Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Down Time



With the Quicksilver Pro wrapped up and a new 'King of Kirra' crowned, I turned my attention to the next five weeks - the time gap until the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach.  What to do?  

One option, fly back to New Zealand and find some real work to top up my quickly vanishing available funds.  Another - slowly make my way down the east coast of Australia, visiting old friends and surfing my brains out.  Another - hop over to West Oz and surf the pumping North West coast points and reefs.  Another, ehhh...  

Can you see my dilemma?  With endless time on my hands and no real commitments, the options become infinite, limited only by imagination and the number of zeros at the end of my bank account.  

After a day of aimless wandering and countless calculations regarding upcoming swell events, the cost of renting a camper van vs. buying one, fuel cost of driving vs. plane ticket, optimum swell windows, water temp., maximum time spent in the water, etc... 

These are of the types of conversations you have with yourself when faced with this type of decision.  It's one I've faced many times over the years, but haven't seemed to master yet.  It always comes back to this for me: plan poor = pay more.  And I'm a horrible planner.  

My school of thought is you have to get there first before you can figure out why.  The leaving is always the hardest part, although I figured that out pretty well by now.

After an hour spent in an Internet cafe and a tip from a friend about a certain website where you can find camper vans that need to be relocated, I found myself stitched up with a van that needed to be in Sydney in five days.  The cost?  One dollar a day for the rental, I pay gas with a $50 credit.  Where do I click the button that says yes?  

I bought a few additional days at $45 so I had more time to explore the coast.  Easy as. Feeling good with my decision and glad to have shaken the stress of not knowing what's next, I went out looking for cold beverages and good music to celebrate.  

I passed out in the back of the van with a smile on my face; a road trip in the making, a bevy of waves waiting for me and the thought of a thousand kilometers of coastline to explore for me alone.

 


3 comments:

  1. Great story. Great photos. Give us more, mate! Is the blue bowl in Avalon??? The stop motion of the kangaroo is a cool photo. Save a spot in the bus for a wingman!

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  2. I need one. What's the chance's of you breaking out to meet me at Bells in two weeks?

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  3. Hey mate,

    Found your blog eventually! Seems a long time since the goldcoast!
    Where you at now? Hope alls good with you and your still on the road!

    Will

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