Byron Bay and Lennox Head.

Last Friday we packed up The Ferrari and headed south to Byron Bay. The surf was insy winsy so we kept going a little to Lennox Head where Steve had a surf and I played photographer (I had been sick the day before and was still feeling unwell.) 

I also admired some of the lovely tropical flowers.

I Love frangipani! They are so pretty and smell so divine.

Steve getting his board ready.

Steve getting in the water at Lennox head while some guy rips up the wave in front of him.

Steve surfing.

Me.

Interesting rock.

Me playing with the self timer.

This flower is probably a weed but it is pretty colours.

Walking back to the car.

There were lots of these trees there with the slurpy-straw roots.

After the surf we headed back to Byron Bay and met up with Dad. We had a stroll and then had tea. Next we went for a wander down the beach. 

Pretty fairy lights we saw on our walk.

Us trying to get a picture of the three of us on the beach...

And trying.

Finally Steve brings himself down to our level!

And smiles.

After that we bought gelato and ate it near the beach.

The following photos are our shadows cast by the street lights onto the waves.

We then watched this guy playing the guitar. He was amazing! I have never seen someone play the guitar laying flat like that.

That night we stayed at a backpackers at Lennox Head. 

The next morning we made our way to Mount Warning. We followed Dad along some crazy back roads on his motor bike.

Then we hiked up the mountain.

We saw a snake snoozing.

The track was very nicely made out of stones. It must have been a massive mission to make it!

When we got to the top it decided to rain and should the view!

Everyone was buzzing out cause we wore jandals (but they called thongs and flip-flops.) The walk took us just under 4 hours including a bit of time at the top. It was a cool walk. There were some very steep parts at the top where you had to climb. 

Here is the view of Mount Warning from far away.

And another bridge. All the bridges in Australia look like prison bridges!

We had a picnic for tea with Dad and then Dad went home and we headed back to Byron. We were so tired though.

We had another little stroll and admired the sand sculpture (which we had seen the night before but was now lit up.)

And read mired the shining light shop.

And finally headed back to the back packers and removed the hiking jandals.

And revealed our filthy filthy feet. 

After a shower it was straight to bed. Which is what I'm gonna do right now 'cause I'm so tired! Night night.

xoxo Love Amy.

A wave facial, a fright, a bare bum, and Australian wildlife.

Yesterday morning we emerged from bed at 6.15am and headed out to the coast in The Ferrari. This time we surfed at Palm beach and I had a lot better surf. The crowd was a lot smaller and the peak was more shifty so I was able to get more waves. I have rethought the ratio of girl surfers to boy surfers though. I think there are more girls here in Australia. In New Zealand I recon it's probably a ration of 1 girl to 50 guys and in Australia probably only about 1 to 30. I was being brave and taking off on the bigger waves yesterday (Still only about 1 and a half overhead.) But on one I did a spectacular wipe out. I though I could make the drop, although it was a steep one but half way down the wave lost it and went tumbling left cheek first into the face of the wave followed closely by the rest of my body. I felt like someone had punched me in the face and rearranged my jaw. It too a while for the feeling to wear off. Steve saw it and thought it was funny. 

A while later I was paddling (very strong current so you are constantly paddling to the south) an I saw a sleek dark shape slide under the water a few metres in front of me. I thought I was imagining things because in the morning before we left Steve saw an article on the surf report page about a surfer who was "Nibbled at Nobbys" by a shark the day before and Nobbys is a beach just up the coast. I shook my head to clear the delusions of lurking skulking sharks and kept paddling. Next minute I saw a sharp fin pop up out of the water just as a swell blocked the sight from view. I sat up (wanting to fold my feet up on the board too) and said to the guy behind me "Was that a shark?" He said, "Where?" I pointed towards the sharky water saying "I saw a really pointy fin." Then the dolphins both popped up for some air and we both sighed in relief. "They're just dolphins, you'll be right." He said.

Dolphins dining in the surf are much better that sharks dining in the surf! The dolphins didn't stay long, they were just having a snack of the fish swimming through the clear waves. We surfed for 2 hours before we came in for a snack and then went out for a shorter surf. I got sunburned on the back of my legs from laying on my tummy for so long. 

