S. Stradbroke Island + Byron Bay + Snapper Rocks = my weekend

I spent my entire weekend surfing. To no surprise, I showed up Friday morning to South Straddie and it was BLOWING UP. No A-frams this day....more like pyramids raging the shoreline. The waves were well overhead and it was super glassy. I got a few real good ones, but to say I got my ass handed to me is an understatement because an 8 foot face breaking in a foot and a half of water over the sandbar seems like it could pretty much rip your arm clean off your body...and you know I got pitched a few times into death zone. All in good fun. The remainder of my Friday was mellow as could be and I put an end to it early....I had big plans for the remainder of my weekend.

Saturday morning...5:45 AM...my alarm clock got my tired ass out of bed. I got some shit together, ate a little breakfast and then waited for my ride. I was off to Byron Bay. Now normally when someone says they're gonna be at your place at 6:30...you get ready to go at 6:30 so you don't keep anyone waiting....yea well I guess I got up a little early (my boys who I was going with, Matt, Jeff and Dash were just super late) because by the time we finally got on the road...it was 11:30.

Byron is an awesome place. Its about an hour south of here, but a world of a difference in terms of lifestyles. Everyone is just chillen....no joke. Kind of a little hippy town, the main town being littered with little shops, bars and cafes and its all based around the beach...which is miles long, with a big rock headland up at the point and sand, waves, and sunshine as far as the eye can see in the other direction. Its a beautiful place, and I can see now why everyone I met there was in the best mood and loving life....how could you not. Especially when we pulled up to the parking lot and watched peaky A-frames break in crystal clear blue water over the sandbars...everywhere. I definitely found myself loving Byron. The laid back, easy going way of living there is definitely more of my style. We surfed for about 5 hours on saturday. Walking all the way up the point and just drifting the whole length of the beach back to the parking lot (at least a mile or more)....where we would get out and hike back up to the point for another pass, getting plenty of waves along the way. It was so much fun, and the backdrop was pretty epic. Something I've learned with being here in Oz is that you never know what your going to come across. After watching a sea turtle cruise by me, soaking up some sun on the waters surface...I watched pro surfer, Dave Rastovich, style his way down a wave off the point, and ride it prolly 150 yards down the beach. Pretty cool to see, and he was definitely having just as much of a good time as I was. Around 7 PM, surfed out and arms feeling like rubber, I finally got out of the water. It was time to find some sleeping arrangements.

After checking around the area for a bit, we found a little place called the Holiday Village. We checked into our hostel, examined the room and then went and grabbed some food downtown. The hostels out here aren't half bad...clean, and fully accommodating. We met plenty of people staying there, shared a few beers, and then headed to a local surf bar called Woody's where we jammed out to some great music, watched featured surf films which were playing on flat screens round the room and met plenty of beautiful women from Sweden, Denmark, and Australia. Cheers to that.

Unfortunately we awoke to a bit of a flat spell in Byron in the morning. Nothing like what the day before had been. So after a bit of traveling up and down the coast in search of a wave...we decided to head back to Coolangatta.  Here we pulled up to a crowded, but clean 3-5 foot Snapper. It was doing its usually thing, breaking off the point and pushing a consistent right hander pretty much all the way to Kirra. Not surprisingly, I found myself sitting in the lineup shoulder to shoulder with none other than pro surfers Parko and Occy. Yeah, well its not such a shocker for me to see these guys anymore (I'm getting a little spoiled in that aspect)...more of a normality....but watching them surf in person still blows my mind. Hopefully I'll be able to be at that level of surfing some day....or at least close to it. Watch and learn, right?

 I didn't last very long in the water today. 1, because I was dead from surfing all day yesterday, and 2, because there was like 200 people surfing, making it a bit difficult to get a wave to yourself. So I took a nap on the beach instead, amongst a handful of beautiful, tan Australian woman...I might like it here a little bit.

As for now, I'm beat. It was a long, but awesome weekend. Another good memory logged in from this trip.

Took some pictures. Enjoy.

