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 The
first thing that we did when we reached the east coast was
to have a night out in Sydney. The day after we bought a Toyota
Hi-Ace van for $900. It was a little "different"
to say the least. We
drove it out to Dee Why, on Sydney's Northern Beaches where
we met Brownie.
Brownie
was a friend Craig had met a couple of years previously while
surfing in France. He helped us to respray and kit-out the
van. Wicka, Brownie's brother-in-law worked an hour's joinery
magic, and built us a bunk bed in the back which we couldn't
have built in a month. Kristy and Alex gave us somewhere
to stay for 2 weeks while we were getting the van ready. We
had a lot of good nights chatting and drinking with Brownie,
Mik, Nathan and Kristy and Alex. We also had some great surfs
at Dee Why beach and point.
 After
sorting the van out and meeting up with Jonny, Craig's friend
from his home town in Scotland, we left Sydney, stopping at
the Opera House and Harbour Bridge to take some
photos. We then scored the most consistent surf of the entire
trip. At almost every point break up the East Coast we scored
it. We surfed Seal Rocks and then stayed with the Jocelyn
family for 2 nights. Leaving the hospitality and comfort
of the Jocelyns' we scored perfect Crescent Head for
4 days. After Steve put a new clutch in the van, we arrived
at Scotts Head for another nice surf. The next spot
we surfed was Angourie. We arrived just in time to
see Simon Law, Layne Beachley and Serena Brooke showing us
how it should be done.
 After
a few days we left Angourie, and arrived at Lennox Heads,where
Forfar and his family put us up for a night. We couldn't
believe how many great point breaks we had scored in a row.
Apparently Crescent Head was the best that it had been in
8 years. After
staying with Forfar and family, we left Lennox Heads and went
as far north as Noosa, Queensland,where we got soaked
and had to bail the mattress from the van. After that we had
the joy of simply sleeping on a plank for 2 months instead
of a double mattress. It improved our postures if nothing
else. We turned south again, surfing some of the breaks we'd
been at on the way up north.
 Forfar
and family were kind enough to put us up again for another
night, and this time we surfed at Ballina where we
met Tony and Roberta.Tony and Roberta invited us to
stay, and we were treated to a couple of Occumentary screenings
and Ballina's amazing left hander. Next stop was Newcastle,
where we hooked up with Sean and Lani again.
We
had met Sean and Lani in South Africa, and it was good to
catch up and see what they had gotten up to on the rest of
their trip. Here we enjoyed the luxury of living in a beachhouse
for 3 weeks, and had a memorable day on the river with Bandit
in his 3.5 litre speedboat. If there was one house
that we all agreed we'd like to buy, it was the beachhouse.
It was up for sale while we were there, and if we could have
raised the $750,000 asking price we would all have emigrated
in a second.
After surfing at Merewether for 3 weeks, and watching Ric
being chased by a Wombat, we headed south again.
Our
next surf was at Moruya Heads. From there, Jonny and Ric left
Steve, Craig and Simone to go to Melbourne, Victoria. Jonny
got a job in Melbourne, working at Planet Hollywood, while
Ric went and stayed with Andy, Mark and Pete in Adelaide,
South Australia for 3 weeks.
 Ric
had such a good time drinking in Adelaide that he missed his
flight to New Zealand. While Ric was in Adelaide, and Jonny
was working, Craig and Steve went to Victoria, where they
had some excellent surfs and stayed with Dave. They also managed
to sell the van for $400.
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