Craig's Travel Blog

Bats

2008-03-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

After leaving Melbourne, Matt and I stopped at the breathtakingly beautiful Wilson's Prom and climbed a small mountain for incredible views in the twilight. Then we headed East along the coast stopping in various national parks on our way towards New South Wales. One campsite we stayed in was right next to the beach in lush forest and was very rugged and beautiful. We went for a surf despite being a bit shark wary. Eventually we got to the beautiful little coastal town of Malacoota. A few hundred metres offshore the wind was howling but due to the shape of the coastline it was too sheltered by the beach for us to be able to get out to the windline, which was frustrating. But it was a very pretty place nevertheless. From here we headed north towards Canberra. The scenery was magnificent on this drive, as we drove along huge rural plains over 1000 metres above sea level. The rolling hills and farms reminded me of Wales and the green grass and trees were a real contrast to the dusty barren look of Western Australia. We arrived in Canberra and went to the parliament house and then the zoo where they had an impressive array of wild cats including two snow leopards, lions, tigers, a cougar and a tigon (lion/tiger crossbreed). They also had a bear and many indigenous species such as roos, dingos, emus, wombats etc. It was pretty cool but sad to see all the animals caged up. After the zoo we went and met my old mate Nick Streeton who was a housemate in Abingdon and is now studying at uni in Canberra (he's an aussie). He and his girlfriend Emma cooked us dinner and we watched French Connection 2, it was great to see them. the next day Matt and I went to the war memorial and museum which was huge and fascinating, far too much to see for the time we had, but highly recommended for any history enthusiasts.

After leaving Canberra we were on the final stretch of our collossal roadtrip across the South of Australia. We had covered about 7000 kilometres and seen three states, three cities and a lot of beaches, mountains and national parks. As we drove into Sydney, across the harbour bridge, past the opera house, we started to recognise things from when we were there 8 years before. We drove through to Manly, where we stayed all those years ago when I was just 18 and was leaving home for the first time. Manly hasn't changed all that much and it had a lot of nostalgic value for me! Matt and I had a couple of nights out to celebrate our journey and then he had to fly back to Perth. My good friend Marky was in Manly so i was not alone, and Tom, my old buddy from the hostel in Perth popped over on business. I also saw Lizzie and Laura, another couple of friends from the hostel in Perth. My old windsurf buddy Max turned up in Sydney too, so it was great to see lots of people I knew. On my birthday Max and I and a few others went to Botany bay and I kitesurfed while they windsurfed. Then we went into Sydney for a pizza and a few drinks. Two weeks in Manly seemed a long time in one place so it was nice to finally hit the road again with Marky. We headed north to Myall Lakes national park and camped by one of the lakes, near the ocean beach. We went for a swim in the sea and Marky was in awe of it all, which reminded me how lucky I was to be there. Its easy to start taking amazing beaches for granted when you've spent 4 months on them. The next day we went to Smiths lake where I did my instructor course 8 years ago and to the squeaky sand beach that I loved so much back then. You have to walk on a boardwalk through a rainforest to get to it and its magnificent, totally unspoilt. the sand squeaks when you walk on it and the water was crystal clear. There was a lovely mellow wave rolling in and I had a great surf, catching a good wave right in front of Marky. Afterwards we headed on north and stayed the night in Nambucca Heads at a very nice and reasonably priced campsite. The next day we headed on up to Byron Bay, which was very beautiful, we visited the lighthouse from which there were incredible views of the coastline. Next stop was Surfers Paradise, which seemed like tourist hell, so we onlys topped long enough to spend a day at the waterpark before heading on to Brisbane, where we stopped for a night out but didn't stay long, prefering to stay out of the cities. Our next stop was Noosa Heads, a very pretty little place where we decided to stop a few days and charge up our various phones and cameras and wash our clothes. I managed to get out kitesurfing on a lake nearby too. Then it was time for what we had both been really looking forward to, Fraser Island. Its the worlds largest sand island and is made entirely out of sand except for a few rocky outcrops. I think its about 120 kilometres long. The tracks proved very challenging, with loose sand, steep ascents and descents, large bumps and ruts and twists and turns. The beaches were great fun to drive on, although we had to watch out for landing planes! We visited lake McKenzie, the most impressive lake on the island where the water is fresh and crystal clear, surrounded by white sand and rainforest, then camped in the thick of the forest. The next day we drove up to Indian Head, a rocky headland with excellent views, then found a deserted sopt to camp on the beach, where we could imagine it was our very own island. The next day we were due to leave but stopped for a walk down a creek on the way. Not long after this we started smelling burning oil and discovered the car was leaking oil quite rapidly. We got off the island and to a mechanic who told us it was the crankshaft seal and it would take a week or so to get teh part. We headed up to Hervey Bay, about an hour or so further north where there was a Landrover specialist. He had the part but couldn't do the work till after the Easter break. This was Thursday, and now its Easter Monday and we're still in Hervey Bay waiting for the repair on Wednesday. Its a bit of a pain having to wait around, we had planned to be in Cairns by now, but at least the problem isn't too serious and Hervey Bay is a fairly pleasant place. Our campsite is right next to the beach, but also the road, so its one of the noisier we've stayed in. The tree our tent is rigged under becomes home to hundreds of huge bats every night too, who make a lot of noise around twilight but luckily stay quiet during the night. We've been mainly chilling out watching movies and trying not to spend any money. Yesterday we watched all three Godfather films back to back. It was awesome! I know it was you Fredo, and it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart!

In Melbourne!

2008-02-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness I've got some catching up to do! I left Perth, stopped at Kalgoorlie, hit another kangaroo, camped at a campground in the middle of nowhere and saw a redback spider in the toilet, crossed the Nullarbor, left WA and entered South Australia, had a night out in Adelaide, stayed with my Aussie friend Steve for a couple of days, went along the coast to Beachport and had a couple of days kitesurfing, went to the beautiful Grampians mountains, saw loads of roos and wallabies and a waterfall and camped deep in the forest, drove along the spectacular Great Ocean Road, stayed the night in beautiful Apollo Bay, surfed world famous Bells Beach, stopped for a pie in Torquay, got to Melbourne and checked into a hostel in St Kildas for a few nights, went to the beach and watched a kitesurfing competition and last night went to the Neighbours night and met Karl Kennedy. So, been keeping fairly busy.

GAS!

2008-01-31T23:32:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-01-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-21T02:20:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-11T18:54:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-02T01:08:00.001-08:00

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!

Christmas

2007-12-28T21:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas has been beautiful in Perth. Christmas Eve we had a barbie on the beach while we watched an incredible sunset. On Christmas Day temperatures soared to a record breaking 44 degrees centigrade, (thats 111 fahrenheit for you oldies) making it the hottest city in the world, apparently! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was baking hot! We spent the day on the beach playing guitar, swimming, digging a big hole, you know, traditional Christmas stuff! Boxing Day was more of the same, as was the 27th, but yesterday the forecast looked good and we headed up to Lancelin. I had some of the best waveriding of my life in waves that were often head high or more, and I was sailing really well, getting some great down the line rides! I even made a huge table top jump, which I literally couldn't believe! I was exhausted when we got back, but I'm having a nice chilled one today and heading back to Lancelin tomorrow, the forecast looks very good, theres a 10 foot swell, so the waves should be even bigger!

North

2007-12-23T16:47:00.000-08:00

Nick's birthday turned out to be a great day! We had a surf in the morning at back beach, the waves were small by Nick's standards but perfect for me, I got some of the longest and best waverides of my life! I even turned down the line a bit on one wave. Then we went to the Camel Bar for a chilled out afternoon playing poolwith Matt. In the late afternoon a guy started playing live music on his accoustic guitar, he started with Neil Young so he immediately caught our attention and we went to support him. He was really good and went on to play pretty much all our favourite tunes. Bob Dylan, Credence, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, pretty much anything we requested. After that a couple who had also been supporting him invited us back to their place for a few more drinks. They knew the musician too, so we ended up having a drink with them in their garden. Strangely it poured down with rain for a while and one of their patio lights exploded. They had a talking parrot too. As we left they invited us to come to their house on Christmas Day for a big party, which was very nice of them, but our plans were to be in Perth.

The following week went something like this: We headed North on Monday, checked out Kalbarri, which was a pleasant little town with an impressive coastline on its doorstep. We went to the National Park and saw 'Natures Window', a famous rock formation in the shape of a window which frames the river below and is quite impressive. Then we headed on up North to Hamelin's Pool, just off the highway towards Monkey Mia. We camped there for the night and as we were sitting outside our tent in the dark we saw quite a few kangaroos venture out into the campsite from the bush. It was quite incredible to watch them hopping about and also relaxing and eating grass. Usually when you see them they are hopping away in the opposite direction.

The next morning we checked out these Stromalotites, weird living rocks that live in the sea. They're millions of years old and have been almost wiped out by competition from more complex lifeforms. But millions of years ago they caused the oxygen levels on Earth to rise by about 20%, making oxygen breathing life possible, so without them its likely we wouldn't exist. They weren't particularly pretty or amazing to look at, but still, they're rare and have a huge history. After that we drove up the peninsular to Monkey Mia, where you can get very close to dolphins at certain feeding times. We were too late to see them and were quite unimpressed with Monkey Mia, it seemed like a real tourist trap without much going for it except the dolphins. We decided to drive into Francois Peron National Park, on the tip of the peninsular out into Shark Bay. We had to drive along some pretty hardcore 4x4 tracks which was great fun and when we got to the lookout right on the point we saw rays, turtles and some big fish that might possibly have been small reef sharks. The view was incredible, but unfortunately we didn't see any tiger sharks, which is what w had been hoping for. We were still really glad we made the effort to go up there, it was much better than Monkey Mia.

We headed back down the peninsular to the highway, then pressed on Northwards. We made it all the way past Carnarvon and turned down the unsealed roads towards Gnaraloo. We camped at the Quobba homestead overnight then went to see the Quobba blowholes the next morning. The swell and tide wasn't perfect for them, but they were still working and were very impressive. Then we drove along the rough 4x4 track all the way to Gnaraloo. We checked into the campsite there, our pitch was great, fairly secluded with its own little driveway and fire pit. At last we would get to have a campfire! So many places have banned them! We went to Tombstones, the surfbreak there and watched some guys windsurfing out in the waves. We decided to save our energy for the next day. We lit our campfire and ate some Stag chilli and pasta. It was great sitting next to the campfire all evening. We turned in early ready for some hardcore windsurfing the next day!

The swell wasn't particularly big but the wind was very strong, so the break at Gnaraloo wasn't quite what we expected. The waves were relatively small and it was quite choppy between them. It was also very gusty. I was overpowered on a 5.2 so it was difficult to go for any down the line rides too. I concentrated on jumping and aerial gybes. It was quite fun and its nice to be able to say I've sailed Tombstones at Gnaraloo. I managed to put a small ding in the nose of my board doing an upwind 360 by the beach. Theres reef everywhere and I just caught the nose as I was coming out of the manouvre. We decided, as it would be a bad idea to use the board again without getting a proper repair, to head back south the next day. That night we had another campfire and toasted marshmallows!

The next day we drove all the way back to Geraldton, stayed in the campsite there again, and then after getting a few things sorted in the morning and trying to surf at back beach again (it was blown out unfortunately) we headed South again to Cervantes, where we checked into a campsite and went to see the Pinnacles, a field of standing rocks which is a big tourist attraction and is very impressive to see. I saw them last time I was in Australia and it was great to see them again. The next day we drove the rest of the way to Perth, checked back into the OBH backpackers and then went to the Christmas Sunday Session!

Now its Christmas Eve, in the morning, and I'm trying to feel Christmassy. But its over 30 degrees and the sky is blue, so its hard to get into the spirit of it!

Backloops!

