Surfing comp and great ocean road.

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Hi all.

Its been another fun filled week since the last blog update. The internet is pretty scarse where we have been, so now that we heading back north to the more tourist towns im sure it'l be accessible.

Well to start off, we were in torquay after the grand prix on sunday. Its down south in victoria, about an hour from melbourne and right on the coast. Its a huge surfing town, and is home to the Bells Beach Rip Curl Pro surf comp every easter, so we arrived with great timing. There is a huge "surf plaza" there to, which has shopping outlets for Quiksilver, billabong, rip curl, roxy etc, so me and soph where loving it. Iv really wanted to get a surf board since we arrived in Oz, and in the rip curl outlet there was a huge board sale, so i picked up a brand new rip curl board for a great price. So iv been in the water loads and really enjoying it. And as yet iv not been attacked by any sharks!!!!!!! Soph bought a few things in the shops too, but its hard not too when its all so bloody cheap.

So we were in a camp site in torquay for 4 nights and had a great time on the beaches etc, although the weather took a huge drop in tempurature. We had been in 40 degrees in melbourne, and one night we were sleeping in nothing, with no sheets, the next we slept in t-shirts and had the dovet. It went from 40 to 18 over night. 18 sounds warm to you guys back home, but we've not had anything below 20 degrees for 7 months now. Crazy. Anyway onto the surf comp. The elemination rounds where due to start on tues, but due to lack of surf, the comp didn't start until thurs, so we had the opertunity to explore the "Great Ocean Road". Its a lovely coastle road that winds its way along the south coast, and has amazing views and quaint little towns. We went and saw the "12 Apossiles" which are some huge rock formations that have been formed by the sea eroading the cliffs and leaving them stranded in the sea. There were 12, but a few have been claimed by the sea. It was lovely to explore the region, and it was all very beautiful.

On Thurs we went down to bells and the womens heats had started. It was good surf and the women were really impressive to watch. It was scary just to watch, as the waves were so big. I would never go out in surf like that, EVER. The weather was nice and sunny, so we just chilled on the beach, until midday, when the sky turned instantly black and monsoon style rain and wind came battering the coast, so the mens event that was scedulled for the afternoon was called off until the fri. So we went back down on fri, and watched the mens. It was Awesome. The waves had picked up even more and the comp was class. We saw all the famous pro's out there doing their thing, and it was a great atmosphere on the beach. We saw kelly slater, mick fanning, andy irons etc, and there were so many magazine photographers, camera crews etc. Bells is like the wimbeldon of the surfing world tour, so it was a great experience for us to catch some of it. Check out the vid of kelly slater on a monster of a wave!!!

We then set off in the avo to head back up the coast towards sydney. We are now in Wollongong, another sea side town, and are on a campsite with a indoor pool, spa's, steam rooms, and is right on the beach with great surf, so im well happy. We are then heading off to the "Blue Mountains", which are west off sydney. Theres a national park, and some beautiful mountain ranges, bush walks etc. It looks lovely.

Sorry its a bit short, but we've been relaxing alot and just watching the surfing etc. Also we spend a lot of time driving. From melbourne to sydney takes about 3 days, taking it easy. So some days are just spend driving, eating and sleeping, ha ha. This place is soooooooo big its scary. No spiders, snakes or sharks, so life is sweet, ha. And the van has been officially named "Bruce". Brucey the bush waka.

Love to you all, mart and soph.

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Comments

[FUA]

Hi you two glad to see you are enjoying life downunder the surfing looked great and im sure you were both in your element seems like aus has everything. .Im sure woolongong is where Darren lived when they first moved to aus before they moved to a place called Manley.Alls well here Bills been doing his mocks and is now on his easter break and Millies popped home for a few days and gone shopping with Jackie and gone out with her old essex mates watch out Romford.We are both fine bought a new computor so no more excuses im going to have to learn how to use it as it is a lot faster and doesntkeep going wrong weather terrible very jealous of 19 degrees let alone 40. got to go tescos now for our weekly shop bet you dont miss that bye for now looking forward to your next update xx