Around The World In 80 Waves

From Manly I drive about half an hour north to Palm Beach, which is used as the location for Summer Bay in TV’s Home and Away soap opera. (A big shout going out to John Beattie at this point because I know he likes this beach.)

I have been up here a few times hoping to catch a wave or two, but it has always been flat or I was without a board at the start of the Australian leg of my adventures. As a result I am delighted to see the swell rolling in. There are also not too many people in the water because this beach is right at the end of a peninsular north of Sydney.

I have already surfed twice today and am a tad raw after being rubbed to pieces by my wetsuit.

I didn’t thrash about endlessly as a consequence. Instead trying to pick an easy way out and fun waves to ride back in on.

I had a great chat with a local knee boarder who seemed to be having fun in the waves which were breaking quickly over another sand bar.

As you can see I also bagged my share, but didn’t last much more than an hour, because it was now just after midday and I was on my third session of the day!

After getting changed I chatted with a surfer from Jersey, who had been living in Australia for twelve years.However I didn’t hang around with her for long, leaving her to take on the waves with her pink board as I drove south super stoked with my bountiful morning of surf.

North Steyne beach at Manly is almost always busy. It is the northern beaches version of Bondi, which tourists flock to, but it is also popular with local surfers too.

The beach is about two miles long and after driving across the peninsular from the ferry terminal I discover that the ocean there is the most crowded I have seen anywhere during my time in Australia. It is only just past eight and hundreds of surfers have already paddled out.

I can’t be bothered with scrapping for every wave in the crowds, but spot a little break in front of the beach volleyball courts which is going largely unridden.

I paddle out there and am quickly chatting with another guy in the water called Geoff, who I discover is an editor at The Australian newspaper.

Apart from dropping in on his waves as you see here, (my apologies Geoff) the two of us chat about great waves around the world and where my trip has taken me.

Amazingly we have a little peak to ourselves for a couple of hours until the children and surf schools start arriving in the water.

Geoff and I bag lefts and rights for fun until things get too crowded. It was only a few feet but really clean and getting warmer all the time as the sun rose in the sky.

Whilst in the water he told me that I should have been here the day before when a solitary dolphin had appeared. It had been content to hang out in the line-up and rub up against legs dangling in the water. 

I have had so many great dolphin encounters on this trip but no evidence for you to back up my claims, so am a bit gutted to have missed the experience. Especially because I had looked at the waves here the day before and there had not been anything showing when I had arrived. You never know what is around the corner though and I will have plenty more time to see marine life on my trip.

It is still only half past ten when I get out of the water from my second surf of the day. It would be criminal not to take more advantage of the swell which has arrived so I pack up and head north again.

After my night on the sofa Chris and I are up and have wheels rolling by half past five.

We head straight for the coast and after checking a couple of breaks decide to get in at Curl Curl where the swell is showing more than everywhere else.

There is a sand bar here and we have a nightmare getting through the waves which seem to be surging over the top of it. We both get a bit of a hammering on the way out as you can see! 

We both make it out back to the clean waves eventually but it is then a question of which wave you paddle for to avoid just getting hammered by a close out.

Chris cheers me in to one after half an hour and I drop into the head high wave in the early morning sun. The ride was my only one of the session and was little more than a huge drop and a bottom turn before getting clattered by the rest of the wave.

After it I can’t face another battle back out and we need to get Chris back to Manly by eight so that he can catch the last ferry into Sydney that will get him to work on time, so I call an end to my session there.

Chris isn’t far behind me and has time to rinse the salt off and get into his work clothes before the short drive south. We make the ferry with ease leaving me with the rest of the day to see how many more waves I can catch elsewhere.

There are still loads of beaches which I haven’t surfed in and around Sydney.

I can’t let all of them slip through my fingers so go on a safari to all the northern Beaches to see what the waves are like.

Sadly in a similar fashion to most of my East Coast surf opportunities during my time in Australia there is just no swell about.

It has been like this for months and all the Aussie surfers I have met have been lamenting what a poor run they have been on.