P.S...the flickr is up and running so now you can see the whole lot of pictures I took...mainly the good ones that is.

Love and miss my friends and family...thinking of you always.

Packing the car. 

Off we go. 

And what a warm welcome it was. 

Byron Bay. 

The Wreck, Byron Bay.

Drainer. 

Good times at Holiday Village. 

Byron Light.

Spot check....not a bad view. 

Not bad waking up to. 

View from Cape Byron Headland Reserve. 

Stairway to heaven...

Thursday.

Yesterday was Australia day, and what a great day it was to be living in Australia. Pretty much their equivalent to our 4th of July. Of course Bond would hold classes on such a great national holiday, but despite that I woke up around 5:30 AM, had a great surf sesh right out in front on my apartment at Main beach with a few buds, and then headed off to my single class at Uni. A day full of Aussie pride; flags, clothes and everything else that had Australia written on it flooded the streets, people moving among them like waves. I spent my afternoon sipping beers on the beach and enjoying the sunshine. The Aussies really know how to live it up over here.

After a late arvo snack of some fish and chips, I headed to a local barbie celebration. Being one of two Americans there (my roommate Vic being the other), we were greeted with plenty enthusiastic yells of "Americancos!!". That being said, we received a warm welcome in and shared plenty of conversations, smiles, good laughs and plenty of beer (a little Jager too). It was a great time and I met some awesome people. An experience I'll never forget. After a nice chicken kebab, I headed home to wake up for my 8 AM, and the 7 hours straight of class to follow.

I made it through my day today. Success. Started working on an edit in my film editing class and drew a vector graphic drawing (Vector graphics formats are complementary to raster graphics, which is the representation of images as an array of pixels, as is typically used for the representation of photographic images-wikipedia) on Adobe illustrator of the ebay logo....definitely got my school work done. After grabbing some fresh fruit from the local "Fresh Bar, " I had an arvo surf. My luck...I got stung on the knee by a blue bottle. They weren't kidding when they said it hurt....my knee burned for a good 5-10 minutes and I exited the water with a nice big welt. Still feels uncomfortable at the moment and that was hours ago...those little bastards. Anyway, I went out for dinner with my roommate Andrew, and my Australian friend Kat. We ate at a Tai restaurant (really good, and maybe a 5 minute walk from the back of my apartment...5 minutes at the absolute most) and got a few drinks at this bar called Onyx. Kat knew the bartender and he hooked it up with some rum mixed drinks called "Cuba Libras" (not really sure whats in it; Bacardi rum, a little mint, some cola, a lime...maybe, don't take my word for it,  or thats what I think they're called....always a little difficult deciphering that Australian accent....none the less, it was probably one of the best mixed drinks I've ever had.

I'm now settled back in my apartment. Headed back to Straddie (Stradbroke Island) tomorrow. The waves are supposed to be real good. My last session there was crazy. Chest to head high, A-frames everywhere you look, a lot of people, but plenty of waves to go around. The only way to get over there is either via a paddle across the channel, buzzing with boats of all shapes and sizes, large swells, and oh yes, the numerous sharks swimming through it in search of fish carcasses being pitched over the side of the boat, OR, you can hop in the water for a measly second and climb up on the surf taxi. Boom. 5 minutes later, and $6 poorer, I'm out of the channel around the jetty and parked 50 yards off the beach. Off the boat I went, where I grabbed my board and paddled my way into the lineup. Never touched the beach once, but it was the best surf experience I think I may have ever had. Theres huge tubes on the beach, the sand pumps, throwing millions of pounds of sand from the channel, a constant man-made accretion to the beach. Other than that, nothing more then the constant buzz of nature coming from the land, the sun was shining, and the waves were firing....I found paradise. I expect nothing less from tomorrow, and I have no doubts I'm going to be let down.

Thinking of all you getting snowed in back home. SUCKS TO BE YOU!

ha...(just because I can). Enjoy pictures from yesterdays nonsense.

Main beach.

Happy Australia day.

PRIDE.

Australians...enjoying themselves. 