2007-12-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

The wind wasn't so great for windsurfing at Coronation yesterday, so I pumped up my 14 metre kite and went kitesurfing. The wind was a little gusty but manageable, not being so strong. I focused on trying to develop my control and smoothness with the kite. It all went pretty well, but as I thought about coming in and ending the session it occurred to me that I hadn't really tried anything new, or done anything hardcore. So I made the decision to try backloops. For those who don't know a backloop in kitesurfing is when you do a small (or large, but in this case small) jump and you look back over your front shoulder to rotate around your harness before landing, having spun 360 degrees under the kite. It sounds hardcore, but I have been told that it is fairly easy and is the first freestyle trick one should learn. I selected a small, steep ramp, put my kite high to support me and as I launched off the wave looked over my shoulder. I felt myself start to spin on my kite lines and it was great, but as I landed my board came off my feet. It was all rather painless so I decided to try it again. This time pretty much the same thing happened but I lost control of the kite and dived it into the power zone, causing it to yank me through the water. I managed to regain control of it before it crashed which was good. The third attempt was my best, I made the full rotation and landed on my bottom with the board in front of me, still on my feet, and the kite above my head under control. It was a long way off being a proper landed-and-sailed-out-of back loop but it felt great and boosted my confidence. I tried another three or four times, none of which were quite as sucessful as my third attempt but none of which were particularly painful or caused me to crash the kite. I cruised back to the beach super stoked and looking forward to trying more during my next session.

Nick and I had a fairly chilled night, we're trying to live on a much tighter budget at the moment. Today (Saturday) theres not much wind, so no windsurfing or kitesurfing. The wind is due to come back within a few days though. We went to try and find some surfable waves, but the swell wasn't too good. We drove along a beach and managed to get bogged, so we let some air out of the tyres. I didn't have my pressure gage though and I went a bit nuts on the tyres on my side, so when we got back to the road (the White Dragon powered out of the sand easily with less air in the tyres) we decided not to drive as far as the garage for fear of the tyres being damaged, or coming off the rims. Luckily a kindly Aussie guy came past and lent us his compressor. We have now bought a compressor of our own, for $18!! Thisafternoon I'm enjoying not doing a great deal, its been an action packed week, or month, so chilling out is nice. Tonight we're going out for Nick's birthday, which is tomorrow, but we're hoping to see it in at midnight. I'll let you know how the celebrations go in my next post!

Pause for thought

2007-12-13T19:31:00.000-08:00

Well its about a week since I've updated my blog and far too much has happened since for me to describe it all. I'll try to give you a general idea. I had another couple of good sessions at Coronation, including the best kiteboarding session of my life (until more recently). Then I had a bit of trouble with the White Dragon, worryingly the day I was supposed to drive back to Perth! I managed to get it sorted quickly and cheaply though. I drove back to Perth, via Lancelin to say hi to Ben, Jenna, Simon and Kit et al. On arrival back in Perth I checked back into the backpacker hostel in Cottesloe. It was nice to see some of the people I met when staying there before. The next day I picked up Nick, my friend from Weymouth, from the airport. He had just spent a month in Indonesia and arrived very chilled out and sporting new dreds. We stayed a couple of nights at the hostel while we got everything Nick would need for camping and windsurfing etc then headed back up to Lancelin. We only stayed at Lancelin for one night then cruised all the way back up to Geraldton. There was some wind due and we wanted to catch it at Coronation. Since then we have had a couple of days of great kitesurfing and windsurfing and are looking forward to more today (Friday) and next week. The weekend doesn't look too windy but thats fine because its Nick's birthday on Sunday and we need to celebrate!

My kitesurfing has come on very well, I am now making the majority of my slide turns, most of my carving turns with my right foot forward, both heelside to toeside and back again. I've done some small controlled jumps, both popping off chop and jumping small waves. I've popped toeside to heelside too. I still feel pretty wired the whole time, and don't have the effortless control that the good guys seem to have, but its coming on well and I'm finding that so long as I'm powered up I can get upwind quick and pretty much go where I want to go.

Anyways, must go, but will try to update more often in future. Please excuse any breaks in transmission and presume that its because I'm getting lots of time on the water!

Separation Point Kitesurfing

2007-12-05T00:57:00.000-08:00

It took a while for the wind to come up, but finally by about 3 o'clock it looked just about kite-able so I drove onto the beach at Separation Point with Matt and set up my kite. I was dubious about whether I would get going as the first time we launched my kite it pretty much fell straight out of the sky after a few seconds. I decided to take my 8'0" surfboard and give it a go kitesurfing strapless on that. I'd never tried to ride such a large board or one without straps before while kitesurfing, so I didn't really know where to start, but surprisingly I managed to get up and going! The wind actually felt better than I had anticipated, so I came back to shore and swapped for my normal kiteboard. The first run out and back was great, I managed to make some ground upwind and felt nicely powered up. The second blast out I decided to go for a jump! I managed to get myself yanked ito the air, board still on my feet, but I think I steered the kite too far in the other direction so I came down pretty hard and lost control of the kite, crashing it into the sea. I relaunched it easily and started looking around for my board. It was a few worrying seconds before I spotted it and bodydragged back to it. The wind had lulled a bit so it was more effort to get going. After that the wind was up and down so I had some great runs where I edged the board well and made ground upwind, and got much closer to success with my turns, but some other runs where I was really underpowered and the kite was unresponsive and I ended up downwind. All in all it was a good session, I went upwind when I was powered up, I got closer to my turns and I went further out and into choppier water than I have before. Also I didn't gt into any trouble, which is always a bonus when kitesurfing. Matt took some pictures of me too which I'll upload to facebook asap.

Tonight Matt is cooking up some Kangaroo steaks for us, then I'm getting an early one. We might go to Coronation tomorrow!

Conquering Coronation!

2007-12-04T19:39:00.000-08:00

Seven years ago in Sydney I trained as a windsurf instructor with a guy called Kit Brogan. Until the other day I haven't seen him since, but he's been very busy. He's become a doctor, a good tow in surfer and a very competent windsurfer! He's also moved out to WA for a while to work, so we met up here in Geraldton on Monday. We headed up to Coronation Beach and he very kindly lent me a board and sail for the afternoon, an Ezzy 5.8 and an RRD 100 litre freestyle board, which was excellent. He was sailing very well, pulling off some nice loops. I sailed pretty well too, for me, landing some big wave jumps, some one handed, some with big donkey kicks, and my gybing on starboard by the beach was very good too. I did some nice duck gybes, one handed gybes, one handed lay down gybes, upwind 360's (which I'm usually better at on port so was chuffed) and also some pretty neat aerial gybes. My proudest moment was getting the closest I think I've ever been to pulling off a willy skipper! Thats when you jump, reverse the board in the air and land it backwards, continuing in the same direction. I wiped out, but it was very close. It was a great sail! Coronation Beach was where I injured my hand 7 years ago, forcing me to leave Australia early because I couldn't work, so I was really pleased to return and re-conquer it. It really wasn't so bad as 7 years of experience has made me much more prepared for the conditions.

Kit has since headed back to perth, via Lancelin, but another friend called Matt, who came out as a guest when I was working in Vassiliki and I randomly bumped into in Perth, has come up to Geraldton to windsurf and we have been hanging out. He had a windsurf yesterday in pretty marginal conditions, I didn't bother going out as it would have meant hiring gear, which seems pointless unless the conditions are good. Thismorning I recieved the final bladder I need for my kite and made (hopefully) the final bladder replacement. I'm all ready for some kiting action now, and despite the wind not looking too strong at the moment, the forecast is looking good for some flat water kite action at Separation Point early thisafternoon. I'm just waiting for the wind now. Come on wind!

Killing time

2007-12-01T17:38:00.000-08:00

I'm short of time so I'll keep this brief...

Saturday was windy, naturally, and I couldn't get on the water. I thought about hiring some windsurf gear, but the wind wasn't really strong enough for me to get going on small kit until about 4pm by which time I didn't think it was worth spending $50 on hire. I chatted to the windsurf shop owner on the beach and he said he was closed Sundays, which was another blow! No watersports till Monday then, bugger! I went into Geraldton in the early evening for a beer and to see what the nightlife was like. I went too early though, it was very quiet, and I didn't fancy a late night so I headed back to the campsite and chilled out watching Peep Show on my laptop (a comedy, not a porno, for those that don't know!).

Today (Sunday) I'll most likely go to Sunset Beach and maybe have a surf, then maybe go to the cinema in the evening. A guy I know called Matt is coming up to meet me tomorrow or Tuesday, and with a bit of luck I'll have my replacement bladder Tuesday morning. Tomorrow I might hire some windsurf gear if its windy enough. Maybe midweek I'll pop up to Coronation and battle the beach I injured myself at 7 years ago! And the leavers said I should go to Kalbarri so I'll do that too, then its back to Perth by next weekend to pick Nick up from the airport. I'm looking forward to some more permanent company! And then it'll almost be Xmas!

Air doesn't like being trapped in a bag

2007-12-01T17:19:00.001-08:00

I went down to the beach after doing my internet correspondence on Friday and had a chat to a fellow kitesurfer on the beach. Although he had found the wind a bit marginal he seemed optimistic about my chances of getting going on my 14 metre kite, and pointed out that I could always use my surfboard if I was underpowered. He had a point, so I wandered onto the beach with my kit and started setting up. I walked out my lines and inflated my struts and was just about to inflate the leading edge when pfffuuuussshhhhsssuuuufffp! That horrible sound of air escaping from the top of one of my bladders. Gutted. The one remaining bladder that had come with the kite predictably gave up and broke. Now I had to get the final replacement bladder sent up from Perth, basically meaning I couldn't kitesurf all weekend, let alone right at that moment. I was annoyed, but in the spirit of my travels I refused to let is bother me. I packed everything back up again and bimbled back to the campsite.

Some grub was needed, so i drove into town and picked up a little steak and a couple of snags from a butchers and then returned to the campsite once more to utilise their excellent barbie facilities. After eating I had designs to check out the Geraldton nightlife, but then something strange happened. I picked up my guitar and started playing. I started with a couple of Dylan tunes that I've been learning, then some finger pluckin' tunes that I've either made up or learned in the past. Then all of a sudden, without warning, I wrote a song. Just like that, in the space of about half an hour. The last time I wrote a song I was an angst ridden teenager, a decade ago! But out of the blue I just wrote a song, and it didn't sound too bad. I wrote the lyrics and chords down on my writing pad over the page from my scrawled screenplay plans and then used my digital camera to record it (it has a voice recording function). I copied it to my laptop and listened to it through headphones. Sounded alright. I couldn't believe it really. Then, spurred on I guess, I re-wrote the last song I had written, way back when I was 16 or something, but with a more positive slant. I was pretty tired so I forgot about going into town and got into bed. But I couldn't sleep, I kept finding the guitar back in my hands and I wrote another two, shorter, inferior but nonetheless listenable songs before I finally got to sleep. Weird huh?

Geraldton

2007-11-29T22:15:00.000-08:00

The drive to Geraldton was fairly pleasant, the scenery was amazing! I ran the White Dragon on gas to save money, and she didn't backfire, so that was good. On arriving in Geraldton I searched for the lighthouse that I remembered from all those years ago. Selwyn had told me there was a campsite nearby. The last I heard of poor Selwyn he had headed to Perth to confront the dealer that had sold him his 4x4. I hope he gets on alright. I found the campsite easy enough and checked in with ease, the staff were much more friendly and inviting. The facilities are also much better, with a kitchen, tv room, barbie area, good showers and a pool at my disposal. It should be a comfortable weekend. Once camp was set I did exactly what I did the first night in Lancelin. I walked to the beach with my guitar and a couple of beers and practiced Bob Dylan tunes. The sunset was pretty cool, though not quite as good as the first Lancelin one. After that I got into my tent, watched Borat on my laptop and got an early night.

I didn't sleep all that well last night though, it was really windy in the early hours of the morning and the tent felt like it was going to be blown over. At 5am I finally got up and lengthened the guy ropes and parked the White Dragon where it might give the tent some shelter. I went back to bed till just before 9am then got up and had a shower. Once I was ready to leave the campsite I drove round to the lighthouse, at the bottom of which is a windsurf and kitesurf shop, where I asked for advice about where to kitesurf, whether they rent windsurf gear, what hazards to look out for etc. The guy was very friendly and pointed out on the map a great flat water spot for kiting protected by a reef. I went down there and it was already windy, but there was nobody else around so I thought I'd get some brekkie in town and go to an ATM and come back. Whilst in town I also caught sight of a Neil Young best of album going cheap, so bought it to listen to in the White Dragon. I hadn't heard much of his music apart from The Needle and the Damage Done, Old Man, and Heart of Gold. Those three tunes, although probably his most famous, represent a mere fraction of his talent. Every tune on the album is awesome! Anyway, on my way back past I saw that the wind had died a little so I went back to the campsite and did some writing and reading in the tv room while my laptop charged. Ulysses is so awesome, I've got to make more time for reading it, I'm still on the first chapter but loving it!

