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Published: September 24th 2009
Beautiful rocky coastline
Just outside Sydney CBD in the rich eastern suburbs*** Apologies for the smudges on the photos! My camera has got a whole lot of gunk now inside the lens that I need a repairer to remove so it made a bit of a mess of a lot of my photos ***
Tim Version:
* Cruised the N.S.W. and a small part of the Queensland coast in a chubby van just checkin it all out.
* Surfed a little, chilled a lot, and scoped out where I wanna live next and thoroughly enjoyed the solitude while doing it.
The version riding shotgun in a decked out surf van cruising part of the beautiful Aussie coast line:
Landing in Sydney felt good. It felt reeeally good. I loved traveling but as anyone could tell I was over it by the end. Tired of being nomadic and not having those things you can only have in a more settled like. While I wasn't getting all that back just yet I was however now checking out where I knew I wanted to live and planning towards that next step which is good enough for me.
Sydney international airport is a cruisy happy place to get through. I
was back in my element, in my country, with a sense of patriotism that I don't think I've ever felt before so strongly. I love Australia, I really do. I don't think we're better than anyone else but we're pretty damn good as a country. Exiting customs there was a massive queue and I almost ended up in the queue where "Border Security" was filming but escaped it thankfully! With my list of countries I had been visiting pretty high on the potential drug smuggler and diseases list I didn't plan on having any of my bad luck and consequent grillings by customs being televised around Australia though as it turns out only the word "Bolivia" seemed to freak out the customs lady a bit but after a quick inspection of some dirt on my hiking shoes I was waved through uneventfully.
Exiting one more airport, my second last one, I headed for the Metro and made my way into Kings Cross to pick up my Chubby Van for the 10 days. I have to admit, seeing things in English kind of weirded me out at first as it all seemed too easy. If I went to ask someone
a question I still went through all the mental checks of "OK, how do I say this in Spanish, what kind of responses might they have that I need to understand..." etc. then got lost for words when it all was in English as I kept expecting something else.
Anyway, the Chubby! I got it from Travellers Autobarn and I thoroughly recommend them! I organised it from overseas through email and had no issues and that continued when I met them face to face at their depot. The van was ready and waiting for me and after I picked up my wetsuit from the local post office (that my parents had kindly mailed over) and got myself a tasty chunky steak and cheese pie with tomato sauce and a coffee milk (I missed them so much overseas) I was off and cruising!
I spent the first 3 days just checking out the coast from Cronulla up to Barrenjoey Head. Some of the money in the Sydney suburbs is insane. Perth has equally rich areas but due to the Sydney population they just stretch for so much further. I think I'm also still awed by very simple things as
Sydney panorama by sunset
Taken from Manly North Head Scenic Area Australia is seriously rich compared to where I have been hanging out the last year or so. While it was good to check out the suburbs I totally stuck to the coast line, so happy to back near my ocean and beaches, finding myself doing the comedic "Ahhh" *smile* when I could see the coast followed by "Awww" *frown* when it was hidden from view.
On the second day I got myself an awesome 6'3" surfboard from an good bloke in Cronulla and it felt so good to be back in the water getting smashed by waves again. Really thats all it was as I found that my paddling fitness is almost nil now so by the time I paddle out I'm totally knackered but its a hell of a lot of fun anyway. The weather was awesome and sunny and it just feels good being by the beach.
The suburbs and beaches that I definitely rate the highest are the Northern Beaches. For me there was just much more going on up there and they flow from one to another endlessly in their bay setups all up the coast. I don't get what all the fuss is
Steyne Hotel
Soon to become one of my "locals" about Bondi... it's a great place but sure as hell isn't one of our best beaches. Not to say it's not nice but it's just kinda... well.. crowded and plain! Anyway no-one from Bondi start bashing my ear over that one as I know there is a fair bit of Northern vs Southern beaches rivalry around. Manly and Narrabeen/Collaroy for me were the most well setup spots. Manly for its genuinely courteous, nice, fit, yet busy metropolitan feel (this is where I plan to move), and Narrabeen for a more relaxed surf and beach spirit. I caught an awesome site at a spot on the inside South part of Collaroy beach where a crew of older, mostly retired looking blokes were longboarding a cruisy little wave that wraps around the point. All just relaxing, sharing waves with no jostling and bitching, each taking time between conversations to appreciate and watch the rides their mates were getting, just relaxing living in the moment but with no rush. Truly inspirational stuff and if I can be doing the same as them when I am that age I will be a very happy man. I just wish the rest of the surfers around
could absorb that mentality... There was one young bloke out there but while he took off more furiously and pulled more tricks on the waves he caught he also stayed courteous not cutting off or stealing waves from those slower than him and yeh, was a really beautiful thing to see.
