Gorgeous

We traveled down to New South Whales (NSW) the other day with one of our friends that we met at church,  and it is one of the most amazing and gorgeous places ever. I feel like it is a mix between Hawaii weather and Central California empty lands and pastures. Our buddy from church (Malcom) showed us around a couple of secret surf spots that were not working at the moment; however, we did find a right hand point break called Cabarita, and it was a really fun point break with pretty long rides. But the overall scenery made it really special and something that I wont forget! I didnt bring my camera because I was afraid of it getting stolen, but now i know it is relatively safe down there and I will hopefully be posting pictures of NSW soon! 

Oh and the tendinitus is much better the medicine the doctors gave me helped a ton! so I am back out in the water!

Surf

This past week has been absolutely amazing! We are all finally getting the hang of everything over here and are loving it even more as we go along! We have our car which is still running great! We have a nice flat screen TV that I found for a insane deal! 

We got a solid 4-5 foot swell to come in, although the direction was not perfect for all the spots we scored some AMAZING waves. I have never surfed right that was so hollow and so perfect, on top of this the waves go forever, I caught a wave yesterday that went from snapper rocks all the way to the inside of Greenmount (basically I surfed 3 surf spots in one wave), the wave must have been well over a minute long. The inside part of Greenmount has an insane barrel and this is where i have been surfing the most. The wave breaks in about 2 feet of water and just peels perfectly across a sandbar.  

The antibiotics for the spider bite have started to push the swelling down, but the pain kept getting worse, so I went to the doctor and he told me that I have tendenitus and that I wont be able to surf for the next 2 weeks... we will see about that. 

Mosquitos and Spiders

Well, my roommate and I made a horrible mistake of leaving our windows open overnight,  I woke up with countless amounts of bug bites, and a really sore forearm. A couple of hours later, my forearm has a bump almost the size of a golf ball, i am assuming this is from the spiders around here which are about the size of my fist. I am going to the school nurse today to have them check it out and see what I should do. The surf has been getting really fun, and we are hearing roomers of a decent sized swell, so me and the boys are all really excited for the upcoming week! keep posted!

Jellyfish and Car

Two weeks into the trip we finally got a car! It is a 1985 Mitsubishi Nimbus, try to look it up online if you really want to see how we roll around town. We got the car for 1500 dollars which is about 1000 U.S. dollars, and brought it to a mechanic to make sure everything is well with the car, and the mechanic said its perfect, but the only problem is that there is no power steering, which becomes difficult turning at times. Overall the car is amazing and we all love it! I have been driving to most of the places and am getting the hang of driving on the wrong side of the rode, and to be honest it is really fun! The past few days have not had the best surf, but regardless we are still out there all day, and with a HEAVY storm that moved that brought a lot of onshore wind, and tons of rain and lightning. Little did we know that with the wind comes JELLYFISH. Hundreds and hundreds of blue bottle jellyfish, I got absolutely destroyed by a couple a few days ago at d-bah. A blue bottle is basically a tiny bubble with a 2 foot stinger that hangs down, one of them got wrapped around my board and I picked it up not seeing it, and the stuck to my whole right side, and was definitely the most painful sting that I have ever had. Regardless the lack of waves we are still having a blast! 

Hey Everyone so it takes about an hour to post 1 photo, so if you have the chance photos will but posted up on facebook! If you don't have one, i will work on getting some up on the blog when i have the time. 

Australia

Post 1

House and Hostel adventures.

            Hey everyone, my friends and I have finally arrived to our house in Australia and we are in absolute shock with how amazing everything is. The apartment that we are staying is a modern as a home can come, there is no front door just an elevator, and all the appliances are all brand new which include everything from a wine cellar to an espresso machine. There have been a few surprises and struggles that have come, but nothing that could possible damper how amazing the trip has been. We don’t have furniture yet, so we have been sleeping on the ground, which is ruff at first but it kinda helped straighten out my back; but regardless we are literally right on the beach, where the water is 80 degrees, and the waves are PERFECT. We had our first surf at Kirra point about a ¼ mile walk from our house and it was incredibly fun. Before we arrived in Kirra, we stayed in a hostel and visited a rainforest and snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef which was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. We got to hang out with Kangaroos, Wallabies, Koala bears, crocs, and some crazy bird that could kill us. 5 days in and I still feel like this is all a dream. I will keep posting more photos and notes as the time goes on. I hope all is well and that everything is going great back in the States.

 

Part 2

 

Snapper Rocks (SNAPPA)

            Hunter, Troy, and I surfed Snapper Rocks for the first time today the 13^th, and could not have had more fun. Snapper Rocks is one of the most well known waves in Australia and to be able to walk to it is truly a blessing. The conditions were really mixed up and about 4 to 5 foot; although not perfect it was better than the best days in the States. People claim that Lower Trestles is one of the most ripable waves on the planet, I beg to differ, snapper rocks definitely takes the win. On every wave you could do at least 5 turns before you were either cut off or could not make the section. On Hunters last wave of the night he took off on a 5 foot set wave and got barreled for about 5 seconds until the lip, which was really thick, came and broke his brand new board in half and slammed him on to the bottom, were just stoked he did not get hurt.

 

Part 3

Church and D-BAH

            Today was the first Sunday that we have had in Australia, and all of us were wondering where to go for church. Luckily Troy and Eric’s Pastor had recommended to us a church called “ beachside” church which is only about a 10 minute bus ride from our house. We wanted to make sure we weren’t late so we left early… way to early. Anyway, we got there an hour before the service started, and got to meet all the people behind the church including the Pastor. I cannot explain to you how amazing each and every person was at this church they were all filled joy, and could not be more excited for a couple new comers. The pastors name is Nat and I had a long conversation with him and we exchanged numbers and we plan to go surfing this week. Nat also looks like one of the most laid back people I have ever met, and almost identical to Matt who is my pastor home church back in San Diego. The person who spoke that day was guest speaker who plays professional rugby, he was with out a doubt the biggest human I have ever seen and also not the best speaker, but overall I cant wait to here the real pastor give a sermon and I am sure it will be great. All in all it was an amazing experience and am so excited that God has blessed me with an amazing church on this trip. Later on that day we walked around and got “kebobs” these are similar to gyros but WAY better, it’s the Australian burrito in my opinion. You have our choice of meat, sauces and toppings and then that’s all wrapping up in some sort of bread, which is like a pita bread but thinner and lighter. Will, Hunter and I went surfing at a place called Duranbah (D-BAH). Not only was the surf the best that we have had yet with solid 6 foot waves coming in, which was really weird because there was no swell in the water and it had been absolutely flat everywhere else, on top of that every imaginable pro is out there with you, so if your into football It would be like hanging out on the sidelines of a charger game with all the pros. Anyway, this trip keeps on getting better and better as it goes on,  and I absolutely love Australia. Miss everyone! And p.s. I cut all my hair off.