At 2pm I checked the wind at the kite spot again, driving down onto the beach in the White Dragon, something the novelty of which is far from wearing off! The wind was still not great, so I headed into town to catch up on my blog. Fingers crossed its picked up now, lets go see!

Lets get maggot!

2007-11-29T21:33:00.000-08:00

I haven't mentioned this yet I don't think, but a day or so after I arrived in Lancelin some young guys turned up and pitched camp in the space next to mine. After witnessing them get moaned at by the pretty unreasonable campsite owner I struck up a conversation. Their names were Kurt, Lauren and Jonno. They were up from Perth with some other friends who were staying in a self catering unit attached to the hotel next door to the campsite. They were all 17 or 18 years old and had come up to ride their dirtbikes in the dunes and get 'maggot', which is an amusing Western Australian term for getting drunk! It just so happened that school had just turned out and the west coast was full of teenage revelers celebrating their freedom, much to the annoyance of the locals. Well, after my awesome windsurf session I decided to go see if an old man could keep up with them, so I drove straight to their hotel room from the beach. They were congregated outside and were already 'maggot', so I had some catching up to do. I cracked open a beer and chatted to Kurt, who introduced me to the others, Shaun, Roger, Adi and Dean (Deano Supremo!!). They were drinking like absolute troopers, they all had these huge litre and a half bottles of Jim Beam which they were drinking out of smaller plastic bottles mixed with a dribble of cola. I stuck to the beers, knowing that after three hours of windsurfing and intense sunshine I wouldn't need to hit the spirits to get maggot! They were a really nice bunch of guys, they liked to party but they weren't aggressive, or even irresponsible, knowing to clean up after themselves and have a bit of respect for eachother. Thats more than I can say for myself at that age, so I was impressed and instantly felt like one of the gang. Eventually we took the party up to the dunes, and this is where my memory goes a bit hazy. I later discovered that I had run out of beer and good old Shaun had taken it upon himself to ply me with Jim Beam, almost straight as he was short on cola. Apparently I was dancing and singing about being from England, which they all found very amusing. I woke up on Wednesday feeling rough as you like. It was about 9am and I crawled out of my tent and sat playing guitar with Kurt for a while. Then I ate something, went for a swim at back beach, took a cold shower, drank lots of water, all things that usually help cure a hangover, but it was relentless. In the early afternoon Selwyn and I attempted to go kitesurfing but there wasn't quite enough wind, nearly, but not quite. I got up and going a few times but was having to work the kite so hard it was pointless. Eventually I gave up. Oh, something really bad happened too. The previous night, while I was partying with the leavers, Selwyn had been having serious car trouble. Before the kiting I took him to the mechanic in Lancelin where he had left his 4x4, we hoped for good news. He got bad. Very bad news. His crankshaft was broken and his radiator was shot. He needed a whole new engine plus repairs to his radiator. All in all it was likely to cost $11,000!! I couldn't believe it, he had spent well over double what I spent on the White Dragon and had only had it two weeks. All at once it made me feel extremely sorry for him, lucky for not having had any serious problems with mine (so far, touch wood, touch wood!) and also more than a little worried at the thought of what could happen at any moment to my now beloved White Dragon. Poor Selwyn. We got his stuff out of his car and into the White Dragon and I took him back to the campsite. Then we went kiting, but it wasn't windy enough, as I already mentioned.

After the kiting I went back to see the gang over at the hotel again, it was their (and my) last night in Lancelin. We had a few drinks and then I went to the pub for dinner with Selwyn. Kurt came along too and we shared some oysters to start, but they weren't as good as the ones I'd had in Cape Town and Perth, a bit 'creamy' as Jez would put it. I know what he means now. I still enjoyed them tho. Later I went back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the guys and suggested we go up the dunes to watch the sunset. About six or seven of us headed up there, it was a good sunset, but as we were watching it we met some Lancelin locals. An old 4x4 appeared at breakneck speed across the sand from the direction of town and proceeded to drive all over the dunes as though it was being chased by the devil himself. The guys inside were hooting and waving out the windows. We were all sat on top of the biggest dune, luckily unreachable by the 4x4, but that didn't stop them trying. They flew up the side of the dune, stopping a few metres away. The drivers side door flew open and out fell a fat, drunk, local Aussie who then rolled halfway back down the dune hooting with laughter before staggering back up towards us. There were another couple of guys in the car too who came over and started talking to us. The guys I was with had bumped into these guys before and didn't look all that pleased to see them, but didn't look particularly concerned either. The driver, making it back up to the top of the dune hollered: "Piggsy! Yeah Piggsy! Thats me!! Piggsy!!". His friend, another guy who had emerged from the car, pointed at him "Thats Piggsy" he confirmed "He looks like a pig, so...". Piggsy pretty much only said "Piggsy! Yeah Piggsy! Thats me!! Piggsy!!" for the rest of the evening, when he wasn't driving his 4x4 on two wheels all over the dunes. What a liability. Amusing though, in a 'Deliverance' kind of way.

We left the dunes and went back to the hotel to muster the troops for a beach party. There were quite a lot of other 'leavers' who were staying in houses or hotel rooms around Lancelin who joined us, so the atmosphere was pretty cool. The fresh breeze, the dark sea, and then Piggsy coming roaring down the beach in his 4x4 to join us. It was another good night, and the next morning I didn't wake with half as bad a hangover as the previous day, so that was a bargain.

Shaun had said he wanted to go for a swim in the morning, so I picked him up about 10am and we went to back beach to do some bodysurfing. After that I packed up my tent and crammed everything into the car. God knows how everything is going to fit when Nick and Matt arrive. Then I met up with the guys one last time and we went back to back beach for another swim! Two swims in the sea from a white sandy, dune lined beach, and it was only midday. Thats what being in Australia in the summertime is all about! I wanted to get on the road by 2pm so I said my goodbyes to the guys and promised to call them when I get back to Perth. I expected the drive to Geraldton to take about 3 to 4 hours and I wanted to pitch my tent in another campsite before dark.

Lots and lots of sweet air!

2007-11-29T21:24:00.000-08:00

The wind did pick up on Tuesday afternoon, quite a bit stronger than the day before. I hired some slightly smaller kit from Werner, a 5.5m sail and a 107 litre Starboard Kombat. Ideally I wanted a 95ish litre board, but once I got it on the water the Kombat didn't feel too big atall, infact with the smaller sail and the not exactly hurricane force winds it turned out to be just right. The waves were a little smaller today so I felt confident enough to go right into the middle of them and hunt for some sweet ramps to take off from. Boy did I find some!! I can probably count on one hand the amount of windsurf sessions I've had where I've done quite so many big jumps, with fingers to spare! The waves were presenting themselves to me at anything from waist to shoulder height, nice and steep, perfect for boosting high into the air! I landed a lot of big jumps quite nicely and sailed away, but many felt so high I had to land tail first and waterstart away. Perhaps with smaller, lighter kit and a bit more wind I could have done some even bigger jumps and maybe would have felt more confident to throw myself into some forward or back loops, but as it was I was more than happy just getting lots and lots of sweet air! It was a very good windsurf and it left me feeling super stoked. Ever since I was 18 I've had a tradition that I have never wavered from. When you have an awesome session on the water, you have to follow it up with a few beers.....

Perfect Day

2007-11-26T18:08:00.000-08:00

Before I left the UK I had an idea of exactly how I wanted to spend every day in Oz. I wanted to get up in the morning and go surfing, then go kitesurfing later in the morning, finally windsurfing in the late afternoon. Then cook up some dinner outside on a gas stove and sleep in a tent. It was too breezy to surf yesterday and I was too excited about kitesurfing, but yesterday was pretty much exactly the kind of day I had been dreaming of. I had a good kite session in the morning (see last post) and then in the afternoon I waited for the wind to pick up and then, just after 4pm, I hired some gear from Werner and went windsurfing. It wasn't blowing that hard so I hired pretty big gear. I had one of those Starboard Aero lightwind waveboards, 117 litres, so pretty big. It was a strange board, not particularly quick to plane for its size, but handled pretty well once it was going. I had a 6.4 metre Severne sail and was fairly powered up most of the time. As you launch from the main beach theres a large flat(ish) area of water before you reach the waves. The waves were pretty big and powerful and there were some really good guys out riding them. In the slightly marginal conditions and with fairly big kit I didn't want to get right into the big breaking waves, but conveniently if you sailed slightly downwind you could hit the relatively harmless shoulder of the waves, out of the way of the pros. The waves here were still steep enough and big enough to get some great jumps but with barely any risk of being caught out by the white water. Of course I managed to go a little too far up at one point and wipe out in the path of a breaking wave. It was Coronation Beach in January 2000 all over again, but seven years on I knew what to do and came out unscathed. Despite the big kit and marginal conditions I had a great sail, pulling off some big jumps, some good duck gybes and a couple of upwind 360's. Whats more Werner only charged me for one hour, despite the fact I was probably out for almost two. That came to $35, about £16ish which is a bargain for windsurf hire in such an amazing venue. My decision not to buy windsurf gear yet has paid off so far, had I bought gear it would have set me back at least a couple of thousand dollars and would almost certainly have been too small to use yesterday.

Unfortunately the wind isn't up thismorning quite as much as it was yesterday morning, but its looking good for thisafternoon, so fingers crossed!!

AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!

2007-11-25T21:13:00.000-08:00

It was windy when I woke up thismorning! Awesome!! I got up, showered and headed for the point at the south island where I saw people kiting on the day I arrived. There was quite a mad little dune to drive over which tipped the White Dragon quite a long way to one side, but she scoffed at it and ploughed straight through. I expected to see lots of kiters setting up their gear but the beach was deserted. I drove right down onto the beach amongst the seaweed and parked up. My breakfast, a little pot of pasta salad from the supermarket, kept me occupied for a few minutes and still I couldn't see any other kiters. I have not yet learned how to launch a kite without assistance so I was worried that despite my kite finally being ready for action, and the wind being near enough perfect, I might not be able to get out on the water! Then, over the dune came my salvation, in the form of crazy Dutchman Selwyn in his Nissan Patrol. I thought he was heading to Perth today to get some money, after having his wallet stolen, but it seems the wind had enticed him into staying. He was very helpful, he stuck about while I set up my kite, then launched it for me, and then stayed around taking pictures and watching that I didn't get into trouble. Good old Selwyn, mad as a bag of hammers but such a nice guy.

I was quite concerned about all the reefs in the bay, especially not knowing the area atall well. The water being so clear I could see exactly where they all were but didn't know how far underwater they were. The fins on my board are only a few centimetres long, but still, some of the reefs looked very shallow. Surprisingly the kitesurfing came back to me like riding a bike, but in trying to pick my way around the reefs I had some trouble staying upwind. It didn't matter though, I did a few runs and then walked back up the beach. I did this a few times, but after a wipeout that resulted in me being dragged over a reef (luckily not a sharp one, so no pain or injury!!) and having to trudge through a lot of seaweed on the shoreline a couple of times, I decided to quit while I was ahead. I had managed to get the board going upwind, control the kite pretty well, steer around some reefs, relaunch the kite a couple of times and survice some wipeouts, plus almost make a slide turn or two and attempt a couple of carving turns. My confidence has been renewed, but I fancy getting out somewhere with less reefs so I can concentrate on getting upwind consistently and try some more jumps without the fear of landing in inches of water over a rocky reef!! Tomorrow morning if the wind is good I'm going to try a spot further downwind that can be accessed from the campsite. It looks less reefy and theres more room downwind without going into any windsurf areas. Great morning though!! And fingers crossed thisafternoon is going to pick up and I'll be able to hire some windsurf gear and go jump the waves. At last, at long last, I feel like I'm doing what I came here to do. Nice!

