Hey Everybody!
Just wanted to update you guys on the
last couple weeks. Since we left off in Newcastle, I made my way up the Pacific Highway to the
Gold Coast near Brisbane to bring in the New Year. I was a little bit
sick, but managed to get a few surfs in along the way. Most of the
drive you are buried in the bush (thick groves of "gumtrees" or eucalyptus) except for the seemingly frequent
crossings of beautiful wide rivers where the view opens up a bit. When you do stray
from the highway to have a look at a beach, it is almost always a
beautiful golden crescent of sand. The Aussies have no shortage of
amazing beach! For the most part the drive was hot, damp and very buggy which is a recurring theme thus far.
My initial plans were to meet up with a
friend from home in Brisbane for New Years Eve, but those fell
through so I booked a hostel for a few nights in Coolangatta, a
famous surf zone. To my surprise this was the sleepy end of the Gold
Coast and all of the action was down in 'Surfers Paradise' which is
not where the waves are ironically. This was fine by me and I was
able to wring in the new year not once but twice, since Coolangatta
sits on the border of NSW and Queensland and there is a 1 hr time
difference between the two. This meant two firework shows! The most
fun part of the night happened when I wandered into a 'surf club'
filled with older folks and a live band. One older lady in particular
took me under her wing as her 'date' and introduced me to all of her
friends. They were a lively ol' bunch, making jokes dancing and singing.
Definitely cheered me up on what was shaping up to be a rather lonely
NYE.
After a few days of unsuccessful job
hunting, I decided to go do some exploring. I found this amazing
waterslide setup while cruising around with no destination in
particular. Forgive me for making an edit, I have a little too much
time on my hands...
I met a lovely couple while taking a
dip in the Tweed River. They invited me in for coffee and we had a
long and nice chat. I asked them where the river started and they
pointed out Mt. Warning in the skyline inland of their place. I
figured there must be an awesome hike to the top so I drove to a
campground at the base and tried to get some sleep before hiking it
the next day.
Apparently I didn't pick a great day to
do it. After a miserable nights sleep getting eaten by mozzies and
fleas in the heat, I woke up much later than I intended and set off
on the hike. At 8am it was hot, by 9 it was hotter. By the time I got
to the top of the hike around 10:30 the temps were approaching 100
for sure. The high that day was 106. I sweat gallons on the way up,
it was impossible to drink enough water. But I survived and it turned
out to be a pretty fun day. The mountain is part of a rain forest. So the hike was through thick groves of big beautiful trees with lush canopy and vines. Saw lots of birds and bugs, unfortunately missed the 8 foot pythons that are rumored to wander onto the trail from time to time. I grabbed a few photos along the way:
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| At the top |
 |
| In the heat |
 |
| Cool trees in the forest |
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| Sunset on the peak |
The only thing I wanted to do when I
got down was get into the ocean ASAP. I drove straight to the nearest
beach. One I'd never heard of called Cabarita Beach. Much to my
surprise, the North Wind that had been blowing the surf out for two
days had kicked up a bit of windswell. I surfed the beach break and
it was pretty junky, but then the wind switched to the South and I
drove up to the headland to discover a nice looking point setup. The
wind was side offshore, waves were about 3-4 feet, there were lefts
but mostly rights and a gang of people out of all sizes and shapes.
Teenage girls, old dudes, local rippers and everyone was out and having a
good time. I was worn out from my hike and previous surf but I had to
get in and join the fun. I loved it and ended up surfing the leftover
north swell there for the couple days.
I headed inland to the lovely town of
Murwullumby or something, to watch the 9ers play one morning. I knew they would
have the channel at Mc Donalds so I booked it there first thing in
the morning to watch the game. I watched the second half at a lovely
bar across the road overlooking the Tweed River. I couldn't believe
how clear the water was and how many fish I could see! After the game
and some job hunting at the library I enjoyed some post thunderstorm
twilight and a fish n shrimp dinner on the banks of the tweed. The light was
just amazing, no photoshop required!
After my day in Murwullumby, I was
inspired to buy a fishing rod and reel. I managed to break my reel on
my first cast. Despite this setback, I
managed to catch my first fish moments later, broken reel and all.
Granted it was all of about 4 inches long, I was stoked nonetheless.
That's all for now! Will update once I've found a job or flown to
thailand or something.
Cheers,
Colin
Cheers,
Colin
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