And the other reason for the lack of blogging and the complete lack of a new Photo of the Week on Monday or Top Ten Tuesday is the fact it was my birthday  yesterday :)

The morning kicked off in true birthday style with presents! Yaaaaaay!

A whole heap of goodies from the lovely Kez (including a new rashie and a bottle of Jack!) got me in the mood before Skyping the parentals and opening cards and presents that my family had sent over.

Then I hit the café for brekkie and was promptly given it for free…this day was going good!

A few calls were made and webcams checked before me, Pat and Hannes loaded the van and went looking for my traditional birthday surf.

The Pass was clean but small, and it being my first proper surf since messing up my face I wanted something a little bigger.

The call was made to hit Broken Heads due to the swell and wind direction. Rocking up there we suited up and paddled out – a good 3-4 foot swell.

After cautiously negotiating the channel I hooked into a nice birthday left, fun but punchy and after kicking out without breaking anything I was stoked.

However it seems my accident singed my surfing confidence as much as it dinged my face and board and to be honest I missed a few waves that usually I would’ve easily locked into. It was rather frustrating but I caught a few.

I soon decided to bail and hit The Pass instead for something a bit more manageable. Me and Hannes had a good little mess around session, logging down the line and relaxing in the sun – which was out in full force.

By 3pm I’d had my fill and after a pancake snack (Hannes had prepared a whole tub for us!) we hit Aquarius bar for a cider in the evening sun.

After the carnage of the weekend the plan was to take it easy. This quickly went out the window as a crew of us caught the Brewery Bus to Buddah bar. $2.50 schooners started flowing and I was quickly on my way.

A steak dinner at Cheekys with the manager making me scull two JagerBombs sent me even further down the slippery slope of drunkenness, and all the free drinks tokens I’d collected in the last few weeks were being ploughed through. Lastain joined us and between him and Kerri they took pretty good care of me!

The night quickly became a hazy blur though and was split between the Monkey and AQ Bar. Happy birthday Kareoke songs and a lot of free drinks finished off my memory for the night!

All I will say is that I took 2 people to undress me and see me into bed.

A messy night with good times and good company. Roll on mine and Kerri’s joint party on Friday – Toga party at AQ with a free keg and BBQ…EPIC!