Off Road Adventure

2007-11-24T21:07:00.000-08:00

Due to yesterday's lack of wind, Selwyn and I decided to test our 4x4's on the track north to Wedge Island. We got a crude map from a local tourist info place and spoke to a few locals about the track before we set off. They seemed pretty confident our cars were more than up to the task. Apparently there were some 'soft spots' but for the most part it was rocky rather than boggy. I removed some of the items that could bounce abou from the boot and we set off, through the off-road area around the dunes, over a dune or two and onto the track. It was a pretty hardcore track in places, some big ruts, rocks, deep sandy parts, steep ascents and decents, but the White Dragon seemed to love it. I almost felt asif the beast was doing all the work and I was just going along for the ride. It was relatively slow progress in places though, some of the rocky areas have to be crawled over, but other spots could be driven fairly quickly. The rocky parts I wasn't that keen on, I had to drive very slow and the whole car rattled and sounded like it was going to fall apart. Climbing up and over the dunes and racing along the loose sandy tracks was great fun though, and felt much smoother. just before we reached Wedge Island there was a huge, huge dune to drive down, which wasn't too steep and was fairly firm. That was great fun.

The little 'town' at Wedge Island was quite amazing. It was just a collection of corrugated iron shacks in amongst the dunes next to the beach. We had a look to see if we could drive back along the beach, for a bit of variety, but the tide was too high. Instead we had a little look around and then set off back along the track towards Lancelin. The rocky areas were still very slow, but with a little more confidence in the White Dragon's braking ability on the loose tracks, and a thirst for a sundowner beer in Lancelin, I put my foot down a bit and had a great drive back, leaving selwyn in my dust. The White Dragon's 3.9 V8 petrol engine proved to accelerate the beast a lot more rapidly than Selwyn's 2.8 Tdi. I was loving it, apart from the rocky sections, which still had to be crawled. I thought about the tracks we drove on in South Africa, which were a different league, although one must keep in mind we were taking them on in a VW Polo! I thought about how much Honray would love cruising the White Dragon down these tracks, and also how much Jim would love it too, although he'd probably go twice as fast as I was!

It took a good couple of hours to get back, despite only being about 40kms or so. We drove straight to the pub and had a nice pint of Coopers Pale Ale as the sunset. Then it was off back to the campsite to cook some more fish. Unfortunately it was dark, and I hate cooking in the dark. But I managed to pull it off and it was pretty nice. After dinner I was exhausted again, so I got another pretty early night ready for another day in Lancelin.

Thismorning I woke up a bit later than usual and decided to have a Sunday lay in. I cooked myself a pretty greasy breakfast when I got up, it was quite nice, but I think I might start getting these little fruit salads they have at the supermarket from now on. I saw Selwn and he had some bad news, during the night his wallet and iPod had been stolen from his car. His central locking had been playing up and randomly unlocking his car, so someone had obviously seen their opportunity and taken it. Bastards. Some people have no respect. What goes around comes around though, hopefully they'll end up getting some flesh eating disease soon. It made me think twice about leaving my surfboard on the roofrack as I have been lately, and coupled with the lack of wind it made me think about moving on sooner than planned. Lancelin is a great place, but I think after a couple of windy days I'll be eager to see somewhere new. Hopefully theres going to be some wind midweek, so I'll stay for that and then maybe head up to Geraldton and possibly Gnaraloo (braving the flies!!) befor eheading back to Perth to meet Nick on the 9th December. That would mean we could then head South, which is apparently virtually fly-free and has a lot more surf, which would suit Nick. We'll see though, I don't like to plan too far ahead, but it would be quite a good idea to try to cover ground quickly so I can get to New Zealand a bit earlier than planned (maybe end of March/beginning of April) so that I can start earning again. Anyway, we'll see. What will be will be!

A Change of Scenery

2007-11-23T19:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I've lapsed for a few days, so heres a quick catch-up. Over the first few days of the week I managed to get everything ready for heading north. I had the handbrake fixed on my car, I got the last few bits I needed for camping, I had a last couple of parties with the fantastic people I met at the hostel, and finally on Thursday morning, I departed Perth and headed north for Lancelin. Despite the mechanic telling me the car ought to be alright and get me where I wanted to go, I was nervous that it would fall at this first major hurdle, but bless her demonic socks, the White Dragon managed to get me here, on only about $20 worth of gas too. She has developed a bit of a cough though, she seems to be backfiring a bit since the long drive, although I've switched to petrol and she seems happier than ever now. I think I'll just use gas for long journeys from now on, she hates the stuff.

On arrival in Lancelin I scoped the lay of the land, found thye campsites, the surfbreaks, the kitesurf spots, the windsurf hire place, a great local fish market, the supermarkets, the windsurf shop, the bottle shops and the dunes. Its a great little town, though I could tell straight away it was going to be quite a contrast with Cottesloe. The first day and a half I was here I barely spoke to anyone except shopkeepers and campsite owners. On my first day I went for a surf, then cooked up some fish and veggies, then headed to a seating area on top of a dune to watch the sunset, drink a beer and practice Bob Dylan songs on my guitar. The sunset was fantastic, (theres pictures on facebook) and I managed to half-learn a few good tunes, including 'Don't Think Twice Its Alright', although I need more practice to remember it all without the book in front of me. Then I got an early night. The next day I got up and set myself the long and arduous task of replacing all the bladders in my North kite. They were faulty, North obviously didn't test their product very well, and so I had to replace them with a full set of new ones that they had supplied under warranty via a shop in Perth. It took me hours, but while I was doing it a Dutch guy called Selwyn (who I met in the hostel in Cottesloe) turned up in his newly acquired Nissan Patrol. He is a keen windsurfer and is getting into kitesurfing, much like myself, so it was nice to have some company. He also knows Lancelin a little better than me having spent quite a bit of time here a few years ago. He also likes his 4x4 driving, so we went up to the dunes (which are really huge!) for a look around. There were some guys driving their 4x4's right up these huge dunes and decending down the very steep sides! There was also a guy on a quad bike doing enourmous jumps off the dunes. We had a littl;e drive on the sides of the dunes, and a little way down a track that heads north, but didn't go too mad as you're supposed to let some air out of your tyres first. Theres probably hundreds of them up there now, being the weekend. We saw loads of 4x4's turn up last night, many of them pulling quads and bikes on trailers. Just checked the forecast, not much wind till Tuesday or Wednesday so we'll probably head up there thisafternoon to watch them.

Anyways, I've been in this net cafe too long now, its a beautiful day outside and theres so much to do! Hope everyone at home is alright. Love you all. Ta ta for now...

A great barbie, a proper sunday session!

2007-11-18T07:43:00.000-08:00

I'll keep it brief today, I'm tired. I went to Jenna's birthday bbq, it was really great. I chatted windsurfing with the guys, and there were some family of Jenna's there who were very cool. When you're 12thousand miles from your own family (who you miss a great deal!) its nice to hijack someone elses for a while! I had the hugest steak sarnie you ever saw, it was great! Ben had a look at my car too and gave me a good idea of what I needed to sort out, he's a great guy. After that I went to the sunday session with the guys from the hostel. It was really good, not quite like the old days but seriously better than last week. I danced my little heart out, its the first time in a while that I've really really enjoyed my dancing! After that I had a really nice chat with Liz, my stepmum, on the phone. She actually called me and apparently it only cost her 8p a minute due to some kind of phone club she is a member of. After that there was a bit of a party in the courtyard, it was pretty cool and I had a good time, but I'm off to bed now, relatively early, cos I have lot to do tomorrow!

Rottnest

2007-11-17T04:45:00.000-08:00

Superbad was hilarious, and I finally managed to hit the sack around midnight, so I had a good sleep and felt fairly fresh thismorning. I drove a couple of friends to the ferry terminal, the White Dragon seems to be running fine and my confidence in her is increasing (touch wood! touch wood!). We caught the ferry across to Rottnest Island, named by a dutch explorer after the rat-like Quokka rodents that inhabit it. Rottnest basically translating as: Rats Nest. I didn't see any Quokkas, but the beaches were gorgeous, with white sands and interesting reefs to snorkel over. I saw quite a lot of fish, but nothing that rivalled Blue Hole in Egypt. We met a bunch of people from the hostel who had gone over the previous morning and had had a really great time. I can see why, it was a lovely island. I got a lot more sun than usual, so I hope I don't wake up red and peeling tomorrow.

After getting back I drove Matt, a Canadian guy, and two Dutch girls, Saskia and Marcella to Perth city centre to a sushi bar I saw a while ago. I had noticed it was all you can eat for $25(just over 10 pounds) on a Saturday evening. It had a conveyor belt on the bar that we sat at and ate until we were stuffed. The sushi was pretty good, especially the salmon nigiri, but there was a 45 minute time limit. This was actually ample, but afraid it would go too quickly we ate way too fast for the first quarter of an hour. My belly still feels really full, don't think I can drink much beer tonight!

Some people are going to Northbridge tonight, clubbing, but I'm going to chill out. I'm making much more of an effort not to spend money on partying now, and I'm pretty tired from an early start and a lot of sun today. Tomorrow is Jenna's birthday barbeque which I'm really looking forward to, so I'll get a reasonably early night and prepare myself for that. Oh yeah, and theres another Sunday session tomorrow of course!

Preparations, preparations, preparations.......

2007-11-15T23:45:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong, I'm loving just about every minute here in Cottesloe, but I'm gagging to hit the road now! Its taking much longer than I had expected to get myself ready to hit the road. As I may have mentioned I'm hoping to head up to Lancelin on Tuesday, so long as the car is running well and my kites are in good working order. The more I hear about Lancelin the better it sounds. Apparently theres a surfbreak that isn't too hardcore (so I should be able to manage it) which is surfable pretty much every morning. The wind should be pretty regular for kiting and windsurfing too. Most of all I'm looking forward to a more chilled out environment where I can concentrate on exercise, practicing my surfing and kiting, writing and hopefully living cheap. I went to a camping store today and bought most of the kit I need, a tent, a stove, a foldable mattress, a coolbox etc. I'm really looking forward to cooking up my own meals next to my tent and the White Dragon. I should think there'll be other watersports enthusiasts and travellers there I can socialise with, but not to the extremes of the parties at the backpacker hostel!! Theres only so much partying one man can handle, quite a lot in my case I suppose, but thats not what I'm here for. Before I left the UK my dream was to spend all my time outdoors, surfing, kiting, windsurfing, getting fit. I think Lancelin will be the place where I can do all that.

Later on I'm driving a couple of guys down the road to an oyster bar on the beach for a sunset beer and oysters. Then later I'm going to chill out in the movie room and watch Superbad.

If you haven't already realised, you can make comments on my blog entries, (thanks to those of you who have already!) so it'd be great to hear your feedback! Take care, much love!

White Dragon

2007-11-13T02:22:00.000-08:00

I have wheels. Four very big ones with a spare on the back. Mike came and picked me up and we made the transactions. I drove back to the hostel after dropping him back at his place. No problems so far (fingers crossed!!) but I'm still pretty nervous. I've called a mobile mechanic who is going to come and sort out the handbrake, change the oil and filter, and give it a light service before I go off to Lancelin next Tuesday. She roars like a beast from hell through her big bore exhaust so I've named her the White Dragon, but when I'm in a hurry I'll just call her 'The Beast'!

I asked Tom if there was a kiteshop nearby and he mentioned one in Freemantle and agreed to pop down there with me. They had a good range of kit, kites, boards, windsurf gear, surfboards. I saw an 8' surfboard that looked older than the sea and asif it had been ridden by a thousand people, so I put a deposit on it. It was very cheap and will suit me while I'm improving. Best of all it has bags of character. I looked at some kitegear and windsurf boards and was sorely tempted to buy loads of brand new gear and spend an absolute fortune, but I resisted and did the sensible thing for once. I think I'll speak to Garth again before I buy too much, and maybe go to some other shops, but I need to be all geared up by Monday, ready to go to Lancelin. I'm thinking whatever I buy now I will most likely ship to New Zealand (if I haven't broken it) so I can afford to invest a little. Every hundred pounds I spend could possibly knock a week off the amount of time I can spend in Oz though, so some caution must be taken.

