A Trip to the Beach: April 2012

There have been great days of surf and sun and incredible streaks of intense rainfall and stormy winds. We seem to get three of rain and then three of surf and sun. Rain is predicted for tomorrow and for Thursday. Yikes it sure does rain here. Winds are howling offshore but the sea is very stormy. I saw some beach break that looked clean tonight in Byron Bay so I'll probably get to surf in the morning.

Right now we're at Broken Head Caravan Park, just north of Lennox Head and just south of Byron Bay. Absolutely gorgeous beach and a headland that is completely forested and is a National Nature Preserve.

Basically, the trip has been very good so far, but we sure have had to hide from the rain. I had great surf in tiny crowds (as few as two!) at Scotts Head, Sandbar Beach, and Seal Rocks. We've found great beaches and really beautiful public parks. Everyone we've met has been friendly and even helpful, including guys in the water.

We're going back to rent houses at Scotts Head and at Boomerang Beach, which is near Sandbar and Seal Rocks (and Treachery, which I didn't surf, but which picks up winter south swells and is gorgeous). We'll rent in Yamba and Lennox Head too. I drove by our rental for May this morning in Lennox Head. You can check the surf from the front door! http://www.homehound.com.au/unit+2+60+allens+parade+lennox+head+nsw+2478/

We've just come from Yamba, which turns out to be a great surf and fishing village with a big headland and breaks with exposure to the northeast, east, southeast, and south. There's a big break wall by the harbor that breaks well, in addition to Town Beach, Turner's Beach, and Pippies. Right down the road, not four kilometers away, is Angourie. It's an amazing point break with a village of only 400 people. Yamba has only another 5,000. Angourie is actually the world's first "Surfing Preserve." It's essentially a surfing national park. We found a really nice beach house in Angourie, called Manyana (yes, that's the way they spelled it), that we hope to rent for a week. It's about 100 feet from the break and has incredible mountain views and a big deck: http://www.homeaway.com.au/holiday-rental/p404418152 For much less we can rent Drift: http://www.stayz.com.au/94252

The house we like best in Yamba is a brand new place across the street from the beach and a play park for the kids. We were quoted $920 a week for this place and a discount if we stay four weeks, which we may do: http://www.stayz.com.au/90956 Yamba has good restaurants, good pubs, coffee shops, a tiny movie theatre, good sailing, and tons of beaches. The pizza place is good and they have no licence to sell liquor so we can just walk across the street to Down Under Cellars and buy a bottle to take with us. We'll go back there for sure.

Basically things are really good, though I'm getting tired of navigating and driving all the time and it's hard for all four of us to live in this little camper. Definitely looking forward to our place in Lennox on May 8.

More pictures coming tonight or tomorrow.

Mike