GAS!

Its been a fairly uneventful week. I picked the car up on Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised to discover that they hadn't seen it necessary to strip out the whole radiator so it cost me far less than I had expected. Bonus. I also got my kite bladder repaired very cheaply at a kitesurfing shop so that was also good. However, I had a bit of a blow today, I took the car in for a gas check to sort out the leak and the converter has been tampered with at some point, probably before I got it, and it needs replacing. Its going to cost over 500 dollars, but it should solve a multitude of problems, the gas has been leaking into the radiator somehow so thats probably the cause of the radiator problems. Its getting done on Monday so we're going to have to put back our departure from Perth a day to Tuesday, but thats no problem and we should be leaving with a White Dragon in peak fitness. Meanwhile I'm kind of hanging around the flat waiting for everthing to be ready, trying not to spend any momey. Its been nice to chill, but I'm itching to get going again now. Hopefully going to get out on the water thisafternoon tho, looks like it could be breezy enough to kitesurf.

Australia Day

Its Tuesday and at last the bank holiday weekend is over and everything is open again. Could you imagine Tesco closing on a bank holiday in the UK? Well all the supermarkets were closed yesterday, and all weekend. I'm going to pop out in a bit and get some shopping so we can actually eat in for a few days! Anyway, the weekend...

Australia Day was a strange one this year. We had a slow start, all just milling about the apartment in the morning, then mid afternoon we went down to Leighton beach near Freemantle and Matt and I went kitesurfing while Nick and Adil played with Matt's little stunt kite on the beach. It was pretty windy and I was able to use my 10 metre kite, which is just as well as my 14m is out of action. I had a great session and even tried Matt's 9 metre which was very fast and exciting to use.

On our way back to Matt's place to get changed we stopped for a quick drink in the OBH and saw Tom which was nice, although he was in a bit of a miserable mood having suffered for days with a bad cold. We popped home and got changed and then Matt drove us to South Perth to his friend Malcolm's house where we were late for a BBQ. Everyone else there (all 3 of them) had been waiting for us to arrive so we felt a bit bad, but a few minutes after walking through the door it was time to walk to the south bank of the river to watch the Australia day fireworks. They were very impressive indeed and lasted a whole half hour. It was a great spot to watch from as all the colours were reflected in the river. After that we went back to Malcolm's place and gorged ourselves on the wonderful food he had prepared and the meat we had taken along to throw on the barbie. It was a very pleasant evening, but not quite what I had expected. Come about 1am I was pretty much asleep on the sofa and everyone was feeling tired and wanting to go home. Having had a few beers Matt obviously couldn't drive home and there was no chance of getting a taxi, although we waited ages for one to arrive. Eventually we decided to walk, much to my horror as I had a good idea of just how far it was and how likely we were to wander a very round-about route. It took us well over two hours and resulted in blisters on my feet as I was wearing borrowed trainers. I collapsed into bed at about 3.30am wondering where Australia Day had gone so wrong this year, but happy to have had a good kitesurf earlier and a belly full of good food.

Sunday was equally strange. It was Nick's last day in Oz, so I felt like we ought to have a bit of a celebration. He went to see a friend in Freemantle for most of the day and I went with Matt and Adil to play tennis. Well, they played tennis, I took the bladder out of my 14m kite to inspect the damage. It had a bloody great hole in it, too big to repair myself which was annoying. I'm hoping to get it fixed by a professional as the cost of replacing it is too much for me to afford at the moment. Later we watched the Australian Open men's final, I've actually been quite surprised by how much I've enjoyed watching the tennis this last week, especially the semis and finals. At about 9'oclock Matt, Adil and Nick decided they wanted to go to Cottesloe for the Sunday Session. I thought this was a crazy idea as the Sunday sesh usually ends at 10pm but we went to have a look anyway. Unsurprisingly it was packed and they weren't letting anyone else in, but apparently they were staying open later due to the bank holiday. this made no odds to us though, so we hastily bought a box of beer before the off licence shut and headed back to Matt's place, with Ben and Scott in tow, some Aussie mates of Matt's. We actually had a really good evening after that, sat chilling at chatting on Matt's balcony. Ben seemed like a nice guy and said something about going out on his family's yacht when I get to Brisbane.

Monday was a bit of a non-event. Matt's feeling rough at the moment and didn't feel like kitesurfing, and the wind didn't pick up as strong as expected so i didn't do all that much all day. In the evening tho Matt and I went and saw a film called Juno which was brilliant so that was cool. I ended the day laughing my head off at a DVD of The Office with Adil.

Today I should be getting the White Dragon back, hopefully all sorted and with no further radiator issues. However, I will have to book it straight in for the gas leak to be looked at, which I'm crossing my fingers wont be too expensive and wont take too long!

AAARR! They don't make em like they used to!

