Manly ii

Hoping for a few waves this weekend!! We're getting close to the end of summer!

Christmas in Manly

We shared a flat with my parents for 4 days over Christmas and I just loved Manly. If I had to live in Sydney, it would be there. But if had to live on the east coast, it probably wouldn’t be Sydney…

I loved how everything was focussed around the beach. There was such a great vibe. The streets are laid out so nicely and then the harbour and ferries are parallel to the beach, so you’re on this weird little peninsula. The lay of the land is very different from Perth. So much rock. Cliffs and juttings and outcrops and heads. So of course that makes for some pretty cool surf spots. In Perth you can pretty much walk in a straight line along the beach from one end of the metro area to the other. And there aren’t really cliffs… just sand.

There’s a boardwalk from Manly all the way around to Cabbage Tree Park and Shelley Beach. The waves sometimes break across it and you walk past the in-ocean swimming pool, cafes, diving lessons, a calm swimming beach, two surf breaks, and people paddling their surfboards between one spot and the next. There is a natural viewing/amphitheatre where you can watch the surfers in line with where they take off. Then, 90 degrees to your right, there’s another wave, breaking at a totally different angle!

In typical fashion we brought swell with us and the beaches were actually closed for two of the three and half days that we were there. There was a cyclone off the north east coast and the waves got a bit ugly with messy winds.

Christmas day, our first morning there, was perfect, but thinking we had all the time in the world, we had coffees and took in the sights. By lunchtime, when we decided to go hire a board, the wind had come howling in (for the first time in a week) and it was all down hill from there!

Boxing Day we went out on the Harbour and watched the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race from a boat.

I promised myself that I would go out for a surf before we left. Sure enough, the morning that we had to check out was a lot more orderly and smaller. Of course, the board hire places open office hours and we needed to be out by 10am. So I took out my Dad’s kneeboard! He takes his board with him as people don’t rent kneeboards! This was a great experience. It’s 6’2 and has a very spooned (kneeboard, ugh) shape. It goes really nicely as a stand up board – apart from having to stand across knee dibits. Plus it duck dives well – and I sure was doing a lot of that. More than catching waves.

The water was SO clear out there and I got such a kick out of sitting out there (and from being able to see our balcony from the line up). It was also pretty amazing to see the stereotyped Australian summer surfing culture. Perth is so flat in summer with the protection from the outer reef. But Sydney needs hardly any swell to have waves. Imagine that! Surfing decent waves regularly in summer! Warm water, blue skies, holidays… The Perth surfing culture is having your pick of the car parks, putting on a wetsuit, and paddling out at a beach that is empty apart from the surfers. Lucky for us, Perth is generally pretty spectacular in winter; blue skies, offshore winds, no crowds… and the water and air aren’t really that cold…

I was proud of my duck dives. They’re coming along now. The Manly experience has certainly helped me to concrete my technique and to tweak my timing. Friends said they’ve found my mini-simmons pretty hard to duck dive, but to me, it is actually doable which makes it awesome! It’s not a potato chip thin shortboard, but I’ve been riding a minimal for 4 years. It’s all relative. So the fact that I can actually sink the nose and reach the tail simultaneously means it’s totally workable. I’m still a bit hesitant when I get a critical duck dive where the wave is about to unload on me, but I’m feeling pretty confident with unbroken waves and walls of foam.

Winter in Byron

20110803-_LX_5421.jpg, originally uploaded by alexfringsphoto via flickr.

Magic duck dive shot...

Queensland 5 - Byron and back

Here's me with my new board after our great session at the Superbank. We headed down to Byron, but were not blessed with terrific conditions. This was the Pass the arvo we arrived. It was tiny and we wondered whether James' 7'6 would even carry him on them. The shape is amazing. Peeling right handers that stretch across the bay. We checked out Wategos too, but nothing going on there at all. The other beach down here, Tallows is east facing and had all the swell, but as we turned up it was starting to rain and super windy. I'd love to check out Cosy Corner next time we're over. Maybe we'll be lucky.

