Arrival in New South Wales

Well, we're jet lagged, but we're happy to have arrived and settled in to a campsite for two nights near Soldier's Beach, Norah Head.


The kids are the "caravan" with Shannon. I'm sitting in the little kids' section in the Toukley public library. It's raining cats and dogs outside the window and has been since we arrived.  Rained about as hard as I've had the pleasure to see or hear last night. It's nice and warm, though. I've been walking around in shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals, despite the rain. It reminds me of late summer back East. 


We got here safe and sound, but had a very stressful drive in the rain through central Sydney in a huge camper and with very little sleep in our systems. We got lost twice, cursed a bit, calmed down, and figured it out alright.. The good news is that we ended up accidentally going right through central Sydney and over the Harbour Bridge. What an incredible view of Sydney, including the opera house and the bay. BTW, cup of coffee and a bun was on special at the little cafe near the rental depot. The price? Only $8.90 AUD. What a bargain. Better news were the prices in the Coles department store in Toukley. Most things cost the same or less than in Los Angeles. A few exceptions include lunch meat (sold in tiny packages for about $12 a lb.), nuts (about the same as Aussie lunch meat  per lb.), and coffee (sold primarily as freeze-dried in the groceries). 


The kids we're great on the plane, no crying at all, but neither Shannon nor I slept for more than an hour at a time. We fell asleep to the pounding of rain on the camper roof last night at 7:30 pm. The kids fell asleep as we were making dinner and didn't even get to eat. We'll nap today and try to stay up later tonight. Personally, I woke at 12:20 am, 2:30 am, and 4:30 am today. 


Still, things are good and we're off tomorrow to Seal Rocks, one of the prettiest beaches on the coast. It may rain a bit more, but it's expected to largely clear up by Friday. 


I think we'll  have Internet there, so I'll send some photos of the family, the camper, and the beach soon.


Off now to buy a knife, dish soap, and kettle - all of which were mistakenly not included in our camper. On the other hand, we got lucky and the woman at the Britz rental counter loves kids. She upgraded us to a better equipped and newer camper which will make our trip much more comfortable. Of course, she must also have noticed that our total bill came to over $4200 dollars for 21 nights! She took pity on us and I don't mind a bit. The upgrade is worth about $850 AUD over the 21 days so that's quite a deal. Moreover, the camper wasn't quite ready to go so we ended up waiting an extra 2 1/2 hours. As a result, Byron, the attendant from, of all places, Venice Beach, California, included a GPS rental for free. That saves us another $100. 


Good on ya, Byron! You're a good bloke, 


Love, 


Michael

We depart for New South Wales, and Autumn Thunderstorms, Tonight!

Well, we're off to Sydney and then a two and half hour drive to Norah Head, NSW tonight at 10:10 pm. We'll arrive there on Tuesday, April 17 at 6:10 am. Then it's off to Britz by expensive taxi to pick up our campervan and head for the Central Coast.

Unfortunately, it looks like we better bring our boots and rain parkas. This La Nina year has kept California remarkably dry, but the other side of the Pacific has been having record rains and flooding. It looks like that process continues to unfold. Here's the seven day weather forecast for the region around our first campsite:

Weatherzone.com.au Predicts  Possible Showers , Followed by Showers, Rain, and Possible Showers!

Of course the area is gorgeous and the storms will be beautiful, but driving on the wrong side of the road in a 21 foot RV in  a thunderstorm, while jet-lagged, sounds like a bit of a challenge.  At least the adventure will be in full force again. 

Another interesting twist is that we're flying out today on the largest airplane ever used in commercial service, the Airbus A380, which is famously stable in turbulence and quiet in flight and won an Australian design award for its economy class seats and. We'll be, of course, back in "steerage" where seats only cost about $5000 for four people! Premium Economy seats have been on sale lately for about $3200 each! Yikes.

The new Qantas A380 Economy seat - designed by acclaimed international designer Marc Newson - has won Standards Australia's top prize, the 2009 Australian International Design Award of the Year.

The Qantas A380 Economy seat focuses on ergonomics and comfort, featuring:

• The world's first single-beam aircraft seat, allowing more legroom.
• A seat base that moves in conjunction with recline, providing more comfort.
• Multi-adjustable headrest and cushioned armrests.
• Cushioning designed for side-sleep.
• Unique netted "footnet" leg support.
• Business and connectivity features including PC power, USB and internet ports and in-seat telephone with reply SMS functionality.
• State-of-the-art entertainment system and IFE with over 1,000 on-demand audio and video entertainment choices.

The Qantas A380 now operates on selected flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles and from Sydney to London via Singapore.

Find out more about Qantas A380 Economy.

Cheers!

Catalina Surfs! Sydney too, sort of...

Well, the surf has definitely dropped, but there are still occasional head-high or better waves now and then. Every day I say I'm going to take a break because my neck, shoulders, and ribs are sore and, yet, every day I paddle back out. Partly this is because Catalina and I have a rental contract with Coconut Harry's Surf Shop. For $120 a week we can take any board we want for as long as we want and swap it out for another whenever we like. Thus, Catalina has been learning to surf on a big foamy safety board and then I take out a small wave board or some other board I've been curious to learn about. More about that in the next post. First, Catalina managed to stand up and ride some waves on her second session and is all of the sudden "stoked' on surfing! Her little sister was jealous so she had to try it too. I think we'll call this PE class for today's homeschooling. Here are the pics. I'm sure there'll be more to come. Click on any pic for larger size slideshow view.

