Last Days at Scotts Head, First Days in Lennox Head

Well, we got the camper back to Britz in Ballina without incident right before the 3pm deadline and then I took a public bus back to Lennox Head after rushing Shannon and the kids into our little beach house right at the 2pm check-in time. The houses location is great. The view of the ocean from the bedroom and bedroom deck is lovely and the deck downstairs and little living room are open and airy and pleasant. On the downside the cookware is awful and the beds are pretty close to shot. Now we know why it's the cheapest holiday house in town. Still, it's a great deal for what it is and we're all very excited about living so close to the beach. The kids also enjoy having their own room - with three beds, no less.

The surf gods have smiled on me again. One of the best swells of the year arrived on the same day as we did. I let it drop down to about 6-8 feet before getting up the courage to paddle out this morning. The winds blow offshore at this time of year until about 11:30am and the surf wraps beautifully around Lennox Headland. Crowds were small today, though they were huge yesterday (it was a Queensland holiday). I had to work out some normal initial trepidation about the new spot, it's huge waves, the rocks and boulders that line the break, and the locals. Once I was in the wonderfully warm water and paddling over gorgeous peeling breakers, I realized I had nothing to fear. I'm good enough now to handle this place and it's going to be great for my surfing abilities, and great fun. My best ride today was about 6 feet high, completely smooth and bowling, and must have rolled on for 70 or 80 meters.

A few photos of our last days in Scotts Head and our first days in Lennox follow:

 

My kids are great travelers. Sydney often thoughtfully watches
the scenery fly by. Catalina reads and plays math games on the  Kindle.

The view from the "master" bedroom. Hard to tell but the wave
in the photo is about 8 feet tall.

This is where I paddled out today.

My best wave today looked a lot like this one, I think, and was right
about where this one broke. The wave peels in to shore for ages from here.