Around The World In 80 Waves

The last time I surfed the waves off Scarborough Beach it was in Yorkshire back in the UK. I was surfing in the North Sea on a swell generated in the Arctic, and there was half a foot of snow on the ground!

Apart from being a tad chilly there were clean lines of waves and I had a great session. However having surfed for over an hour in water which was about 3C, with snow being blown horizontally across the bay throughout, taking my leg out of my wetsuit after the session to put my bare foot down into a snow drift brought a whole new definition to the word cold!

This Scarborough however is on the Indian Ocean coast on the west of Australia and a short drive from Perth where I am staying, so I suspected it would be a great deal warmer.

Everybosy else is in full wetsuits but I have limited my travel bags for the next few weeks so only have my shorty wetsuit, which was fine because it is still warmer here than it ever gets in the UK. The wind is everything when you are in the water though and it was howling onshore, and because the sea bed drops away quite sharply it meant the waves here were largely just dumping on the shore.

I knew it wasn’t going to be a great session but paddled out in front of this fantastic amphitheatre they have built on the shore because I wanted to bag a different ocean on my travels and settle my nerves about being in the water in an area known for its angry fish.

My board was a nightmare to get past the breakers because it is so bouyant and I got hammered on the way out. I did this a few times after each of the take offs, which were immediately followed by getting oblitorated by the dumping waves that I had caught but didn’t stay in long.

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 spend the night at the camp site in Lakes Entrance, which is an inlet that is home to the local fishing fleet. I check out the local beaches but there are not any waves to interest me there.

The manageress of the camp site tells me how to find the best known surf break in the area which is called Red Bluff.

It is only a few miles down the road and armed with excellent directions I pull into the car park without issue.

It is a glorious day and there is a viewing platform in the car park from which you can check out the surf without walking down to the beach.

Seeing these lines rolling in I didn’t have to think for long before I was racing back to the van to get changed into my wetsuit. However what you cant see from the cliffs is how rocky it is here.

In this picture that was wave of the day, you can actually see the rocks through the water. Getting off your board at the end of each ride entails a belly flop to limit how far you fall through the water to avoid bouncing of the rocks. The waves weren’t too powerful so I managed not to maim myself doing so, although I had noticed with interest the monument to a 13 year old boy who had died whilst surfing here some years before on my way down to the beach.

There was just one other surfer out on the peak I had chosen. I got chatting with him and it turned out that Rory was from Ireland and had settled in the area about five years ago. We traded waves for about an hour before he got out leaving me with the waves to myself.

The water was surprisingly cold here today and at times I had to keep moving just to keep my hands warm.

Despite the constant fear of losing fins to the rocks this was a mellow session in small clean surf, which I really enjoyed, but it is time to leave the south coast and head back to New South Wales once more.

Those of you who have seen the last scene from the movie Point Break may think you know about Bell’s Beach because it is where Bodhi is intercepted by Johnny Utah trying to catch the 50 year storm.

However that scene was actually shot very far away from Australia at Indian Beach in Oregon in the USA.

The real Bell’s Beach has virtually no trees unlike the set of the movie, and is named after the Bell family who owned the land adjacent to the bay. 

It has now been designated a surfing reserve by the local government and as such is safe for all time from unwanted development.

I had been aware of the bay for some time before the movie because the Bell’s Beach surf contest held at Easter has been running for better part of fifty years now, and is still a regular stop on the ASP’s world tour.

Sadly when I arrive keen to bag the break for my scrapbook it was so calm at times that you could actually see all of the sea bed.

More 50mm trickle than 50 year storm! When it gets big you pick up the wave at the section known as Rincon in front of the headland and then surf it around into ‘the bowl’ directly in front of the bay.

I am kicking myself for not going in the other day when it had looked like this but I followed the crowd into Winki Pop. However “People trusted you” Rob. “You’ve got to go down.”

“I’m not going to paddle to New Zealand” in search of a wave but have to get in because like Bodhi I know I am not coming back.

I don’t attach the camera to the board and even consider taking the fins off because the water is so shallow above the rocks, but ride one wave lying prone on my board. Definitely not “Death on a stick out there mate!”

I based myself in a camp site right alongside Torquay’s Surf Beach. This was my pitch and the sand starts the other side of the bushes. I stayed here for a few nights but for most of my stay the weather was atrocious, or more specifically it actually felt like a British winter.