When we got home we went and got Dad's motorbike that had been getting fixed and when we got home from that Dad took me for a ride. 

I was quite scared of going on it. It was quite fun though. I held on tight to Dad. It felt funny wearing the big helmet and Dad's big boots. (I only have jandals and sandals.) I felt a bit like a cartoon character. The wind felt exhilarating but also like it might whip me off at any second. It felt quite natural to lean with the bike around corners and I screamed my head off when Dad accelerated really fast. We visited Dad's mate Allen for a bit which was cool cause I haven't seen him in years. 

This morning we had a bit of a sleep in until about 6.30am. We headed straight back out to Palm beach and surfed there again. It was nice a clean when we got there. I sun-screened my legs up good and proper and then proceeded to slip and slide all over my board every time I sat on it. The water was so beautiful. You could see right to the bottom. I had a few okay waves and some lovely duck dives. The boys probably don't count that as part of a good surf but I love the feeling when everything goes smoothy and the timing is perfect. Your board slices deep under the swell and your body dives in too, arches back like an echo to the wave and glides smoothly up until the pressure of the board pulling on your arms releases you from the influence of the wave and you emerge through the back of the wave to a shows of offshore spray on your head. If you are really lucky you will get a rainbow caught in your eyelashes. (That happened at Rainbow Bay the other day.)

When we got out Steve realised he had ripped his boardies right down the ass crack and to our knowledge was flashing everyone behind him in the surf for who knows how long! 

So funny. I took a picture of it but for some reason the computer has rejected it and it has come out black! (Built in censoring???)

This is Palm beach today after we got out of the surf and it had gone all crappy.

I also wanted to write a bit about the wildlife here. There are so many interesting bird calls to listen to. And some are really cool looking too. There is one that sings at Dad's house in the morning that sound like the adults voice from the cartoon Charlie Brown. It makes me smile every time I hear it. The other thing they have here which is quite freaky are termites. They operate just like they do in cartoons! They hollow out the wood of anywhere they take up residence. They build a big gross nest with all these tunnels going to it and then they eat the tree (or whatever) from the inside out. So yucky! They look like big spew colored ants and they don't like the light. Yuck. We haven't seen many spiders (thankfully cause they freak me out!) We have heard cicadas that all sing in unison. Dad has a water dragon that lives near his house. We saw her on Friday and fed her some grapes but we haven't seen her since. I'll try and get some pictures of her next time she comes cause she is so cool!

Anyway we had a mean nana nap when we got home and are going to go and have Sushi Train for tea tonight.

See ya later, love Amy.

Bikini warfare.

This morning we got up at 5.30 to go for a surf. It was pouring with rain. We drove The Ferrari down to Rainbow Bay again and it wasn't as crowded as yesterday and was the only sheltered spot so we splashed on in. I just love the warn water! I tried a different bikini today. The rainbow bikini has been giving me too many wedgies. I think either the bikini likes my right but cheek better or my left butt cheek really wants a tan and has made some sort of agreement with the rainbow bikini to shimmy over to let the sun shine on it...

Anyhow, today I tried out the blue bikini and every time I duck-dived a wave I got down trailed and flashed my bum to everyone behind me. And the trickiest bit is that usually you can't just pull it right back up as you are in mid paddle so you have to go on a bit with a bare bum!!!

After about 10 minutes I realised the problem was one of the side ties had come undone! No wonder it wasn't staying up! I tied it on as tight as it could go and it solved the problem (mostly.) Steve said that it was happening to the other girls too. (Thanks for checking Steve. :) )

It's so nice surfing in the lovely clear warm water. Even though I don't get many waves due to the extensive crowd it's still really fun. I'm getting paddle fit too. I think my back is getting strong from spending so much time paddling. Imagine laying on your tummy and lifting your arms and legs off the ground and then paddling your arms while you are still arched up like that. That is what I spend most of my surfing time doing.

One great thing about the Gold Coast is that they have showers about every 100 metres or less along the beaches so you can rinse off. So refreshing!

After the surf we did some shopping. I got some cover up clothes to wear to Morocco and Steve got a new surfboard. 