Check out that outside set!

No batteries required - Sydney and Catalina find their own toys!

These kids keep finding plenty of toys all around them:

More on Marbella, Playa Pelada, and Casa Arboles

Shane says that the Marbella waves look "perfect for barrel practice." Well, the pics make it look like just the right size and it was basically as you imagine, but I'm pretty frustrated about it nevertheless. First, it was heavier than it looks because it was breaking into about three feet of water and the size was highly variable. You could stand there waist deep and have an overhead barrel coming right at you. I duck-dived right into the sandy bottom a couple of times. Also, the bigger clean up sets were a foot or two bigger and were amazing. We watched it for an hour while we had lunch. The offshores were howling the whole time and a van load of pros from SoCal were getting long open barrels. I finally got stoked enough to give it a shot. It took about twenty minutes to get it wired. Then, within moments, the wind shifted to solid side-shore and all the magic evaporated. It went from all-time to choppy, shifting, and dangerous in about five minutes! Still, I dropped into three solid lefts and one heaving barrel, but the wind had shifted and it closed on my head. I wish to god I hadn't waited during lunch. Still, I'm proud of myself for giving it a shot. 

Playa Pelada - a tropical Leo Carrillo

Mommy and baby at La Luna, Pelada

I'm taking a bit of a break yesterday and today now that the surf has dropped to about 2-3 feet, with an occassional 4 footer. It's still pretty good because the offshores blow hard in the early morning and I've had some amazing rides on 3-4 foot waves. This Playa Guiones where we're staying is the most mellow beach break I've ever encountered. You invariably have a good long glide during the drop in and then a sloping shoulder to carve on. It's even easier to ride than Trestles. Strangely, it has just enough force and shape that I've been riding the Ludwig 6'4" successfully even as most of the other folks out there are now on eggs and longboards. Basically, it's mellow and fun and good practice, but not heavy at all. The locals say that when the surf is above 5 or 6 feet it gets hollow and barrels, but that happens more often on big summer south swells and then the wind can be onshore by early morning, like at home. Interestingly it will hold up to about 10 feet. The pictures are on the restaurant walls to prove it! I'll be back for sure. Between here and Marbella is about 40 minutes by 4x4 on dirt roads. It's another 40 minutes to Playa Negra, which is by far the best break around. It's then 10 more minutes to Avellanas, which is gorgeous and mellow. I also found a great little break that peels off a rock on a south swell. It's very much like Leo Carrillo minus the old guys! We were there for dinner so I didn't surf it and now I don't have a car and it's about a 30 minute hike from here. Still, the point is that this whole area has tons of surf, including miles of beach break and rocky offshore reefs I didn't even check out. It's still unpaved and relatively uncrowded. The weather is also blissfully drier and more comfortable than further south and during June. I'll be back for sure during a January school break, probably next year. 

Here are some shots of Playa Pelada where La Luna Restaurant and the little twin of Leo Carrillo surf break are both to be found: https://picasaweb.google.com/surfer.prof/PlayaPelada?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNvjw9Clwtr7MA&feat=directlink

I broke the nose of my board today on the back of my right hand during a wipe out! Yes it hurt as much as you might imagine, but seems to have done no permanent damage.That means the board has to dry for a couple days before I attack it with SolarRes repair goo. I'm glad I brought this board and not my new Becker. The extra thickness is great on Nosara's softer beach break and between the airline and my wipe outs I'm doing some serious cumulative damage to it. Anyway, my body hurts tons from so many sessions so it's probably a good thing that the surf has dropped .However, I'm a little worried that, at the moment, there's nothing really on the horizon. Still, it's a good opportunity to rent a longboard or big egg while the surf is small. The good thing about renting here is that they let you trade in the board endlessly as the conditions change so I'm going to rent a mini-Mal for a week for $90 and then switch to a different board if the surf pics up. For a trip of less than, say, two weeks there's really no reason to bring a board. Good rentals are everywhere, even in tiny Playa Negra (which we miss; that place is cool). 

Casa Arboles. We live downstairs.

The little house we rented, Casa Arboles, is very basic but is working great for us. It's amazing how we've adjusted to sitting around in 90+ degrees without any AC on (it's really just in the bedroom) and still feel completely comfortable. The kids play on the porch and hammock and chase bugs around for fun or play with pots and pans and water from the house. We're cooking a lot to save money.  I even made Gallo Pinto from scratch, including soaking the red beans and all that. Today we're hiking off to the Beach Dog Cafe for a tasty treat of familiar restaurant food for lunch, something we can't afford to do very often right now. Catalina was promised Mac 'n' Cheese and some ice cream.

Catalina in the Kitchen/Living Room/Kids' Bedroom

Hammock Heaven

Catalina in the Surf Racks

Catalina on 'Our' Street

Soon it's time to rest my muscles and teach Catalina a science lesson. After that we'll figure out dinner and use up some of the rice and beans. 

Finally, I'll be get some surf shots of Nosara/Guiones up here soon.