The Dream Continues – Byron Bay

There is something magical about surf towns the world over. Byron Bay is one of the more specials such towns for me as it has everything a surfer is looking for including great waves, tasty cafe’s and cool people. The lack of photos I took in Byron, and in this post, is a testament to how much surfing I did.

Going to Byron for only eight days I knew that we weren’t guaranteed waves. Even the extended wave reports weren’t offering much hope, but we paid for the trip so we are here. Turns out that we got lucky because even though the reports weren’t so good, we managed to have really fun waves for all eight days! Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t catch it on a day when legends are made with the outer point barrelling all of the way into the bay, but still, there were lots of really fun waves to be had. Best of all was the the water is warm enough that you don’t need a wetsuit unless it’s a cloudy and even then, a shorty is more than enough to keep me warm.

When we first got to our hotel I was bummed because I thought that we had booked a place way closer to the point, but it turned out it was pretty great regardless. The point was an easy 15 minute walk down the beach and right out front was a really great and pitchy wave that breaks off of an old ship wreck that’s still sticking up out of the ocean. The crowds out front aren’t too bad and the vibe in the water is super chill.

The famous point break is a right hander that peaks off of a rocky point and peals over a beautiful sandy bottom right into the bay. When it’s working it peals all the way though and must be about a 300m ride. On smaller days it’s still a long wave, but it tends to section which allows people to line up all the way along the bay making for lots of waves for everyone. It’s a super crowded wave, but if you are willing to sit outside of the main peak there are lots of waves to go around.

Most days Josi and I walk down the the point and I surf closer to the rocks where it’s a bit bigger and Josi hangs on the inside and catches the smaller waves. Then on the way back to our hotel I go for a surf at the ship wreck which is a much shorter ride, but it pitches both right and left and is heaps of fun.

The beauty of the set up in Byron is that there are surf beaches that point in all directions which pick up most swells. Yes, the point is epic, but even the beach breaks right out front of town spit up super hollow and are loads of fun. I rode into of a lot more barrels then I made it out of, but I did manage to ride out of my first back side barrel which was super cool. When the water is warm and the bottom is sand, you feel fearless and tuck into everything, even if you know you aren’t going to make it out. Of course the camera never comes out when the waves are the best, but Josi was nice enough to take a few snap a few shots.

On top of the great waves Byron Bay offers lots of really great restaurants, cool people, and super chill vibe which is always great. I even managed to catch up and go for a surf with my old friend Alvin who came to visit Byron in 1996 and never came back to Vancouver. He is basically living the dream because his work is flexible enough that if the swell is great he can surf, and his wife and two kids love to surf as well so he logs lots of water time.

Our next stop is New Zealand which is going to be fun. We have rented a camper van at the bottom of the South Island and we are driving up to the North Island. I have been told that the water is freezing cold, but if we find some perfect waves I’m going to brave it in my shorty for sure. In the very least, I’m looking forward to getting in some fly fishing which I know I will do regardless of the swell.

Loving life Down Under

Having lived in Whistler for 5 years, a good half of the friends I made are Australians, some of them still living in Whistler and some now back here in Australia. All of them without exception, told me how awesome Australia is so I was super excited to finally come and check it out. Funny enough two friends who I met through Pro Ride Snowboard Camps and who I really wanted to visit happen to live in Manly where we had planned to stay. To my surprise, Manly turned out to be like the Whistler of Sydney, no wonder why my friends choose to live there! It’s really the perfect place as you get the peace and quiet of a smaller beach town with good surf, and you are only a quick ferry ride away from downtown Sydney.

Noel and I were amazed by how nice everyone is here and by the warmth and hospitality that our friends showed us. Between camping with Andrew, Nick and their families, eating out with Chris and touring around and surfing with Stephen, the week we had planned in Sydney flew by way to fast! Meeting with Noel’s long time friend Juliet in Melbourne was also great as we had time to get a nice mix between the city and the surrounding beaches. It’s rare that you can visit a foreign country and meet up with an existing circle of friends. I somehow knew that I would love Australia, but I didn’t think that I would love as much as I do!

