Scribbles Abroad

The road was long but not hard.  With the comfort of a white station wagon and bags of goodies the trek was made enjoyable.  Our goal was to surf good empty waves, avoid hitting kangaroos, and meet some locals.

As I’m writing and now that we’ve made it all the way across I can confidently say we accomplished all three along with many other glorious achievements.  Especially taking a 20 year old car with a shady clutch across the continent of Australia without a hitch!

We left Margaret River and made our first stop in Esperance a mere 10 hours later.

This was the first HWY we hit out of Margs.  Thanks to Cahns directions.  We thought, “oh shit I hope it becomes paved somewhere soon.”  No prob, about 30 k later  we got some asphalt, or what they call bichman.  It all worked out so the man did know what he was talking about.

These guys were all over the place between Margs and Esperance.

The warning sign regarding the wildlife we would encounter on the road.

The waves were flat in Esperance so the next day we made our next jump to as far as we could go.  We had no radio so it was a multitude of ridiculous conversations and self made music.  Good times for sure.

On the way to our next stop we got the chance to drive on the longest straight road in Australia and arguably in the entire world. Without a slight deviation of the steering wheel, if your alignment is perfect and there is no wind, you could sit back put on cruise control, which we didn’t have, and just drive with your feet. I don’t advise this because there are road trains on the road along with road kill. Don’t want to ruin your alignment cause you ran over a dead roo.

The straight road, you go over that horizon and the road continues straight to the next horizon.

Road Trains

Roos at night, they are everywhere in some stretches. 

Dead roo and road train tracks.

Giant Terradactyl eating lunch.  Look at the wingspan on this puppy.

Kangaroo Tail Stew!

Parts of the road doubled as landing strips for airplanes, this was one such area.

Randome stuff on the side of the road.  You’ll see trees with panties in every branch, or bras.  We saw a fake garage sale with stuffed animals posed as people selling their goods.  It was creepy.

The trip to our next stop was about 1200 kilometers away to a town called Rest Stop on the side of the road.  Driving at night was prohibitively dangerous, not because of banditos but rather the kangaroos.  They just jump in front of your car and its like hitting a small cow.  Major damage.  Click on this link to read about our bud Sam Chillingworth’s encounter with a roo in Margaret River around the same time we were there.  He is also traveling around the world in a walk about fashion.

We woke up in Fly City, the flies are so tenacious here. You swat them and they just come back. They aim for your eyeballs, nostrils, and mouth. They’re starving for moisture and try to suck the life out of you. It’s quite disgusting.

The flies, look closer.  They are everywhere in South OZ, West Oz too.

Free Coffee at some road stops.  Gotta refuel the caffeine tanks.

Louise with a rare drink in her hand.  Since she has been taking a break from alcohol, Ive been having to work overtime to drink both our rations.

We made it back to the ocean and the surf on our third day as we pulled into Streaky Bay.  This town was our main hub for the first part of this area since it had all the services we needed/wanted.

A replica of a whitey caught by pole off of Streaky Bay.

The town had a swimming hole for the people off the pier.  It had a giant metal fence around it to keep the swimmers safe.  No one was swimming and we were scared, so I made Louise go first.

Streaky Bay oceanfront accommodations, with wireless internet, for a hefty fee of course.

Bounties of South OZ, the cooler was filled with more tuna.

Although the locals are supposedly extremely protective, we did not experience the potential onslaught of animosity we were trying to avoid but we were prepared for it.  I was going to bust out my pidgin kine talk and lettum know.  Local surfers in this area make a lifestyle choice that most of us do not have the guts to do. They sacrifice everything for the surf they love. There’s really nothing out here other than farms and little towns. Very little money to be made but lots of barrels to be had and that decision although sounds easy at first, when it comes down to it, is not easy.  With that in mind, and so we are hopefully welcomed back to South Oz by the surfing community, we will refrain from naming surf spots. 

We just walked up the beach from here about half a kilometer and scored epic A-frames with barrels both ways.  It only lasted for an hour then got fat but it was sure worth it.