Being back in Perth again after a few weeks down south has reminded me of how hot it can be, its been in the mid thirties every day. Whats been great though is the wind, its been pretty good kitesurfing conditions on the river every late afternoon, so my kitesurfing has been continuing to improve. I'm now grabbing the tail during my backloops going one way and starting to land backoops dry occaisionally on my weaker side. I'm getting pretty close to doing jumping transitions too, having landed a few. Its all good fun. But my 14 metre kite has been disappointing of late. Its great to fly but whenever I crash it and theres any slack in the lines it always seems to roll over and get tangled up, meaning having to take it back to shore and sort it out before continuing. Yesterday I was trying a front loop and crashed it quite hard and I think I burst the leading edge bladder. The whole kite deflated, which could have been disastrous had I not been in my depth. Luckily at the river, by Pelican Point where I used to work in 1999/2000, its waist deep for a long way out so I could walk back in, dragging the deflated kite behind me. I'd had a great session, it was a shame to end it in such a way due to a poorly manufactured kite. I might have to flog it and buy a Flexifoil or something if problems persist.

Its quite different being in Perth this time round since I'm not staying at the hostel. Matt has been very good to allow me to crash here for a couple of weeks, especially since his friend Adil is also crashing here, and Nick until he leaves on Monday. Its meant being able to save the expense of accomodation for a couple of weeks, but unfortunately my money is being drained elsewhere. The white dragon has finally shown me the financial sting of owning a car abroad. I found it had a flat one morning this week and had to replace two tyres, at a whopping $220 each (thats about £100 each) and theres also a small hole in the radiator somewhere that has been a persistent problem for some time, I took it in to be repaired today and they're going to have to strip the radiator out to repair it, another estimated $450 down the drain. They also reckon theres a gas leak, and they're probably right, I did hear a hissing recently and it does smell a bit. Lets hope that doesn't cost too much to sort out, otherwise this could be a very expensive couple of weeks. In the big scheme of things I'm not too worried, I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to get near enough what I paid for the white dragon back when I sell it, so long as I leave myself plenty of time. If I do then it will only have cost me what I've paid for servicing and repairs, which will be a hell of a lot less than renting a car for 6 months would have cost. I'll also be able to take the money I get when I sell it and get something in New Zealand, where I'll be working and repairs and services wont be quite such a blow. It could be a lot worse anyway, and after 10,000 kilometres in the white dragon, exploring the west coast from Perth up to Gnaraloo and all the way down to Esperance, I don't have any regrets. Its been amazing.

So the next couple of weeks I'll be getting the car sorted, hopefully doing lots of kitesurfing, and some more windsurfing if I can get up to Lancelin again, and tomorrow I'll be celebrating Australia Day! Should be good, and then its off across the Nullabor for a complete change of scenery!

Margarets, Valley of the Giants, Esperance, Wave Rock, Back to Perth

As I suggested in my last post, the last few weeks have been amazing. I'll try to sum them up briefly, but in a little more detail than my last post. When Nick and I left Perth on New Years Day and headed south, we intended on spending a week in the region of Margarets River and then follow the coast along to Esperance before crossing the Nullabor towards Adelaide and then Melbourne. However, things have changed. Margarets was absolutely beautiful, a real contrast with Perth and the north of WA in that it was greener, with vast forests and the weather was more like a good English summer than the 30 to 40 degrees we had become accostomed to. We fell in love with the place, and just as we were reluctantly preparing to move on several things happened at once. My good friend Matt who I trained with in Sydeney in 1999 came down to join us and set about trying to talk me into staying longer on the West coast. Nick's West Oz romance Hannah came down and was due to stay for a week. And we bumped into Dunja and Denice, two young, fun, beautiful Dutch girls who I had met and instantly fallen in love with at Christmas in Perth. Thes factors combined with a good forecast and an endless list of things to do in the area made us drastically change our plans. We decided to stay another week in Margarets and then follow the coast as planned to esperance, before heading back to Perth so Nick could catch his outbound flight from there. We have no regrets whatsoever! The extra week in Margarets was awesome, I had some incredible kitesurfing sessios, landing single and double back loops! We went on a wine tour, to a chocolate factory, to some incredibel caves, two lighthouses and lots of amazing beaches. Dunja and Denise were great fun and a constant source of amusement. Everyone got on really well and it was one of the best weeks I've had in Australia. of course it had to end, Nick said his tearful farewell to Hannah as she headed to a remote inland town to work in a bar to unlock the second year of her visa, we said our goodbyes to Dunja and Denise as they caught a bus back to Perth ready to catch a flight to Bali and Nick and I eventually hit the road again heading southeast towards the Valley of the Giants.

