Angourie - Part 1

March something or other, 2012

Our next stop is one that we've been looking forward to for months:  Angourie and the Blue House.  University friends of my parents have ever so generously lent us their beach house for two weeks and it just happens to be at a world-famous surf break, and a ten-minute drive from the town of Yamba.  Yamba is where we would have set up for the whole five months of our Australian trip if we had decided not to move around, so we are ecstatic to get to stay at a beach house at our town of choice.

We love the Blue House as soon as we walk in the door.  It's open and airy and something about it just makes you feel relaxed.  You can see the ocean from the balcony and the front yard has a constant parade of tropical birds like lorikeets and honey eaters.  There are hundreds of great books packing every shelf and while there is beautiful art on the walls, lower down it is well set-up for toddlers and babies.  There's even a Scrabble board.  We know our two weeks here are going to go by too fast.

Rusty chillin' out on the deck

After we settle in we take a walk to explore the neighborhood.  Across the street is Spooky's Beach which is perfect for Rusty and Audrey.  It is a semi-protected bay with a wide crescent of sand and the waves don't get too rough.  A sprinkling of flat rocks near the middle are submerged at high tide and dry at low tide.  We play on those a lot, looking in all the crevices and getting splashed by the water as it comes in or goes out.

Up the street and around the corner is a lookout over The Point.  We walk by a monster of a property on our way there and find out later that it is the $30 million palace of Billabong's owner.  It looks like Ironman's house.  The Point isn't working today but some surfers call it the best right-hand point break in the world.  It is the classic point break, which means that waves break on a point of rocks or land that jut out.  Being a right-hand break means that when surfer catches a breaking wave at the point, he turns right to ride it.  If you do a search for "Angourie Point" in Google Images, you'll see what it looks like when it's going off.  Then take away the waves and the surfers:  that's what we see today.

Four or five months ago there was a shark attack here.  The surfer was just taking off on a wave when a shark came at him, and his leg was actually between the teeth for an instant.  He got cuts and scratches all down his calf, but got away with all his pieces.  The board got a perfect shark bite out of it, down by the fins.

The chances of being attacked by a shark are the same as winning the lottery the same day you get hit by lightning, but just the thought of it, when your toes are dangling off your board and you can't see anything down there, makes you want slightly better odds.

The other danger at The Point is the locals.  Territorialism is as high here as I've seen anywhere.  It's not a large break and it's high quality, so the people who live here are protective.  They were either raised here and have surfed it all their lives, or they moved here and built homes and families near it.  Either way, more tourists means more surfers in the lineup and that means less waves for them, or more dealing with people who don't know the etiquette.  The guy I talk to about the sharks tells me about a guy who got beat up the day before.  "Dropped in…  two broken boards…  they took it up on the beach to square up and I guess the guy got messed up pretty good."  Dropping in on another surfer is the cardinal sin of surf etiquette.  It means you catch a wave that someone is already riding, like cutting somebody off in traffic.  Priority goes to whomever gets on first.

All this makes me apprehensive about paddling out at The Point.  I surf the kids' beach for a couple days, but the waves just aren't as good.  I try saying good morning to the other surfers that I see, and they just turn away without saying anything.  This happens on about three separate occasions before I move over to the Point.  I go on a small day, at first light, when there are only a few people in the water.  Less chance of getting my leash cut and punched in the face, I figure, if there isn't a gang of gorillas in the water.

Everything goes fine.  I stick to the outside for the first half of the session, respectfully staying out of the way.  Then I edge my in towards the action and nobody pays any notice at all.  Most people are actually really friendly and I ask someone if there's heavy localism or not.  "Yeah, there are a few guys who will give you a hard time, but probably not if you stay out of the way."  If it comes to it, I figure I'll dig my heels in and take the beating.  I'll yell, "Nobody owns the sea!" as they punch me in the face.  That's how Gandhi would surf.  "Nobody owns the sea! BIFF! Nobody owns the sea!  KA-POW!"

Coffs Harbour

February 17 to March 02

At some point during our stay at One Mile Beach our poor Swagg'n Wagon was invaded by ants.  Hundreds of tiny sugar ants made their way into the wagon and took up residence.  We didn't use our car in One Mile Beach so we had no idea that this was happening.  On our drive to Coffs Harbour Rusty dropped a piece of strawberry fruit twister into her carseat.  When Clark opened the car door in the morning Rusty's carseat was alive and moving!  The ants had made a nest inside the rubber tubing of the passenger side window and hitched a ride with us to Coffs Harbour.  We sprayed the car and then vacuumed up countless tiny carcasses.  Hopefully we got them all - we read on the internet that they can take up residence in a vehicle for months - even without a food source!

Ant Infestation

Coffs Harbour is a very developed beachside town that caters to families - complete with a dolphin-petting pool, countless self-catering motel style apartments, and the Big Banana.  I am not exactly sure what the Big Banana is but according to the brochures it is not to be missed!  We are bound and determined, however, to avoid all tourist activities for awhile.  So, as appealing as a trip to the Big Banana sounds we are going to steer clear.

