#2

Sunday, September 19, was my last day in Sydney. I’d be leaving the following morning with Basti, Rick and Ash on a five day surf trip up the east coast with a surf outfit named Mojo (http://www.mojosurf.com.au/). On our last day we threw a little going away party on Manly Beach and about 20 people were in our group! I thought it was crazy to have such a large group after only 10 days. My Arnette sunglasses flew off of my shirt and to the bottom of Sydney Harbour on the ferry ride over… Crap!

We loaded into the very posh Mojo bus the next morning around 7am with about 30 other backpackers. On a side note, I was again the only American. It was tough leaving behind a number of friends who’d become really close despite the short period of time, but I know this trend will be the repeated throughout this trip. We arrived in a small town named Crescent Head about 4.5 hours later. We stayed at a beach house 10 minutes outside of the town. I loved this place. It was just my speed and a much needed escape from Sydney’s hustle and bustle. Immediately after arriving we were introduced to the crew, who were extremely cool and funny, and then onto surf lesson #1. We walked about 2 minutes to the beach and then about 1.5 miles down the beach to the surf location. On the walk we didn’t pass one person who wasn’t on the trip with us. We had the entire beach to ourselves. It was SICK and shocking compared to the scene at Bondi, Coogee, Manly or Va Beach. The water is so clear and you can often see the sea floor while floating on your board in 10 ft of water. On several occassions we saw whales and dolphin swimming while we were out there waiting for a wave. Every morning we woke at 7:30am and were served ‘brekky’ (breakfast) before surfing for about 2 - 3 hours. Then, we’d return to the house for lunch around 12pm. Everyone did there own thing like throw the Frisbee, nap in a hammock or chat around the fire until the next surf lesson at 3pm, which also lasted about 2 hrs. Finally, we’d all return for the premo dinners served by Sarah and play a game to see who is responsible for the dishes. I didn’t have to do dishes once! The party is then immediately moved to an area named “The Humpy” which is a short walk from the campus. At “The Humpy” we built a fire, drank beer and taught/ learned each others native drinking games. We stayed in Crescent Head until Thursday morning when we left for Spot X (Arrawarra Beach) about 4 hours away. I liked the beach house in Crescent Head and the staff so much that I gave them my tel# (the local one, don’t worry mom) to call next time the have an opening for a “Gromet” position. They have 3 “gromets” who clean, cook and entertain. They get no pay, but all food, accomadations and surf equipment are included. We stayed at Spot X Thursday night and left after out last surf session on Friday morning. I’d gotten pretty good, but couldn’t handle the 4 - 5 ft swells of Friday. I got up on the first try and rode this wave for about 8 seconds before nose diving and eating it hard. My teeth clapped together and the wind was knocked out of me just before being pulled underneath for about 20 seconds. Scary! Everyone left surf camp with a slight cold or cough from the cooler than normal temps and often rainy evenings. I thought that I'd broken my right foot when a large Irish guy landed on it durning a volleyball game, but it seems fine now after about 5 days.

We arrived in Byron Bay, a small hippy town that’s being overrun by tourism, on Friday afternoon following a 3.5 hours drive. We were dropped off on the doorstep of Aquarius Hostel where we checked in and have stayed for the last week. It’s a really nice place although not as easy to meet new people as it was in Wake Up. The first night we reassembled the crew from the Mojo surf trip to explore Byron nightlife. We ended up at “Cheeky Monkeys” where I ran into Natascha, a Dutch girl I’d met at Spot X. In Byron we’ve spent a lot of time on the beach, hiked to the lighthouse for sunrise and explored the coastline and city. The lighthouse is the eastern most point of the continent. One night we had a few friends over and before we knew it our 8 person room was packed with about 30 people. It felt like college all over. I taught the group how to play Kings and everyone loved it. I have some video that I’ll show you all later.Yesterday I went on a crazy day trip with the “Grasshoppers” tour bus to Nimbin about 1.5 hrs away. Nimbin is an extremely hippy town surrounded by communes and known for their open social acceptance of the drug culture. The town is about one city block and the people are out of this world. After two hours in town we left, had a BBQ and went cliff diving at a local waterfall. Fun day!

Sorry to be longwinded but this now brings you up to date with my travels. We leave tmw and head north to Frasier Island for a 3 day 4x4 cruise & camp on the beach and then onto sail the Whitsundays! It’s been great fun and loads of adventure so far. I think our group will split shortly and another chapter will probably start. I’ll keep posted and hope you all keep in touch. I'm really going to miss Halloween at home, but will love to see yall's pics on Facebook. I promise to post photos soon but it’s tough at these internet café’s.

“Open up you plans and then you’re free”