When we got back we went to the beach. It was another gorgeous day and there was a big crowd of people from the hostel down there. The shoredump was quite big so we went for a swim and did some hardcore bodysurfing. I got proper nailed by one big wave which picked me up, tossed me head over heels a couple of times and then plunged me about five feet down onto the sand. It was awesome!! Back on the beach I read nother couple of pages of Ulysses, its so good!! Buck Mulligan is so very funny! I'm only a few pages in and already its making me laugh, I hope I can get a bit more time to read it and get on with writing when I get to Lancelin, theres so much going on here and so many people around its nigh on impossible to concentrate on anything! The hostel where I'm staying is such a great place, everyone seems to check in for a few days and end up staying weeks, some guys have been here months and months! I only meant to be here 4 days, but that was unrealistic really, its taken a while to find my feet and get the car sorted etcetera. By the time I leave I will have been here 2 weeks. I'm hoping I'm going to start living the life I was planning on living when I get to Lancelin, chilled out, spending very little, spending a lot of time in the water, writing a lot. I'll only be there about 3 weeks before I have to come back and get Nick, so I've booked a couple more nights in the hostel for when he arrives.

Well, tonight i'll just be chilling in the courtyard, tomorrow I'm planning on sourcing a tent and some camping gear, maybe having another look round for windsurf/kitesurf gear, no doubt going to the beach at some point!!

Session, Beach, Nervous

2007-11-12T03:44:00.000-08:00

The sunday session turned out pretty good. Me and Henry, a really cool Dutch guy, went with about six or seven hot girls, which was nice! It started out we were just sat around chatting, until one of the girls pointed out we could have done that back at the courtyard for cheaper. She suggested we go inside and have four jaggerbombs in a row each. They consist of a shot of Jaggermeister (bad speling probably) dropped into a Red Bull, so pretty potent. I wasn;t sure, as they're expensive, but if everyone else does something I struggle not to do the same, I hate being left out!! The barstaff wouldn't actually serve us four, so we had two, but that was enough! I followed it up with a quick Turbo Shandy and then we hit the dancefloor. I was busting out some huge shapes, I'm loving my dancing at the moment! After that we pretty much went back to the courtyard and carried on drinking there. After a while we went down to the beach and I got chatting with a really nice Danish girl. She was face meltingly gorgeous and we chatted for ages! But then she went back with her friends and I chatted to some other mates. Eventually I went back to the courtyard and got chatting with a Swedish girl called Ulrika, she was so funny, she had me in stitches! I can't really remember what she was saying, as it was about 3am by this time, but she was definately making me laugh! Eventually I went to bed, hoping I would be alright to get up in the morning and get things done!

I impressed myself by waking up early, before my alarm, and tearing myself out of bed before 9am. I knew it was going to be a shaky start but I got on with what I had to do. I phoned the RAC, paid my rent, then headed for town. Henry was headed for the train station too so we walked together, stopping at a deli for as brekkie muffin. We caught the train to Perth but he got off a station before me. I went straight to the bank and paid in my travellers cheques. Then I went back to the train station and went north, to where the guy with the Landrover lived. He picked me up in it, I could hear it coming down the road, it had a sports exhaust, it was pimp!! It seemed exactly what I need for travelling, it had a second battery, dual fuel (LPG and petrol) and a special aerial for picking up radio in the bush (which I'll probably never do). With my limited knowledge of cars I looked it over and it seemed fine. No rust, sounded smooth, good bite point on the clutch, smooth gearchange, clean engine, lots of paperwork. I decided to take a risk and not have an RAC check. I might end up regretting it, but it'll save me $140. I gave the guy a deposit and arranged to complete the purchase tomorrow. After I get it i'll take it straight to a garage for a service, and we'll see if its okay. I hope it is, I'm falling in love with it already. I might buy a trailer for putting my kit in, if I can find a cheap one, otherwise a roofrack.

After seeing the car I headed back, I felt pretty strange, I think the nervousness of wondering if I'd bought a dud, combined with my hangover, was making me feel quite emotional. I started thinking of everybody back home, about Dad, and about my future. It wasn't a negative feeling, I'm actually feeling really confident and positive about my writing at the moment. I think this blog has been a real positive for me, its the most I've written since uni, and I feel geared up for writing some scripts and short stories now. I came up with a great idea for a low budget movie to make when I get home which I've been thinking about a lot. Actually, I forgot to mention, the other night I met a pretty cool American guy who is dead keen on his filmaking and swears he is going to produce a low budget short in the next six weeks. I told him I would definately get involved and he was really pleased, so thats good. I'm going to stay in Perth till Monday, so I can go to Jenna's birthday bbq, then I'm going to go to Lancelein and live in a tent on my own for three weeks or so, so I can have some time to write before Nick comes out and everything goes chicken oriental. I should have some great windsurfing and kitesurfing on my doorstep there too!

After I got back I had a shower, its been so hot today (39 degrees!!!!!) and there were so many flies it drove me insane. I drip dried to prolong the refreshment, then went downstairs. I bumped into Justin again briefly, then went for a pint or two with an Arsenal man called Sam. I might possibly get up at 5am tomorrow to watch the Arsenal Reading game with him, but it depends how I feel. We're courtyarding it tonight, I'm just taking a quick break from socialising to write my blog. Theres talk of the beach again later. Tomorrow Mike (the Landrover guy) is coming here at 10am and we're completing the sale. I'm nervous, but excited. Thats what taking risks does for you. I love it.

Anticipation

2007-11-10T22:28:00.000-08:00

I'll be honest, my 'chilled out night' didn't go quite to plan. I didn't spend a lot of money, but somehow I managed to stay up till 4am again. We were chilling over a few stubbies in the courtyard and then when they closed the courtyard at midnight we all went to a house nearby where everybody seems to go and continue the partying. After that, as I was kind of on my way to bed I spotted that the Liverpool Sunderland game was on, so I stayed up till 4am watching it. Never mind, I didn't feel too rough thismorning and managed to get up about 10am. I popped to the shop and bought some shower gel and stuff, then met up with the usual suspects and headed to the beach. The wind is light and offshore today and its in the high 30's celcius so it was baking hot, but the water was lovely! There was a bit of excitement too! I'd literally just come out of the water when we spotted the lifeguards pointing at something in the water and congregating at the water's edge. One of the girls, Lizzie, pointed and gasped, saying that she saw something move in the water. At first I thought she'd just seen the weeds swaying on the reef but then all of a sudden this dark grey shape apeared at the surface. Everyone's first thought was that it was a shark, obviously, but it was actually a seal. It seemed to play in the shorebreak that I had just been bodysurfing, jumping out of the water a bit like a dolphin from time to time. The lifegurds called for everyone to get out of the water, I guess they can be aggressive maybe. Then some lifeguards in a powerboat drove around it trying to scare it away, but it seemed quite content to play in the shorebreak. By this time everybody on the beach had got up and walked to the water's edge to watch, even making fireworks night style noises when it jumped out of the water. Eventually it moved on and people were allowed back into the water.

I wandered back over to where everyone was sunbathing and I had just missed a call from Ben and Jenna, who had invited me to go wakeboarding. I ran up the steps back to the hostel to meet them, they were in a nice silver 4x4 in the carpark. It was great to see them, I haven't seen Ben since summer 2004 in Turkey (unless I'm forgetting a more recent meeting) or Jenna since the end of my 2005 summer season. They're a great couple and we had a good chat as they drove me to the wakeboarding place by the river. The guy was booked up so they ended up driving be back again, but it was great to touch base with them, and they invited me to a BBQ next weekend for Jenna's birthday. Chatting to Ben made me reconsider my plans to buy a van out here, he said he had looked for one for a while and hadn't found anything all that good. He also sounded dubious about driving a cheap van across the Nullabor. His 4x4 was very nice (although well out of my pricerange) and had seats that convert to a bed. I remembered seeing a lot of 4x4's in the Quokka, the local classifieds paper, so I decided to look into it. I was kind of looking for a Toyota Hilux, but some Landrover Discoverys in my pricerange caught my eye, so a called up about a couple. The first one went to answerphone so I left a message, the second number I called an unmistakably British born guy picked up. I instantly warmed to him as he told me stories about how he came by the 4x4 and what it featured, we had a good chat and arranged a viewing for tomorrow. It sounds like a pretty good vehicle so my fingers are crossed!!

Now I'm just chilling, anticipating the sunday session! Apparently its changed a bit, when I was here last all the guys were in boardshorts and t-shirts and all the girls in bikinis and sarongs, which gave it a great beachparty vibe, but apparently boardshorts are no longer permitted!! Gutted! Should still be good tho, everyone seems pretty excited about it, and they've been going loads lately. Well, I'll let you know how it goes with the sunday sesh, and the Landrover!!

Metro

2007-11-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

Most of the people I have met from the backpacker hostel decided to go to Freemantle last night, so I decided to tag along. One of the girls booked 4 taxis for 10pm to a club called Metro. I ended up getting in the first taxi with three other guys, Sam, Tom and Henry. When we got there we waited outside the club for a while but nobody else seemed to be turning up. It turns out the taxi services in Perth are pretty lame, and the other taxis took a long time to come, one of them took an hour! Anyways me and the guys went into the club, there was a lot of security, even a fingerprint machine! It was fairly pricey inside but I'd had a few beers earlier so I hit a couple of tequilas and I was sorted. The girls eventually rocked up and we danced for quite a while, it was a good atmosphere, pretty cool club. Later on though I think I must have been bimbling about and suddenly I couldn't find anybody! I must have searched the club for about an hour before, as I was just about to give up and get a taxi on my own, I found a group of people who were still there. I got a taxi back with them and, after watching the first half hour of Blades of Glory with a few people in the movie room, I went to bed about 4am. Naturally I felt rough again thismorning and struggled to get up. I really don't want a hangover again tomorrow! I need to get a van sorted so I can hit the road and live cheap, its so expensive round here and theres too much temptation to party! I'm going to see a camper thats within my pricerange on Monday, and I think I'll call up and arrange to see some other vans today. Tonight its my intention to take it easy, although it is Saturday night! Tomorrow is the legendary sunday session, which i used to love so much when I was here seven years ago, so I think I'll try to save myself for that. Theres a guy called Justin coming to see me in a while and show me some sails he is selling, he is a friend of Ben and Jenna, a couple I know from my Neilson days. Apart from that and some washing I'm not planning on doing a great deal today. This is the life!!