I visited Manly, Collaroy, Warriewood, Newport and Palm Beach looking for even a hint of a ripple. There is no joy anywhere though.

I decide to combat my frustration with beer and am met in Manly by my old flat mate in London. Chris has caught the ferry from Sydney and I bring him up to speed on all my adventures and waves since we last caught up.

I only have a couple of beers from the local 4 Pines brewery before we head nearer to home, but it clearly affects me more than I realise because I drive straight through a red light on the sea front road at North Steyne. Thankfully without maiming any of the people returning home from the sand.

I shall divert attention from this dubious driving by commenting on how good the beer has been here in Australia. Like the USA I wasn’t expecting great things but have been impressed everywhere by all the good work done by micro breweries and some of the bigger players in the market too.

Chris and I join his wife Rachel for a curry in the Mosman area of Sydney. I haven’t had one in ages and it will do me no harm to get into the spirit of Asia before I head off there in a few days time.

I am convinced to crash on their sofa at the end of the night, in order to facilitate a dawn raid surf session the following morning. Thankfully a swell is supposed to be arriving.

I only have a week left in Australia and decide to have a few days off before preparing for the journey home. It is the last chance for me to to gorge myself on English speaking television before I return home, and I am joined on the sofa by Lily and Spyda whose company I have enjoyed so much whilst here. They follow my every move with interest too.

I do manage to get a few blog posts out of the way during this time, but I seem to be permanently in a state of backlog of late. Internet access has been an ever present problem since I started this trip and I can’t see that improving significantly in the last two months of my journey.

As a consequence I will make sure I catch up before I leave Australia, or at least in the first few days upon arriving in Japan where I am going next, or it might never happen.

I pack up all of my souvenirs since Tahiti and am amazed by the sheer quantity of stuff I have to send home.

I won’t tell you how much the postage cost but do find myself questioning whether it is worth the expense of sending things back to the UK.

I wonder if I should be putting the postage cost towards an investment such as a Penny Black. There probably would not be much difference between the two expenses!

Throughout my time in Australia I have been listening to the Triple J radio station, which is run by the ABC network, and have to say it is the best one I have heard in a long, long time.

No adverts. Grown up conversations and chat from the DJs. Most importantly they play great music all day and all night. You will never hear One Direction on this station!

What more can you ask for. For those that listen to radio online you will find there website here. I certainly recommend it.

I needed to cheer myself up after Kathleen’s departure and could only think of one thing to do. I had to go surfing!

Cronulla which is Occy’s home break is a short drive from the airport and also catches most of the available swell in the area so I headed down there. There is miles of glorious sand to enjoy under the sun, but the waves have dropped somewhat.

Choosing a tiny peak for myself I paddle out anyway. It is no more than two feet high and breaking over sand so nothing too challenging compared with a lot of the breaks I have bagged.

I am quickly into plenty of rides though and enjoy the fact that the water is so quiet while all the kids are at school and everybody else is at work.

It doesn’t matter how big the waves are you still have to earn them and I think this picture shows how much I was putting every sinew into my paddling for the small waves.

Either that or it is a serious contender for the world gurning championships!

I wont be back down this way again so am glad to have added Cronulla to my list of breaks surfed on this trip.

Two hours in the water here puts a smile back on my face and I even complete the journey back to North Sydney before rush hour starts avoiding all the traffic across the Harbour Bridge.

Kathleen is flying home today so we decide to head for Bronte where the best waves have been on offer at the Southern Beaches since we arrived. However whilst in search of Bronte beach, we stumble upon Clovelly Bay.

The bay is a glorious natural inlet which has been augmented by an ocean pool, a surf club and man made sun decks either side of the water. It is such a lovely spot we cant resist stopping here, even if it means we forgo a surf together.

Before getting in the water we are joined at the beach by all the team members of the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league team who have come to the beach for yoga, a sea swim and recuperation after a punishing cup quarter final.

The sight of so many buff blokes in their swimwear is doing wonders for the local female population, but sadly myself stripping down to my swim shorts does not appear to have the same effect.

