On our return from the mountain we went for a little poker session, which was pretty lucky as it’s where we cought the news of an iminent Tsunami, right on the beaches where we were sleeping. We drove inland and spent the night in McDonalds car park near Nerang. It wasn’t necessary in the end, as a retreating tide reduced the Tsunami to nothing more than rough seas. Pretty fortunate for the hundreds of Aussies that went Tsunami swimming despite the lifeguards closing all the beaches.

After driving back to the coast we resumed our normal routine for a few days, making the aptly named Nobby Beach our home away from home. If we rose early enough for high tide, the surf was good, and not too busy, while the showers were always open and the BBQ’s sheltered from the rain. The locals didn’t seem to mind us living in the car park of their surf club, but it was a bit weird the couple of days when we slept in, to find stuff going on around the van when we woke up. One saturday we staggered out of the van into the middle of a girls lifesaving comp, and another day there was a school class coming in from their beach PE class.

Not wanting to outstay our welcome at Nobby’s, we decided it was time for our visit to Stradbroke Island. The Irish girls Ash met tubing in Loas were kind enough to provide us with a hot shower and floor to sleep on in Brisbane. They also showed us how they party Brisbane style, hitting a bar for a bit of an Irish sing along then dancing the night away in the Claxton. Bed time wasn’t until about 7, but I still woke early enough (about 11) to find everyone was already pounding the ciders. Without a shower, or even looking in a mirror we embarked on a Sunday session at the Normanby. Thankfully the girls were working the next day as I don’t know if I could have handled another morning drink.

We were going to smuggle one of us onto Stradbroke to avoid the passenger fees. Out of Ash and I, I was the obvious choice. We made the bed in the back of the van and I crawled into the tiny space underneath, were I stayed for about half an hour while we drove there and bought a ticket. Half an hour was enough. I crawled back out and decided to take the water taxi, which turned out to be a mere $17. $17 dollars well spent, as Stradbroke stood up the big billing Rick had given it. The surf was amazing, the beaches gorgeous, and the sun even shone for a while.

The waves were forecast up to 12 feet at main beach, and that would’ve been a bit to big to be out there by the rocks, even for experienced pros like us. We tried our luck there on the first afternoon, but spent most of our time at Cylinder beach. The big swell made the point break there awesome, and some surfers even drew a crowd one night. I’d like to say the crowd were there to watch us… but they definitely were not. A few local lads were also out there, and putting on a pretty good show. They were also kind enough to show us where it is possible to jump off the rocks, rather than paddling out to the waves. It was a little less safe, but far easier. We spent the next day risking life and limb every time we went out, just so we didn’t have to paddle a couple of hundred yards.

At one point I looked to the rocks and saw Ash pointing and doing some kind of dance. I figured he was either taking a break, or there were sharks near by. Either way, I ignored him and continued about my business. It turned out that a pod of dolphins were swimming just behind me. We did watch them from the rocks for a while, but I was gutted not to realise they were swimming about 20 yards away from me.

After Straddie we were back to Brisbane, mainly to try and sell the van, but it just so happened to be St Patrick’s Day. I would’ve been sweet to celebrate with our new Irish friends, but one was in hospital, and daytime drinking meant several were in bed before we even went out. It was a good night but it did not make for a successful van sale the next morning, so we headed back to the Gold Coast.

For some reason we took a break from Nobby Beach and slept in Broad Beach, where we experienced our run in with the local ranger. For the only time I have ever heard of, the ranger actually gave us a fine! $375 each! Apparently the council started a new initiative while we were away, and are clamping down on the poor van bums. I think it probably had something to do with big surf life saving comp that was going on, but was still unexpected. Every other time I’ve heard of someone being caught sleeping in a car or van they have simply been moved on, but our ranger had a council worker riding with him. The fine only matters if we want to register a vehicle in Queensland again, or ever plan to live there. Neither is going to happen, so the fines are staying unpaid. After the fine we decided to move around a bit. This was definitely a blessing in disguise, as we finally surfed the famous Snapper Rocks and experienced Burleigh Heads.

We sold our guitars and I got $70 for my surfboard at cash convertors, but we had failed several times to sell the van. Apparently backpackers all come over from Europe for their winter and buy vans, then all leave a few months later leaving a glut in the market for second hand campers. This meant our plan not to shave until we got rid of the van became increasingly challenging. It wasn’t until the evening before we were due to leave that we actually sold the rust bucket, and at a massively reduced price. But it was a relief, and it went to a nice german couple.

I said ‘due’ to leave, as the sale sparked a booze fueled casino night and hotel stay at the Conrad. When Ash swung by the reception on the way to bed he asked for a wake up call at half six, to which the receptionist replied:

“You know that’s in like forty minutes?”

We comfortably missed the one flight a day that leaves to New Zealand and only had one day left on our visas. We had another, similar night at the hotel, but this time managed to get out of bed on time. I made the flight today, but Ash had some visa issues, so is now a fugitive in Oz. I’m currently in Auckland on my lonesome hoping he doesn’t get deported back to the EU. Fingers crossed!