Surfboards, Sydney, Sharks and still no Snakes!

Hello again, Bryn here.

The procrastination to write this has been real. I mean, with such a busy life and all it’s hard to keep up (see an average day’s itinerary below).

Since you heard from us last we have been slowly making our way up the east coast, taking time to see friends. Before we could reach them, though, we thought we should mix things up a little and accidentally drive over Mitch’s surfboard 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♂️. How did this happen you ask? Mitchell was super excited to catch some waves, and I wasn’t quite fully awake yet (it was early after a night sleeping by the highway). The board sleeps under the van at night to stay out of the way and the sun. I realized the mistake 3 seconds too late, translating into 3 days of looking for a new board or repair options. Thankfully we found someone in Ulladulla that could do it fairly quickly and at a decent price. His ‘workshop’ was more of a whiskey bottle recycling ground but we didn’t care, it needed to be done and he did a wonderful job.

The location worked out very well as we were invited to stay at Lake Conjola with Margaret and Rob Furness which is about 20 minutes away. 

Insert: I should quickly share the background of the Furness family as I will refer to them a few times in this post. They are a wonderful family that lived in Merritt for just over a year on a teachers exhange when I was in grade 3. Their daughter, Jemma was my age, son, Tim, was Bret’s age, and oldest son, Will, was Chad’s age. We have done our best to keep in touch since!

We stayed at the Furness’ lake home for two nights, enjoying paddle boarding with the ‘non lethal jellies,’ lovely dinners, exploring and hiking the area, sipping wine at Cupitts winery, and seeing kangaroos with joeys! 

Once the surfboard fiasco was sorted we said goodbye to Rob and Margaret (temporarily) and made the drive up to Sydney. I have to say it is definitely my favourite place so far and it didn’t take long to realize it. Jemma and her husband, Dave, were so generous in letting us come out of the van and stay in their beautiful home for 4 nights. We fit every possible activity into our time there, and I have to say Jemma was an absolute trooper leading the way at 9 months pregnant. With too much to speak about in detail I will list some favourite memories:

1. Mitch participating in his first ocean swim race with Dave, only to hear the shark alarm sound 10 minutes after they crossed the finish line. Yikes. Good thing the boys were fast and ‘tied’ for 4th place in their (old) age group.

 

2. Being taken out on a boat in the freakin Sydney Harbour! Who is that lucky?? Thank you thank you Furness’ and Jeremy. Once we had a seafood feast and some brut cuvée for lunch they dropped us off right by the Opera House to explore around for the evening. 

3. The hospitality. Period. People have been so giving and enthusiastic about showing their home. It’s a bonus to see them experience things they haven’t yet done, so close to where they live. I’ve noticed the ‘Aussie Way’ is to welcome all, have a great time, and BBQ the BEST food. Grilled halloumi cheese will be my new take-home favourite. It was better than s...urfing (for me). 

Your classic shrimp on the ‘barbie’

4. Again, the beaches. Bondi, Maroubra, Manly, Palm. The water keeps getting more and more vibrant. 

But alas, all great things must come to an end, and we thought we would let Jemma you know, have a baby, as he or she didn’t want to meet us while we were there. 

One glorious night at a truckers rest stop and we were on our way to Seal Rocks for two nights right on the beach (slightly illegal but if you wake up early enough and look busy the locals say no one will bother you). 

Caves Beach on the way to Seal Rocks.

Our itinerary as promised at the beginning has roughly been the following: wake up around 6, pack up the bed and look for dolphins, make breakfast and coffee, check out a couple local sites, Mitch surfs while I run the beach (nothing too strenuous, let’s be real). Maybe throw in a nap before lunch, swim and play around on the shark buscuit (body board), make some dinner and hang out with some other Van dwellers. We have made a friend, Sean, that seems to be on the same route that we are. 

I decided tonight was the night we needed to do some laundry and have a real shower, so we caved and paid for a site in a great resort near Redhead Beach (Krys thinking of ya)! For a whopping $28 we are all powered up, have clean clothes and are enjoying the pool. With that being said, I must go. Talk to you again when Mitch hounds me enough to keep writing... xo