Around The World In 80 Waves

Such are the level of shark attacks on the coast of Western Australia that the local fish are closer to furious than they are to angry!

In the past twelve months there were eight recorded shark attacks, seven of them from great whites. This compares with an average of more than four attacks each year over the past decade.

It isn’t surprising then that the local surfers would do anything to try and prevent themselves being next on the shark’s menu.

You may have seen in the news that so called shark proof wetsuits have been produced towards this end.

To say I am a tad nervous about surfing here is like saying the pope is a tad Catholic. Therefore I would be tempted to invest in one of the suits if I thought they were any guarantee.

However given the suit is described as a shark mitigation system I fear in truth it is probably only as effective as the Shark Repellant surf wax that used to be sold here. Guaranteed against shark attack or your money back!

I will have to make do with what I already have. Wish me luck.

I was about to post a report on how pain free flying the five and a half hours with Virgin Australia had been from Sydney to Perth. No surcharges and I was handled like a human being too. However right at the last minute they managed to screw that up by losing my surf board in the airport in Perth!

It is a couple of hours behind Sydney and after I had wasted an hour hanging around whilst they found my board it was nearly midnight there. I had been awake since dawn Sydney time and was teetering on the edge of a severe case of sense of humour failure.

Can no airline get it right?

It has been fantastic having my own space for the last few weeks but I am heading to Perth later today and it would be far too long and boring a drive to get there, so I’m returning the van and catching a plane.

It is amazing how attached you get to vehicles, and I have to say that this one hasn’t stepped out of line once as I have travelled all around the coastline of south and eastern Australia so I’m sorry to be saying goodbye to it.

The good people at All Seasons have been brilliant with me too. They sorted me out with a great price initially and were even good enough to let me off the administration charge that normally goes with passing on my details after I got nicked for speeding.

I spend the night at a camp site close to Cronulla, keen to get in the water here in the morning because it is the home break of Mark Occhilupo, a former world champion surfer, whose career I have always followed.

However the waves are a bit naff when I get there and I am bored of dribbly surf and can’t be bothered to go in here today. I have had too much of it of late, and will have another chance to surf this break later on my trip because it is so close to Sydney.

Instead I head straight back to Adam and Rossana’s place so that I can start packing my bags for the next leg of my travels.

I think I can use the opportunity to pack up some more things to send home, but am staggered at how much there is after living in the van for the last month and a half.

I don’t have time to post my parcel mountain but am dreading the bill when I get around to it after visiting Indonesia and Fiji. I can’t even lift all of it!

After surfing Thirroul there is still enough time for me to cover some of the distance between me and Sydney. The coast road I follow is known as the Grand Pacific Drive.

It takes in some beautiful scenery but the most impressive thing I see along the way is the man made Sea Cliff Bridge built out over the ocean.

Based on all the signs along it telling you that there is always hope, I suspect it is a popular spot for depressed Australians to throw themselves off once they can’t cope any more!

The last leg of the drive before the end takes me through the Royal National Park.

Like so much of Australia that I have seen it is full of gum trees. However in the last light of day I have to stop at this spot to take a few pictures of this idyllic looking watering hole in the middle of them.

To celebrate surfing a hundred different breaks already on this trip there is only one thing to do. Go surfing!

The next town I see where I am tempted into the water is Thirroul, which is a short drive northwards from Corrimal. I forgot to take a picture of the break so here is a snap of the town I have borrowed from the net.

It is my third session of the day and the surf really hasn’t improved that much, but I paddle out directly in front of the town’s surf lifesaving club where I can see a surfable wave.

There seems to be a great club in every seaside town here in Australia and they are obviously a big part of the local community. I have a little peak largely to myself but am joined by everybody getting a quick wave after work.

There isn’t all that much daylight left but I still have time to make surfing here worthwhile.

I bagged at least my share of the waves which are about thigh high and not too taxing.

Loads of pictures of me gurning my way into a ride as usual and this one of myself through the water breaking over the front of my board.

I don’t have too much time left in Australia and need to lighten the load as I try to fit everything into one travel bag going forward.

Moving on from Bombo I get the bits and pieces I have successfully Ebay’d in the post which helps towards this.

Afterwards I push on, driving past the city of Woolongong until I reach Corrimal where I see the first surfable waves since my early morning session.

I want to get in quickly but discover the van has opened another beer bottle for me without asking. I wish it would buy its own beer!

