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Published: December 5th 2008
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After a cooked breakfast (we’re making the most of having tasty bacon again now we’re in Oz) we drove inland so that we could head up the coast.
First we stopped at a deserted Stockton Beach. In the distance were the large sand dunes tempting us over, but unfortunately without taking a tour we couldn’t get to them. The surf was looking good and I took off my sandals and went for a paddle, only to get drenched when a big wave caught me. It was a great feeling to be back in a hot country again after being in NZ for so long We could easily have grabbed our towels and spent a relaxing day enjoying the sunshine and the view out across the blue water, but instead we drove a bit higher up the coast to the other end of the beach, around Anna’s Bay, so that we could try to get out onto the dunes.
There were a couple of shuttle buses taking groups to do sand tobogganing which sounded like a lot of fun, so we booked ourselves in.
The bus drove out across the dunes and dropped us on top of a remote
sandy hill. The driver presented us all with a piece of wood that look like a large ski, and then showed us how it was done. He sat on the wood and pushed his heels up against the small bit of wood at the front, then pushed off down the dune, using his hands as brakes. Easy.
We looked over the top of the hill he was proposing we go down and my heart stopped. It was near vertical and the drop was long. I immediately had visions of breaking more ribs and wrists and all kinds of things. I was just beginning to think about asking if there was a smaller hill to start off on when the rest of the coach crew started their decent. It didn’t look too hard, and actually looked like fun. I climbed onto my board and Matt and I went down side by side.
We both binned it at the bottom but it wasn’t enough to do any injury so I felt relieved and started the tramp back up the dune to start all over again. That bit was hard work. On the way up I realised that my face and
arms were completely caked in sand - it wasn’t such a good idea to put sunblock on before going out sand tobogganing!
The others on the coach were all fearless eighteen year olds so they progressed to standing on their boards and surfing their way down after a couple of goes. Every time they ended with a dramatic fall - I was sure that by the end of the afternoon they’d have a few broken bones between them but other than one of the girls coming off and banging her head so hard that she ended up unconscious for a few seconds, they were all fine.
I wasn’t silly enough to try standing, although had I not broken my rib recently I’m sure I’d have given it a good go. I also refused to let Matt try as if he were to break his arm or leg the campervanning would be all over and we’d already paid for our van for the next couple of months. So we had to be content sitting on the boards the whole time.
Matt was very bitter as I was much better than he was; he juddered as he got close
to the base of the dune and always fell off with a spectacular roll headlong into the sand, whereas (apart from my first go) I always managed to glide to a gentle stop still sitting perfectly on the board.
After walking up the dunes a few more times we kept saying that the next ride would be our last, but as soon as we got to the top again it looked too inviting so we went down again. Finally we really had had enough and tried to keep in our minds how hard the walk back was when we were looking longing over the edge.
By the end of the session we both had sand everywhere and were starting to feel like we’d overdone the sun for the day. The coach took us on a ride down some steep death defying dunes where it felt like we might topple over, before dropping us back at the car park by the beach. The trip was £8 very well spent.
After taking some pictures we decided to find a campsite close by as we were exhausted. We found a lovely looking four star motorpark, booked ourselves in and headed
straight for the swimming pool (after removing as much sand as we could!) The water was cold but the sun was still shining even at 5pm. The pool was empty so we made the most of it by using the little water slide in there, before going for a nice hot shower.
Matt used the evening to set up his new kite while I caught up on the blog and cooked dinner. By the time we’d both finished it was already dark so we opened a bottle of wine and enjoyed our well earned dinner.
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