Canadian Down Under

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Rollercoasters

I love rollercoasters - but unfortunately I haven't been on any in a while. But this morning I found a pretty fab substitute.

Now, I've talked about the Manly ferry that I take to work everyday - but I've never really mentioned the Jet Cat before. I love the ferry rides, but they are half an hour long whereas the Jet Cat is only a 15 minute ride - so although I've never really enjoyed the Jet Cat (can't sit outside...) as much, the last little while that extra 15 minutes of sleep has been worth the extra $2 per trip. (I try to be fiscally responsible, but it just doesn't work...)

And you know, although I say I've never been a real fan of the Jet Cat, I have actually enjoyed a few trips over the last couple of weeks. Why? you may ask. Well with the winter weather moving in, the strong ocean swells have made for some pretty good trips.

Last week I was a little late heading in for work and ended up on a Jet Cat that was jampacked with school kids - probably 8-10 year olds. Teachers were with them and they were pretty well behaved (read: quiet) until the skipper came over the PA system announcing that we were about to go through some big swells and that everyone was required to stay seated for the duration of the journey. A ripple of excitement seem to run through the school kids - which was in direct contrast to jaded nonchalance of us regular commuters.

As we went past the heads (where the ocean entry to the Harbour is, and where the ocean swells are at their strongest) it turned into a pretty rough ride. It felt like the waves were just tossing the catamaran Jet Cat we were on at will. Us regular commuters remained pretty much unaffected - some even continuing to drink their coffees and read their papers through it all, that was until the kids started screaming.

Now they weren't 'bad' screams - more like squeals of excitement. You know the sound kids make on amusement park rides? Kind of like that.

And the best part of it all? Looking up in reaction to the noise, I noticed that all us jaded commuters had smiles on our faces. Smiles of enjoyment. It seems the kids' very vocal response to the ride somehow allowed us to express our own enjoyment - even if a bit more muted.....

So, on that day, the Jet Cat started to win me over - and today, it completely won me over. Today was another stormy, rocky day on the water and coming home on the Jet Cat it was 'up and down' through the swells. I was watching out the window and I saw this big wave coming and I just thought: this is going to be a good one. "

I braced for it.

It hit us.

It rocked the boat and we came down the other side like you would from the top of a rollercoaster. From the mid-air suspended feeling at the top to the hurtling downward ride it was amazing. Made me laugh out loud like all rollercoasters do (I don't scream, I laugh - which is probably why I love them so much!) Even the guy in front of me was laughing.

Here's hoping for more stormy weather!!

1 Comments:

  • I know that when I was in Australia recently, I loved going on the Ferry to Manly; so relaxing and that view of the City when you come around the point. Wow.

    By Blogger Mitch, at 1:13 AM  

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