Beach Bums at Byron Bay

The day after our last post the swell switched directions and the waves were no longer wrapping into the points of Noosa Heads. After spending four days getting some great surf at Noosa we took the change in swell as a sign it was time to head south in search of new waves.

We headed south of Brisbane to the Gold Coast which, along with Hawaii's North Shore, probably has more quality surf breaks packed into a smaller area than anywhere else in the world. We checked out all of the main breaks...Burleigh Heads, Kirra, Snapper Rocks, only to find massive surf everywhere. Many of the surfers were towing-in (using jet skis to pull each other into the huge waves). We were content to watch the show from the safety of the beach with the crowds...even though it was mid-week there were 100's of people just hanging out watching the waves at most of the breaks.

After watching the surf all morning we had enough and went in search of some more manageable waves for ourselves. We continued south to Byron Bay, an artsy/hippie/trendy little town far from the development of the Gold Coast. The surf here was slightly more mellow than the Gold Coast, but still head high plus. We both paddled out through the strongest currents we've ever experienced. Burning arms and a few waves each, we headed in at dark completely exhausted.

The following day the storm that had been sitting off the coast producing all the waves finally hit land, bringing with it plenty of rain. The next few days we hung out at Byron Bay. Dustin went out daily to challenge the strong currents and messy, but fun waves...it was a constant up-current paddle just to stay in position with the occasional sneak set washing everyone back down the point. The one good thing about the tough conditions was that the crowds were almost non-existent. While Dustin surfed, Rachel was happy to just watch, play in the white wash and run on the beach. The rest of our time was spent trying to dry out inside coffee shops or anywhere else we could find.

We found the biggest downfall to living in a van....what to do when it rains. It's been raining non-stop for the last three days and most of our stuff is damp, if not soaked. Since we're in the van we have nowhere to really dry everything out (including ourselves). Luckily it has been pretty warm out so we've learned to embrace the dampness...to an extent. Our next stop is a laundromat to dry all of our clothes.

We're currently working our way back to Brisbane to pick up a few friends from California that Rachel worked with at Patagonia. Jen, Josephine, and Terri will be joining us for a few days before we continue on to Perth and they head to Sydney. We're just hoping the weather improves so they can get a little beach time in.