When we arrived in Alstonville yesterday we did a quick drive out to the coast to check out the surf potential.

We had heard there were good waves and I was aware (from years of reading surfing magazines) that Lennox Head was in the vicinity and was well worth a look.

As we drove down the coast we saw surf everywhere and it was more a case of ‘where?’ not ‘if?’ The beachies looked decent and we saw a couple of point breaks that looked ok and then there was Lennox… It looked magic and was the pick of the crop, but also the most crowded.

Today’s choice was between quality or solitude… Usually I choose solitude and surf crappy waves, but today I figured I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to surf one of Australia’s classic waves while I was in the area.

We had a quick look at Flat Rocks which looked big and shifty and not that appealing before heading down to the Lennox. There were some beautiful lines rolling thru and several packs of guys sitting at different take off spots.

Despite feeling an urge to quickly change in brown underwear (its been a while since I have surfed decent sized waves) I was stoked to be able to have a crack at somewhere like this. My very patient wife and kids would play on the beach while I did my best not to embarrass myself…

So I strolled down to the inner take off spot which was much less crowded and tried to find a way out… but it wasn’t happening. Large boulders covered in barnacles sloped away gradually into the ocean bottom but a decent sized wave kept thundering across them, so it was obvious that I wasn’t going to get out without a fight and maybe some board damage. No one else was trying to head out there so I thought maybe that was a sign…

I followed a couple of locals up to the outer section and hoped to watch them jump first. They stopped and chatted, so I just decided to give it a whirl anyway. I stepped out on the rocks as far as I could get without getting hammered, waited for a decent sized wave, jumped and paddled like crazy… I made it a few meters before the bottom sucked out and the board scraped on some rocks. Oh well… I kept paddling – this wasn’t the spot to check out the damage.

Once thru that section I was into the take off zone pretty easily and straight into a nice looking and good sized wave… only to discover that there was someone on the inside… Bugger… I have a fairly high regard for surfing etiquette, so I pulled off and let him go on a beauty of a wave.

For the next hour and a half getting waves was tricky. Partly because of the shifty peaks that moved around and occasionally caught us inside, but also because most people out there were much better – or at least younger – than I… It was frustrating to paddle into a beautiful wave only to see someone further inside and then having to pull out. It was disheartening to feel weary arms after having to duck dive thru a few waves and fight my way back out.

I did score a couple of decent waves but the crowd factor meant it was more of an experience than a true joy. I can now saw that I ‘have done it’… for what that’s worth… For me it was worth sacrificing my solitude for today.

While out there I was chatting with a bloke who had lived there for 25 years and obviously knew the place well. I asked him where to ‘go in’ after I’d finished. He just said ‘where-ever you like. It’s a mess in there.’

Some huge storms in recent months had shifted all the barnacle encrusted rocks around to the shore so everyone was now having to take it very careful to make it in. I decided to take the long route via the bay and avoid board and personal damage, but a mistimed wave saw me changing those plans. After take off the wave closed out and rolled me in close to shore. I felt the rocks under foot and made the decision to head in rather than make my way back out.

It was every bit as tricky as it looked. Adrenalin is useful stuff for getting thru these dodgy situations! With it pumping rapidly thru my veins I managed to navigate a couple of oncoming waves, stumble over the rocks and drag my board to safety. Once on land I saw blood streaming from both feet, my left shin bruised and my left thigh was badly corked.

I didn’t even look back out. It was time to call it a day and accept that some days ‘old blokes don’t rule’…

Would I do it again?…

Ha… That’s a no brainer, hey?…

Where?

That’s where we are now – staying in the Alstonville showgrounds, a little town about 12km from Ballina. We saw the campspot in the Camps 4 book and thought we’d check it out.

For $15.00 a night we get a powered space under a big pavilion, so if it rains we are well covered. Given the cooler weather a bit more sun would be nice, but we decided to cover ourselves against rain and went undercover.

One of our first impressions of this little town was its friendliness. We drove in while the markets were on so we had to spend a couple of hours just kicking around while the pavilion cleared. We had a bunch of people wanting to chat and make conversation. A walk thru the town today took a long time because we got talking to a couple of people in a local shop…

It’s a nice spot and well worth a stop if you are doing the journey.

Last Sunday we stopped in for our mid trip break in a Surfers Paradise apartment. We got it on eBay for a decent price and were looking forward to 7 nights of living indoors, having space to spread out and not having to worry whether it was cold or raining.

We were all looking forward to it, but it’d be safe to say that we’re all glad to be back in camping mode these last two days.

The apartment had some things going for it:

– it was bigger than the camper

– it had a dishwasher

– it had a TV that worked

– the bathroom was close to us

– we didn’t have to clean it

But we discovered that for various reasons it just didn’t excite us and we don’t see ourselves going back to Surfers Paradise any time soon. Why?…

– Surfers is like a city on the beach and the traffic was terrible. We traveled at an average of 30km/hr everywhere we went.

– The noise was incredible. Between people yelling, sirens going off and night club music we often found it hard to get to sleep. If you left your windows open during the day you couldn’t have a conversation.

– The bed was crap… what can I say? That is the pits. Our camper bed is really comfortable and we expected it to be at least comparable. It was springy and unstable so we kept rolling.

– You couldn’t tell the kids to ‘go and play’ because the only space they have is indoors or the balcony. When we are camping they find so much to keep themselves amused. So they ended up watching TV… not what we would hope…

I enjoyed a couple of good surfs down at Greenmount (Superbank) and we took a drive up to Mt Tamborine and enjoyed some spectacular scenery. We took the kids to Seaworld and they loved it, so there were some good moments, but the big citylike feel was what ultimately undid us. It was like living in Northbridge on Scarborough (for those west ozzies who know what I mean)

If we had our time over I think we might hang out in Tweed or somewhere smaller for a few days, but we would avoid Surfers all together.

I think we will be hanging out in smaller, quieter spaces for the rest of our time…

I took some time to drive down the coast on my own today and check out the surf at some different places. It was onshore slop in Surfers so I wasn’t holding great hope, but as I drove I saw a few nice waves.

Burleigh was ok but pretty busy and Currumbin didn’t look too bad either. I drove down as far as D’Bah where there were about 100 guys in the water – admittedly the best wave I had seen all day, but I just couldn’t bring myself to entering the dogfight. I don’t enjoy that kind of surfing and never have.

So I made my way back to a smaller but half decent looking wave in Rainbow Bay. The next couple of hours were pretty sweet with some half decent right handers peeling thru and no great crowd. The arms were like jelly when I got out but it was worth it.

While out there I discovered that I was actually surfing what was the ‘Superbank’. It was one of the most legendary waves in Oz as the local council pumped sand out of the Tweed River and it created magic banks around the corner a bit giving some of the longest rides you can imagine.

All that has changed now as the sand shifting has stopped, but its still good enough for old blokes who hate crowds!

Here it is at its ‘best’ and worst with mega crowds

This was it was today. A rather pale reflection, but it’ll do…

While we were at Jason’s place we saw this sign on the post near the road. We discussed how to respond…

This was our first sign – a more ‘philosophical’ approach

And this was our second…

Can’t wait to see what develops now!