One thing we have noticed about Australia is that it is way less multicultural that New Zealand. (Or at least the Gold Coast is less multicultural than the Auckland region.) It is nearly all white people here. It is really quite strange.

And they don't even have dairies here. They are called convenience stores. 

One cool thing they have is Sushi train. In a restaurant you sit next to a little railway with a train going round on it and on it's carriages have plates of different kinds of sushi on them. The plates are colour coded so you can see how much they cost. You then just pick the things you want off the sushi train and take your empty plates up when you are done. Yum yum. And who does't love miniature trains. Especially ones that carry delicious morsels on their carriages!

Love to you all. xoxo Amy.

Surfing in a bath.

I have been enjoying surfing in lovely warm water. It's so nice just wearing a bikini and rashie instead of a wettie! (Although there are a few drawbacks - more on that later.)

I better go back to the start as that's usually a good place to be going on from and then I won't jumble things up and confuse you all...

On Thursday morning we woke up bright and early at 6.30am (after I'd forced myself to go back to sleep for another hour.) We then mucked around for a little while and had breakfast and stuff and then went on a tour of the massive flash Moroccan mansion Dad is building. It's 3600 square metres! He's runs the job and does lots of clever things. It's very impressive. Here are some photos but they don't really do it justice.

Here are some pictures of Dad's place. (He lives on the property in the old house that is going to be demolished when the mansion is finished.)

By the river.

It had flooded recently.

Dad's house.

Steve and Dad on the old cause way that had been there for hundreds of years but a big chunk finally washed away in a recent flood. 

Looking over the old causeway.

Dad told us there are sometimes platypus in the river (I was excited because I used to have a bit of an obsession with platypus when I was a kid) but we haven't seen them yet.

Anyhow... 

After we were suitably impressed by the mansion tour and had met a few of Dad's workmates we all jumped in Dad's car A.K.A The Ferrari! 

Here it is...

The Ferrari is very particular. You must hold the drivers window in a particular way to wind it up, you must open the passengers door from the outside. (Allows an opportunity for chivalry.) And above all you must tactfully ignore the sound the gearbox makes when shifting out of 3rd gear. If all Ferrari's wishes are granted she will happily get you from A to B.

Dad drove us down the coast to Rainbow bay so we could go surfing. We surfed at Snapper rock and rainbow bay (I and I even surfed at Coolangatta briefly because I surfed round/got washed round there.) I had a few fun waves but it was crowed. Steve saw Mick Fanning out there surfing up a storm. 

I had fun surfing in a bikini and rashie apart from being alternately wedged by my bikini or down trailed by the waves! But I did have a rainbow bikini on to match rainbow bay just by coincidence!

After that we had a picnic then visited my Great Aunty Ali and my Great Uncle Frank (Aunty Ali is the sister of my Nana Rona - Dad's mum.) It was so nice to see them. I haven't seen them since I was little. The first thing I thought when I saw Aunty Ali was that she was smaller because of course I had grown and am now about the same height as her!

Next we hit the road again and went to have tea with Dad's friend Gillian which was yummy and fun. I got excited by doing a jigsaw puzzle. 

We went to feed her horses with her and the mozzies feasted on my leads like they were ravenous! 

Steve and I both fell asleep on the trip home - one of those sleeps where you wake up to realise your mouth is gaping open and your head is lolling back on the seat.

That was day one of Australia!

The next morning Dad gave us the key to The Ferrari and a fantastic map of the gold coast drawn by master map maker Noel Fletcher. 

We left the house a little dubious about whether we would be able to find our way back again. However the map was very helpful. We found our way to the surf factory shops and also to the sea for a surf in the lovely warm water again. That time we surfed at Burleigh heads. 

After we found our way back to Dad's we had a B.B.Q. for tea and Aunty Pauline and Phil came to stay the night and have tea so it was really awesome to catch up with them. I had a nice evening chatting away.

On Saturday we drove up to Manly where Phil was racing yachts and saw Aunty Pauline (Dad's big sister) and Uncle Steve (Dad's little brother). We had a drink with them and a nice catch up. 

Having a drink.

Uncle Steve being a bad-ass and putting his foot on the grass.