We spend the first couple days unpacking, unwinding and exploring what is within walking distance of our little motel.  We have everything we need within a 10-minute walk (beach, cafes, playground, bakeries and a grocery store).  There is also a paved walking path that weaves its way through the greenery adjacent to the beach and carries on down to the jetty where they sell gelato and fresh fish and prawns off the boats - awesome (as Rusty would say)!

Rusty is not as thrilled as I am about the fresh prawns but is ecstatic (yeah, yeah, yeah, more, more, point, point) about the gelato selection.  She chooses the chocolate kind (of course).  The hot sun devours the cone faster than Rusty can and we end up stripping her shirt off to avoid ruining it.  So here is this little tot with nothing on but a sunhat and shorts with a face, chest and stomach covered in chocolate gelato toddling down the walking path.  I think at least 5 people took a picture of her (except us of course as we forgot the camera at home).  We find an outdoor shower along the beach and I clean her up as Clark gets lessons on rips and prawn recipes from a friendly local.

Markets are a big deal in Australia with live entertainment, fresh produce and local artisans.  They are lots of fun for both us and the kids and we try to check them out in most of the towns we visit.  The market in Coffs Harbour is near the jetty and we head off to see what we can see.  The best chocolate brownies I have ever tasted, espresso and talented musicians at this one - great find.  Rusty entertains the locals with her dance moves in front of the stage.  Rusty is big on music and dancing!

We make good use of the beach at Coffs - Jay goes surfing every morning and I look after the kids.  When he comes back, we switch and I head to the beach for a walk or run.  Well OK - twice I went for a run.  And once I went for a pedicure.  Walks along the beach in the morning are divine - and just a perfect way to start the day.

Rusty absolutely loves the beach - she could chase the waves all day.  And Audrey also loves the beach.  She particularly likes to eat things on the beach - mostly sand is her favorite - but she'll put grass, sticks, pebbles and used bandaids in her mouth too.  We have to watch her constantly to make sure she doesn't have a handful of beach stuff poised to go straight into her mouth.  We have purchased a pop-up sunshade and Audrey usually has a little nap in the tent while we run and play in the waves with Rusty - we're not complaining!

After we've been here for a week we feel like we are ready to attempt an activity that could cause us some angst - but sounds fun enough to risk it.  Cinema under the Stars.  It's pretty common here in Australia.  Once the sun goes down you lay a blanket out on a patch of grass and watch a movie - kind of like a drive-in but minus the vehicles.  There is just one minor hitch.  The movie doesn't start until AFTER sundown - and sundown is about an hour past bedtime (both ours lately and the kids).  The kids do well until sundown and are peaceful and content until we get about 5 minutes into the movie.  Then Audrey starts trying to fall asleep (which involves screaming that sounds so traumatic we think we could sell the sound bite to Hollywood for the next slasher movie).  Rusty gets tired of standing to get a good view and after a few rounds around the park trying unsuccessfully to bounce Audrey to sleep in the stroller we decide to head home.  Another activity that is probably best to save for when the kids are a bit older.

Audrey is keeping us up for the majority of the night lately.  We've had neighbours at most of the places that we've stayed at so I've been bringing her to bed with us whenever she makes a peep and nursing her back to sleep.  Then she roots and nurses on and off all night long - I've created a monster!  We are functioning on very little sleep and have reached the point where it seems like 'ferberizing' is our only solution.  There are just two major problems - we still have neighbours and we suck at ferberizing.  There is just something so unnatural about letting your baby scream without soothing them.  It makes every nerve and fiber in my body stand on end!  We've decided that it's not inconsiderate to the neighbors to let her cry it out before she falls asleep at the start of the night but it's been horrible for us.  She starts to cry and Clark and I start reassuring each other that we are doing the right thing, that she needs to learn how to 'self-soothe', that she's not suffering.  Then our skin starts crawling.  Then Audrey starts to sound like she is hyperventilating.  Then, we exchange panicked looks and start inching towards her room.  The heavy breathing turns to cries of ma-ma-maaaa and then I start crying.  Clark says that it sounds like she's saying "ma-ma...why?...i'm sorry".  Then he starts weeping.  We check the clock…3 minutes have passed.  After 5 minutes she's asleep.  But, 10:00 pm rolls around and she's up again.  Letting her cry it out at 10:00 pm is not so 'neighbourly'.  We decide that Angourie (where we will have no neighbours) will be better for ferberizing and resign ourselves to another week of sleepless nights...what's one more week anyway.

We exchanged e-mail addresses with our friends from Belgium and they send us an e-mail when they pull into Coffs.  They are staying at a Caravan Park up the street and we make plans to get together for a playdate.  We decide to hang out at the pool at their caravan park and they greet us at the front gate.  Rusty's boyfriend has brought some balloons for her that he got at the market earlier that morning (what a little charmer).  They are fast friends again and he grabs her hand and shows her all around the pool.  Then he takes Rusty for a ride in his boat - and they float around the pool pointing out things to each other like they are riding a gondola in Venice.

Meanwhile...Audrey bonds with her Belgian guy over their mutual love of Mum-Mums