#myendlesssummer

It has been a while.. And a lot has happened.I had an awesome weekend with my brother Joris in Sydney. Always such a good feeling when you can see family again. We had a relaxed weekend, went to Manly, strolled around in the city and figured out that a submarine is for midgets. 

Next up was my OSSCA - lifeguard and First Aid exam. Those were some really stressy days as I had to do ocean/rescue missions and the 500 meter swim under 10 minutes. But after months of training I passed every test with easily. I swam the 500 meters in 9 minutes 20 seconds so I was really happy :-).

The weekend after we had the Surf Test in Lennox Head (sharky as hell). I went there with another Belgium guy Jochem and some other dudes from Mojo. That weekend was really interesting, it was a day of theory and the other day we had to do the surf test, give a lesson, a safety talk, … 

I was pretty stressed for the surf test. The conditions were alright, head high waves and pretty much no wind at all. We were with 8 people in total included some hardcore Aussie surf dudes. So the surf level was really high. I was the first to catch a nice right hander, of course i wiped out really hard in front of everyone. Then a nice set of waves came in and everyone caught some really nice ones, except for me.. I felt the pressure rising but then when everyone had caught that set, I saw a sneaky peak rising, I thought this is it ! I was paddling so hard to get to that wave as it was on another sandbank. I paddled into it and it kept rising to an overhead barreling right hander. I grabbed my rail and got into the barrel. Everyone was cheering, It felt like heaven !  

So everyone passed the surf and practical test. I felt so good.. It’s like a dream coming true, I’m a Surf Instructor !! After the stressy weekend, I went with Victoire for a couple days to Yamba and Byron Bay. They were probably the best days I’ve ever had, no stress, all alone, spending time with my beautiful girl, surfing, romantic dinners and nights… If I only could turn back time..

Unfortunately I had to go back to Spot X to do some hours to get experience in coaching.

And of course, it had to end at one point.. Sold my Shaggy Wagon, said goodbye to all my friends and took the Greyhound bus to Brisbane.

My flight is tonight at 2AM.. Can’t believe I’m actually leaving Australia.. I’ll definitely come back. I like Belgium but lost my heart in Oz.

Roadtrip Brisbane -> Sydney !

I was so happy when I finally could drive to Brisbane airport to pick up Stijn and Lore ! It’s awesome to see some family again after 4 months of traveling. We drove straight to Brisbane to began our roadtrip to Sydney. We spent a day and a half exploring the city and the southern banks. Then we drove to the famous Gold Coast where we surfed in Surfers Paradise, Kirra and Snapper, Coolangatta. The surf wasn’t to great but it sure was fun ! We spent that night in camping where Lore made the best spaghetti ever :).

The day after we drove to the famous Byron Bay. As expected it was pretty crowded and the surf wasn’t to good either. It’s also where Stijn saw his first pot of dolphins in the surf line-up, he sure freaked out a bit thinking they were sharks ! After a day of sightseeing we checked out the chilled out atmosphere in Byron and spent the night in a cosy camping ground.

Next up was Yamba ! Small town with some pretty good surf conditions. We had the luck of having a good camping spot at the waterfront which made it pretty epic ! It’s also where I got my first tattoo ! I was so stoked that I finally did it :) Thanks to Stijn and Lore !

We decided to go further south to Spot (se)X, Arrawarra. Probably the best stop along the East Coast. Arrawarra is just paradise.. White beach, perfect surf, palmtree’s, blue water, parrots everywhere and a lot of surf chicks. We spent 2 beautiful nights there before we drove to Coffs Harbour. From that point the weather changed to pretty stormy and we kinda had bad luck in finding camping spots. Everything was fully booked cause of New year and Christmas. We drove and checked Port Macquirie, Shelly Beach, South West Rocks, Tweed Heads, Crescent Head, Hat Head, Avoca Beach. They were all super beautiful and looked epic surf spots but there was no swell at all. (And there is no worst feeling for a surfer)

After 2 days of looking for surf we decided to go to the Blue Mountains for 5 hours adventurous climbing and walking in the rainforest. It’s such a magical and beautiful place ! In the afternoon, after our walk, we drove down to Sydney. Definitely one of the best stops we did ! Sydney is amazing, from the suburbs to the center ! We had a really nice Hotel in Glebe. Glebe is a really trendy suburb with a lot of cosy pubs and restaurants. We decided to do a pre New year’s eve drink in ‘The little Guy’. Definitely a night I won’t forget ! The next morning we stood up at 6AM to go for a surf in famous Bondi Beach. (It’s the best hangover cure) 

After our hangover surf we drove to the city center for some sightseeing. As it was New year’s eve all the streets were car-free ! Also all the women were super dressed up, read: half naked. Australian women also don’t wear any bra under their dresses or tops and strings are their favourite panties. So that was nice. I wish all the women in Belgium would do that haha! We found a good spot to check the famous Sydney fireworks, cracked a bottle of gross Cava we got for free and counted down for 2016.

Time for a little heads up !

It was hard to leave Spot X, made some lifetime friendships. Such an awesome place, definitely going back ! After spot X I drove to Coolangatta where I met up with Clara, had really awesome days with her. Checked some surf spots as Snapper, Kirra, rainbow Beach and Surfers Paradise. Sadly I had to say goodbye to her as I needed to drive to Airlie.

The drive to Airlie was fricking hot and lonely.. It takes some while to get used to it being on your own after some awesome days with someone. Anyway after 1200 km’s I finally arrived at Airlie Beach. I stayed on the public parking at the lagoons, kinda living on the streets and using toilets and showers from the nearest swimming pool. Had some weird friends who stayed their as wel, brought me to this trippy weird party. Trippy as in mushrooms, funny herbs and people wearing horsemasks and stuff. That was probably the weirdest experience in my life :p.