Noosa

With the weather clearing we decided to go up to Noosa heads for our last two nights.......5 protected point breaks.
Tea Trees... a sick point only about a 2 km walk...

Boiling pots.....
1st point and a super sick sunset....
Big eddie got his best wave in Australia here, awell overhead set wave as I was paddling in.....Soo sick.....
We loved NOssa it was beautiful I recommend it to all

Wambats, Koalas, and Crocs oh my.......



This is Sally getting involved in the animal show.......Giving a bird call to the crowd

C U all in Bali.................

Surfer Paradise, Not........

Snapper rocks was sick, but way out of our league.....the first day. But as you can see we got some killer tubes the second day....




We went to dreamland....This was our favorite ride the claw......

There was a petting zoo filled with Kangaroos, Wallabies and a baby wombat....my buddy was a baby that actually still fit in it's mother's pouch.


We had some good times, with Bryce...he is doing well and surfing heaps! But in typical fashion he manged to slice open his chin the only day we got to surf with him. After they pulled out a chunk of fiberglass they sewed him up with 8 stitches...

Not to be outdone, Ed lost a tooth eating yogurt...


And I managed to score a legitimate wave at Burliegh Heads in burley conditions...well more like 5th generation off the point, but it felt great..

Bedridden Birthday in Byron Bay

We found a sheltered Cove, with right point breaks, the best kebabs in the world and hippy stores abound, in Byron Bay. Rumor has it that Jessica Simpson was there with Owen Wilson during our stay.....Unfortunately I did not see them since I was bedridden for my birthday. Fortunately the sunsets were beautiful from the hotel and Ed supplied some quality reading material!


The scenery continued to impress and the surf cleaned up...of course the hippy vibe could not be ignored, it was nice to be reminded of home (we even saw fire dancers)...



Our last day brought us to the furthest Eastern point of Mainland Australia

Shipwrecks........

Port Macquarie/Crescent Head/Deserted beach

We finally decided that we could not wait for the weather any more and began our Journey North......But We Loved Sydney. Everyone in Sydney disses Queensland, calling Queenslanders hicks....Kinda like Oregon and California. Go figure......


Bye Bye Sydney........
And of course we ran across the token abandoned beach, if only there was good waves....


After a long day of driving we stopped for the night in the beautiful, little known town of Port Macquarie.......We stayed @ the Koala Inn but we didn't see any Koalas....."Dammit Jim......"
scary rivermouth........


The next day we drove away from good surf to check a spot sally knew was good, and I had my doubts, but she was right again.......Longboard heaven, right pointbreak........


Oh Ya and if you want to critisize sally's horrible spelling and grammer, join the club...............

Sydney revisited

After exploring the Blue Mountains, we returned to Sydney....just in time to celebrate the kickoff of the Sydney Festival in Hyde Park. We encountered a local Portland band, called Pink Martini (yes, THAT Pink Martini)...it was great to hear that we weren't the only people experiencing their "first time in Australia, all the way from Portland, OR."
We enjoyed the familiar surf tunes of Brian Wilson (yes, THAT Brian Wilson of THE Beach Boys) for free with everyone else in Sydney....



Apparently everyone in Sydney also went to Bondi Beach the next day.



We found a little more solitude in Coogee, Ed found a peaceful spot, at least when the waves cooperated.



Even Kelly Slater enjoyed the fruits of Coogee.........Kelly Slater remote controlled surfer that is....



It was particularly exciting to catch up with the Seahawks as they prepared for their victorious win over the Redskins....

Blue Mountians

The weather drove us inland, a fortunate turn of events! we discovered the Blue Mountains, a beautiful stretch of land that revealed rainforest canyons, waterfalls, a historic mining site and the majestic three Sisters (give it up Mersalamy).




We embarked on a beautiful journey through valleys, and elaborate stone staircases, we emerged on Edward Street, where Ed looms large....

Manly

We ventured up the coast to Manly beach hoping to find some mellow surf, and ran into 15-20 foot swell.........


We loved Manly super nice spot especially the sebel hotel we stayed @.........

Killer views of Sydney from over here.

The Aussies haave these sea water Queens pools every to provide safe non-sharky, swimming for tourists....

Go roots............

NYE 2008 Sydney.....

Sally and I watched the fireworks with 1 Million other people on the harbor in Sydney......They bill there NYE party as "the time of our lives", and I will say it was pretty sweet; beer/burbon+cokes/wine sold on every corrner (pretty much a drinking free-for-all in downtown Sydney), 12 minutes of 5 simultanious fireworks shows going off across the bay, and the rest of the world watching in antisapation of there own NYE to come......
Opera house makes a killer back drop..

We went big on the big night, the only issue with a million of our mates is peeing......

08'.....................I hate techno..

"The Rocks" was going off........

We were very close to the fireworks.....

I got off our yacht just to take this picture of the harbor bridge.....Our boat was kind of in everyones way

We were there in the day...Pre-NYE...

Hyde Park, super nice.....

For a big city we both felt Sydney was super safe. On NYE there were very few "bad" things that happened across the city. It was one of the most amazing civic events (parties...) I have ever witnessed......Not to mention that the streets were completely clean the next moring. The city really prides itself on there celebtation.