Western Australia

So Garret and I left Arapiles after two weeks of rock climbing... we set off to Adelaide and caught up with an old friend Mike Christoff. He encouraged us to see the Barossa Valley... really pretty, we did a wine tour day... I got drunk then hung over in the same day, not really fun... we did manage to enjoy wine and cheese with Mike's Grandma who lives next door to Mike. She is really cool lady.

After our two day rest in Adelaide we drove in a straight line for 3 days to get across the desert. We kept ourselves entertained with road games, reading "In a Sunburnt Country" outloud to eachother and played "so you think you can sing" I lost...

Garret also tried to gain the world record for who can drive the longest with his knees. We saw not much... some shrubs, red dirt, straight road, oh and towns with a population of 6... there was a gas station in the town and thats it... I was amazed when I asked the people at the gas staion if they live here, there answer would be a simple "yes" with a look of "of course I live here" strange to me, but we were thankful, we wouldn't have made it across the desert without their help....

so after three days of driving and not seeing much we decided to pull over into a town to have some lunch, we weren't quite in Perth but we were close and we wanted to have some lunch... so we pulled over and right in the middle of town the car went "splat"! and well all our radiator fluid was everywhere.... hmmm not so good.... but to our amazment we were 1 block from a Toyota dealership... diagnosis "our waterpump blew".... and fortunately they were able to fix it the next day... unbelievable actually...

We arrived in Perth, welcomed by two friends that I made back in Byron Bay.... we went for our first surf on the West coast.... witnessed our first wave rage by two locals, and then Garret nearly got his board cut in half after a near miss by another surfer.... Needless to say our first impression of Western Aussie surf wasn't pleasant... we were happy to be in the water though...

We then headed up the west coast, we stopped for a quick break at a beautiful bay and ended up being there for 4 hours..... Garret jumped in the water and through sheer determination he picked up 2 crayfish with his bare hands from the rocks.... they were quite tasty!!

The next morning we were determined to find surf. About an hour up the road we pulled off abruptly to a surf break, stood there for a moment, no one around... we wondered if we should go in or not.... then out of no where a group of locals that were packed in a truck and hanging out of every window called out to us "Oi you want to jump in and go for a wave" without hesitation we jumped in the truck and found ourselves on a 5km (4WD) adventure down to a secluded beach.... a true local "oasis"... While Garret was hanging off the outside of the truck, I discovered they were a local Christian surfing group... they were all really cool so we ended up joining them for lunch... Their friendly invites, warm welcomes and local knowledge changed our views of Western australia surf.

We continued up the coast to Kalbarri... it has a few different surf breaks... but when we got there no one was out surfing and in the guidebook it says "if no ones out surfing then there is something seriously wrong, Do not go in" so we took the guide books advice and went fishing instead.

After Kalbarri we headed up to an area north of Canarvon to Point quobba.. we saw some cool blow holes and really felt the power of the ocean swell.... there was a sign "King Waves Kill" just as a reminder of how powerful the ocean can be...

We drove on to Red bluff, a true surfer's paradise, it was a tent city in the middle of the desert... with incredible surfing and world class fishing...

we were hoping to get a couple of surf's in before the swell picked up but when we woke up the next morning the surf was already going off. The wave was very serious, Garret and I watched from shore... Later that day I really wanted to give it a go but with the shallow, razor sharp reef my more practical side set in and I decided against it. So we went fishing again... no luck with our rod but our neighbour was happy to share a massive fillet of Baldchin Groper... it was a beautiful tasting fish.

While with 2 strikes out for the surf we were desparate to find waves. We decided to split to Exmouth, our final hope, we arrived later in the day, got up super early, rushed to the surf break only to find onshore winds and long faces from the locals.... So we went fishing and tried the surfing the next day... finally our luck had turned and for the last week we have had a ton of fun surfing on a great right hander break with mellow waves...Oh and to keep you company in the surf the turtles pop their head out of the water every now and then..

We have also been to the Cape Range National Park, there you can snorkel the Nigaloo Reef right from shore, apparently the nigaloo Reef is the longest fringing reef in the world. The fish are cool, we saw turtles, reef sharks, box fish, huge gropers and a array of hard and soft corals..

Yesterday we went out for a snorkel tour and swam with a Manta Ray for over 2kms... it was exhausting and exhillarating at the same time. We also saw 7 spotted eagle rays, more turtles, cool fish and from the boat we saw a pod of 500 dolphins all jumping and spinning in the air... later we saw a leopard shark and a flying fish... I thought flying fish was something Dr. Suess invented but apparently they exist.

Each day I spend with the Ocean I love it more and more, however I am starting to think of home and miss all my family and friends...

so I am not sure how much longer I have but i should be home by June 20th...

can't wait to see everyone, miss you all, xoxo Jamie

Still in australia

Hey everyone... so we are still in aus... wow there is so much to do and it is taking a long time to move through the country... not that I am complaining... we are enjoying ourseleves and just taking our time...

After Creasant head we continued to move on to georgias on the Northern Beachs, hung out with her for a bit, Georgia and I got out surfing together a few more times, while Garret let his ribs heal... he hurt them by surfing too much...

We then decided to continue on down the south coast of NSW and make stops along the way checking out the wildlife and the surf... Alongt he south coast I didn't get into the water, either the waves were too big, the winds were too strong and blowing the wrong way or well there was a great white shark colony in the next bay over....

We had breakfast with the kangaroos one day, dinner with the possums and then breakfast with the birds... (when I get the pics dowloaded this part will make sense)

We then continued on down to the State of Victoria and made our way to Wilson's Promatory, it is the southern most part of Australia... on arrival we were greeted with the most incredible red sunset... the next day had a fun day of surfing on white sandy beaches where the wombats liked to roam... Wombats are the cutest little creatures.... garret got real close and took some good photos.... The natational park in Wilson's promatory was greatly affected by the burning wild fires a couple of months ago... devasting, but the land still had a natural beauty to it...

The next day we headed through Melbourne, spent the night hanging out in the city.. and the next day enjoyed the museum... We then drove down to Bell's Beach and surfed the beach where they have the Rip Curl Pro each year.... aww so much fun... the waves were perfect size for me to enjoy... the water was a chilly 17 degrees though...

And for my birthday we drove ther Great Ocean Road... The winds were insane... over 100 km/hr onshore winds... so the surf was massive, messy and dangerous... we didn't go in the water that day....

We spent the night in a cute town called Port fairy and then drove up to Arapilies... and area Garret has been wanting to come since the begining of the trip... It is a huge rock climbing mecca.... with quality climbs and reasonable grades... this place is stunning... we randomly met up with a good group of friends we met in New Zealand and an old friend we had met in Squamish years ago... so right away we had the warmest welcome... we have had some good days of climbing in when the sun is out... the weather, well its cold at night, very cold... and well can be rainy some days... so together we are going to move on and drive to the West coast... another adventure in itself... wish us luck on the car making it across the dessert... 2 1/2 days of driving...

hope you all are having a great spring, thinking and wishing the best to everyone... Jamie