Unproductive

2007-11-09T03:23:00.000-08:00

My alarm went off at 10am, I wanted to get a lot done today. But I was hanging out my hoop again and there was no way I was getting up yet. I finally got up about midday again, and stumbled downstairs onto the internet. I spent three hours trying to bring my blog up to date, but only got half way!! Then a guy called Tom from the hostel was going kitesurfing so I went and watched him and helped him launch and land his kite. He did offer to let me have a go, but it was really windy and rough so I decided to play it safe and save my first kite sesh in Oz for an easier day. After that I came back, remembered that i hadn't eaten all day so had a lovely snapper burger in the cafe adjacent to the hostel. Then I watched an episode of Simpsons with Tom and then back onto the internet, finally I have brought things up to date!!!!!!!!!!!! What a relief, I've been writing so hard today! Well, I'd better go drink some beer, some people are going to Freemantle for a few drinks tonight, and I might be going to lacelin tomorrow with some old Neilson buddies. Stay safe peeps, love you loads

The first day, sorting things out

2007-11-09T03:00:00.000-08:00

I let myself sleep in till midday, I think I deserved it!! When I got up I chatted to a few people, then headed into the city. I wanted to get a phone, open a bank account and buy another pair of board shorts. I got the cheapest phone I could find, a crappy little nokia, on a prepay contract. I can recieve calls and texts for free, so get in touch: 0416807063. you'll need to put the aussie code in front of that, whatever it is, and drop the first 0. Please bear in mind i'm 8 hours ahead here, so no calls after 4pm uk time!!! I opened a bank account too, and got some shorts, then headed back to Cottesloe. I activated my phone and got in touch with some friends in Perth. Then I went back to the courtyard, everybody gets together there in the evening and works out what to do. There was talk about a party on the beach for somebody's birthday, but all I wanted to do was go to Clairemont, its so awesome on a Thursday night. I didn't want to go alone though. I got chatting to these two ducth chicks, and joined them for a bbq at the OBH next door. It was $10 for a beer, two sausages in a roll, a steak and salad. Bargain! This aussie guy called Mark came over and sat with us, probably attracted by the dutch girls, he seemed pretty cool. After the grub we went inside but it was really empty. I suggested Clairemont to everyone but the dutch girls were a bit tired and drunk and had spotted some other aussie guys they liked. Mark and I decided to go to Clairemont on our own, so we jumped in his 4x4 and drove to the Clairemont hotel, which was absolutely heaving! We had a few drinks, chatted to a few people, met some girls, danced a bit. i met a girl called Gaby, she was really hot, but damn did she know it! I had spoken to her briefly earlier and decided to offer her a drink as I saw her approach the bar with her friend. She saw me, span round and before I could open my mouth said 'Are you going to buy me a drink??'. Warning bells rang, but I said yeah. She wanted a champagne, obviously, with a bloody strawberry in it. I'd been had. To make matters worse she got the impression the barman wasn't charging her for the drink, so she kissed him on the cheek and thanked him and then trotted away. He then charged me for the drink, obviously. $7, but worth it for the lesson learnt! The girls in Clairemont are so far up their own backsides, but they're easy on the eye! Anyways, after a while the Clairemont Hotel started to empty out so Mark and I went to the Bayview, a club round the corner. It was free to get in, which was a pleasant surprise, and it was heaving, with pretty much the same clientelle as in the previous bar. I danced, chatted to some guys, chatted to some girls, bumped into an italian guy from the hostel, had a great time. About 3am we left and Mark gave me a lift back. I had a slightly embarrasing conversation with one of the girls from the hostel, i wasn't hitting on her, but I was blabbing drunkenly trying to give her advice I doubt she needed. Hehe, i'm such a penis!

Back in Perth, at last!

2007-11-09T02:52:00.000-08:00

Perth airport presented me with no issues, and soon I was getting into a taxi, driven by an incredibly nice guy called Paul. We chatted all the way to Cottesloe, he gave me advice about Perth, I told him about South Africa, he really was one of the niest taxi drivers I've ever met, which was nice, since moments before I was thinking how sad it was that I had no beaming face to greet me. I got to the backpackers hostel on Cottesloe beach and finally the excitement of being back in Australia kicked in. I was grinning as I checked in, the guy probably thought I was an oddball. As soon as I got the keys to my room I raced up and jumped in the shower, I stank like nothing you've ever smelt before. After my shower it had been my intention to hit the sack, but it was only about 6.30pm or so and there were lots of young people around, lots of them blonde and female. I bought some stubbies from the bottle shop and sat in the courtyard of the backpackers hostel, which was a hive of activity. I met lots of people, ended up drinking a second 6 pack and getting to bet about 1am. Damn it was good to be in bed!

The big journey

2007-11-09T02:40:00.000-08:00

So, I tore myself out of bed at 3.45am, doused myself momentarily in the shower, then went downstairs where my taxi was waiting. I stared out of the window the whole way, taking in my last views of Cape Town. Its an awesome city, in a magnificent setting, in an amazing area, I thoroughly recommend it! My flight was on time, luckily all my flights have been on time! I flew with Mango to Joberg and then had a hefty 6 hour wait till my next flight departed. I used the internet a bit, minced about, you know, that sort of thing. The flight to Dubai was alright, I managed to get a seat with loads of legroom. I can't sleep on planes, so I watched a lot of films. By the time I got to Dubai I was shattered, but I still had a 10 hour flight ahead of me. The guy said he had given me a seat with extra legroom, but it turned out he hadn't, although I was on a row of three on my own, so I planned on laying down across the three the moment the fasten seatbelts sign went off. But I was too slow, this Essex chick from the next row moved into the aisle seat to give her family some more space. Gutted. I resigned myself to another 10 hours without sleep, and started yet another movie. I saw one which was quite funny, it was called Hot Rod and was about a useless stuntman. It wasn't brilliant or anything, and it smacked of Napolean Dynamite and Nacho Libre, but it had some funny parts. Eventually, just as I was starting to consider yanking down my oxygen mask and girotting myself, we landed in Perth.

Lesbians

2007-11-09T01:48:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning I woke up and jumped in the shower. By the time I came out Honray had disappeared off to the garage to get our second flat tyre replaced. Jez and I watched crappy cartoons for what seemed like an age as we waited for him to return. When he finally returned we went to the supermarket and got some brekkie and some meat for lunch. We drove south towards Cape Town, stopping for a braai at lunchtime in roughly the same area as we had had one on our way north a few days before. Jez said it gave our trip nice symetry, I guess he was right. Thinking back over the last few days made us chuckle, Honray constantly getting us in trouble, Jez's shrugs and frowns, and me saying "y'know" about a million times, apparently. I honestly can't belive Honray's car was still in one peice, we hadn't had a holiday so much as a genuine adventure! Spontanaety is seriously underrated, and booking ahead overrated! I've got to give it to Honray, he dreamed up an awesome trip for us!

Well, we arrived back in Cape Town late afternoon and chilled out at Honray's for a while before our big night out. We met Wim and Kristine and went to a sushi bar for dinner. It was awesome sushi!! I went 4 ways on a platter meant for 4-6 and then ordered a 10 peice mixed sashimi dish for myself!!! I've never eaten so much raw fish!! I think the sake was making me quite drunk, the night is hazy in places after that. We went to another bar which was quite empty so we moved on after a drink. Then we went to Fiction, a great little club on Long Street with a balcony overlooking the whole street. I was pretty wasted so as usual I had a sudden realisation that I was the best dancer in the world and went to bust out some phat shapes on the dancefloor. Honray was dancing too, he's the man, but Jez disappointed me, he sat on a tall chair in the middle of the next room on his own, weird. He used to be my dancing mentor, the dancer I looked up to more than every other. He's got so slack lately. I think he's lost his mojo. Jez, please, dust off your dancing shoes buddy!! Anyway, he missed out, cos these two hot chicks started flirting with eachother on the dancefloor and then all of a sudden started snogging right there in front of me!! It was awesome, I couldn't take my eyes off of those horny nymphs! I tried to convince Kristine to go and join them and then somehow invite me over to get involved, but I think she thought I was joking. I wasn't, obviously. Anyway, we stayed at the club till about 3 or 4am then went home and crashed out.

SUNDAY: The hangover day

The less said about Sunday the better, I was hanging out my hoop all morning, feeling really rough. Honray insisted we go see the penguins, for Jez's sake. We got in the car, all groaning and rubbing our heads, and drove to Simonstown and onto the penguin beach. We stood and stared through our eyes, which were like piss holes in the snow, at the smelly little creatures for a while before heading back to the car. Honray thought we needed a beer, I agreed. We went to a place right on the seafront and had a beer each and for the first time in my life I had some oysters. we had six each, on ice with lemon and tabasco, the traditional way. I thought they were very interesting, and somehow they semed to completely cure my hangover! Or maybe that was the beer, I don't know. Anyway, we went back to Honray's for a while, then popped out for dinner, can't remember where now, then went bowling with Wim, Kristine and Ricardo. The bowling alley was shit, it failed to recognise a spare I got and I subsequently lost by just a few points to Jez, otherwise I would have won. Hahaha, Jez revelled in his victory nonetheless, especially as he had been on the verge of vomiting throughout the whole game. He sat with his head in his hands and only got up to take his bowls! After bowling we went home and got a fairly early one. The next day honray was taking Jez and I winetasting!

MONDAY: Stellenbosch

We got up fairly early again, Honray had a big day planned, lots of vineyards. We drove about 40 minutes to the Stellenbosch region, the most famous winegrowing region in South Africa. I could describe the intricate details of the whole day, but basically we went to 7 vineyards, tasted about 35 wines and had a great day!! The sun was out again and some of the vineyards were very picturesque. I didn't spit out any of the wines, so i got quite nicely merry. Honray was driving so he took it easy and just sipped each one. I tried to do the whole descriptive thing, but felt like a bit of an idiot! I made up some new terms though, like: 'This one has ample punctuation' and 'Oh yes, theres plenty of legroom in this one'. At lunchtime Honray took us to a great restaurant on one of the vineyards which has been voted one of the top ten restaurants in the whole of South Africa. He also insisted on picking up the bill, which was awfully generous of him. He's a good chap! That evening we had to grab an early dinner so we could take Jez to the airport. It was sad seeing him go, it felt like the end of an era, albeit an era only a week long! I think Honray was quite sad too, especially as I was due to leave in the middle of the night, so he would wake to an empty flat for the first time in quite a while (his family were out before i arrived). So. I set an alarm for 3.45am and tried to get some sleep. I had a huge journey ahead of me....

Backtracking

2007-11-08T19:55:00.000-08:00

Okay, sorry for the delay guys, I'll try to pick up where I left off.....

Monday afternoon: Big Bay

So I drove to Bloubergstrand hoing to get a bit of kitesurfing done, but it was uber windy and there were loads of pros out on small kites riding the waves! I knew once again it was beyond my ability and toowindy for my huge kite, so I decided to go have a look in the kite shop. Bloubergstand, by the way, is a beautiful long white sandy beach with amazing views of the Table, great waves rolling in and pretty regular wind by the sounds of things. What a great place for the Cape Town residents to have on their doorstep!! Anyways, I went to the kite shop and discovered they rented windsurf gear! So I rented an 84 litre waveboard and a 4.7 sail after receiving advice from the shop dude. It was very windy, but I was dubious about taking such small kit. I drove down to Big Bay, another amazing beach just down the road from Bloubergstrand and rigged up. The waves were rolling in and the wind was strong so I was really excited. Unfortunately when I launched my fears about the small kit were confirmed. I wobbled out through the waves, barely able to balance on the sinky board with what felt like no power atall in the sail, then eventually turned round and rode a couple of waves back in, way downwind. I was annoyed, but I don't give up that easy (at least not when I'm windsurfing!!!) so I let off a bit of downhaul and went back out. Again I was underpowered, but I could feel abit of power in the sail this time. The same thing happened though, I wobbled out and rode the waves back in, way downwind. I was almost ready to call it a day by now, after two 'walks of shame' up the beach. But I gave it one more try and headed back out again. This time I got planing on the way out, although the seemingly unadjustable harness lines were way too short and I was constantly worried about dropping off the plane. I went out a bit too far too and then had to wobble back in, riding the waves where I could, and again ending up downwind. I was quite frustrated by this time so I acked up and went back to the shop. Luckily, the guy agreed to refund half the rental fee as I'd only had the gear 2 hours and paid for a day. In retrospect I was quite pleased with the sail, although it was frustrating at the time. I had managed to get out and back in through waves three times without cocking it up and damaging anything, despite being totally underpowered, and I had sailed at a great location, albeit not very fast. I went and met Honray at Wim and Kristine's place and then we went back and chilled out at Honray's flat. The next day Jez was due to arrive, and we were setting off on THE road trip!

Tuesday: The road trip begins!

