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I had a pretty average sleep last night, waking up quite a few times, so I was sleepy when I eventually got up about 5:30am as it was already broad daylight.
I drove the 2 minutes down the hill straight to Avalon Beach, where I was pleasantly surprised. It was still about 5ft and offshore! Having quickly eaten breakfast I paddled out and surfed for about 2 and a bit hours. The water has warmed up again a little with the south swell, so that was a nice surprise too.
I surfed ok but still not as well as I would have hoped really. Fun to be out in bigger surf again though.
I am absolutely ******* fuming!!!!! I go back to the car at 12 to have lunch and find I have a $99 parking bloody fine. I had genuinely absolutely no idea it was a pay+display carpark, and there is only 1 pay thing in the whole place it turns out right next to the entrance behind a fricking tree!! The only way to appeal is going to court, and 21 pay period runs out a few weeks before I leave the country so I now have to go and find a bloody post office to pay the thing.
After the unpleasant discovery I got changed and decided to head off again. I was hoping for a 2nd surf at Avalon before I went, but the wind had got up big time and ruined it, so that was the end of that.
From everywhere south of Avalon seems to just get steadily more built up and busy, I assume all the way to Sydney 20km ish away. I must admit im really not much of a city person, and I much preferred the quieter areas I have been to previously. Byron seems to be my idea of pleasantly busy, and it's probably less than half the size of Chippenham!
After a stop into a Maccas and a PostOffice to pay my beloved fine, I got to the intended spot 'Narrabeen Beach', only about 20 minutes south. Unfortunately the wind had trashed the slightly smaller surf there too, so I checked it out then went on again. It wasn't anything special really, just a big beach with some houses etc behind.
From there I went down to the southern end of 'Narrabeen' to 'Collaroy'. Again there was no surf here, so I sat on the grass overlooking the beach for a while listening to some music. While laying on the grass I started thinking about where I needed to be when, and particularly about my $ situation after the unexpected loss of 100 bucks today.
I contacted Flo Chapel who's at uni in Sydney to see if we could meet up for a beer, but unfortunately she is in the middle of exams, so might see her when I pass Sydney going back North.
I figured I should leave 2 weeks to sell the car back up at Mark and Fenellas, and leave a few days for Coffs as I will drop in at Spot X for the last time. All in all it means I have just under 2 weeks left going south before I head back towards the warmth again. That suits me fine, especially as its getting significantly cooler both in and out the sea down here. E.g. It's only getting between 20-25 degrees each day now really, and I was used to hotte than that in the 'depths' of Queensland winter. Plus it won't be long before it will be too cold for my now very used 3'2 Wetsuit to cope with water temp down here.
I also spoke to Lorraine about the Blue Mountains, as she had lived/worked there for about 3 weeks before going to Spot X. She gave me loads of good tips about where to go and which hikes to do etc which is brilliant. I think I am going to just avoid most of Sydney and go and see the mountains for a few days before the end of my southward journey.
Later on I went and explored around a bit on the skateboard, then walked up to 'Long Reef' headland. From there you have a brilliant view over the huge rock shelf surrounding the headland, and some of the waves breaking on it.
When I got back to the car I went down to Long Reef Beach on the southern side of the headland, and messed about down there for a while.
As usual later on I had some dinner and went off to find somewhere to hide for the night.
(Photo - there was a pretty dramatic sunset this evening.)
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