The lookout at The Pass

Bird and stormy skies.

We walked along the beach into town. Off to the left in the shot below is the Wreck. It's in the centre of town. I hear it can be good, but on this day there were soo many guys out and hardly any waves even coming through.

Rasta

The rain came in that night. We would have got about 100mm in a twelve hour period. But it didn't stop there. Some places got 200mm. We were ill equipped in our van with fly-less tent, holey tarps and not a lot else. The next morning I went out for a quick surf at the Pass on my own. James was keen to get everything packed up. It was bigger than the day before. Still good shape, but messy. I was a wuss on my own without someone there to give me confidence. I had the long board out and wasn't confident catching the bigger stuff on it - having not really mastered the angle I needed to prevent the nosedive on it - and there was a short period meaning I had to keep getting under them as they came in so close to each other. Still glad I surfed it though. Caught three waves before heading back to the van to get going. Back in Coolangatta and the rain didn't stop for 2 days. We checked out the Superbank in the rain. Looked awesome, but neither of us were that keen to surf in the rain on our summer holiday. Save that for winter in Perth. Later I saw a surf news report about the amazing waves everywhere had had on this weekend. All the places we'd visited going off. http://www.coastalwatch.com/news/article.aspx?articleId=5182 The Pass was the last surf we got over there. A quick dip on Friday back at Superbank, but I didn't really count the one wave - what with the ridiculous current, the brewing storm and the stupid anxiety I had. The one thing I'll say about the trip is that I'd hoped to surf more. Probably goes without saying, but I'd come over hoping to surf every day. Any experienced surf traveller will probably tell me that this was unrealistic from the getgo. I can see that now. I really wanted to step things up, get my technique to the next level, but didn't really feel that I got enough water time. I got some good trimming going and some fun waves, but didn't catch anything as big as the stuff I've surfed at home and I guess I disappointed myself in that regard. It is understandable, I think, when you're somewhere new and unknown without anyone to tell you where to sit, where the rips form, where is safe. But next time I think I'll need to push myself a little more, take every opportunity that presents itself, otherwise you're left wanting more.

Superbank in the rain. More people out than the previous weekend when it was sunny.

Sets rolling in.

The day we flew out. We cursed ourselves for packing the boards before checking the beach!

We'd decided on a relaxed morning, cooked breaky and leisurely pack up. Seeing this made me wish we'd done it all the night before and surfed! Even if it meant wrapping our boards in the airport! The whole trip was great. There were some interesting moments, of course, and things we'll do differently next time, but we'll definitely be back!!

Queensland 4 - Heading South

We checked out Ti-Tree again the morning we left, but there wasn't anything breaking. Determined to have a surf before we spent the whole day driving, we stopped in at Maroochydoore. I'd bought my new Mal the day before and couldn't wait to try it out. 9'1, bob Brown shaped. Half red and half blue. Plus it was calm enough to get the camera out again. Recording history. Waiting for a wave. The shape here was amazing. It looked more like a reef break than a beachie. They looked big but didn't have a lot of power. If you weren't taking off from the peak, it was really hard to catch. The shoulder didn't give you any love.

Waiting

Paddling for a wave!!

One of my first rides on the new board and most recent picture of me surfing!! (Doesn't really give much away though, does it?) I did a fair bit of nose diving trying to get used to the new board, where to lie, the angle to paddle on. I'm slowly getting it sorted. I was amazed by how easily it turns! And its light, not like some of the longboards I've tried to pick up and can barely carry.

We arrived back at Coolangatta that arvo and were lucky enough to get a 2nd surf in at Rainbow Bay. The superbank was doing its thing. We were were in a spot removed from most of the hardcore surfers. But that also meant that we didn't have to compete for waves. There were so many to share out. Got a better handle on the mal in this session. I had a couple of really nice righthanders, staring into the sun, setting down the line. Some super long waves and cut backs!! I just didn't want to leave.

Queensland 3 - Noosa!

