"An Around-the-World-Ticket for Two, Please."

Back on the road again!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Sunday, 9 January 2011 23:55

We both finished working on Friday, so Saturday morning we packed up Gunther and got on the road again! Our original plan was to travel north, however, all the flooding means that is not really possible, and the weather is much better south, so that is where we are going! We decided to drive a couple of hours to Byron Bay, which is a lovely seaside place where lots of backpackers go. We made some CDs for Gunther from Sam and Kelly’s massive music collection, so we drove down blaring the music out, and driving through the rain! We arrived mid afternoon, (New South Wales are an hour ahead for daylight savings!), and headed straight to the information centre. We got a list of campsites and gave them all a ring, the prices varied a lot so we went for a cheaper one, still more than we paid in WA as it is peak season being summer and Christmas holidays!

We then had the fun task of setting up the tent, which went ok, taking a little longer than the 10 minutes the man in the shop said, but I am sure we will get it down to a fine art! We were grateful we had bought an electric pump for the airbed, it just plugs into the cigarette lighter, and was done in seconds! Once the tent was set up we decided to take a walk to the beach, which was apparently a 10 minute walk from the campsite. It turned out to be more like 20 mins through a bog, and when wearing flip flops, the effect is similar to splatting mud all up your back and in your hair! Ben was sensible enough to take his off, which I did in the end, but a bit late! We got to the beach eventually, and it started to rain, haha! We stayed for a while and enjoyed the view, it is a lovely beach. We walked back a different way on a tarmac path which was much better! I had a shower, and then tried to wash the mud out of my white top! Ben cooked dinner on the little stove, a tin of lamb hot pot stew stuff, and some added tinned potatoes! He had a few bottles of beer and I had a couple of glasses of wine and we played cards by the light of our little camping lantern! We are definitely going to have to get a better light! We skyped with my family and then went to bed, our first night in a tent in many years!

It rained a lot in the night, and one of the seams of the tent is not very waterproof, so a little rain comes in, but it’s only a little, and not too bad at all! When it was dry we covered the seam with surf wax, which was a free gift when shopping the other day, so that came in handy! The weather was iffy and didn’t seem to be able to make up its mind, so we decided to book a surfing lesson for the afternoon! So we had a lazy morning, went into town to get some ham for lunch, set up our camping table under a tree (as the sun had come out!) and had a lovely picnic lunch! We got picked up for our lesson at 1.15, there were 4 more people in the bus and the guy took us all up to Lennox Head to overlook the beach and show us the area. We got down to the beach and another couple met us there, so that was 8 students in total. Another instructor then turned up and we all headed down to the beach.

We warmed up, doing different stretches etc, and then sat on the end of our boards to listen to the instructor. They talked all through safety and rip currents etc, and then showed us how to get out to the waves, by tipping up the front of the board and going towards the wave straight on. Then they showed us how to get on the board, and hang our feet on the edge, and slide up the board and put our hands flat under our shoulders. After we had all practised with our boards on the sand it was time to practice in the sea! I think our bit of body boarding in Cornwall helped a bit with confidence and timing of the waves and we were both catching waves and sliding our bodies up the boards, hands under shoulders and heads up! The waves were pretty rough, and the guy told us the conditions weren’t the best, but we all enjoyed ourselves! After lots of practising, they got us back on the beach to show us how to turn, which was helpful as I had a very near miss colliding into Ben while he was walking back out towards the waves and I was heading in on one! They showed us how to slide back and put our body weight on our hip, which we all practised on the sand again, and then back into the sea. We were all doing well as winding this way and that on our boards! The weather turned bad and started to hammer it down on us, which was quite funny! It was totally exhausting getting back out towards where the waves were breaking after you’d caught one in, and I was getting so tired! They got us out onto the beach one final time to show us how to get to a standing position! We practised lots on the beach first, and myself and another girl stayed back to practise a bit more with the instructor before getting in the sea, and I could not get in all in one swift movement like necessary! She showed me in was because I wasn’t using my toes to slide my feet up, so once I did this it was much easier! Off we went into the sea to practise! The first step is sliding up onto your knees, which was fine, I could manage that most times! However, it all started to fall apart when we tried to get into a standing position! We’d topple and then crash off the board into the sea most times! However, Ben and I both managed to stand up for at least a few seconds a couple of times! I think Ben was really getting the hang of it and working on his technique by the end, and it was a shame the session finished, but I was kind of pleased as I was so whacked! We all went for a swim in the fresh water lake across the road from the beach that is lined with tea trees, and has stained the lake so the water looks this nasty brown colour, but it is just full of tea tree and smells delicious, and is really good for your skin! It was very refreshing! WE got dry and the guy took us to their shop to look at hire boards etc, and then to a place called “Mavis’s Shop” which is this little old lady’s (I assume Mavis!) shop, and she was selling chocolate brownies for 50cents! So of course we had to have one! We got chatting to one of the couples with us, who were only in Australia for a month. They had arrived in Cairns (north) and booked a campervan to travel down to Brisbane, so they picked it up and signed and paid etc, only to be told they couldn’t drop it to Brisbane as planned as no one get to Brisbane due to all the flooding, so they had a campervan for 10 nights, and just had to drive around and in and out of Cairns! Unbelievable! So they ended up flying to Brisbane and have another campervan to do the rest of their trip! This weather has a lot to answer for! The guy dropped us back at our campsite and we went to get some sausages (snags if you’re Australian!) for dinner! We both cooked dinner, Ben did the sausages and I did the pasta, and sat in the awning of our little tent! We had quite an early night as we were both so tired from our four hour surfing lesson, and it was pouring with rain anyway! It was a very blustery night with lots of rain, but the tent survived and so did we!
I will post some pics to go with this soon, we need to charge the laptop when we drive a long distance, and then we can get the pics on from the camera!
Sarah x