The Valley of the Giants is an area of forrest where some of Australia's tallest trees grow, and there is a tourist attraction there called the treetop walk which I have been keen to visit ever since hearing about it. Its a metal walkway in the canopy of these huge trees which is 40 metres above the ground at its highest point. Its quite breathtaking and Nick and I enjoyed it so much we walked round it twice. We also took a walk around at groundlevel which included trees that you could walk right through, some of which were 400 years old and 16 metres around their base. We carried on from the Valley of the Giants toward Esperance, intending to stay that night at a remote camping ground in the Fitzgerald River National Park. We drove to Bremer Bay on the edge of the park, a beautiful place in its own right, only to find that the park was closed due to serious bushfires! We had to backtrack to the main road and head for the Stokes National Park near Esperance. This meant we had to do about 5 or 6 hours driving that day. We arrived at the campsite quite late and set up our tent as a huge electrical storm approached. There were more mozzies than I've seen anywhere in Oz so we skipped dinner and watched the lightening from our tent for a while before fatigue got the better of us and we fell asleep.

The next morning I woke with a nasty headache, not alchohol induced but rather akin to the migraines I occasionally get. I had a bit of a lay in then went for a swim in the sea to try to revive myself. The water was clear and the bay beautiful but my headache persisted. We drove to Esperance and I felt gradually better as time went on. Esperance wasn't a particularly large place but the bay was incredible, with breathtaking beaches and dozens of small picturesque isalnds just out to sea. We had a look around and spent a little time at the internet cafe before getting some information from the Tourist Info place and heading East towards the deserted beaches of Cape Arid National park. We headed for a campsite at Thomas River which was a mere $2 a head per night but 120 kilometres away. Just before we turned down an unsealed road for the last 50k or so a huge storm came upon us and we were both shocked to see hailstones pelting the bonnet of the White Dragon. I took the turning for Thomas River and did my Colin McRae thing to get ahead of the storm so we could rig the tent before the downpour. We arrived at the remote campground and set up camp, but the storm seemed to track past and miss us. We went for a wonder down to Yokinup beach before dinner. It was about ten miles long, wide, white sand and totally deserted. Beautiful. Unspoilt. Ours. We had a paddle then our bellies led us back to the campsite and ordered us to cook up some dinner.

The next morning we drove the White Dragon down onto Yokinup beach and drove a couple of kilometres along it for a look see. It was so beautiful and unspoilt and totally deserted, it felt like our very own beach only it was bigger than we'd ever need it to be! There were waves rolling in up the very gently shelving beach, but they weren't big enough for us to get excited about surfing, Margarets had spoilt us in that department. We went for a drive to a few other beaches in the area and found pretty much the same thing, beautiful, deserted white sandy beaches. We had to do a pretty hardcore offroad track to get to one, which was fun. We went back to Yokinup beach for lunch, some cheese and biscuits. We had the perfect setting! Not another human in sight, just a few birds here and there. The wind was starting to pick up a little and I was desperate to kitesurf this paradise, with not a single other kitesurfer for over 100k in any direction. I set up and launched out into the shallow clear water, but was a little disappointed by the wind. It was a bit light and up and down. I had some good runs and got out past the waves. Even here where it must have been at least a couple of metres deep the water was so clear I could see every pebble on the bottom. I've never seen such beautiful clear turquoise water anywhere else, and I was enjoying it in a way I imagine few people have. Despite a few good runs it wasn't long before I gave up on the kitesurfing and we headed back to camp.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't great, it was a bit overcast and threatened to rain at any minute. After a while of sitting around the campsite wondering what to do with ourselves we decided to pack up and go back to Esperance. It was Saturday night after all! We drove back to Esperance and checked into a campsite, then walked into town in search of a restaurant. Esperance seemed to have little or no nightlife and we were even turned away from a Chinese restaurant at a little after 9.30pm because their kitchen had already closed. Eventually we found a place called the Loose Goose which was excellent, very good food indeed, track it down if you're ever in Esperance. After that we were pretty tired and went back to the campsite for some kip.

The next morning we checked the forecasts on the internet to see if the weather, wind or waves were due to improve, but it didn't look promising so we hit the road again and headed northwest towards Wave Rock, near a small 'town' called Hyden, about 400k inland and on the way back to Perth. Wave Rock is a section of a huge granite outcrop that has been eroded over millions of years into the shape of a huge wave. Its about 14 metres high and is very impressive. We also saw nearby "Hippo's Yawn' and 'Mugli's Cave', the cave of a giant boss eyed baby eating aboriginal, which was nice. We stayed at a campsite a stonesthrow from Wave Rock, sadly it was the last time Nick and I will pitch camp together on this trip. We ate some spaghetti and meatballs and then when it was dark we went back to Wave Rock to see it in the moonlight. Eerily impressive. The next morning we had a lay in then packed up quick and fled the flies heading back to Perth, about 4 hours drive away. We're now at Matt's Dad's flat in Perth, a great place with free wireless internet, easy access to the city, aircon, secure parking and most excitingly for me, a kitchen and fridge! I'll hopefully stay here a couple of weeks before I head across to Adelaide and on to Melbourne and Sydney. I think I deserve a little luxury!

