Bondi to Brisbane

Bondi to Brisbane, via an excursion to Gerroa.
Sad to leave Sydney but I was keen to move to bris with my missus before I left I decided to take two weeks travelling, camping and sailing different spots up the coast. First spot was a trip south to Gerroa; blowing 40+knots, owning nothing smaller than a 5.4 I still gave it go. After our session my arms must have been two inches longer. Every time I have been to Gerroa it’s either been blowing 4 or 40knots but I have still managed to have a great time there, and it was my first go in waves.
Back to Sydney and a session at Bundeena ( awesome spot ) followed by kurnell, Dolls point, brighton le sands, la perouse, rozelle( not so nice ), rose bay ( very good in nw 15+ knots) then north to Narrabeen. Over the last year I have had some great sessions at Narrabeen, ive also had some bad ear infections from there to but it’s a small price to pay.
There are some really good guys sailing around Sydney (some grumpy buggers too) hope they carry on with the twilight racing from keema, lots of fun and very sociable.
After Narrabeen it was a nice drive north to Smith & Wallis Lake. This is a great spot for families with kids and partners; you can have flat water sailing in the lakes or pop across the road for some wave sailing. Loved sailing across the lake, I went so far out my back leg cramped up, nice clean shallow water.
From Wallis I carried on up to Port Macquarie for an hour on the river, managed to find a little windsurf shop popped in to say hi and have a look. The guy there recommended a few places to visit up the coast, he also talked about the heyday when he used to sell 150 boards a month.
Nest destination was Crescent head, Point plomer, what a beautiful place but a complete bastard to get to, nearly an hour on bone crunching roads. My poor van very nearly rattled itself to bits. I had been to point plomer once before with surf safari camp. It’s a really special spot and definitely worth the trip, its excellent for surfing right on the point so I thought I’d give it a go on my windsurf, it wasn’t the best of choices as I was a little out of my comfort zone but that’s how we learn. Well worth the effort and definitely worth the trip, great campsite too (cold showers )
A few people had told me about south west rocks so that became my next destination and what a perfect choice it was. It has an awesome campsite right under the old prison. For beginners it has a great little shallow section before it drops of. Had some really good runs out into the bay on my 7.2. On the way back in, just moving nicely along minding my own business contemplating what a awesome spot this was and the meaning of life I looked down into the crystal clear water ( 2 meters deep ) only to see a shark swim under me. I sailed back to the shore thinking f**k me. Contemplating what to do next I came to the conclusion , it’s not the ones you see you have to worry so much about. With that I went back out although only in the shallow knee deep section but it gave me good opportunity to try sail 180’s etc. Good spot and a must for a windsurf road trip or any other road trip fpr that matter.
Sad to leave s-w-r but keen to see my next place Yamba, via Nambucca heads, Coffs and a big banana. Really wanted to sail Nambucca heads as it looked stunning but the wind wasn’t playing ball same with coffs. Yamba has a great YHA hostel, brand spanking new and cheap to. It’s not your usual brat packers either, the staff were great, food was tops and my room was spotless. You can hire surf boards for $10 all day! I spent my mornings surfing the main beach, nice clean waves and really easy to ride with a decent mal. After surfing I would pop back for some food and a snooze before returning to whiting beach for some flat water blasting and endless attempts at trying to carve gybe.
Yamba in short like swr is a awesome place to visit, really nice locals, great surf, and an awesome flat water beach what more could you want. Forgot to mention when you rig up on whiting beach take no notice of the no sail boarding sign.

Next stop, Ballina. I had a great sail on the river there, blasting across from the sailing club a couple of dolphins came by which is always nice to see, also sailed lake ainsworth which is a tea tree lake. Great for beginners or just easy going session if you want something a little more hair raising just pop across the road to lennox beach, I tried my hand at wave sailing again and managed to get my self stuck in the white wash and then rip so I cant say I enjoyed myself too much. Dragging my gear back along the beach out of breath passing all the kite surfers I wondered if I should take up an easier hobby??
Not to dwell on things too much I moved onto Byron where I had a little session in about 8 knots, wasn’t really worth setting up but I wanted to be able to say I had windsurfed there, same with Burleigh heads.
After all that I drove up to Wellington point, my first Queensland sail and the end of my trip. Two weeks of camping,surfing,windsurfing,drinking,eating burnt burgers and beans,getting bit by mozzies,dodging sharks, and just enjoying the moment. Its good to be here in Bris and so far I have had some great sessions at wellington and redcliff, I still cant carve gybe yet but that doesn’t matter to much really as there are heaps of other things to learn, I even tried a forward loop, it ended pretty bad for my sail but you have to give it a go.

Anyway that’s enough rambling for one night

Great story Lee, sad to see you go to Brisvegas.
Next time your down pop into Narra or Botany and say gidday!!!!