The waves at Corrimal Beach are not anything particularly special but it is a beautiful day and I can resist the foot or two of surf on offer here.

There is nobody else out in the crystal clear water and I have a load of fun for an hour, giving everything to wring as much from the small waves as I can. Look at the degree of concentration. you would think it is 20 foot waves at Tea’hupoo!

However I had a good session and it dawns on me whilst I am in the water that I have brought my hundred up.

That is good batting by any standards, and you should think of me raising my bat to salute the appreciation from the crowd like our victorious Ashes cricketers.

I drive north trying to find a surfable wave anywhere on the New South Wales coast. It is getting blown flat everywhere and the howling wind is also making driving in a straight line far more challenging than it should be.

After checking out a number of breaks I pull off the Pacific Highway at Bombo, where there is at least something showing. I get into the back of the van to have a cup of tea whilst pondering whether to go in, only to discover that my van which has developed a bit of a talent for opening my beer bottles whilst they are in the fridge, has done it once more. I have to take the board out to clean the van and mop up all the liquid, but whilst I am doing this the wind catches my board bag sending it cartwheeling down the tarmac car park.

Repairing the damage I am spitting feathers and turning the air blue by the time this trio of Belgians arrive in their own van, parking up next to me. They are touring Australia like myself, but given Denis is sharing such a small van that he has bought with his girlfriend Marie and her sister Laura I can’t decide if he is the luckiest man in town or just the most tolerant.

We get on well and do a bit of traveller’s bartering. I exchange a spare leash and some wax for their recent surfboard purchase in exchange for some wine, and they join me in my van to enjoy sitting around a table for a while. 

We all get locked into the car park at the beach overnight and spend an exceedingly windy stay in our vans.

I stuck around here hoping that the light winds in the morning would allow for a decent surf session. I wasn’t disappointed as you can see by this picture of me leaning on the early morning sun for balance.

I am keen to put on a good show for my Belgian fan club, and don’t disappoint in the fun waves which at first I have to myself. I got off to a slow start but then bagged loads of great rides charging down the line working the waves from top to bottom.

When I get out I decide to sell the dive housing for my Gopro to Denis because he is going shark diving in a few weeks and struggling to get one for the older model we both own. I have only used mine once in a pool in Mexico and have to start lightening the load if I am going to avoid more obscene baggage charges on the way home. I am more interested in the shots above the water anyway, but will look forward to seeing his footage.

After I add my bulk to helping them push start their van we depart on our separate ways promising to keep in touch.

After a very shaky night in the van, which was being buffeted by the strong winds, I wake up to this gorgeous sunrise over the lake in Ulladullah. It is the perfect start to the day.

I treat myself to bacon and eggs in the van and then do a bit of planning to see where I can get in the water today. There isn’t much swell and the strong offshore winds are ruining what little waves are on offer.

I drive the short distance to Dolphin Point to see if there are any waves or wildlife on offer here.

It is virtually flat but there is a small wave breaking off the entrance to the lagoon.

There are already a couple of guys on it but it is desperation stakes all round!

In my clothes I walk and wade out across the rock shelf that you can see here to have a closer look and see if it worth getting into the water.

This one rolls through and persuades me into the water. I walk back across the rock shelf with my board and then throw myself out into the deeper water. The wind is making the whole experience a bit chilly as it bites through my wetsuit, but I sit there waiting for anything that is on offer.

There is very little available other than catching the wave and falling off straight afterwards, but I manage to get up on a couple.

Here is a picture of me on one of them in which I have more Chins than a Chinese telephone directory!

I don’t stay in long.

I took the road east, cutting across the corner of the landscape in South East Australia.

There really isn’t much here and I must have been driving for hours through a forest of Gum trees. I think it must have stretched for hundreds of kilometres and there was barely a soul along the road.

A little further I crossed the Snowy River although I was some way downstream from the massive dam and hydro electric power station.

Built in the Snowy Mountains it is similar in scale to the Hoover Dam which I had seen earlier on my travels. I don’t have the time to see it or the inclination to play with fire (in this case snow) up in the mountains again.

After a long day of driving I arrive at Eden on the southern coast of New South Wales. However it is no paradise for me because the sea is virtually flat.

I check out a couple of beaches but there really isn’t much going on and I decide to use some time catching up on the backlog of blog posts and doing some essential administration, hoping that the swell will have picked up tomorrow.