So Court left me to my lonesome in the great big city of Brisbane with a week and a half to kill before I take off to Perth, what to do what to do, heeyyyyy Id yet to catch some sweet waves!!! So I found the cheapest car I could find, which actually ended up being a sweet Toyota hatchback with just enough room to accommodate me and a Maui board for 7 nights. And it was a 6 speed stick shift, so I got to up the antes on my left hand side driving skills, and of coarse the rental with the very minimal insurance to add to the challenge. That is a great car, quick as all get up and great on MPG or I guess to be metrically correct LPKm. Got some tips from a couple of very helpful outdoor store guys on where to catch the best waves, and boy where they right. Actually, I started off catching a bit too much wave, I couldnt even get out beyond the breaking point! They just kept pushing me back into shore. Rented a board and now I remember how hard it is.
I started off at just north of Byron Bay, less people to see me make act a foo but still sposta be great waves. Even though I can see, what seems to me, like amazing waves to ride wave after wave, it is hard to know where they are going to be and be there at the right time. You gotta be at the right place at the right time, which can be a task in itself! Especially when your where there are the biggest waves in the world and your trying to paddle through them with a 7 foot board.
Had about the scariest moment ive had in the ocean. Started getting pushed to an area where waves where comin from both sides. it started pushing and pulling me around and i noticed how far from shore i actually was. So i started to try and swim to shore but it didnt help, i wasnt going anywhere but back and forth parallel to shore and it seemed like i was going further out. I tried to swim parallel to shore, I guess I remember some life saving techniques from watching Baywatch or something, but i could feel the same current that brought me there pulling me back. So I tried the opposite way, also parallel with shore. When I started to feel like id make some ground id look back to shore and realize i was just being pushed back and forth with my efforts resulting to nill. I was getting worried but i could still see people on shore and i could have started yelling for them to get help but i want sure when exactly it was to become a serious situation. I knew that i was NOT in control of where i was going, I knew that i had tried everything i could think of to try and get to shore, I also tried just riding a wave in like id seen so many other kids do, but they seemed to carry me a bit then drop me off for the undertow to take me right back, I was getting tiered but i thought maybe just the right wave hasnt come yet, the ones that when your in the right place and the right time they push you all the way onto shore like id seen so many others do before. I could have been 5 feet away from that perfect place/time and I would have no idea because i didnt know how to identify this. The right place is where the wave is peaking and is about to curl and the right time is when it curls. That is the point sufers ride , THAT point that the water is pulling you toward the oncoming wave and just before the wave breaks its peak, AKA the best USA midnight movie staring Keanu Reeves AKA Point Break. So maybe the next waves gonna take me back in. Or maybe somebody on shore sees Ive gotten into a secretly forbidden area and is about to tell someone to come and get me, or maybe that lone wave-watcher sitting on the beach, who Im sure has at least once noticed me this afternoon looking like a fish outta water in the water. While contemplating all this and reminding myself the most important thing to do is to stay calm, and trying to keep an eye out to shore to make sure im not getting too far out, while stuck in decision making mode I simply get picked up by this huge wave and it coasts me right to shore. Before I had time to realize I was back in 2 feet of water. That was a real reminder of whos in charge and how little and powerless i am when compared to an unimagenable force that has the power to turn a boulder into millions of tiny specks. And said force continues exherting this same amazing energy again and again, wave agfter wave, day after day, millenia after millenia no matter if im there watching or not, no matter if im in the right place or the wrong place, no matter if im here watching and finally understanding it or sleeping or worrying about my little life, those waves are gonna keep on pushin and pulling.
I was told that Coolangotta had THE biggest waves in the world, its where quicksilver and roxy pro hold yearly compatitions.
After a few days of getting tossed around by the waves I drove threw some small towns. Stopped and walked around Mulumbimby, its suppost to be the coolest new folk/hippie area in eastern Australia, they where holding a music festival that night with australian bands. Word on the street is that jack johnson has a house in the area and comes out to play some times. Didnt see any stars but I did meet some pretty cool locals that gave me a tour and bout me some beer. Some older ladies, althou pretty hip partiers and extensive travlers. One of them told me about dating one of the richest men in Japan at the time, she had gone there on a whim and tryed her hand(?) at stripping. She told me about some amazing places she loved in India that I should go.
Dropped the car back off in Brisbane, stayed a couple more days watching people take heroin in some really nice public parks over looking a bridge. I dont have any pics from this time cause my cam was broke. Couldnt handle the harsh conditions of Australia I guess :)
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