Welcome to the Goldcoast | Australia part 1
After 3 flights and over two days of travel I’ve finally made it to the infamous town of Coolangata located on a section of the west coast of Australia, two hours south of Brisbane, formerly known at the Goldcoast.
My trip started 12pm on Wednesday May 24th in Naples Florida, where I drove 2hrs to Fort Lauderdale to wait another 2 hours to board the plane which was delayed an hour and half before boarding. Once on board, a series of thunderstorms passed through delaying 20 planes on the runway ahead of us, resulting in us sitting on the runway for nearly 3 hours before departure.
The original itinerary planned to get us to Houston at 8:30 and flying and overnight flight to Auckland, NZ at 10:20. We landed at 11:30 so it was safe to say I wasn’t making my flight. Once we got everything sorted I arrived at the hotel at 1:30 AM to fly out of Houston on the same flight just 24 hours later.
All this free time in the hotel left me with the perfect opportunity to work on some graphic design.
Here is some I did to show NP.
All was well and I made both of my flights to New Zealand/Au’s but when I arrived I noticed my kite sticking out of my bag, this wasn’t good. I guess it got snagged on something because there was a tear on the top and the stitching was wide open like a flower blooming on a spring morning. It’s as if the airlines have a vendetta against surf bags. No damage was done to my kites or boards so really it could have been way worse. I finally got to my hostel, The Sands hotel, in the Goldcoast at 11:30am on Friday morning on May 26th.
If you’ve ever watched any of the world surf league tour events then you’ve seen the beach break known as Snapper Rock, which is famous for its fast, shapely, usually hollow, long, consistent wave break which is located directly in Coolangata along side a few equally word class waves.
The swell was dying so we were able to sneak a couple of morning sessions before the wind switch on. I didn’t catch much waves and the crowds were thick so catching a good one was tricky.
However the water so clear here it made it all but with it. I knew it was blue water but the viability surpasses the Caribbean. Watching the sands churn under neither my feet was all the entertainment I needed. I wish I had brought my gopro on the first session but I didn’t knew what it was going to be like and I didn’t want to be that guy with the bright orange camera in his mouth just asking to be punch. Its all good though!
The hostel was better then I expected. The price was fair and the location you couldn’t beat being right on the main strip, walking distance to all the beach breaks. Everyone was really cool and I even made some friends I’ll keep in contact in the near and distant future. The upstairs wrap around balcony was unexpected and made for the perfect spot to do some sunrise breathing exercises and stretching. I knew my sleep schedule was going to be off so I took full advantage of easily waking up at 5am, which is a never for me at home.
This whole area is such a surf vibe that all the food shops were small, friendly, and full of creative health and not so healthy meals to fill you up after a long day on the water.
There are also tons of people up bright and early doing their morning runs before the work day. Perhaps that’s why all the cars stop almost to a fault when your trying to cross the street, even if your no where close to the corner.
After a couple of days filling my belly and getting adjusted to the 14 hour time difference it was time to head up the Gladstone to get aboard the Cabrinha Quest.
It was an all day bus leaving the Goldcoast at 8:30am landing me at the boat at midnight that night, so it was about 14 hours on a bus with basically no internet or power plugs to charge my computer. Yaaay! :/ …. Again, all is well.
It’s my first day on the boat and I’m settled in. The crew is really cool and I’m looking forward to setting sail Friday June 2nd. Internet is hard to come by so ill be going dark these up coming days
Stay tuned and I’ll keep you posted.
Cheers!
P.S. This post took me 3 weeks to post, I'm in the Sunshine Coast now!!