Noosa Heads, Australia
Monday, May 15, 2006
After spending an amazing week in Bryon Bay, surfing some great waves on the back beach (Tallows Beach & Ballina), and meeting some incredible friends, we regretfully had to keep moving north and continue our journeys. We stopped at Cabarita Beach, yet another gorgeous and great right point break, but to our dissapointment there was no swell at the time. But it was still beautiful and serene. Next was stop was Queensland where we spent a few days at the top surfing spots of Australia: Duranbah, Snapper Rocks, Kirra, and Burleigh Heads. This is where most of Australian's top pros are born and bred. Jonathan came with great expectations for some solid surf sessions, but was let down by Mother Nature as there was NO swell whatsoever. In lieu of surfing, we met some fantastic locals. Thru the art of conversation we befriended Dean, a local Aborginal artist, who was connected with a local pro shaper, John Harris. After some discussions (& debating in our own self conscious travel budget), Jonathan decided it would be a unique wedding gift for KC to have a custom shaped surf board with original Aboriginal artwork
. Yes, it's a bit early, but better for KC to get an early start on the surfing bug. We were fortunate to be able to watch John shape the board from beginning to end (see pix and video). It was an amazing process to see a pro shaper at work (John has shaped for many of the pros on the world tour as well as for McTavish; he's been shaping for over 35 years). Needless to say, the end product is amazing. And it was a blessing just to be able to part of the shaping process. The board dimensions: 8'2 x 21 1/2 x 2 3/4
After spending a few days in Coolongatta without surf we venture further north to Noosa Heads where we found, shocking, still no surf with some added rain. Instead of sulking, we found some gorgeous walks in the National Park, watched a movie (MI3), had a delicious Mexican dinner with some friends, and Jonathan found some surf a few beaches down at Coolum (a punchy beach break).