We got up fairly early and packed our stuff together before setting off to the airport. Jez was due to arrive at about 10.30am. We sat in a cafe in the arrivals area and had a toastie for breakfast. Honray also insisted on having a beer, as it was the first day of his holiday, and I didn't grumble. Jez arrived to see us polishing off our toasties and helped us finish our pints. It was great to see the ginger git, and I knew the three of us were going to have an awesome time! Jez was worried about being eaten or shot, and that we had no accomodation booked whatsoever, so we tried to make him as terrified as possible by speculating about sleeping by the roadside, angry animals and fearsome locals. I had forgotten how amusing Jez's frowns and shrugs could be! We drove an hour or so before stopping at a layby with a picnic table to cook some lunch on a braai (bbq). Then we drove on, up North toward Springbok. At Springbok we icked up some beers and some more meat for dinner, then we turned east and headed for the Augrabies Falls area where we intended to stay for a day or so before crossing into Namibia. The road was long and straight and there was nothing between us and our destination but amazing scenery. As we drew nearer dark clouds set in and a thunderstorm ensued. Jez began to get a lot more concerned about our sleeping arrangements as it strarted to rain and we saw some amazing fork lightening ahead of us. When we finally passed the sign for Augrabies, about 6.30 or 7ish pm, we were greeted with....nothing! There seemed to be nothing there, the road just continued! It was dark now, not because the sun had set but because of the ominous clouds overhead. Eventually we passed a shanty town, which only served to increase our concerns about finding accomodation. We managed to find a sho and ask someone where we might stay. the guy mentioned a campsite and lodge further along the road, so we set off. On our way we saw a sign for a backpackers hostel, so we turned down a dirtroad and searched for it. We went down several dirtroads but couldn't find anything, so we continued on in search of the lodge. All of a sudden, when Jez had finally become convinced that he might have to slee in a tent by the side of the road, and even myself and Honray were starting to get a bit worried, we came upon what seemed to us to be paradise! The Augrabies Falls Lodge, tucked away pretty much in the middle of nowhere, with a braai area, a bar, a restaurant, and most imortantly for Jez (well, all of us by this point!) rooms with beds and showers!! We checked into a self catering unit with four beds in two rooms and a basic kitchen and bathroom, it was perfect! Jez had a shower while Honray started a wood fire in the braai area and I drank beer. We had a good feed and then crashed into bed to get some rest for the adventures planned for the next day.

Wednesday: Rapids and Rainstorms

Honray had booked us some rapids rafting for the morning and a game drive for the afternoon, it was set to be a great day. We met the rafting guy, Craig, at the backackers place we failed to find the evening before. We had missed a sign in the dark, but to be honest the Lodge seemed much nicer anyway. We were transported in a minibus taxi down to the river and given a saftey chat and shown the rafts we were using. They were big red two man inflatable canoes basically, Jez and Honray shared one and I had one to myself, with some bags in the front to even the weight out. The first, and perhas the biggest rapids, were just a hundred metres or so from where we set off. Having never done anything like this before I was quite excited. Craig went over first and then stopped on some rocks to keep an eye on us and take some pictures with my camera. Then Jez and Honray went down. They seemed to survive so I wasn't too scared as I set off. The rapids were pretty hardcore, but very short, so despite not having done much paddling and not having a great deal of control, I made it down okay. We then stopped on the rocks and Craig demonstrated how to paddle back to the rapids and ride a small standing wave at the bottom. He demonstrated with me in the front of his raft, and I was plunged down into the water as the raft filled up, it was a very strage feeling. Jez and Honray then had a go at it, as did an Austrian couple who were on the rafting trip with us. Then I had a go, with Jez in the front. After getting thrown out of the raft once I realised that the best way to stay in control on the standing wave was to hold the oar behind me and use it like a rudder, we managed to stay on the wave for a while, it was kind of cool I guess but not as cool as windsurfing or anything. Anyway, we continued down the river and had a fairly leisurely addle, despite the wind being against us. There were some more fairly tame rapids and some stretched on the flat which meant for quite a lot of paddling, but the scenery was nice and it had some novelty value. Finally we got to some more hardcore rapids, which were great although very short once again. It was a good experience that I think we all enjoyed, but I'm glad we just did a morning of it, the Austrian couple were on some kind of 5 day river cruise, I couldn't have hacked it for that long, although I would like to do some more hardcore white water rafting some time, maybe in New Zealand.

Ah, I've forgotten to mention something. That morning when we got up, the rear passenger side tyre was flat and we had to change it for the spare. After the rafting we went to town to get it repaired. It actually had to be replaced, but they were very quick and we were soon on our way to the game drive. We had to drive a fair way down some dirt tracks to get there, and the thunderstorms seemed to be setting in again on the horizon. We were a little concerned but the game drive guy said that we 'might get wet but wont get cold'. We clambered onto the seats high on to of the landrover, Jez and I in t-shirts, Honray cunningly smuggling a jacket. The drive was set to last 3 to 4 hours and we would get to take in the sunset en-route. The scenery was amazing once again, barren, beautiful, with rocky mountains and rough desert flora. There was lightening on the horizon though, and it seemed to be closing in. The drive started very well, we saw some stampeding wilderbeast, great muscular beasts that looked very impressive on the run. The driver did his best to stay alongside them so we could get a good look, Honray said he had never seen them running before, only sat about, we were all very impressed. We also saw a couple of different types of bok, also charging across the desert. Just then however, the game drive took an amusing turn for the worse. The thunderstorm had caught up with us and the heavens opened. The driver asked if we wanted to go back, Honray, as he put on his nice warm coat, told him to take an indirect route. Asif in response to Honray's request the rain got really heavy, and turned to sleet! I couldn't even look at the boks anymore, I had to huddle in a ball staring at the ground with my hands over my ears as I was pelted by the sleet. It really stung!! We were all laughing at the situation, especially Honray, who was revelling in the pain and discomfort Jez and I were going through as he benefitted from the protection of his jacket. This seemed to go on for quite a while, long ebough for the novelty to wear off and for us to stop laughing and pray that we would get back soon. Eventually we arrived back at the start, where the rain seemed to have passed. We managed to get a small refund, about a third of what we paid, it was a bit of a piss take after what we had experienced really, but we were happy that we had seen the widerbeast and in retrospect we could have a good laugh about the weather.

Craig, the rafting guy, had told us about a place, the name of which I don't remember, which had a backpacker hostel in a beautiful setting next to some hot springs, it was about 40k down some dirt roads so we set off for there. The roads were very rough but Honray pressed on regardless, really punishing his little Polo! On the way we saw the most amazing thing, probably one of the most amazing sights of my life! As the sun was setting on our left we saw a huge, perfect rainbow on our right. Honray slammed on the brakes and we jumed out of the car. The sunset created a strange orange glow, asif we were on Mars or something. the rainbow was perfect and we could see the whole thing, end to end. Each end of the rainbow seemed only about a kilometre away too, and whats more, outside this perfect rainbow was another, fainter one, so it was a double rainbow. Just when we though things couldn't get any better, the sun setting, the double rainbow, the magnificent scenery, the most incredible thing happened. It only lasted a second, and everyone who we have told about in since has thought we were pulling their legs, but I swear its true. Right in the centre of the two rainbows, perfectly framed, a huge amazing flash of fork lightening appeared for a second. Our jaws dropped open in disbelief, it was the most incredible thing! I got some pictures of the rainbows and the sunset, but obviously not the lightening, my reactions aren't THAT good! But I swear thats what we saw. Amazing!

Anyway, we continued down the road as it started to get dark. There were regular dips in the road and ditches created by the rainwater, so we had to keep slowing right down. We passed a small shantyish town and the road got narrower, more twisty and we started decending into a gorge. The scenery was very impressive but the road became more and more trecherous. The make matters worse a huge spider had found its way into the car and was crawling all over the ceiling. We were ducking and diving to avoid it for a while and then Honray swiped at it, sending it flying at Jez and down onto the floor, I felt something on my foot so in a moment of true cowardice Jez and I lept out of the moving car and started dancing like drunken cowboys and swiping madly at our hair and clothes. Honray sat in the car and laughed at us, then told us to get back in before he left us out there. We got back in but I armed myself with a roll of tinfoil just in case. Anyway, the road got too rough for the car and annoyingly we had to turn back and drive the 50 or so kilometres back along the dirt road, through the town and back to the Lodge. Honray hit a few big ruts at high speed on the dirt road, its a wonder the car wasn't wrecked, but good old Volkswagens do tend to hold together pretty well! Finally we arrived back at the Lodge and Honray lit the braai. What a day. Tomorrow, Namibia!

Thursday: Getting stuck, crossing the border.

We woke and had breakfast over some guidebooks and planned our route into Namibia. Jez suggested we cut out about 100k by taking another dirt road. Honray, who couldn't get enough of trying to wreck his car, was well up for it, so we headed back through town, back past the game drive place and the turnoff for the hot springs place and down the 40 or 50k long dirtroad signposted 'Namibia'. The road was pretty good for a while, infact we must have gone two thirds of the way at least, but then we came across a huge dip in the road filled with water. Honray was just about to drive straight through it but I told him to stop and I would check it out. I kicked off my trusty flip flops and waded in. In the centre the water came up to my knees and on the shallower side it was very sandy so I turned to Honray and shook my head and waved my hands to say no. Red rag to a bull. Grinning maniacly Honray drove straight into the deepest sandiest part of the ditch and before you could say 'what the f**k?' the little Polo was well and truly stuck! The wheel was sucked right into the sand, the water was lapping at the door sills on the drivers side. I think we all knew we weren't going to be able to get it out, but we had a go, me and Jez pushing and Honray at the wheel. It was impossible, it was stuck fast! Honray knew he had 'f****d up' but didn't let it bother him, he instructed Jez to stay and watch the car and he and I took a bottle of water and set off down the road towards some buildings we had spotted. It wasn't all that far but when we got there the little group of buildings was completely deserted. It was like something out of a horror movie, there was bird poo all over the porch, it looked very menacing, we didn't stick about. As we walked back towards the car Honray got some signal on his phone and called Craig, the rafting guy. He said he might know someone who could come and help us, which was reassuring. However, when we got back to the car an Africaans guy had stopped in a 4x4 and had started to help. He only had nylon rope though which kept snapping when he tried to tow the car out. He said he would go and see his neighbour who might have something more suitable, Jez went with him. While they were away Honray and I decided to connect the front towing eye to the car. It was quite a task as the area it had to be fiited to was underwater, under murky brown water, so we had to do the whole thing by touch. Eventually when we finished we sat and had a beer and waited for Jez. He turned up after a while with another Africaans guy with a 4x4 and about 4 black dudes in overalls. They had a big heavy chain and set about hooking it up to the rear towing eye of the Polo. It took quite a tug from the 4x4 and all of us pushing to get the car out, and then the Africaans guy insrtucted Honray to dive back through the ditch on the other side where it was deeper but the ground was firmer. I wasn't convinced that it would make it, but sure enough it did, although it didn't seem to like it much!! Then came the bombshell that there was another patch up ahead which was even worse! We drove up to it and there it was, about 10 metres of soft sand and water, there was no way we would make it though without assistance. We hooked the chain up again and Honray, towed by the Africaans guy, floored it and tried to drive through. As the Polo hit the worst bit they both came grinding to a halt and for a minute I thought that both vehicles were stuck, then as the 4x4 struggled to get out the other side the chain came off and left the Polo behind. Any normal person would be really worried about their car at this point, but Honray was loving every minute! Finally after we reconnected the chain, and with all of us pushing we managed to get through! We thanked the Africaans guy and the black guys for helping us out, the Africaans guy was laughing and saying something like 'Domb Englisher!' as he drove away. We continued on our journey and eventually made it back to the relative safety of tarmac!

We crossed the border into Namibia before too long and we were in another African country! Namibia is the second most sparsely populated country in the world according to Honray, and it showed! We drove for miles without seeing anyone and the settlements we did come across were very small. We had done enough driving for one day so we stopped in a town about half way to the Fish River Canyon where we were headed. It was a small, empty feeling town and as the only hotel was full we had to stay in a self catering unit at the petrol station! We had an awful meal at the petrol station and then went to the bar at the hotel. The hotel may have been full but the bar was empty, but we got very drunk, revelling in the idea that we were that town's nightlife that night! We drank a shot of Stroh rum each, which is a whopping 80% alchohol and tasted like a badger's balls. Honray beat me 2 games out of three at pool, then we went back to our room at the petrol station and drank a bottle of wine. Honray felt pretty rank the next morning, it was very funny!

