Rain rain go away, come back another day...

Dear Friends and Fam,

How's it everyone from Byron Bay, Australia! We just got here about an hour ago after driving for another 5 hours from Scotts Head, a campsite next to one of the best surf breaks I've seen. But lets backtrack a bit, even though Tom's Dad told us not too but I think for this purpose it's all right.

The first night in Terrigal, Central Coast I went out after dinner with Tom's Dad Trevor to the bay and took a dingy out and dropped some fish in his trap to catch some craw fish for the next morning. The bay was really chilled out and no one was there so it was a nice paddle out and we saw a really cool specie of Pelican I'd never seen before that was white with these huge black feathers and massive long beak. Tom's parents prior to this cooked us one of the many beautiful meals while we were there and we ate our hearts out as we haven't had a proper home cooked meal in quite some time, two months now to the exact! Being at Tom's place was just nice to relax and feel like you're home away from home and I'll say it again, Tom's parents took amazing care of us and we owe them our lives! That first night we went to the local pub to get some drinks with Tom and a couple of his buddies and it was a pretty lively environment for a small little beach town. There were heaps of beautiful girls but we all found it a little intimidating at first but after feeling comfortable we met a couple cool girls and I'm sure the other guys will back me up when I say that the Aussie accent is super sexy! We ended up going to another club which Jay couldn't get into because he had shorts, super lame, so we he went back with Josh and me and Meadow and Tom tore up the dance seen for a bit before heading next door. I am not kidding when I say this, I spit outside while talking with the guys and a bouncer saw me and wouldn't let me back into the club, how weak is that?

Anyway, the next morning we took some boards out and caught a couple waves before a storm rolled in and it got choppy. The storm lingered around for the next couple days so we watched movies and talked story with Tom's parents as it was the weekend and they were off. We tried some vegimite (Australian yeast sauce they put on toast) which actually wasn't too shabby. That afternoon Tom took us out for a local legend, the Whopper Wonder which didn't dissapoint! It was a massive steak burger with pinneaple, egg, onion, tomatoe, lettuce and other veggies, ohhhh was it magical! That night we met up with Tom's buddies and took off for another night out. We went to a dance place after waiting for a cabi for like an hour and a half and danced to some good vibe music, lots of techno and old school songs which was fun. The next day the rain continued and we were supposed to leave but were reluctant with the weather and Tom's parents mentioned we could stay another night and though we didn't want to impose, we also didn't wanna camp in the rain! So we stayed another night and Trevor helped us map our where we were tentatively going for the next two weeks as we road tripped up the east coast.

The next morning we said our heart felt goodbyes and made Tom promise he would come live out in Oregon with us. We took off five hours north to Scotts Head and got to the campground in the middle of the night but found a spot under a spotlight and set up our tent. The weather stayed good through the night but the ground definately made for a rough nights sleep. Getting up the next morning we walked through the trail that led to the beach about a minute away and checked out the break and what a site it was. The break started at the point and slowly broke for about 200 feet, absolutely the perfect longboarding wave! We cruised to town and to the only surf shop next to the only market and restaurant and rented the two boards they had. We surfed the point break for about 4 hours switching off with the boards and I can't tell you how good it is to finally catch up where you left off (Hawaii) and cruise a wave for a good while, it's such a free feeling experience. After our bellies were red and our shoulders ached we called it and got some lunch. Meadow and I went back to the beach for an hour or so and just chilled out reading and listening to music along the roughly mile long stretch of desolate sand. What a good day, the next would turn out to be not so good...

I am now writting a day latter than when I started...
The next day we woke to our tent half blown over from the winds of the storm that was slowly rolling its way in. The surf was real choppy as the consistant break we'd come to know and love dissapeared and the temperature dropped considerably. We decided it was best not take any chances, since we had been camping for free the last two nights, and take off early that morning. The drive was about 5 hours to Byron Bay and rained most the way. Getting to Byron Bay was a relief to be back in a hostel with a matress under our backs instead of the hard ground from the two previous nights. We were roomed with a super cute Scottish girl and an Aussie chick who got our spirits back up as they'd been drinking all day because of Melbourn Cup (The race that shuts the country down). It is simply a horse race that everyone dresses up for and drinks the entire day, we got the end of the celebrations and just had a couple beers to get aquanted with our new crew.

Today has been pretty lame with the storm lingering around and I haven't even seen the beach yet which is really depressing but we just checked the forecast and it looks like it's getting better by the end of the week, cross your fingers! I am just at an internet cafe here in Byron, a small hippie community of surfers and liberals, waiting for the rain to stop. Better be off as my internet is about to run out. Paigemon or anyone who was on the Europe trip, we have enforced three new rules; can't say the word "fuck" or you get flicked in the forhead, can't say the word "5" or you have to do ten pushups and can't say "right" or you have to do cats and dogs! Traveling is funny because you can get so bored sometimes that little games like those are what keeps your spirits high and your motors turning! Traveling is for the nomadic at heart that want to escape what lies ahead temporarly and embrace what is just around the corner...

Cheers,
Grant