Family Hike to Boulder Beach

The weather continues to be amazing, even if the surf has finally dropped to nothing. My feet and back need the break anyway and I was able to rent a board for Catalina and take her out in the smaller waves this week. Here are some photos from a short hike we took from our house, over Lennox Headland, to the first beach to the south, Boulder Beach. It too is a great surf spot and is much less crowded than Lennox Head. I'll hike down there with my board when the next swell hits. That's likely to be not until next weekend. Tomorrow we're off to explore the hinterland and then on Thursday we'll check out Evan's Head or Tweed Heads. We've reserved a small rental car for the two days.

Sadly, Catalina fell while running in the rental house and we're waiting right now for her 11:45 am appointment at the Lennox Head Medical Center to be sure that she hasn't broken her arm or wrist. There's some minor swelling and she is unwilling to use her left arm and hand for much. I guess we'll get a very practical lesson in cross-cultural medicine. Since we'll have to pay upfront and then bill Blue Shield, I'm very curious what the cost will be for our visit. Anyway, don't worry about Catalina too much. It's probably just a sprain and her spirits are good.

Michael

Beach Bargain Wheels and Tunes - Family Market

We had a great time at Ballina Shire's first Child and Family Market on Saturday. It was a great success. Families brught their used children's clothing and toys. Adults paid $2 each entry. We were among the first through the door and we scored a very nice folding pram (stroller) with sunshade, a child-sized classical guitar, two cotton outfits for Sydney, thongs (flip-flops) for Sydney, water trainers (sneakers) for Catalina, and a coin purse for Catalina. Total cost: $24.50!

Gotta love a good bargain. The pram alone would cost over $100 here, if new. It'll save Shannon's back a lot of strain and has a place to cart groceries (or toys and clothes).

Now we just have to find some new guitar strings. Ironically, my guess is they'll cost $15, more than the guitar.

Muesli, not granola

The culture here is in many ways just like home. Both countries are former English colonies, after all. But geography, and their more recent split with Britain means many things are just a little off.

There's no granola in the grocery. It's a muesli. I've gone so far as to add ilive oil and honey and bake the stuff - that's better.

Everyone says 'how ya going?' not 'how ya doing.'

Coffee is $4 a cup. Granted their workers start at $20 an hour, but it still seems 'too dear.' For that matter, surf t-shirts cost $40-50 each here. I thought $20 was a rip off back home.

Even after a whole month here I still sometimes walk to the wrong side pf an automobile. Whoops, can't drive ot from the passenger seat.

Every town has a butcher and a baker. No candlestick makers, of course. The bakers all offer delicious meat and vegetable pies alongside the sweets.

The smallest coins are worth the most, $2. Coins get progressively larger as they go down in value until you hit 50 cents. After that they revert to progressively smaller as they diminish in value. There is no silly 1 or 2 cent coin.

They too are car crazy, but there are differences. Holden makes some serious muscle cars, but there are many more hatchbacks and wagons. Subarus are everywhere.

They don't have many big campers and caravans (RVs), but they are downright competitive about their car camping gear. Nearly everyone who goes camping pulls a metal trailer full of gear. Many of these trailers ingeniously fold open to create massive, walkable tent spaces, covered patios, and complex kitchens. Most include BBQs, and surf racks and some include kegs. These things are usually towed by 4wd SUVs, of course, but many are towed by sedans, even compact cars. Most cara have tow hitches installed. I've even seen a Honda Fit and a Mazda 323 with hitches.

Everyone surfs, rides an inflatable surf mat, kayaks, or uses a boogie board. I've seen multiple examples of retired couples cruising the surf spots with his and hers longboards. I've seen and talked with women in their 50s in the line up in overhead surf. If you don't surf, you enjoy surf fishing.

Speaking of kayaks, Hobie, of Southern California, has had real success selling outrigger trimaran kayaks here. These beautiful little boats include a mast and sail, can be paddled too, and are easily broken down to be loaded on a roof rack. They must be a great way to explore all the bays, estuaries, marshes, and rivers in this area. Take a look on Google earth, for example, of the Clarence River and its tributaries. This river was largely free of watercraft until the area surroundind its outlet at Yamba. Sounds like adventure potential to me.