No photoshopping has been done to the following photo of Uncle Steve's feet! Those are actually his tan lines!!!

See!

Then those 2 had to head off on a few chores so we watched the boats and talked for a while before going to have lunch with Dad's friend Sharon who is lovely and has a talent for talking. 

We watched a few yachts being launched.

At the yacht club there was this cool copper tower thing commemorating 100 years of the club. I though it was pretty. 

There was also this prison-like fence that made me laugh delightedly as I thought of the Gateway Bridge.

Then we went to the yacht club to spend some more time with Auntie Pauline and Phil and some of their nice friends from Canada.

We were so tired after that though that we went straight back home to bed like Hairy Maclary!

On Sunday we got up at 6 to go for a surf with Dad and his mate Bastian. We went out at Lacies and had a great paddle but I didn't get that many waves. There are a lot more girls that surf here but still about the same ratio of boys to girls as in New Zealand I think. 

After that we had a browse through some surf shops to try and find Steve a second board to take with us on our travels. We didn't find him a board but Dad did try on his dream hat...

Next we hit the road to go up to Wameran to visit Uncle Steve and Ruth and see Aunty Pauline and Phil again. We devoured baguette with cheese and ham on the way yum yum! I enjoyed laughing at some of the funny place names along the way.

In Australia they have special traffic lights for doing U-turns!

Lots of the motorways have beautiful murals on the sides of them.

I managed to snap a picture of the Gateway Bridge on the way through too but it still doesn't really capture the prisoniness of it. It looked quite pretty at night when we drove back though though as it was all lit up.

We had a great night talking, eating, laughing, and talking some more. I got to meet my cousin Courtney's little boy Jett whole was a sweetheart and see Sean and Courtney (two of Uncle Steve's kiddies.)

At the end of the night people were telling jokes and it was so funny. Dad and Phil and Uncle Steve all told really good ones and we were cracking up histerically. 

Courtney, Me, Uncle Steve, Sean, Phil, Ruth.

The same as above.

Courtney, Uncle Steve, Sean.

Everyone and the Dog.

Uncle Steve, Aunty Pauline, and Dad.

Steve, Me, and Aunty Pauline.

And Uncle Steve...

Wow! So that brings us up to today.

Today we went surfing (of course!) We drove down to Rainbow Bay again for a look but it was crowded as anything. These photos are from the lookout at the northern end of Rainbow Bay.

There was a rainbow over Coolangatta.

Steve checking the surf.

In Australia the signs for road works don't have an s on the end and every time I see them it always looks like there is a typo on the sign to me.

We ended up surfing at Lacies again but it was more of a mission paddle than a surf.

We had lunch with Dad then headed up Mount Warning to do the treetop walk.

We saw some Wallabies on the way up. Aren't they cute! I loved watching them doinging along.  

We saw these stunning parrots when we go to the top and a nice lady gave me some of her bird seed so I could feed them.

I was excited.

One decided to become an adornment for my hat.

We then went for the walk through the treetops. On the way there I met a bush turkey. I wanted to see if I could touch him...

He wanted to see if my hand was edible...

Steve and Dad were not in time to stop me from feeding him my finger...

Don't worry, it's still attached!

This next picture is the inside of a tree that covers a host tree and then the host tree dies and decays leaving the tree hollow. I think it was a fig tree. The seed of the tree got dropped in the host tree about 200 years ago. Then it slowly grooms roots down to the ground. After 50 to 150 years when the host tree is old and ready to die the fig tree has wrapped around it and can support itself. Then the host tree dies a natural death and decays leaving the fig tree hollow.

This is the pathway through the treetops.

You can climb up a big big ladder.

Until you are 30 metres above the ground. It is very VERY high!

Next we had a look in the mountain gardens.

Then we came home. On the way we stopped to look in an old tramway tunnel to see if we could see some bats. The bats were not at home but just as Dad shone his light on the ground I glanced down and saw money. I was excited cause for the last two days I've had that rhyme in my head; 

"Find a penny, 

pick it up, 

all day long, 

you'll have good luck."

It was better than a penny though. 

I was 20 cents! Wahoo.

What a marathon entry!

Bye, 

Love Amy.