It was time for Will and I to leave Sydney.  We said an emotional goodbye to Carolyn who found work.  Full of surf spot tips from ‘Peats Ridge Kate’ we made our way North.

First stopping at Macmasters Beach, Kate’s hometown.  We arrived late and so we setup our van-entertainment system to watch a movie.  We watched ‘Bustin’ Down the Door‘ – an awesome surf doco about the progression of the sport.

Watching ‘Bustin’ Down the Door’ the night before we were pumped for a morning surf – it wasn’t to be, flat as a pancake.

We were desperate for some swell so made tracks, next stop Seal Rocks, Great Lakes.

After a long drive to what seemed like the middle of nowhere we arrived at Seal Rocks.  It was AMAZING.  The beach was empty, and had a nice clean right hand break.  The surroundings where out of this world, national park 360°.  One of the best afternoons we’ve had in Australia, after our surf Will and I were beaming.  We were due to meet up with our Aussie mate Fern (Aussie HODR volunteer) – so, another hour+ drive we met Fern and company just north of Forster.

It was great to see Fern, and her mates were great and very hospitable.  We all stayed at Fern’s friends holiday home on the river – the setting was incredible.  After a catchup and some beers we hit the sack.  Fern was due in Melbourne the following day so we had to say our goodbyes and crack on.

Up early we drove to a spot recommended by Fern and her mates; Coffs Harbour.  We spent the day at the office (Maccas) working until just before sunset.  We drove to the beach for a sunset surf – again we weren’t dissapointed, some nice easy clean waves.  We surfed until it was complete darkness – we didn’t want to stop!  After having an awesome couple of days we were buzzing, we decided to move on and drive to Byron Bay that evening.

We had planned for Byron Bay to be our final destination of Australia.  It seemed a great spot to enjoy the last month, catch up with work, sell the van, surf and most importantly, watch all of the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

We arrived back to where we had started our Australia trip just before xmas, Byron Bay.  We were more Australia-wise  now and realised how over inflated Byron was instantly.  We didn’t find any FREE internet in Byron – cheapest rate of $4/hour.  We couldn’t find any communal place to watch the olympics.  And generally we just weren’t feelin’ the place anymore.  So with the advantage of being gypos we left that evening after the final straw of not being able to find free overnight van parking – and we tried hard!

We drove North with no plans – seeing a sign on the Highway for ‘Surfers Paradise’ we decided to head there in search of the Olympics, free internet and free van parking!

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