Much of the coast up to Byron Bay while beautiful was uneventful for me. Byron Bay however I knew from earlier family holiday days. Its a beautiful chilled area full of old now rich hippies and legitimate and wanna-be new age people all around. Most other places I parked up for the night to sleep in my van (which were always free public car parks and spots like that) I was the only person doing it but in Byron Bay in a car park holding around 50 cars a good 10 to 15 were vans with people living in them with no signs of moving on soon! Here I could get out my gas stove, boil up some coffee and chop up vegies with a plate on the ground without looking at all out of place and instead more the norm. Some of the van setups were incredible
Narrabeen Beach panorama
My favourite place to camp the van for the night too, one with dozens of pot plants hanging inside with a wooden floor, full kitchen bench setup etc. all home made in a simple smallish delivery van. I have to admit a bit of van jealousy when I saw that one!! The swell was dead while I was there but you can see where it would be pumping given a bit of wave height. One thing I was blown away by in Byron Bay was the health of the people... it was incredible! While only there around a day all up I don't remember seeing anyone I considered "ugly". Even "fat" for that matter! It was like the place was a genetic experiment in how to produce the most beautiful healthy people, with all races and colours represented and all lean, fit and good looking!
After Byron Bay I continued up to Coolangatta, another childhood holiday spot. I always loved coming here as we would stay in the big resorts with tennis courts, pools, gymnasiums, boogy boards and bikes to take out etc. and we would spend all our time playing in the ocean, building things in the sand etc. I actually got kinda blown away and excited when
I accidently stumbled upon the resort we always used to visit, a beautiful spot right in the centre of it all on the beach (and I really did just find it by luck as I didn't have any maps once I got outside of Sydney besides an overall view of the states where Coolangatta/Byron Bay etc. were nothing more than red dots). The beaches up there have much more sand before the water, with a very gradual entry to the water and so much friendlier surf for those who don't really want big waves. The wind was beautifully warm, much warmer than down in Sydney, and with nothing but sunshine while I was up there The Gold Coast truly felt golden to me. I was thinking I may want to live up there but after seeing how much the surf would really be just like in Perth and that it was far more packed with buildings and high density housing than I remembered I decided nope, not for me. At least not yet.
I almost got myself a bit stuck actually in the centre of the gold coast in the hotels and casinos area as no matter where I
Basin and Mona Vale Beaches
A crazy spot here, I watched in awe as some pretty hefty waves rolled in that a few guys caught. It wasn't the waves but the entry that is scary - over the slippery rocks, carefully timing it inbetween the sets so you don't get smashed into the rocks, then paddling like hell to get out quickly kept driving I just seemed to be stuck endlessly in these streets being stood over by these huge buildings covered in flashing signs with cars all around me that if I crashed into would cost me years to get out of debt from. All I wanted was to find the coast to chill but I just couldn't find it until I took a small back street and found myself in a much more relaxed area and then suddenly staring back out at the ocean. Much happier.
Driving back down from Queensland into N.S.W. down to Sydney was awesome. Cruising mostly at 110kph, Triple J cranking on the radio, passing by the coast whenever possible with no deadlines or anyone to worry about but myself was truly relaxing.
I didn't get to see my mate in Queensland as it turned out he lived in a different area than I thought so I didn't have time to visit but that didn't matter as the beauty of being over that side of Aus is that transport between Vic/NSW/QLD is cheap and easy so I'll see him once I move there. Anyway, time for me to head home! No more blogs entries
for me =)
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