Eggs are not refrigerated here just like in Costa Rica. Interestingly James Beard advises to never cook an efg until it has warmed to room temperature.

Strangely, Internet connectivity is more limited and more restrictive here than in Costa Rica. Even the public library that we paid to join limits everyone, including residents, to one hour per dat amd no more than 50mb of data uploaded or downloaded per day. Just updating iPhone apps can use up an entire day's alottment. Even very fine holiday homes, places that rent for $4000/mo in the off-season and twice that in summer include no Internet.

On the other hand, their national digital TV broadcast include The PBS Newshour at 4:30pm and the best jaZ radio station I've ever heard. Meanwhile their top news station ABC (that's 'Australian Broadcast Corp.,' of course) openly reads and and displays the front page stories from all the national newspapers. There's no pretense of actual reporting. They just comment and invite talking heads on to comment. While this is true of much TV news at home too, especially with local newscasts, there is in the US a charade enacted each night wherin the 'reporters' stand in front of whichever place the print journalists have investigated. PBS, CBS, NBC, and ABC do actual investigations, but with the exception of PBS, they allocate very little in the way of resources to investigative reporting. Here in Australia in seems like they're at least honest about it. Newspapers do the real reporting.

Coffee costs a minimum of $4 a cup and the only donuts are cinnamon and sugar.

Surfer's Journal, Lennox Head

Thursday, May 10

I was told by Grant, a neighbor, that no surf was expected for today. From the kitchen while making my coffee, however,  I could hear solid waves breaking. A glance out the bedroom window showed a few longboarders getting shoulder high waves in offshore winds right in front of the house. A quick walk to the beach confirmed that Lennox point was working surprising well with the low tide and strong winds. It was a bit inconsistent, but the sets were easily head high and there were only five surfers at the point. Seems everyone had surfed themselves silly over the last week and finally needed to get to work now that surf has dropped. I think the right strategy here will be to surf the beach break on most busy weekends and surf the point on weekdays when there are fewer surfers about. Still, the crowds are mellow compared to Southern California, even when the surf is pumping.

Ran back to the house to suit up and kiss the family for good luck. Put on the 3/2mm full suit because of the strong winds and grabbed the small wave 6’2” Becker pod shape because the tide was rising and the sets inconsistent. Within minutes I had grabbed a brilliant, glassy, head high set wave and chatted up the four other surfers: two mellow tourists from Germany and two middle-aged locals, one of whom was on too small a board. The net result is that over the next hour and half or two I managed to snag well over twenty waves! A few of these were classic Lennox peelers and, while I rode them well, I can still see in my mind’s eye how I could have ridden them deeper or hit off the bowl sections harder. My surfing skills are progressing rapidly. When I was 30, I didn’t think I’d still be improving at 42.

Eventually the tide got too high and the waves became too fat and slow. Moreover, inside my wetsuit it must have been 100 degrees. What I really need here is a long sleeve spring suit (short legs) or short sleeve full suit. My spring suit is a bit cool after an hour in the water, but the full suit is way too much for the next few weeks. It’s also unseasonably warm here. Today, for the third day in a row, temperatures will be well above normal. It approached 78 degrees yesterday right at the beach and the same is predicted for today.

Climbing out over the barnacle-covered rocks I found myself in some minor trouble for the second time in two sessions. It seems I have no problem getting into the surf here, but getting out is incredibly tricky, especially on lower tides. The boulders are everywhere. At low tide they stretch for as much as twenty meters from the shore. My cut and punctured feet are testament to my troubles. I noted one channel near the house for future use on low tides, but right at the point the only option seems to be to carefully time a quick climb out on the steep rocks right by the break. I would have made it out unscathed yesterday, my timing was good, but unfortunately I got my leash wrapped around a rock and a small wave hung me up and sent me stumbling on the barnacles. Next time I’ll have to take off the leash before attempted an exit. Also, it’s almost time to buy more Neosporin with Pain Relief. I’m going through a quarter tube a day.

