moving up the coast

I'm at a campsite on Broken Head Reserve, just a few miles outside of Byron Bay, a famous surfing and backpacking town. I can hear the noise of the ocean in the background and there’s a quality point break just a few hundred yards away. There’s a night breeze, the air temperature has been in the high 70’s, and the ocean temperature has been roughly the same. Jordan and I just finished a cold beer (or “tinny” as they say here) while sitting on the beach, checking out the constellations, and talking to a few Australians visiting for the weekend from Brisbane. I’m still waiting for somebody to pinch me and end this dream.

What an extraordinary country. The scenery, surf, people, culture, and wildlife have all been spectacular. Australia may very well have some of the most entertaining people to talk to that I've ever encountered. Words can hardly even begin to describe the past few days. Pardon me if I start to throw in bits of Aussie lingo over the next few months, their dialect is undeniably contagious.

So far we have traveled almost 800 km north of Sydney while stopping at various beaches to surf along the way. We have been fortunate enough to have great surf at five different beaches up the coast of New South Wales: Soldier’s Beach, Crescent Head, Mullawarra, Broken Head, and Tallows. (I’ve marked all of them on the map on the right). We will likely be waking up early tomorrow morning to surf before we begin to head back south toward Sydney. We plan on stopping at a few new places along the way and possibly at a couple from before. The swell has decreased since we first arrived, but hopefully it will stick around a bit longer.

I’m going to recap the trip soon by providing some of the highlights, but I'm planning on waiting until we get back to Sydney on the 15th to do so. For now here’s a couple of pictures from our morning session at Crescent Head. The beach at Crescent Head is a reserve and is protected by a surfing trust, meaning it’s similar to a national park. I took the second photo from the cliff after I got out of the water. It gives a good idea of the distance that could be traveled on the waves that day. Make sure to check back soon for the highlights from the trip. It was one I’m never going to forget and never going to be able to replicate.