Besides seeing kangaroos for the first time, another highlight of the trip was when Andrew introduced us to Tim Tams! Man Oh Man are they good. I usually don’t eat these kind of cookies or super sweet treats, but the outdoors inspired me to dig in and give it a try. I was hooked after the first bite. I was in chocolate trance when the words came out of my mouth “Tim Tams are romantic!”. I have no idea why I said that, but I do hope that they use it for their next ad campaign, because they are truly like a kiss from heaven. I will have to bring a few packs back to Canada.

After some great times with friends in Sydney and Melbourne, we jumped on a plane for Byron Bay. Rolling into such a cool little surf town, and seeing all the beaches along the way, I knew that we would have a great time here. Byron is super cute and surfy which I loved. It’s also a bit on the weirder side of hippy which I wasn’t totally into, but Noel had warned me so it didn’t come as a surprise. You see a lot of legitimate hippies around town, but you also see a lot of self made young hippies, basically a bunch of young kids who have spent more than their share of fun tickets and who probably have a well-off family somewhere waiting for them back home.

I absolutely fell in love with Byron and the whole beach surf lifestyle that Australia has going on. I already pictured all the different sizes and colours of boards that I would have if I lived here! Seriously, the lifestyle here is great and I’m impressed by how food conscious the restaurants are here compared to back in Canada. Most of them serve organic food and they almost all offer really great gluten free and vegan options. Even the grocery stores offer a much wider variety of health food than back home. One more reason why I love Australia so much! After 3 weeks here, I am a bit sad to leave, but knowing that we are coming back for a couple of days after Tahiti and prior to flying back home in June, makes it much better.

After an amazing stay with friends and some great surfing, we are now heading to New Zealand where a camper van is waiting for us to hit the open road. Luckily Noel is a good driver because there is no way I would want to be driving a camper van on the wrong side of the road for two weeks!

Melbourne and Beyond

Seeing as we are in Australia for only 3 weeks we almost left Melbourne off of the list. Luckily for us my long time friend Juliet and her son Ben were keen on having us come to visit so we jumped on a plane and flew down. When I lived in Australia way back when, I likely may have chosen to live in Melbourne over Sydney had it not been so far from the surf.

It’s great here because there’s a cool mix of European architecture and fashion mixed with a casual Australian vibe. Lots of great cafes, trendy boutiques, free museums, cool street art, easy to use train system and really friendly people. Juliet and Ben live in a trendy community called Yarraville which is just outside of the downtown core. While Juliet was at work Josi and I had fun eating out at cool cafes, shopping in the neighbourhood and exploring the city and taking photos for Orb Clothing. I find taking photos for Orb when we go to a new city I get to see it differently that I would otherwise. Cool buildings, interesting textures, light, street art all come to life in ways I might not otherwise have noticed.

One of the things I have noticed about Australia is that their packaging tends to be far cooler than it is in Canada. Everything from beer to yogurt mostly all have edgy and hip creative elements to them. It’s almost as though all of the old guys who create boring packaging here have died and that all of the young hip kids making cool art are running the show. Another campaign that’s super prominent at the moment is Dumb Ways to Die. It’s promoting stain safety and everyone from kids to their parents are singing the song. It’s print creative is quite fun as well.

After a few days in the city Juliet took us to Wilsons Prom, which is a national park on the open ocean to the east of Melbourne. We stayed at her friends cabin and had lots of fun exploring the park’s rugged coast, as well as chilling at the cabin. We also managed to have a great day of uncrowded cold water surfing. The waves were overhead and the winds were hard off shore which made for lots of fun and uncrowded waves. I surfed until I couldn’t feel my feet and then had to come in. I was impressed with Josi as she managed to surf for as long as I did and she did great.

Unfortunately our time in Melbourne was a bit rushed and we didn’t get to see too much, but we still had a great time. We are super stoked because we are going up to surf the warm waters of Byron Bay for 8 days.

Good Living in Sydney Australia

Coming back to Sydney was like coming home for me. Between 1995 and 1996 I spent a year living in Australia with Mike Cowie, Foozeball Dave and my brother Jed. We were young and mostly what I remember doing was surfing and skateboarding. I spent most of my time in the little beach community called Manly which is just north and a short ferry ride from Sydney’s downtown. It’s a mix between Vancouver and San Diego in that the vibe is super chill and everyone is really nice, the upside being that there are no junkies or bums asking for change here in Manly. Living in Vancouver, Kits to be specific, I guess I have become somewhat used to the sketchy drugged out dudes asking for change every time I go to Whole Foods to pick up groceries. 20 years ago this was never a problem in Canada. North American society, specifically me I guess, is becoming desensitized and such things have become the norm. What happened to people’s values and self respect that such things are accepted as normal?