Driving up to Noosa was disgusting. It was about 34 and the van had no air conditioning and barely any air coming out the air vents. Plus, because its a van, you are sitting on the engine in the front which makes it even hotter. Took a little longer than we thought, what with diversions to check out other places along the way. The Highway is a bit of a way inland from the surf towns. On the way up, we'd stopped in at Calloundra for a surf. King's Beach was the first place we found and it looked awesome! Until we got down the beach... Head high waves peeling beautifully out the back, but to get out to them - head high dumpers breaking on the shore. It just wasn't what we had in mind. Safely installed in a lovely little chalet for a couple of days, we had amazing food in Noosa and everyone was really friendly. We checked out Sunshine Beach by recommendation but it was big and pretty messy anyway. We decided to try for Ti-Tree Bay even though I'd heard you had to walk there and we weren't sure how far.

This is us at Noosa National Park.

Getting ready to carry all our stuff. Have we forgotten anything??

The National Park.

As it turned out, it was only a 5 - 10 minute walk in and this is the view we were greeted with. Magic. Pretty small when we arrived, but I guess that meant that there was only one guy out instead of everyone - and he was from Darwin! The waves broke off the little point you can see.

Totally psyched!

Posing.

This guy appeared around the point paddling his board, disappeared out around Ti-Tree point and paddled back a little while later to catch this wave, before paddling home...

Stoked.

Refuelling before going back out.

It was such a fun day. No stress. Nothing scary. James had one terrific wave that no one else caught of the point, so he caught it a bit further in and went screaming along, high up on the face. After we'd been there for a couple of hours and had the place to ourselves, we were joined by about 10 other surfers. Still not really that crowded. Long waves here. I found I'd keep stalling my board trying to trim. Then I figured out that I needed to move my weight back and viola, I was zooming along again. Made things easier.Camera goggles - a bit blurry some pf the crew out. She was grumpy, though.

A couple of Asian guys and a girl on longboards were so good! Such a pleasure to watch them. Up and down the board, hanging 5, sitting on the nose! They never stopped moving.

I took this shot as I was riding the wave. I'm impressed, even if no one else is. ;)

Queensland 2 - More Gold Coast and critters

Greenmount Bay looking across to Kirra.

Fabulous Turquoise water. I think this day we decided it was too small and headed for Noosa. In hindsight, you gotta take what you can get and get out there!

Snapper in the distance.

So Blue!!

Frog in the Caravan Park.

Bush Turkey... Noosa National Park.

More bush turkey. And the yellow-piece-of-shit van we hired. Lizards that were really tame. This one didn't move when you walked past.

The kids playground at the Caravan Park in Kirra.

Queensland 1 - Gold Coast

I have so many photos I want to put on here, and they don't even include any of the camping and eating we did. Queensland was great! It was all I'd hoped it would be. Was hotter than I thought and we got a bit sizzled a few times. The waves are like nothing we have over here. All of the beaches I saw collected massive amounts of swell and had good banks! Maroochydore, Calloundra, Burliegh Heads. BIG waves for the swell coming in, but all nicely peeling. Even Kirra than people say isn't what it once was looked good. A wave would peel off and barrell and keep barrelling! Unridden. So less writing now and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Rainbow Bay the day we arrived.

We were so shattered from basically being awake for 36 hours, catching three planes...surfing was not a good idea.Refreshed the next day we couldn't park near the beach, so walked in from a few blocks back. Weekend crowd. Bloody hot. Ready to go out. Sunsmart!! We had a fun time. No pictures as it was all a bit busy to be worrying about a camera in the water. The was quite a current that pushed you west towards Greenmount Beach. This just meant that we, along with 40 other people, would get out there, walk back around and get back in where the waves were breaking. Sounds silly, but it was really strong.

After a surf, we checked out Point Danger. All the benches are shaped like surfboards. Here I am shooting the curl.

James hangin 10

Snapper Rocks. All part of Rainbow Bay, but a whole different kettle of fish.

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