Billabong Pro in J' Bay

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Saturday (17/7/10)
Having heard Kelly Slater was in the first few heats of the Billabong Pro we were up with the sun and made the short walk to Supertubes. We found a good spot on the sand and settled in for a day of surf watching. It was a beautiful sunny day, a number of Aussies were in the morning line up including Taj Burrows, Adam Melling, Mick Fanning and the legendary Kelly Slater. We were treated to an awesome show, unfortunately a couple falls and too few good waves saw Kelly crash out of the finals but Taj, Adam and Mick all go through as the organisers raced through the heats keen to host the final Sunday whilst conditions were predicted to stay good. We called it a day heading back to the backpackers, picking up some biltong along the way to catch the last of that days Tour on TV. Afterwards we caught a taxi into town to 3 fat fish restaurant... for fish of course!

Sunday
Back down to Supertubes which weren’t looking all that super from the shore. We pulled up some sand a little closer today in the surprisingly hot winter sun. Despite the smaller less frequent surf it meant we were in for some awesome airtime stunts. A couple prelim’s, then 3 of the 4 semi finalist were Aussie’s, but Jordy Smith South African and local favourite took the first with a spectacular final wave, and our fav Taj struggled to find a wave to surf against Aussie Adam Melling. Meaning a Melling v’s Smith final. Smith was too good landing two awesome waves sealing it with his first two score’s. Following the trophy presentation we grabbed some brunch and wandered into town, stopping to check out the factory surf shops but failing to stumble across any bargains. We stopped for a drink at the Mexican then walked back along the beach to the backpackers. We checked out the last of the tour, collected our washing, whipped up some omelettes for tea and waited at nearby Ubuntu B/P for the Baz which fortunately was early again! Arriving at Port Elizabeth just after nine and we checked into Lungile Lodge.

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