Friday: The Fish River Canyon and two steaks

I'm going to pick up the pace a bit cos I've been writing for almost three hours and I'm wasting a whole day in Perth!!! We visited the Fish River Canyon in the morning, we had to drive down a lot of dirt roads to get there but generally they were much better than the dirt roads in SA. The canyon is the second largest in the world, after the Grand Canyon and it was quite a sight, although I'm not sure that Honray and Jez really appreciated it, as Honray was hanging out his hoop and Jez was starving and could only think about steak! We drove alongside the canyon for a while and stopped in numerous places to take pictures. Then we had lunch at the Canyon Roadhouse, a really nice spot with lots of old american cars and bikes laying about. We had steak, which was pretty nice although a bit overcooked as we all like our steak rare or medium rare. We decided to head south back across the border, because apart from the amazing scenery there wasn't much else to see in Naminia without going miles up North. So we drove south, crossed the border, drove back through Springbok and towrards a national park where Honray said there would be a cool backpackers place. We were on another dirt road, and a really rough one this time! I think it was a dirt road too far. Eventually we came across some locals in a 4x4 and they told us it was a long way to anywhere we could stay, we just didn't have the time to dive back that far in the morning so we had to turn back. The road was really rough and rocky and Honray was pushing it again so unsurpisingly we got another flat tyre. As we changed the wheel the sun was starting to set and so when we were done we had a beer and watched it. The scenery was pretty amazing, but I think we were all ready for some civilisation. We backtracked to Springbok and checked into another self catering room. Then we went to an amusingly named restaurant: 'The Dago', and had an awesome steak each (two steaks in a day!!!), this one was cooked to perfection and was really good meat! We had a look for a bar but couldn't see anywher particularly interesting so we went back to our room, had a couple of beers and watched some boxing on tv. The next day we would drive back to Cape Town and have the biggest night out of our whole holiday....

Well thats all I can manage today, I'll try to catch right up to date tomorrow, muchos love everybody!!

Standby....

2007-11-05T23:01:00.001-08:00

I survived Namibia everyone, not that there was much there to survive, its a huge empty place! But the scenery was beautiful and the Fish River Canyon was incredible! I'm sat at Jo-berg airport now, having got up at 3.45am to catch a plane here from Cape Town. I've got a long wait till my flight to Perth departs, but I'm feeling too knackered to write up the past week right now. When I get to Oz I'll spend some time catching up on the blog, and I'll tell you all about the immense road trip!! There were endless dirtroads, two flat tyres, one big ditch full of water the car got stuck in, monkeys, wilderbeast and all manner of wildlife, great steaks, rapids, hailstones and a very big hole in the ground, details soon!! Theres also the big night out on Saturday with double portions of sushi and lesbians, and 7 vineyards in a day (35 wines tasted, none spat out!). Hope all is well wherever you are, much love...

What a weekend!

2007-10-29T03:44:00.000-07:00

Friday turned out to be a less successful day than Thursday, perhaps my hangover contributed to this!! After an hour in the net cafe I went in search of Cape Point, but without a map or any idea of where I was going, I soon ended up back in Hout Bay again. I cruised back to Honray's flat and chilled out there for a while and this weird low cloud swept in and spoilt the good weather. I decided to chill for a while and when Honray came back from work he wanted to do the same. We had a lazy start to the evening but then went to meet his friends Wim and Kristine, who we had a very long, amusing, boozy night in some of Cape Town's bars and clubs which ended about 4.30am!

I was woken on Saturday morning to the sound of Honray crashing through my bedroom door hollering "Wakey wakey, rise and shine! You've had your sleep and I've had mine!" I've never heard that rhyme before but I wont forget it in a hurry. I could see Honray was still pretty wasted from the night before, and I was feeling a bit special too, but we had lots to do so we set off to get some supplies for the hike we had planned for Sunday and the road trip to Namibia on Tuesday. After that we met up with Wim and Kristine again and went for a drink and a snack at a restaurant overlooking the sea and a cricket pitch. Then we went to an awesome little beach near Camps Bay and swam, threw a frisbee, jumped off a big rock into the sea and played about in the shorebreak. I was warned that the water was very cold, but it wasn't so bad and I thoroughly enjoyed my first dunk in the sea in Cape Town. After the beach we went to a restaurant famous for its excellent steak and had a really nice meal together, then watched a DVD at Honray's.

Sunday morning we started early, picked up Wim and Kristine and headed north out of Cape Town. A little under an hour out of the city we went through a huge bridge and then parked up and hiked down a trail alongside the Eland river. The river flowed over smooth boulders in the bottom of a steep valley between rugged mountains, it was beautiful. The path was often steep, rocky and loose underfoot, sometimes passed alongside steep cliffs and involved some steep climbs. Once again I was in my flip flops!! I will buy some decent trainers for walking in when I get to Oz, but I just don't have enough room in my luggage to buy any here. I don't think I held the others up too much though. We barely saw another soul the whole way, apart from two fly fishermen making their way up the river, casting as they went. After about an hour we came to the spot we were aiming for, which Honray and Wim had been to before. There was a relatively shallow rocky pool in the river with some big boulders standing in the middle. We climbed out onto the boulders and right in the middle of the river lit a little disposable braai (bbq) and cooked some lunch. It was quiet, peaceful, totally deserted and the scenery was fantastic. I had a bit of a swim and mucked about in the rapids. We heard and then saw some wild baboons, and then on top of the ridge that overlooked us we saw two springboks (we think, they were quite a distance away). They seemed to stand there almost motionless for quite some time. When the sun looked like it might disappear behind the mountains we set off back, but stopped at a deeper pool nearer the start of the trail where there was a rock a couple of metres high which was great for diving off. After our walk we drove back to Cape Town, went and got changed and then all met at Honray's friend Ricardo's place for some pizzas and a game of poker. I thought I was playing pretty well at first but as I got tired I became more reckless and lost, buying back in twice but still being out first. It was fun though. Kristine had the chip lead for most of the game but Ricardo won in the end.

Monday: Thismorning I got up early again and went to Honray's workplace to drop him off. He has very kindly lent me his car today, so I set out once again to try to find Cape Point. This time I had a map, so I found it really easy. Unfortunately there was a lot of dense low cloud and I couldn't see a thing from the lighthouse, 249 metres above the waves below, which I could hear but not make out through the white-out. Its a shame, because the views must be stunning on a clear day. I wandered back down and drove round tothe Cape of Good Hope, where the waves were very impressive and the rugged landscape was quite incredible. There were a couple of coachloads of tourists there so I got a guy to take a photo of me with the 'Cape of Good Hope' sign. I also took some pictures of the beach, the rocks, the waves etc. The tourists seemed pretty focused on the sign though, strange. After that I drove to Boulders beach to see the colony of little African Penguins, very cute but very smelly!! And that brings me just about up to date. I'm going to check out Bloubergstrand and possible do some kiting thisafternoon, then I guess it'll be another chilled one tonight. Tomorrow Jez arrives and we head off on our roadtrip to Namibia. We should be doing some white water rafting, seeing Fish River Canyon (second largest canyon in the world after Grand Canyon) and generally exploring another African country. So, I'll post what we got up to when I get back. I'll also try to get some photos on here soon, been struggling to upload them to blogger so far, but theres a few scenic pics of Cape Town on my facebook page.

I climbed Table Mountain in flip flops and all I got was this lousy t-shirt

2007-10-26T01:44:00.000-07:00

Thursday: I decided to go up the Table Cable, so I drove the matchbox up the winding 'Kloof Road' to the Cable station, but when I got there the queue stretched all the way down the road and looked as though it would take hours to get to the front!! Perhaps foolishly I decided to climb Table Mountain on foot. I had no water, no suncream on, no sunhat, nobody with me, and I was wearing flip flops!! To boot it was just past midday and there was hardly a cloud in the sky so it was very hot. But I decided balls to it, I was walking up Table Mountain! The first few hundred metres of the path were steep and almost put me off, but I decided to soldier on. I came to a signpost that described the more direct route up the mountain as 'more dangerous' and that there was some steep climbing, perhaps not suitable for flip flops. I decided to take the recommended route, so I took a path that traversed the mountain for a while then wound up a steep gorge. As with all mountains the top seemed to get further away the further I progressed, but the incredible views kept me going. Everyone I encountered on my way made some comment or other about my flip flops, as though I was the first person in history to scale the mountain in such footwear! A sign at the bottom said that a 'resonably fit person' should reach the top in two and a half hours, I did it in two, so I guess that makes me uberfit!! The top wasn't quite as I expected, it was rocky and uneven (for some reason I was expecting it to be as flat as a football pitch) , but the views were breathtaking. I stopped in the cafe on the top for the beer and bottle of water I had repeatedly promised myself on the way up and then without much delay jumped on the cablecar to get down. The floor of the cablecar revolved on the way down to give me a panoramic view, which was interesting!! When I got down I decided to drive along a coastal road I had seen from the top which wound alongside some beautiful white sandy beaches and some impressive houses that must be worth millions!! Eventually I came to Hout bay and took a little walk along the beach, paddling in the shorebreak. It was very nice and I remember thinking 'I could get used to this'. After that I went back to Honray's flat, after a while he came home from work and we went to Camps bay for a couple of beers over an impressive sunset. Then we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant he likes near his flat before returning to Camps bay and frequenting a club called ignite, which soon filled with hot chicks. We had several 'pixie dust' shooters, which is a mix of tequila and absinthe and blows one's head off. These and a few rum and cokes and few beers saw to it that I was well and truly drunk by the time I crashed into bed. A thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding day all round.

Langebaan

2007-10-25T01:39:00.000-07:00

So, my hire car arrived, its about the size of a matchbox, I could probably drive it with my elbows sticking out the windows on either side!! Haha, its a little Hyundai of some description. Mapless, I headed out of Cape Town and towards Langebaan, which is luckily very easy to find. The strong wind was blowing my little car all over the road like a feather in a hurricane!! But the scenery on the way was amazing, reminiscent of Western Australia with red-dirt-tracks at the side of the road here and there. I arrived at Cape Sports at Langebaan about 1.30pm and as I had expected it was too windy for a novice such as myself to kitesurf, so I hired a windsurf board and sail, and a wetsuit, for two hours. I didn't realise the tide was with the wind so I started out on kit that was far too small. Then I had a board with outboard straps, despite only being 95 litres (apologies to non windsurfers for the jargon). I had a reasonable sail, then came in to change the footstraps and when i went back out, finally with the kit how I wanted it, the wind had dropped and the tide increased, so I was barely planing and had to wobble back in downwind. Not the greatest sail ever, but the scenery was impressive and its always nice to experience a new location. I was happy. On the drive back I saw the aftermath of an horrific car crash, I'm sure a couple of people must have lost their lives. This served to reinforce my reasoning for making this trip, you never know when you're going to go!!
On arriving back in Cape Town I met Honray and his family in a great little Dutch restaurant on the waterfront called Den Anker. I had a fabulous tuna steak and some very tasty imported dutch beer. Then we went back to the flat and watched a bit of UEFA footy before going to bed, shattered!!!! Not sure what to do today, don't think theres a lot of wind so I'm considering climbing table mountain. But Honray has designs to climb 'lionshead', a smaller mountain next to the table, for sunrise thisevening. So I'm not sure. Its ever so nice having nothing to do but decide what to do. He he.

Arrival in Cape Town!

2007-10-24T01:47:00.001-07:00

Despite my flights running very smoothly and economy class on Qatar airlines being very comfortable I didn't get a wink of sleep so I arrived in Cape Town on Tuesday morning totally exhausted! Spying Honray's beaming face as I walked into the arrivals area soon perked me up though and the buzz of being somewhere new helped me to last the short drive to his flat. Once he had gone to work I crashed out and slept from about 11am till 4.30pm. Honray got back from work a little later and took me up Signal Hill, which overlooks the city, for a beer and to soak up some sights. It was a bit overcast and Table Mountain was crowned with a huge cloud, but was no less impressive for it. Honray's family are here till thisevening so we went for dinner with them before going to watch the second half of the ManU Dynamo match at Honray's friend's place.
I slept like a log last night and was woken thismorning to the suggestion that I accompany Honray to work where he would source me a hire car so I could drive to Langebaan for a windsurf or kitesurf. It looked windy out, so I lept out of bed and thats what we did. Unfortunately the car ire place can't get a car to me until midday so I had a wander about the attractive waterfront area and had a savory pancake breakfast before finding an internet terminal to st up a blog. That brings me up to date. Its now 10.45 so soon I'll be picking up my hire car and driving an hour North to Langebaan where I will hopefully hire a windsurfer or kitesurf gear and get on the water!! I'll get some pics uploaded as soon as I can......