay with the “So How” fishing crew at Lake Macquarie this Easter break.
The weekend started with JDMyard’s Easter dinner at Lantern by Wagaya in the city. Sergio and Alain picked me up, next thing we were at Anton’s place and I was potentially up for one messy night! I held off from getting too wasted though, knowing I had to drive to Lake Macquarie the next morning.
I got up sans hang over and made my way to Jess’ place. We loaded up the car and stereo with an SD card of select tunes then we hit the road. We got caught up in some pretty bad traffic on the Pacific Highway, but we were moving once we hit the F3.
The house was pimp and blew everyone’s socks off. It didn’t at all feel like a rental as it had so many nice personal touches; Polished concrete floors, open plan kitchen with built in steamer and nespresso machine, a private jetty, a theatre room, kayaks, boats, a lap pool, bbq and lots of bathrooms (each room had an ensuite + there were 2 extra bathrooms), foxtel and wi-fi too.
The fishing over the past 3 days was epic in comparison to last years Lake Conjola trip. We brought up so much pan sized fish and ate so so well.
I’m definitely feeling a little PHD (Post Holiday Depression!). Had a mad weekend, can’t wait for next year’s trip!
Matt and Alissa picked me up from Zen at around lunch time and we set off for The Entrance. We got to the holiday house first, did some food shopping and started smashing beers before everyone else got in.
We freaked the shit out of Jing with party poppers on entry. He didn’t know we were all going to be there! Eddy’s got a hilarious video of his reaction recordered on a go-pro. I’ll see if he can get it up on youtube (it’s sooo good!).
Jing scored these Y3 boots, and some rad snowboarding gear (he doesn’t snowboard lol) and also a Justin Beiber watch, which was presented in a genuine Bell & Ross watch packaging (lol).
The boys got pretty rowdy and smashed beers, then shots of Sambucca and Hennessy, we then picked up our rods and did a bit of night fishing.
We saw the people next to us pick up a 40cm catfish, weed was all we managed to get though (and we lost quite a few beers which dropped into the ocean, accidentally of-course!).
What’s going on here?!
Dizzy walk back home, empty handed.
When Jing jumped in the shower before bed we ran outside and fucked up his new Audi with eyelashes.
A bonnet scoop.
Front and rear batman badges.
Flashing LED lights and rainbow gay family stickers.
Next morning I was pretty hung over despite dunking a berocca before bed. The bacon ($20 worth of it!) helped though.
Little Ethan, he’s the calmest baby I’ve ever met. Such a rad kid!
A sign on our gate at the house.
Brandon’s EVO. Love the Thule storage box!
Kevin’s Golf GTI Edition 35, Eddie’s new Murano and Jing’s A4 Allroad.
We then went for a fish in a different location.
The boys managed to catch a few baby brims (all of which were let go). Me? I nursed my hangover by sunbathing and burnt the fuck out of my chest (the only place I forgot to put lotion on!).
Jody and Ethan.
Fishing brought on a craving for eating fish and chips so we headed back to the main beach for lunch.
Spotted on the side of the road, what a monster!
Spotted this lovely Hillman in the carpark and gave the owner a thumbs up.
Ethan chilling out in the shade. After lunch we tried a different fishing spot which again saw us catching baby brim.
As expected, everyone had rad cameras!
Sunset out on the deck.
Chilling out before dinner.
BBQ feast!
Later that night we did another spot of night fishing. Eddie pulled up this Mono (quite a popular brackish water aquarium fish).
Brim caught was bigger, but still not legal size.
Oh shit!
Jing and Shirley – The next morning we finished off all our food, cleaned up the house then headed to the driving range for a hit.
Matt – Happy Gilmore!
My first 2 hits were awesome, then I lost it (thinking too much!). PS: The T-Shirt I’m wearing was a $10 impulse buy at the local mall. It reads “Grump Old Man!”. Haha.
Shane’s Supra! We headed back in to town for lunch and spotted at least 30 or so Supras, amongst them Shane’s Gorilla Supra (couldn’t find him anywhere unfortunately).
Seafood platter was delicious.
Got back earlier this afternoon from a great weekend away at The Entrance with the BMU boys (and their partners… I was the 3rd wheel!). Great times, heaps of laughs and many feasts too. I’m super burnt, and I’m starving right now as I’ve got a completely empty fridge! More photos on instagram @justinfoxau
PS: Jing’s pics and the entire trip from his perspective are up on his great blog now. Visit: http://jingers.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/30th/