The beachside community of Manly, and from what we have seen of Sydney, is somewhat void of such things. Much like Kits, everyone is super fit, stylish, happy and are loving life. The culture somewhat revolves around the surf and all of the healthy living that goes with being by the ocean. Cafes line the beach front and every second person is carrying a surfboard, riding skateboards, or riding bikes. The waves out front are somewhat crowded, but even I was able to get more waves as I could count on the best of the 7 days that we were here. Some of the surfers were only wearing board shorts, but I was happy to have a shorty as the water was a little cool due to it being fall now. To my surprise, the waves were really great with lots of overhead peaks firing down the line. I had a blast!

Best of all is that the day after we arrived my good friends Andy and Nick, who I knew from when I worked at Manly Blades, took us camping about 4 hours south of Sydney. The plan was to surf heaps, but a massive storm that dumped 200mm of rain in 24 hours made the surf less than perfect. It was so great connecting with them and meeting their new families. Even though it has been 17 years since I have seen them, it was like we had been hanging out non stop without missing a beat.

We camped at a small beach community called North Durras and the place was teaming with Kangaroos. They were absolutely everywhere and it was pretty cool to see them bouncing all over the place. It wouldn’t be Australia without a spider or snake story. While camping there was a HUGE Huntsman spider about a foot from my head. Josi spotted it and screamed and I jumped. Andy told me that it was a “friendly” spider and that it is Ok to pick it up. He hinted a few times that I should, but I thought skip that, I can’t stand spiders! The next day he tells me that one of the same spiders bit his daughter not too long ago and he decided not to send her to school that day to keep an eye on her. Apparently it’s only poisonous if you react funny to it and regardless they can pack a mean bite. My rule of thumb, never pick up a spider. Luckily it didn’t rain the whole time and we were able to enjoy a big open flame BBQ and lots of stories by the fire.

Back in Manly, we stayed at a little guest house/hotel a couple of blocks from where I used to work and a half block from the beach. I loved living here because I was able to fit surfing into my daily routine. The pic above is Andrew catching a early morning wave just before we went for breakfast.

We toured Sydney and some of it’s many beaches with Josi’s friend Stephen, who lives in Manly as well. He is a member of the Manly LIfesaving Club and prefers to surf on a lifesaving board. It’s big and he rides it on his knees and to my surprise he was able to control it pretty efficiently. When we fly out to New Zealand Steven has offered for us to stay at this house right on the beach which is really great.

It was also really great to catch up with Bill and his wife Barb. Bill was my my boss when I worked here at Manly Blades (now called Skater HQ), and it was such a great place to work. Bill was great because he was good with business, and a the same time super laid back and all good times. We also connected with Josi’s Ausi friend Chris from back in Whistler who also lives in Manly. So many friends are now living in the same area!

On one of the days without much surf we took the harbour ferry into the city. SItting on deck and and seeing the famous Sydney Opera House from the water with the city skyline behind it is always a cool sight. We checked out the Museum of Art, which is free, and the art exhibits were all really great. We also had fun passing the time by taking photos for Orb Clothing. Had we had more time here we would have liked to check out a lot more of the sights, but on this trip surfing took priority and we made the most of it.

While there aren’t many, the few downsides to Australia are the distance from home back in Canada and the cost of living. Eating out and buying groceries seems to be about 35% higher than Vancouver. Real estate in the most desirable beach side locations is also hyper inflated. I guess if you are living and working here you don’t notice it as much as we do being tourists. It doesn’t help that we just came from Bali where things are so crazy cheep.

The upsides here in Australia far outweigh the cost of living that’s for sure. It’s nice here because when walking down the street people smile at you and say “good day” and the overall vibe is super friendly. There are loads of cool cafe’s and shops and the surf is right there. I could easily move back to Australia as it’s such good living and to my surprise, Josi totally loves it here as well.

Our next stop is to visit our friend Juliet and her son Ben who live in Melbourne for a week of checking out the city and cold water surfing.