I dive straight in but Kathleen takes a bit of persuading into the water, eventually joining me for a swim. I have the GoPro with me once more and get this great picture of the two of us before we followed the Rabbitohs route to the shore.

It is the last of our time together and we enjoy a fantastic day together before I drive us to the airport, but all the while there was an undercurrent of disappointment for both of us that we are about to go our separate ways.

Kathleen has become so much more than a friend on this trip and waving her off on her flight home leaves me feeling decidedly hollow, with plenty to ponder as I prepare for my own departure from Australia on the first step back towards the UK. Such a shame that the two countries are on opposite sides of the planet!

After chatting with my folks online just after dawn, I went back to bed. Then, following a very lazy Sunday morning with Kathleen, the two of us went down to stretch out on the sand at Coogee Beach.

The beach is packed again today because it is the weekend, but the swell is only barely showing here still.

I decided to go body surfing in the small but clean waves hitting the beach, but couldn’t tempt Kathleen into the water. For somebody used to the North Atlantic it was great, but for somebody used to the Gold Coast it was freezing.

For some reason we didn’t take any pictures of me body surfing the waves so here is one of a bear surfing instead. It is not a bad representation to be fair, because of how dark my tan is compared to the average Aussie. Apparently I am quite easy to spot amongst the crowd in the water.

I quite enjoyed thrashing my way into the beach, and warming up in the sunshine afterwards is always a pleasure. Another beach for the scrapbook!

Whilst enjoying a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we notice that a pod of dolphins has swum into Coogee Bay to wish me Happy Birthday. We go down to the sand to check them out. It is great way to start the day.

Sadly once I have made my mind up to grab my camera and put on some trunks they swim off without being seeing again, before I get the chance to go out and play with them. Never mind Kathleen and I are both keen to go surfing, so it is time for a little safari of the southern beaches.

Our first stop is Bronte, where in all honesty I really should have gone in, because there was a good sized swell hitting the beach, which you see here. 

We did have fun watching the locals launch themselves off the rocks next to the ocean pool though. However everybody timed it right and got out into the break without incident. It is clearly the best way back into the line up after riding one all the way in.

We pushed on to Bondi, which is where I really fancied getting wet on my birthday, but the waves were just dumping upon our arrival, so we decided to check out the shops and let the tide turn a bit. Kathleen treated me to a new pair of flip flops because the ones I had bought in Costa Rica had become decidedly unappealing to anybody’s nostrils. Not surprising given I have lived in them for six months but I felt bad about chucking them in the bin all the same.

Back at the shore I still wasn’t tempted to bag this world famous beach, preferring to curl up in the sun with Kathleen. The beach here is world class but the waves really aren’t, although they were powerful enough to catch out more than a few tourists who had to be rescued by the surf lifesaving clubs patrolling the beach. We thought one bloke was going to be obliterated on the rocks at the north end of the bay, but he was very lucky to be picked up by a rogue set and then be deposited complete with lifeguard up on top of them. Barring a few minor cuts and scrapes I think only his pride was hurt, but it could so easily have been a lot worse for him.

I was so comfortable stretched out in the sun that I decided to pass on a birthday surf, and didn’t even get my feet wet all day! Some what surprising, even to me I’ll admit.

After a day topping up my already healthy tan we returned to Coogee, and after freshening up had a fantastic meal at a Brazilian barbeque restaurant. It is all you can eat there and they keep walking past with more cuts of the most amazing meat trying to tempt you with another plate full.

After ensuring a healthy number of farmyard animals had died to make my evening worthwhile I finally threw in the towel, and practically rolled out of there absolutely stuffed! Then back to the room for an early-ish night and a movie in bed

I had such a great day and through various media received messages from all over the world. Given the number of people I already knew and others I have met from all over the planet they would arrive steadily through the day as the sun rose on the various time zones.

The benefit of being at the starting end of the world’s day meant I also got to have a Skype conversation with my family the following morning for me but while it was still my birthday back in the UK. My 41st was certainly one to remember!