Sea Kayaking. Don’t worry about the shark.

18. Jan, Went sea kayaking today. Superb. The brave instructor that took us was from a company called goseakayaking.com.au. Lovely guy. Typical for the region. 40 something, long hair, suntan, no intention of ratracing.

After a brief intro (“this is a paddle, this is a boat”) we were off to brave the waves. That meant paddling in harmony over the white water till we got out to sea. Hmm. “Left, right” sounds so easy but for some reason it can become amazingly difficult. After an hour or so at sea he showed us how to surf our canoes onto land. Most people in the group – including ourselves, stuttered in with the canoe covering our heads. Still, the sun was hot.

Exiting the island was also tricky. There was a strong cross current to negotiate which meant lots of lefts and rights to get us out to sea. Worked OK till a monster wave changed our plans and sent us head over heel back to the beach.
And then came the shark. The company guarantee you that you’ll see wildlife. What they mean is dolphins, rays, turtles, etc. When the fin shot by, the guide was full of research about how sharks actually hate the smell of human blood, how big the boat shadoe looks under water (shame sharks can’t see) etc ,etc.

What a wonderful day. The next step? Follow in the instructor’s kayak tracks. Off to Canada to follow the whales.

Byron Bay. New age, old-style surf. And Di

Byron Bay is the business. Full of cool surfers, loadsa wannabes and Paul Hogan’s pub. It bustles with beautiful people, all with the obligatory board thrust under their arm. A bit like after ski, no one ever sees them in the water, but they look good on land.
Met Di, again. And of course at Paul Hogan’s place. Paul eas actually around, anf you’d have thought that one old, white haired guy would have said hi to another one. But no. And I thought Ozzies were supposed to be social.

Di’s a regular in these parts. Loves the tingle tangle, decent clothes, massage, yoga (stretching for hippies according to our surf instructor – more later) and general ambience of one of the world’s coolest places.

No Oz trip is complete without a bit of surf and chic that is Byron.
Check out the lighthouse. One of the first spots spotted by a certain James Cook. The guy who “discovered” Australia. The fact that there was already umpteen thousand Aborigines here already is neither here nor there.
Which makes me wonder why the Ausies have a thing about poms. Let’s face it, they’re all fairly recent descendents.

Arrawarra. Where else?

Off to Byron Bay, Oz’s own mystic centre. But as it’s not a small drive we scoured the map for places to stay in between. And came up with Arrawarra. Lovely place. A bit up market with a snooty camp manageress, but the whole kit, with private beach, private pool and spa, and loads of public kangaroos feeding on people’s lawns, much to their nnoyance. On the way there we stopped of at Gaol Bay. (Loads of bays, not all of them so penile, if that’s the right word!

Gaol Bay is interesting. First they kept run of the mill convicts there – your Rooney types, then they kept loads of Germans there during ww1. Not sure how many were captured and how many were simply interned for being of German offspring during the war. Anyway, internship was no hardship as the cells were kept unlocked and the prisoners could spend all day on the beach as long as they were back by 6.00. After that they amused themselves with amateur dramatics, bit of sport, etc. Penal system’s never been the same since.

Love Oz

We’re becoming Nr 1 Oz fans. They’re polite, helpful, exceedingly social, and, surprise surprise, obey every law that’s thrown their way. I thought UK/Sweden were nanny and super nanny, but this place… It’s Australia Day on 26th Jan and the police want to ban the sale of alcohol. It’ll be like New Year’s Eve without bubble.

Ended up next to one of the nicest families you could ever wish to meet. Funny, generous – And loads of them. They started by loaning us space on their washing line, then brought us round a fish (!) starter, then invited us round to some people they knew (we’d never met) after the no talent show. And believe me, there wasn’t any.

So you drink some wine. And maybe a beer or two, then they invite you for more, and more – then the security guard comes and asks you to be quiet.

On his sixth visit he began to look a bit forlorn as one Swede and one Pom tried their best to close the roof on their camper. Said Oz family lent us a few towels to cover the roof with. And said security guard? To be honest I’m not sure., Might be a bit embarrassing if two people our age are banned from a camper van park.

When it rains…

Forster. “quiet” beach resort with caravan park. “I can’t put you on the island, cos you’ve got a sink”. Thank god they didn’t.

Went to walk on said mosquito infested island. Pia bought magic repellent with “deet” Never heard of it. All I know is Pia walked on the Island mosquito free while I became the prime target. At one point it was impossible to see my head, as it was in a cloud - of small creepy things.

Then the rain came. Talk about monsoon. The heavens opened, and the happy campers, looking on under a hot tin roof called the kitchen all looked VERY worried about the state of their belongings.

Blue mountains, grey skies

The typical guidebook shot of Oz is the three sisters, breathtaking outcrops of rock in the Blue Mountains.
So we had big plans. Hit the rocks, take the night time floodlit hike, cable car then mountain railway.
Did the rocks. Down came the mist. And the rain. And being intrepid campers we heard the gentle thump, thump of rain on the van aallllll night. Don’t knock stars on hotels, no matter how few they are, or which tyre company awarded them.

No point in scenic views with no scene. So off to the south coast beaches. Via places called Newcastle, Swansea, Cardiff, and other difficult to pronounce stuff.

And when we get old, we already found out what we'll be travelling in.

Some people blog about food. Great. We found the most appalling food ever. It was at a restaurant called Islandia in Swansea. We should have known when we walked through the door and placed our orders with a waitress that was wider.
We thought: salad with chicken breast gourmet dresing, the works. We got: chips and a bit of old bird between two pieces of white bread with a bit of lettuce strewn on for good measure. A weight on our minds.

Right Manly

Wanna walk? Take the Manly ferry from the Circular Quay and walk the Manly scenic route. That way you get to explore the true beauty of both Sydney's harbour and its surrounding beaches.

It's a 10 k route through bush, beautiful houses and beaches for every taste, from the family/small kid beach with nets around the swimming area, to chonga chonga music places.

Lots of plaques commemorating the original aboriginal owners of the land (original aboriginal - hmm). Anyway, seems like people have developed a bit of a conscience - although a bit late.

In the paper today they had a surfers' etiquette. How to turn and how to give way to passing surfers. The only thing I pass nowadays is water - all too often.