Margarets River

So much has happened in the last week or so in Margarets River that I don't know where to start, nor do I have time to write it all up. I've had an awesome kitesurfing session, really getting to grips with my big jumps and turns. The whole last two months really came together. I have windsurfed in the waves at Surfers Point, alongside pro sailor Scott McKercher. This is a spot I never expected to sail, and I took it on very well, scoring numerous down the line rides and some big airs. I have also dropped in properly whilst surfing for the first time ever and turned down the line, which is a lot trickier than it sounds. On top of this I've seen magnificent caves, spectacular lighthouses and views over an amazing coastline. I've stood where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. I've been hanging out with Dunja and Denise, Sugar and Spice, Peaches and Cream, the two most attractive sisters I've ever met (both with boyfriends back home unfortunately, but they are very funny and great company). And my good friend Matt who I trained with in Oz 7 years ago and worked with in Spain in 2003 has turned up and I've been spending a lot of time catching up with him too. Life couldn't be better. More details next time....

Back Beach, NYE, South

I went up to Lancelin again on Sunday, it was pretty rough and decided to go windsurfing at back beach where thee others I went up with were surfing. Tom went out kiting too. I was on my 5.2 and was a little underpowered getting out, which made the small but punchy breaking waves hard to get through! It was hard work and I got washed up by a few big waves, but made it out plenty of times into the swell and on the way in had some great rides on the waves. I did some great backside top turns and tried some down the line rides, but it was a bit too onshore. It was hard work, exhausting, but great fun! We stopped in Lancelin for dinner and then came back to Perth. I got an early night to prepare for New Years Eve.

Nobody had made any particularly solid plans for NYE and we had kind of decided to go to the OBH, the huge pub attached to the hostel. The wind came up in the afternoon and Tom and I went kitesurfing in South Cottesloe. There were some big ramps and I made some of the biggest jumps I have landed so far. I was kiting pretty well and using my smaller 10metre kite for the first time. It was great to get such a good session in on New Years Eve and I was really in the mood for a good night. In the end it sounded asif the OBH wasn't all that interesting, and there were loads of people in the courtyard, so for economy's sake and because it seemed fitting, I spent the whole night in the backpacker's courtyard. the atmosphere was good though and we had a good time.

On New Years Day I had a lay in and then went to meet my friend Matt Sweeting for lunch. he and I had trained as windsurfing instructors seven years ago in Sydney, and also worked together in Spain in 2003. It was great to see him and we had a good long chat. He tried to convince me to stay on the west coast, which was tempting as I'd probably get more windsurfing and kitesurfing done. At this moment in time that would be a good thing, as I'm coming on so fast with both sports. But I'm keen to move on, see more of Australia and stick to the plan of getting Nick to Melbourne for the 26th and meeting Mark in Sydney early February.

After lunch with Matt I went back to the hostel and Nick and i packed up the van ready for another roadtrip. It was sad to leave Cottesloe, the Ocean Beach Backpackers had been a great place to stay, I thoroughly recommend it, and its such a great beach and area in general. I will probably be back in april while I sell my car before moving on to New Zealand, but who knows what will happen in the next few months!

Nick and I headed south, bound for Margarets River. the distances weren't so huge as when we headed North, and within 3 or 4 hours we were in the Margarets River region. Its a beautiful place, much greener than perth and the North, and we instantly liked it. Driving into the town of Margarets River we became very excited, it looked like a very cool town, with loads of surf shops and great looking restaurants. We continued on through another 10k to Prevelly, on the coast, and we were amazed by what we saw. It was stunning, and whats more, just out to sea were some of the biggest waves I've ever seen with my own eyes! We were very excited, Nick's face was a picture! We checked into the campsite, which was a little more expensive that we're used to, but was beautiful with huge pitches amongst tall trees providing morning shade, and fire pits on every pitch. We pitched the tent and settled in for the night, relaxed in the knowledge that it would be a week to remember!

Thismorning we got up and went to Rivermouth, where there is a slighly smaller more manageable wave. We had a look to see if there were any hazards to be aware of and then went out surfing. It was pretty good, although some big sets were coming through and it could be a bit all over the place at times. I got a few rides, not quite as good as in the more timid waves at Geraldton back beach, but I was happy that I was getting closer and closer to actually dropping in on a wave properly. Thats what I'm going to work on this week. Since then we've popped in to town for supplies and are about to go back to the campsite to chill out. Oh, and I found the film 'Willow' on DVD in the supermarket for $8 so we're going to watch that tonight!! Hahahaha!