The local BWS...beer, wine, spirits...drive-thru. 

So happy they're flipping...literally.  

Take it alllllll in. 

New Week Ahead.

Its been a few days...a lot has happened, and yet I haven't really done anything. To start it off, RedBull hosted a DJ contest at the local on-campus bar, Dons. Everything was all peachy, we were jamming out, having a good time, my buddy Chris dominated all competition and walked away with about 170 free RedBulls...things were fine. That is until some bastard tried to yank my wallet out of my back pocket...what is that shit? Of course I was pissed and went after the kid. He wasn't even able to get it out of my pocket, I felt it, and as soon as I turned around, he took off. Well we had a scuffle. No one was hit, but I made my opinion known and this kid was scared shitless. Don't get me wrong, this kid definitely deserved to have his lights knocked out....butttttt, 1. There is a security camera about every 10 feet, scattered about the ceiling at Dons. 2. The security guards were right next to me. 3. I'm trying to stay in school....Any way, this scumbag knows to watch his back; if I see him off campus, he's in trouble.

After a mess of about a half hour or so, fed up and exhausted, I took a cab back to the Castle....little did I know this would be a lengthy stay this time. 2:30 AM Friday morning, I woke up, sweating to death, stomach in a knot, and with about a 105 degree fever. FML. God knows what hit me, but I felt like I could die. No joke. For a day and a half I laid in my bed, leaving only to fetch a glass of water or go lose another 5 lbs. of liquid from my body...one way or another. Yea, things were not looking good. So my genus plan. I wake up at 5 AM on Sunday morning, thinking oh I'll be fineeee. Go surf, puke about 100 times in the water, and get back out with a splitting headache. Sweet. Kicking myself for pushing my luck, I returned to my coffin of a bed, and tried to sleep off this chronic ailment.  On Sunday afternoon, when I felt somewhat back to reality, the first place I went was the doctor. I waited about 40 minutes for this guy to tell me I had a bad case of food poisoning. A little relieving, yes, but still shitty....and why was I still so sick a good 2 days later? I couldn't compile what I had eaten all day Thursday, so the cause of my illness still remains a mystery. He said I'd have to "wait it out." Sweet, thanks for looking out. After he'd prescribed me some meager meds to help settle my stomach and get rid of this headache/fever, I went home. 

Plenty of rest, about $100 worth of Gatorade and numerous gallons of water, I'm now somewhat back to normal. Still feel it in my head, and stomach too at times, but I ate today (first time since Thursday). Felt good to put something other than crackers and liquid in my stomach, (even though it wasn't much). My real medicine is going to be a 5:30 AM sesh at South Stradbroke Island with Will tomorrow. Should be fun. That being said, I'm going to sleep. 

I miss all of my friends and family a lot. I hope your all doing well and staying warm back home. 

...much Love. 

Here's a few images I took during my times of struggle.

Saturday night buzzing.

Wall of fun and a lonely shopping cart...all in a days work.

Watching another days end. 

Flashy skyline. 

Beach path vantage point. 

Motion Media.

Paparazzi.

Scored huge today.

I had class from 10-12, HMR (human resource mgmt.) which went fairly smoothly. After dismissal, I attended yet another free Barbie sponsored by the Uni, drank a free can of RedBull from the RedBull girls (extremely beautiful, might I add) who were so willingly handing out those cans of rocket fuel, and bought my "Where's Wally" bar crawl ticket (and free t-shirt) for Friday arvo (Australian for "afternoon"). I then went and attended my advisor meeting. After a brief discussion and some enthusiastic and encouraging remarks from that dear Australian advisor, I was all set with my overseas work-study; I am now a freelance photographer.

Some how I've been blessed with the opportunity to work under my friend Greg Weatherall. My new internship encompasses working as a freelance photographer and media producer in as a work-study credit for Uni. I am beyond excited about learning from Greg and being able to go out and shoot Australian events and learn a few business antics! I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity and god knows where this will take me and who I will get to meet. I'm not joking when I say this place never stops getting better...every day I find myself saying..."damn, how the f--k did I manage that?" (but in a good way...usually). My first shoot is this Friday at 10 am....a flood awareness and relief fundraiser. Starting off Corporate. Leave it to me to find where the money is....now thats what I'm talking about.

