Easter break part 3

After Lennox we set our sights on the Goldcoast, home of surfers paradise.

What can I say? Everything was perfect, it's easy to see why they call it surfers paradise. We surfed for most of the morning then took a short tour of the town, it's alot like California but everyone seems to be a surfer, and no one is in a hurry. Hopefully I have another chance to spend some time up there, but then again I'd probably never leave. Back in the car we again changed directions and headed down south. Due to no plans we went a new direction everyday, I think our route looked something like a sporadic connect-the-dots.

We found ourselves in Yamba (hometown of my roommate Kieren) and found yet another perfect stretch of beach. With another several hour surf we were about out of daylight, fortunately we got last minute invites to Kierens farm. With an over sized bonfire I introduced schmores (spelling? you know the graham cracker-mallow-chocolate routine) to the Aussies with great success, they'd seen them on movies but had never had them before.

The next morning we returned to beaches of Yamba for a pre-drive surf, again we couldn't have asked for better conditions. Taking route once again the opposite direction, we were back on the road. With great tunes and in good moods the drive back to Byron was excellent!

Laurie proposed we visit an old rock quarry that she'd heard of with a huge cliff jump, why not? I said. The quarry had several places one could jump from but anything other than the highest felt incomplete. After testing the depth everyone but the frenchman (too scared) hiked to the highest point, about 70-80ft. The jump was completely terrifying but we managed to get out injury free and feeling great!
Here's a link of other people jumping off it: http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=DaBYRwLQIWU&feature=related

That night we went to a byob pizza shop and stuffed our faces with excellent food and great Australian beer. After dinner we rented a surfing movie (do you see a theme here?) and went back to Laurie's house.

The next morning we went out for our last surf before journeying home, a great finish to an awesome trip.

Easter break part 2

The lack of civilization resulted in a stunning masterpiece of the heavens, the constalations, shooting stars, and milkyway demanded attention. We decided we wouldn't need to sleep in the tent due to perfect conditions, how often does one get to sleep on the beach in good weather under a clear sky? We woke up at first light and there were already people in the water. We packed up camp and tried to look as natural as possible, no sign of the fuzz.

A breakfast of powdered milk and wheat bix (Australian cereal, it's really good!), we went to pick up replacement boards for Laurie (the Canadian) and me.

The next stop was Lennox Head, the name alone brings back sour memories! Lennox is another famous beach in NSW, the waves are great but the beach... the beach is rock, all sharp, horrible, angry rock. On the way to this beach Tristan said it was "The sharkyest beach I've ever surfed!" which may or may not have gotten in my head!

One has to shuffle across the rocks into knee deep water, being ever mindful of the waves crashing into you. When you see a big wave coming at you, jump over it and paddle as fast as you can before the water recedes and leaves you stuck on the rocks, where you will be destroyed by the next wave.

The waves were pumping but they broke pretty close to the rocky beach, making the whole charade stressful! After an hour with some admittedly great waves, I was looking around and didn't see my companions, either they had been eaten by sharks or they were on shore, either way getting out of the water was my highest priority!

I watched a few people getting out to see what was working best. I made my way towards the beach but the low tide denied me access as i ran into rocks about 30-40ft from the shore, "this could be trouble" I thought. I attempted to paddle back out and try further up the beach but it was fruitless, I was in the rip being carried down the beach, the worst place to be. Luckily Tristan hadn't been eaten by a shark and was still in the water. Seeing that I was in a bad situation he tried to coach me out of it, but unfortunately he wound up in the same situation as me. I'd been paddling for about 30 minutes at this point and was fading fast. We ran out of options and had to paddle for the next beach, .5-.75 miles away across shallow water with the same horrible rocks. The beach was the same as the one we had entered the water in, the only advantage was it had spots of sand and no waves.

Bruised, cut, bleeding, tired, and glad to be on land we hiked to the car.

Easter break part 1

For Easter break I took a trip up the coast with my roommate, we had no plans, $80 worth of candy and baked beans, and a tent.

Along the way up towards the Gold Coast we saw kangaroos, that famous big red rock, and tractors.


A late start, switching cars, obtaining a Frenchman, and a "mandatory" surf stop put us in Byron Bay around 10pm. We stayed at Laurie's house (Canadian) a friend Tristan made while surfing in Hawaii. The next morning we woke up earlyish and took to "Broken head" beach, who could have guessed we'd run into any trouble there?