This is what life looks like through our Maui Jims.  We used them as a filter for our camera.

When we got out we tried to snap a photo but the wind was on it and it wasn’t barrelling any more, but it was!  Notice the crowd?

Me super stoked after scoring, my nipples got hard.

The true wave here is a little to the right of this pic.  Its super sharky, SUPER SHARKY.  Unless its firing, people don’t usually surf it because its not worth the risk.  A memorial is at the top in honor of a young surfer that was taken here a few years back.  But the wave is insane, one of the best left barrels in the country.

This is the left, you have to paddle across a deep channel to get there and then if you make the barrel it drops you off in the deep channel on the other side.  If you don’t make it you just get nailed on the reef.

Louise and I enjoying some Taka and Piss on top of the memorial.

Our oceanfront room

These 2 locals were super cool and even gave us some advice which we are not supposed to share here.  We surfed with them for an hour and then they went in.  We had it all to ourselves and the sharks.

FEBB- Fun Empty Big Beachies.

Here’s a gate to a secret spot, which one and where?  I forget.

Stoked on another discovery with South Australias Beer, a Coopers Ale.  Be sure to roll your coopers before opening it, gotta mix the sediments.

This is how you had to find some of the waves.  Wally our car was only 2 wheel drive but he handled superbly.

We  needed to watch where we were driving while hunting for waves, apparently cars drive over cliffs here.

Another oceanfront room with one of the best right barrels just across the bay.  Too bad it was too small to break when we were there.  Next time I hope.

There are waves to be found with no one out and all it takes is some patience.

Don’t worry goofy footers, there are some lefts out there too.

A group of travelers from the East Coast adopted us one day as we were getting ready to cook dinner at the caravan park.  Their names were Don, Judith, Kerry and Terry.  Every year they travel with their buddies in their fancy caravans settling into a caravan park where they stay for a while to relax and fish.  We set a date with them one night for a family BBQ and the day of the BBQ Don and Terry went crabbing and caught 28 giant crabs.  Everyone was in BBQ heaven while I sat back and enjoyed some chicken.  We swapped jokes, even the dirty ones, told stories, and exchanged details in hopes of meeting up again someday.  They were such great people and truly exemplified Aussie hospitality.

We surfed in South OZ, scoring fun waves, avoided the big fish, and made friends for a week and then it was time to get back on the road.

South Australia is visited by hundreds of whales every year, although it was not whale season Louise was able to spot one.

About half way there.

Our Nest.

Louise’s parents were landing in Sydney in a few days and it would still take a couple days to get there from where we were surfing.  On the way into Sydney we stopped at a bunch of different towns.  It seemed odd for people to be living out there.  A gas station with bathrooms was a large enough population to warrant it being called a town.

We stayed at a couple of caravan parks when we really needed to and this one was the best because it had a giant inflated bubble that was better than a trampoline. We also got to wash the car as it was filthy from the drive through the desert.

The closer we got to Sydney the more civilization began to reemerge.  Before we knew it we were in lush green landscapes and then all of the sudden the ocean.  Being surfers its truly been ingrained into our beings that the ocean is our second home and without it we dry up and get old.  We went straight to Dee Why and scored a fun session in the beachies since the point wasn’t breaking.  That night we picked up Louise’s parents for a two week road trip up the coast to my buddy Campbell Holdsworths place on the Gold Coast.

We traveled 4,800 kilometers, if you did it direct you could have done it in 4,200.  We drove on average driving days roughly 8-10 hours.  One day for 12 hours.    We took 9 days to do it but if you wanted to do it fast, it’s possible to do it in 2 days non-stop.  But take your time, take in the scenery, and try and score some good waves.  Next time we plan on staying for a month in order to surf a bunch more and get some footage.

Where’s da waves?

The Ansel Adams shots of the day

The boards just waiting to get wet.  Lined up and ready to go inside the car.

A magical piss!  I didn’t do it on purpose, it was just destiny.

The journey continues………………………………