In addition to making my day better, I got to enjoy a nice swim in the 74 or so degree ocean. And to add the cherry on top, I went and had dinner and shared a few beers with a some real down to earth people; Kat, from Adelaide, South OZ, and her roommate, Nate, a skateboarder from New Zealand. Great people....and definitely two more locals to hop on the bandwagon with.

Still got some things on my mind from the other day. Nothing a little positive vibes can't fix.



Life's not so bad on the Gold Coast...

Back to School.

Today was my first day of school at Bond Uni and let me be the first to tell you this is gonna be a good semester.

 Class #1...Image and Photography, talked about cameras and had the professor adjust my settings for optimal shooting....half hr later were done. After class I met some Aussie girl named Krystal. She's a Gold Coast local, super nice chick, and works right down the street at this place called Dracula's, its like a bar/restaurant/themed show. Definitely another good person to go experience this foreign place with. Going out with people who live here has made this trip be so true to Australian culture, a thing that so many people miss out on. So far all the Aussies I've met have been the most down to earth people ever....people back home could learn a lot from the lifestyle out here.

Class numero dos, Human Resource Management, your typical human resource class, discussed some HR management topics and did a group assignment regarding how skewed the US government is, and how HRM could help to improve it internally....go figure. Met three real straight kids though, all from different countries; England, OZ, and Germany...gotta keep building that network.

After grabbing some lunch with my buddy Will, I went to a meeting with my advisor and discussed probably the best possible thing I could do while over here...an unpaid internship for my buddy Greg who owns Motion Media, http://motionmedia.com.au/, but would receive credit for it, as it it was a class....hmm...shoot surfing on the beach for class credit, i don't know about that....not!

Oh look, time for my last class and what do we have here....Image and photography lab..."how to use Photoshop." Score. Not a bad way to spend my first 10 hours on campus.

Unfortunately, I had to come home to some shit stolen from me, and of all people... by one of my roommates. Its been handled for the moment, but you don't cross one of your boys...especially me. You get one chance with me (Jeff can vouch for that)...my only piece of advise for the future is don't fuck that up. I'm a little lost right now in terms of what needs to be my next move...I don't doubt I'll figure it out. Sleeping on it for sure.

Few pics taken today...hopefully there will be an increase in the quality of my pictures with this class I'm taking...as for now, this is what you gotta live with.

Bond Uni Lake. 

Bond Architecture. 

Hello campus. 

No matter where I go in the world...sunsets will always get me. 

Tomorrows a new day...

Later. 

How good can it get?

Dawn at Burleigh. 

The start of a good day.

Rainbow Bay.

Timing is key.  

Dredging. 

The lineup....before the lineup. 

Snapper....draw your line and go. 

Pocket nugget. 

OZ is so dope that even Atlantis exists here.

All day...check out the lip of that barrel...that guys in for a little beating.

Lookout spot. 

Greg Weatherall, on a good one. 

Stuffed it. 

Schhhwackkkk. 

All day. 

How good can it get?

4:30 am....my phone blew up....well not literally, but its what I thought happened when my alarm went off. Today was the day...time to see the Gold Coast fire. After only 4 hours of sleep Greg scooped me from my castle around 5:15 and we were off. We cruised by Burleigh first, super glassy and pretty big, I was all game for it... but for some reason Greg felt we could do better.

Boy was this dude right. As we pulled up to Rainbow Bay, why would there be anything less than, not one, but two rainbows touching down right over the point, which by the way, was easily 10 foot faces and reeling the down the point into Green Mount...(to say i was frothing is an understatement). I grabbed my board and around 6 am, paddled my way into the lineup where there was easily already 60 guys sitting.