Nevertheless, this is an amazing, magical place to surf: warm blue water, incredible waves, friendly locals.

Update: 5/12/12  

Surf has dropped to very small. It's time for a much needed break. The surf in Costa Rica almost never dropped and as a result I ended up with tendonitis in my elbow and a sore neck. The weather continues to be fabulous. We're having a really relaxing time. Yesterday we rode the public bus system to Byron Bay to explore a bit. Shannon and I shared excellent fish and chips on the main beach while the kids ran screaming about the play park. A nice day, but we much prefer Lennox Head and its quieter lifestyle. At 11am in Byron Bay a group of dropouts was already getting loaded and menacing on the beach. There's also way too much for sale in Byron Bay. Seems a bit like Thailand's tourist towns, with its open air restaurants and shops for of tourist trinkets and t-shirts.

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.

Another Gorgeous Day in Scotts Head

The kids are working hard on big batch of stone soup while I sit in a folding chair in the grass under paper bark eucalyptus. Shannon is off running.

I surfed uncrowded, head high beach break this morning. Winds were offshore at about 7-8 mph, gusting a bit more. Water temp has dropped to about 70, but the sun has been shining all day with only the occassional cumulus cloud drifting past. Got a few incredibly long rides. Very glad I brought my small pod-type board for high tide waves.

Yesterday I surfed Little Beach alone again! Got a few great, hollow lefts. It is a wave that's only suited to performance boards.

Secured rental houses for two of the three weeks my parents will be here. One is only about 300 meters from where I sit by the point now. 3 bd/2 ba with deck and laundry for $650 a week!
(google treetops Scotts Head). The other is a luxurious 3 bd/2 ba in the nicest part of Yamba with ocean views from the living room. It's more at $1025 for the week but we can walk to everything from there (google Belvedere 1 Yamba).

For those of you considering a visit you should know that I looked at 4bd/2ba house in a good neighborhood about 200 meters from the surf. Price in the winter? $400/week! Of course there's not much to do here except: surf, hike the coast, watch the sunrise and sunset, go to the cafe for fish and chips, make coffee and tea, go to the Bottle-O to get unfamialar wines, explore nearby beaches for surf, BBQ, explore nearby forestd for goannas and kangaroos, walk the beach, take the kids to the excellent beachside play park, repeat.

A whole week here for a hundred bucks more than one night in Sydney or Brisbane. What's more, I prefer life here.

Retirement going well so far. ;-)

Broken Head and Byron Bay

My Monkey

Wattle by the sea 

A good way to hide from the sun...

but you have to come back out sometime.

Broken Head Nature Preserve

 All the following surf photographs were taken one hour after my session. By then the tide and the swell had dropped about a foot, making the waves smaller and hollower. It was even better with more tide, but these photos will give you a sense of what it was like. Water is about 73 degrees!

Catalina at Cape Byron Lighthouse

The Happy Couple

The back beach at Broken Head: a great short hike to a private beach.

The native grassy headland vegetation is endangered. They work hard to keep weeds off of this. That's Cape Byron in the distance.

Sunshine, Breadfruit, Banksia, Prawns, Waves

The sun came out today and it was glorious. After a casual coffee I strolled the 20 meters to Broken Head beach to take a look and found...incredible beach break surf and offshore winds. Ran back to the camper, suited up, and surfed great waves for more than two hours.

After breakfast we took the kids to Byron Bay for a grocery run. We stopped by the magnificent Cape Byron Lighthouse and took in the view and the museum.

Mid afternoon was cheese, crackers, oaky Hunter Valley chardonnay, and beer battered jumbo prawns.

We followed this with a hike through Broken Head Nature Preserve to Broken Head and the secluded back beach and grassy headland out beyond. Along the way we hiked through tunnels of Banksia and Cotonwood forest, chased the kids, and I necked a bit with my cute wife.

In a minute, now that the sun is down, the wind is up, and the bush turkeys, myna birds, and seagulls have turned in, I will start cooking the wild Tasmanian salmon filet and local organic brussel sprouts. Shannon is working on the salad.

Yet another perfect day in New South Wales.

Photos soon...