After about 2o minutes in the water I managed to snap my board in half (the waves helped), worst part is due to the fiberglass being torn off, it can't be fixed. Thinking the surf trip had just ended for me I was bummed, maybe I wasn't ready for this level of surfing? Luckily this wasn't true as no less than twenty minutes went by when I saw Laurie walking to the car, board snapped in two.




Laurie was able to borrow two surfboards so we would be able to surf the rest of the trip, how awesome is that?

Without a place to stay, we started driving around looking for a place we could throw a tent without having to pay. We ran out of sunlight without having found a place to sleep when we had a "good" idea, why not sleep on the beach? Legalities aside, we were feeling very smart having found a place to sleep that others pay millions of dollars to build their house in front of. We set up camp in the dark to avoid detection, in retrospect this was a pointless act as we had a large camp fire that night.

Secret spot

I’ve successfully moved into a house just down the road from my first accommodation. The house is a complete bachelors pad with three awesome roommates. Yesterday me and Tristen got up at seven, had a few pieces of toast, and took to the road to find a hidden beach with excellent surf. After about 30 minutes and a dozen wrong turns we pulled up to an inconspicuous camping ground. A fifteen minute hike through the bush spits you out on the top of this hill.

It's hard (for me at least) to judge the size of waves from the land. The pictured waves were 4-6ft, more than enough to give you a decent tour of the ocean floor!

Saturday Morning

I did not take this picture! Google Yegor Korzh for more Newcastle shots.

The above picture is of the Mereweather ocean baths, a free swimming pool to the people of Newcastle! It's been around since the 1930's and sees hundreds of swimmers and splashers everyday. It's an ocean water bath (pool) that is drained bi weekly to keep the water fresh. It's only about 1.5 miles away from my house so it's easy to jog over to in the mornings.

Around eight this morning my friends Stefan (Germany) and Sebastian (Tasmania) ran with me from the boarding house over to the baths, had a swim then ran back. Hopefully the waves will be nice and we can all go surfing in this arvo (Oz slang for afternoon).

City council clean up day

Yesterday I celebrated my favorite semi annual Australian holiday, city council clean up day. On this excellent day the residents of Newcastle put their unwanted bulk junk out in front of their house to be picked up by the garbage men on an allotted day. The CCUD is poaching season for poor college students looking for furniture, I'm told it's not uncommon to see cars with trailers attached driving around hunting for goods.

After a college church service on sunday I jumped into Jacquie's (Kieren's [future roommate] girl friend) toyota and took to the streets. After "sussing" (Oz slang for acting suspiciously) around a few neighborhoods we hit the jackpot. We found a new bedside set of drawers for Jacquie, some tables for Kieren, and a surprisingly nice desk for myself. Tristen (other future roommate) and I sat out of the back windows and held the desk on the top of the car to take it home, illegal? Who knows, I'm a foreigner, things are different back home! < I use this often

After an accomplished evening I wished everyone a "happy city council clean-up day" and retired to my quarters.

I move into a house down the street from my current Accommodation at the end of the month. It's less expensive, only has 3 roomies instead of 50, larger room to myself, unlimited internet, cleaner, and everyone surfs, bonus.

Newcastle/Living Quarters

Newcastle has been treating me very well, the weather has been great and the people have been friendly. This is the beach down the road from the boarding house, I walk here almost everyday to surf.

My room is on the small side (If I stretch out I can touch both walls near my desk) but being that I didn't bring much, it works out. I've reorganized since the picture and have moved my bed under the window, this gives me room to do handstand pushups and other oddities.

Since my last update I've started surfing everyday, and completed a motorcycle training course granting me a license on the streets of NSW. I'm still looking for a postie bike (http://www.postiebikes.com/faq.htm#1.%20What%20is%20a%20Postie%20bike?), the ankle express isn't what it used to be and my bike lock is stuck in the locked position on my bike, dang.

Other points of interest:
I bought a fan off the internet, things are much cooler these days!
I've been thinking it would be really cool to try out for pararescue after I finish my degree. Here's a link to the Wikipedia Pararescue Jumper page if you're curious. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_Pararescue