The waves were macking and I prolly sat for maybe 10 minutes when I watched Mick Fanning drop in on an outside bomb, get shacked, throw about a 30 foot wall of water on his first turn and ride it all the way to Green Mount...the kinda shit you watch in a surf film, its way more wild to see firsthand. I was stoked, until I saw a fin come up maybe 2 feet from my board. My heart almost jumped outta my chest before I realized it was a pod of dolphin jumping and playing around in the surf. The surfers out there weren't the only ones stoked on this swell.

I caught a few waves, got housed good on one and then got pitched from the lip about 6 feet out into the flats...getting worked in about 3 feet of water by a 8-10 foot wave is not too much fun. My lack of sleep finally caught up with me and I headed back towards the beach.

For the 45 minutes or so that I waited for Greg to get outta the water I shot close to 450 photos. Plenty of sequence shots...there was no shortage of waves and everyone out was KILLING IT. Once Greg was out, we grabbed a quick chicken roll from this local bakery and headed back.

After a long, much needed nap, a wahoo burrito did me in right. I met up with two of my friend Matt's buddy's, Zach and Matty. They're Maui boys and are going to be some good company for the remainder of my stay here. No doubt about that. My first Sunday on the Gold Coast and it was EPIC, I will definitely never forget it.

School tomorrow...my first day at Bond Uni. Woohoo school! (not) Yet again, this is the reason I am here in the first place. Time to get a little responsibility in my 4 month holiday....dust off the old thinking cap for tomorrow.

Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed my day. I promise i'll get working on my Flickr....going through 1000 pictures takes a while.

...The Day After

My first Gold Coast sunset. 

Paradise. 

Yep...woke up here this morning. 

Night shot of Broadie skyline. 

Roo, pasta, and salad = Dinner

Today is January 15... the day after i turned 21. The mindset is that turning 21 is all good and peachy because now you can legally drink and all that nonsense, which is true, but what everyone fails to inform you of is that your going to wake up the next day, on your bathroom floor, shirtless, with no idea where you are or how you got there and a headache like someone was standing on your head the entire time you were passed out....hangover central, but i guess thats what happens when you drink an entire bottle of Sky vodka. Couldn't really tell you what happened last night, but maybe thats a good thing. I wasn't let into any clubs because i was a bit drunk (better off anyway, there was no need to drink anything but water)... but at least i ended up home in one piece. Its safe to say that i will be spending tonight in the comfort of my apartment despite the efforts of everyone else on Study Australia group....sorry mates, not tonight.

I was awaken around noon to a small asian woman standing at my bedroom door, now after a night like last night, i was more then confused. Forcing myself to recognize what was going on, i realized it was just the cleaning lady. Yup, they really do clean everything here. She changed all our beds, cleaned the bathroom, gave us fresh towels, cleaned the kitchen, did our dishes, vacuumed the entire apartment and even took out our garbage. And this is no one time deal....we'll be seeing this angel once a week. Once she had finished her "chores,"she left the room without making a peep and i crawled my aching body back into my little freshly made bed. Still hard to believe that I LIVE HERE!

After waking up again at 2pm, somewhat still drunk, Vic (one of my roommates) and myself stumbled down to the beach  because today was another beautiful, sunny 83 degree day. Mother ocean yet again proved to be a natural healer, as my hangover was lessened and a good hot tub sesh had me feeling some what back to reality. Spending your saturday chillen hard in the aussie sun is something that i look forward to for the rest of my stay here. Vic hooked it up tn and cooked up a little Roo which we ate over some pasta and some sauce, pretty delish. 

I'll be waking up tomorrow at 5 AM....headed back to Snapper Rocks with Greg. The reports are calling for a solid swell...13-17 ft, wind ESE at less than 10kts. MACKING...can you say huge perfect waves? (and yes its got me a little nervous, but how often do i get to surf perfect Snappa?). Hope the 5'10 will work for me....otherwise i could be in a bit of trouble. Either way, this should be a swell for the record books, at least in my case. I'll take plenty of pictures, no doubt there will be a handful of the best pro's out in the lineup sitting next to me. 

Gold Coast signing off.