Shark!

Australia, especially Western Australia, is well-known for its sharks, and not just any sharks, but some of the biggest sharks that swim in the ocean. (More on this later...)

Last week was spent exploring the Margaret River region south of Perth which, as we said before, is famous for its wineries and big surf.....and it lived up to its reputation. Our first stop when we arrived was Yallingup, a powerful, deep-water left hand reef break. When we arrived, the surf was 8-10 ft with off-shore winds - quite big, but excellent conditions. Since the vast majority of our surfing has been done on the right point breaks of California and Baja, Mexico neither of us are too comfortable on the lefts. This didn't stop Dustin from paddling out, but it did stop me. I had no problem watching from the safety of the beach. Dustin ended up catching a handful of great waves. As he walked back up the beach he was stoked, claiming they were the best lefts he's ever surfed. He also said the waves were actually somewhat mellow and not as crazy as they appeared...yeah right! After the surf we decided to head to the wineries. We spent the afternoon sampling the regions wines and olive oils.

One of the smaller waves of the day:

Kangaroo spotted during our hike along the coast:
The next day we took a break from the surf and wine to go out fishing with the Couch family (they are cousins of Rhonda McGinnity and had visited Dustin's family in Minnesota back in 1986). We spent the morning catching Herring using hand lines and ended up with a nice feast for a beach BBQ lunch. Being on a boat out on the water made us miss having our boat back in California.

The following day was a repeat of the first, except I paddled out this time. The swell had dropped by a couple of feet so the waves were a little less daunting. It was still a scary wave that would come out of deep water and jack up once it hit the reef. It was impossible not to think of all of the big great white and tiger sharks the area is known for as we sat out in the deep water waiting for the sets to come in. Luckily, we had a fun surf and made in back to shore safely.

After spending one day back in Perth, we rallied and decided to head north the next day. A long 12 hours of driving brought us to Coral Bay, the gateway to the world renowned Ningaloo Reef. The drive was actually very similar to the drive down Highway 1 in Baja, Mexico - dry, desolate, empty, full of truckers, and huge stretches between towns. At least the road was much better in Australia and we didn't have to worry about corrupt Federales or crazy Banditos. Anyway, our first day in Coral Bay was spent exploring the underwater coral gardens. Cabbage corals, brain corals, eels, sting rays, and many species of brightly colored fish created a snorkeling paradise. The reef was less than 100 yards from shore, so it was an easy swim to the good snorkeling. Once on the reef, the current would slowly bring you along the reef, depositing you a few hundred yards down the beach.

Now for the shark story you've been waiting for...

From late April to July each year, the Ningaloo Marine Park plays home to the world's biggest species of fish - the whale shark. They show up to feed on the abundant plankton in the water. It all started as we headed out on the dive boat in search of these magnificent creatures. These gentle giants grow up to 36 feet in length but are filter feeders, and are therefore harmless to humans. That still didn't stop our hearts from pounding as we waited for our signal to jump into 180 feet of water with a 15 ft shark headed our way. Before we knew it we were in the water swimming along side this massive shark. It was an incredible feeling to swim next to such a huge creature, so close we could almost reach out and touch it. We ended up getting to swim with four different sharks between 12 and 18 feet long (and these were on the small side) six times throughout the day. Each swim lasted about 4-5 minutes until the shark decided to disappear into the depths. This experience was right up there with skydiving as tops on our trip so far.

Being completely wore out from the day on the water, and completely stoked on our trip "Up North", we headed back to Perth the following day. We made one quick detour to Shell Beach which is made up entirely of cockle shells...kinda neat.
We're now back in Perth and have a few days to prepare before we head to Nepal on Sunday for three weeks of trekking.

100 Days Away (Behind the Scenes)

Since we've just passed the 100 day mark of our trip we decided to devote a post to a random collection of topics from the first three months of our trip....

• Cravings: Having spent most of our time in developed countries, we have been spoiled with the ability to get whatever food we want. We've even had a lot of great food not normally found in the US (green mussels, kokoda, etc). The only real craving we've both had is for good Mexican food, both the "authentic" Mexican food you can only find in Southern California and the not-so-authentic, yet very tasty, Chipotle.

• Work: We promise we're not playing everyday. Although we're technically not working, traveling for an extended period is like having a full-time job. (Okay, maybe not full-time, but at least a part-time job.) An hour or two most days, and usually one full day per week is spent researching upcoming stops, checking emails, making reservations, running errands, or searching for somewhere to do laundry or get our next shower.

• Planning: Since there was no way we could plan all of the details for a year long trip, we're constantly having to think about and research our next stop. We always feel slightly guilty looking forward to the next place we'll visit instead of savoring the moment and enjoying our present location.

• Creature Comforts: One of the biggest things we miss is all of the simple things that go with being settled in a house such as sleeping in the same bed every night and sprawling out on the couch in front of the TV. As exciting and adventurous as it is to constantly experience new things and not know what the next day will bring, there's something to be said for the comfort of being in a routine. With that said, we're having an awesome time and can gladly go without those comforts for the next year.

• Surprising Random Observation: In the U.S the major stores are open late, 7 days a week. Since New Zealand and Australia are developed countries we were expecting the same thing. We ended up learning that most stores here close by 5 or 6 during the week, by noon on Saturday, and are rarely open on Sundays. It's really a pain when you want to buy groceries on a Sunday, pick up some fishing supplies Saturday afternoon (Dustin), or try to find batteries or toiletries on a weekday evening.