I am sure that the monarch after whom this state is named would not have been any more amused than I was by it. I was still feeling a bit under the weather, probably due to so many cold nights in succession in the mountains and along the coast road, coupled with my insistence that shorts are the only suitable attire because I am on holiday.

As a consequence I stayed warm and sheltered in the van for twenty four hours, using the opportunity to catch up a bit on the blog, which was still lagged a good way behind current events.

I don’t quite get it up to date but make significant headway and am happy to put it to one side once more when I wake up to see these lines of surf hitting the shore.

It is still a grey day but this is the picture of the session if only because there was a brief glimpse of blue sky above me.

I had great fun though here and caught loads of waves in front of the surf lifesaving club.

There weren’t too many people in the water and after catching a hat full of rights you would just walk back along the sand to the point to start again.

I also quite liked the ‘Rob through the keyhole’ view of this shot which was taken as I paddled back out after one wave. I’m clearly getting a lung full of air before goiung under the water once more.

Pretty much the first thing I did after checking in to my caravan park in Torquay was go back a short distance along the Great Ocean Road to check out Bell’s Beach.

I was somewhat surprised however that nobody had paddled out there and instead all the surfers had opted for the adjacent break known as Winki Pop. I asked two local guys why that might be and at first they seemed really helpful however it turned out they were more interested in saving my soul.

I managed to swerve their faith chat by offering my ‘having a religion is like having a penis’ speech, and before long I had put my wetsuit on and had decided to paddle out with everybody else in case they knew something I didn’t.

Access to the water is down a wooden stairway and then out across the rocks you see here. It is my first surf on the south coast and because I have no idea what the water will be like here I am wearing boots and gloves for the first time in Australia. It turned out that I needn’t have worried about the sea temperature which is still the same as it gets in the summer back in the UK. However the real concern turned out to be the rocks.

This picture was taken a couple of days later and shows the rock shelf and assorted boulders that I was paddling out over and attempting to surf above throughout my session here. It made for uncertain footing when wading into the water which never does much for your confidence because you can’t tell what might be underneath or ahead of you at any point later in the session

However the paddle out was actually quite easy and I made it out back with dry hair feeling quite smug with myself.

All is good at this point until you find yourself slightly caught inside on one of the bigger waves and then there is nowhere to go. Even with my bulk it would be impossible to duck dive under the waves with an 8’0″ board so you have no choice but get swept in a bit.

Not normally a problem but I then got stuck inside and as the current sweeps you down the cliffs things start to get a bit problematic.

Where I started the waves are actually breaking away from the shore, but where I ended up they actually break against the cliffs leaving me literally between a rock and a hard place, with a few jagged boulders thrown in for good measure!

I’m not feeling too clever today generally and not at all in the mood for getting obliterated on rocks so pick my board out of the water and then scramble back along the base of the cliffs to the bottom of the stairs where I had go in. It wasn’t too bad for me but three guys I had been chatting to in the water got the same treatment and it took them nearly half an hour just to get safe.

I didn’t blank but there really wasn’t anything to get excited about here and not many picture to share other than the usual ones of me gurning as I try to paddle for a wave. I have seen enough of them even if you haven’t.

After Apollo Bay I keep following coast road until see signs for the town of Anglesea. It is also the name of a large island off the coast of North Wales where I learned my trade in the breaks at Rhosneigr, Aberffraw and Cable Bay.

As a consequence I cant resist stopping the van and going for a surf here. A brief walk to the top of the sand dunes next to the car park and I discover clean thigh high waves right along the bay.

I climb back into my wetsuit which is still cold and wet from Apollo Bay, which is never a pleasant experience.

The battery on the gppro is flat by this stage so I don’t have any pictures to share of the fun waves I caught here but I had so much fun in the water with the break all to myself for an hour. That is until a Surf School arrived and my bliss was gone forever as thirty teenage beginners dropped in on everything with out the slightest care about me or my board.

I decide to get out shortly afterwards, but discover that if I thought that was busy I should have been here last November, when the for the twenty fifth anniversary of the surf school.

They set a world record with at least one hundred and twenty people surfing the same wave here. The local ding repair shop must have done a roaring trade for weeks!