Around the world in...

Author: Nicholas Kruger

5th October 2006

10 liters of oil, 5 liters of transmission fluid, 1 liter of brake fluid, 1 new steering switch, 1 wetsuit, 6 tanks of fuel and 3600km later, our road trip up the coast of OZ came to an end.

A week ago we were still chilling in Byron Bay with no surf and howling on shores! So it wasn’t all that bad when some friends of ours from back home met up with us for a night of boozing and cruising! Hitting the little coastal town with a force only usually seen back home in South Africa, yet to be known world wide! Plus after Attie accidentally found $200 in his passport, he had forgotten about ………well you can imagine! The party carried on the following night, the only problem being that we were heading up to Snapper’s and D-Bar at 04:00am the next morning. Well 4am came and after having a good nights sleep, I climbed out my tent to wake every one. And believe it or not, Riaan was up. This was a first and will definitely be going down in the history books. Although the truth did surface a while later when he past out on my shoulder whilst driver up. Turns out the man had only just gotten back to the campsite while I was climbing out of my tent……no doubt there was some lady near by with a big smile on her face!

Pulling in to Tweeds head and the only two awake was Lisa and myself. Unfortunately for the rest of the crew there actually happened to be some swell. With light off shore winds and some nice sets, I paddled out. An hour later I was back on the shore. Turns out it just isn’t as much fun with out your friends around! So we headed back into town for a bit of breakfast and a hot cup of coffee. The boys still snoozing away. By the time we got to break wall the boys were up. The only problem ………huge hang over! After a quick surf we met up with our friends back at Snapper’s!

Snapper’s was super crowded and small, but the wave to the right of snappers proved a lot more fun. Its named Frogs! Nice little right and left peak where body boarders dominate the scene! I don’t know how often it works, but definitely worth a look if you ever find yourself around there.
Starting to get quite, late we headed back down to Byron for our one nights free accommodation.

Getting out of Byron late the next morning, we headed back up to Tweed heads again for a quick surf at the break wall before cruising on. Pretty dam small, we paddled out knowing that this would probably be our last surf in Oz, a few waves later and the never ending on shores started roaring through.

With the on shores came rain…heavy rain! So taking the long way up to the Sunshine coast, we past by the Gold Coast and Surfers paradise……just to say we been there of course.
A good few hours later and we finally arrived at the Sunshine coast. Pulling in to Bianca’s house was like walking into a palace…………we haven’t felt the warmth and comfort of a family home for so long now. A big thank you has to go out to Bianca and her parents Sid and Joy for their great hospitality, big beds, hot showers and amazing dinners! Thank you!

Our final hour in Oz was now upon us and whilst being sad to leave, the excitement of Fiji was only hours away. The third leg of our journey was about to begin, so with some good byes to our friends and some teary eyes we bordered our flight and headed east for a new adventure.

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