• Kindness of Strangers: We've been amazed by the generosity of complete strangers. We've already wrote about celebrating Tex's 48th wedding anniversary on the West Coast of New Zealand, but there's been plenty of other times when complete strangers went out of their way to help us out or just invited us to join them for a drink. One more example...while eating dinner at a park in Gisborne, NZ we were contemplating where we would park for the night. We started talking to a father who was waiting for his kids to finish swimming. After talking to him for only 5 minutes, and before we mentioned anything about our lack of place to stay, we were invited to park our van in his yard for the night. Once we arrived his family insisted we join them for pumpkin pie and ice cream and said we were welcome to stay as long as we wanted.

• Health: Not to jinx it, but we've both been very healthy so far...we're both feeling great and no sicknesses at all (besides the one time Rachel ate too many smoked mussels).

• The Surreal Life: We still can't believe we're on this trip. We spent a good 2-3 years thinking about and planning this trip. It was always so far away, but now it's finally here...a very strange feeling for us.

• Cheap Living: Of the 100+ days we've been away we've only paid for a place to sleep 16 times. Here's a quick run-down by country:

Fiji:
Rustic Island Bure: 4 nights
Nadi Hostel: 3 nights
New Zealand:
Auckland Hotel: 5 nights
Holiday Park Camping: 2 nights
Renegade Camping in Bongo: 50 nights (free)
Family Friends and Friends of Friends: 14 nights (free)
Australia:
Brisbane Hotel: 2 nights
Couchsurfing: 2 nights (free)
Renegade Camping in the Hippie: 7 nights (free)
Crashing at the Girls Hotel: 2 nights (free)
Perth Family Friends: 14 nights (free)
Tent Camping: 3 nights (free)

Relaxing in Perth

We arrived in Perth on Thursday afternoon after an uneventful flight from Brisbane and have been staying with Rhonda McGinnity (Green) and her family. (Dustin's mom stayed with the Green family in Perth as an exchange student 30+ years ago...Wow, Mom you're getting old.)

We've spent the last few days relaxing and enjoying the opportunity to spread out in a house. Having spent the majority of the last three months living in a van, with an occasional hostel and hotel thrown in, and a night here and there at various houses, it has been a welcomed break to have our own room, unpack our bags, and take regular showers. We've been enjoying all of the little things you take for granted when you have a house, but can't do while traveling....having coffee in the morning while reading the newspaper, laying on the couch watching movies at night, etc.

Being fully rested and recharged we're ready to continue exploring...tomorrow we're heading south to the Margaret River region, famous for it's wineries and BIG surf.

The Ups and Downs of Traveling

After picking up Jen, Josephine, and Terri on Sunday at the Brisbane airport we worked our way south to Surfer's Paradise so the girls could get situated in their hotel. After a relaxing breakfast at Burleigh Heads we headed to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary to view koalas, kangaroos, crocodiles, and other animals/birds native to Australia. It was pretty cool seeing all the animals up close. Rachel even got to hold a koala which was at the top of her "To Do" list for Australia.

Little did we know that while we were snuggling up to the cute koalas, gazing at the tree kangaroos, and gawking at the massive crocodile our Hippie Camper was getting broken into. We arrived to find our van's window was pried open and five bags were missing. After unsuccessfully searching the area for our bags we headed back to the hotel to assess our losses. When we got to the hotel we had a message...a good samaritan saw three of our bags outside a Salvation Army and thought something was fishy. He searched the bags, found the girls itinerary, and called the hotel to let us know he found them. Two of the bags were our large backpacks that contained most of our clothing and camping gear, the third was Jen's carry-on. Obviously the valuables (iPod, wallet, etc) were gone and Rachel's small backpack and Terri's bag were no where to be found.

Although not everything was recovered, we were happy to have the majority of our stuff back and the rest is, of course, replaceable. We were just sorry that the girls had to waste a day of their short vacation with the mess. If this is the worst we have to deal with during our travels we'll consider ourselves very lucky. We figure that's what happens when you get comfortable and let your guard down. We should've been more careful and we've learned our lesson.

After playing the part of four Nancy Drews and one Sherlock Holmes the day before, we all agreed some serious wine tasting was in order. Tambourine Mountain became our refuge for the day. We hiked a trail through the rainforest to view some waterfalls (getting soaked from the rain on our way out). We then headed to the wineries in an attempt to forget the disastrous previous day. Three wineries (with all the free tasting we wanted) and a cheese factory later and Dustin now had four crazy girls to deal with instead of just one. Such fun!

Last night we dropped the girls off at the airport so they could continue on their trip to Sydney. We have one day to relax in Brisbane before we head to Perth. Despite the rocky start, we really enjoyed having the girls join us for part of our journey. We're hoping the rest of their trip in Australia is a bit more mellow and relaxing.

As we leave the Gold & Sunshine Coasts on the East Coast of Australia here are a few of our thoughts on the area:

• The surf here has been fantastic...the coast is an endless stretch of perfect right points


• The only downside to the perfect surf is that every spot is ridiculously crowded


• The coastal culture is quite similar to California...the clothing, food, cars, and development are all very close replicas of Southern California


• Like California, once you head inland away from the ocean, you can get away from the crowds and into some solitude


• Despite the whole incident with the van, we enjoyed our time here and are glad we included it on our trip

With all that said, we're looking forward to heading to the West Coast of Australia.....

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.