Cruisin’ through New Zealand’s North Island

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Noel

In sharp contrast to New Zealand’s South Island, the North Island is far less rugged and quite a lot busier. We left the South Island at 10:30am and arrived in Wellington at about 1:30pm. Seeing as the ferry dropped us off right in the centre of town we decided to stop for a quick look around. Josi was thinking that it might be nice to treat ourself to a real bed for a night, rather than sleeping in the van again, but after a few hours of walking around we both decided that we had seen enough. Wellington has some cool shops and plenty of great coffee shops. I’m not sure what it is, but Australia and New Zealand have the best coffee per capita out of anywhere I have ever traveled. After buying a merino wool first layer shirt that I had been considering buying for the better part of this trip, and a great cup of coffee, it was time to hit the open road.

Rather than finding a camping spot as soon as it starts to get dark like we usually do, we chose to keep driving into the night. The main reason being that we have been listening to the audio book, Think and Grow Rich, the 21st Century Edition. I had brought the book on this trip and rather than reading like I normally do, I have been spending my evenings catching up on emails and work. For anyone who spends a lot of time in their car, and has dreams of greatness, I highly recommend that you get this audio book. Josi and I have been fully getting into it, working our way through the many thought inspiring questions it asks. It’s been great because instead of just reading a book like this and putting it down, we are committed to actually working our way through it and incorporating it into our daily life. Apparently the key to really getting this book is to read it 3 times in a row. I have listened to it 1.5 times and I’m loving it. I have to thank Darrell Kopke, Chip Wilson, Glen Taylor and all of my other business mentors for their recommendations on great books to help with my life and career.

Noel Fox

I have been reading about an abundance of great fly fishing in New Zealand so I was really looking forward to checking it out. Being that it’s almost their winter, the South Island’s fishing season had all but come to an end. In the North Island though, reports from Turangi, a small town on the edge of lake Taupo, was calling for good fishing. We arrived late at night and pulled into a small park close to a river to get our bearings. It was here that I noticed a fly fisherman getting his gear ready to go fishing. I was surprised that he was fishing in the night so I pulled up to talk to him, but I think that I must have startled him because he only seemed to speak Russian and didn’t seem to know what was going on. I figured he was fishing illegally because it was night time, but in talking to the guys at the fly shop the next morning they told us that it’s OK to fish up until midnight. I talked to the guys from the shop for quite a while and they were really helpful. They told me that the big trout in the rivers this time of year are actually steelhead that were introduced many years ago from California. Lake Taupo acts like their ocean and the rivers in this area are their spawning grounds. The fishing had been really good, but the river was a little low and had slowed down a little.

The fishing style here is very different then back in Canada in that they use a floating line with about 13 feet of non tapered 6lb test line tied to a larger beaded nymph with a barbed hook. Then, from that hook, they tie another smaller nymph about 12 inches away. I talked to the guy in the shop about how in Canada we only use barbless hooks in the rivers and how I liked it way better. He told me that their local fisheries office thinks that barbs on the hooks actually makes it better for the fish’s chances of survival because it acts like a anchor and doesn’t move around as much. I told him that in my experience I see way less injured fish when using barbless and that’s it’s the only way to go in my books. Right where the fly line attaches to the mono they use a bright mono indicator which is needed because they cast upstream so there is never any real tension from your hooks to the line. By the time I left the shop I had spent $80 on flies and a licence, luckily they lent me insulated waders for free which came in super handy because the river was really cold. Rather than learning a new casting technique I decided to start with what I know casting a sinking line with a olive wooly bugger which I had been told also works well. It wasn’t busy, but there were other people fishing which got my hopes up. After a few hours of having no real bites and seeing no one else catching either we packed up and drove down river to have lunch and fish some more. Everyone at this spot was fishing with the double hook and using the casting up river technique. It looked easy enough so I tried it as well and it turned out to be easier than I thought. This said, no one was catching fish at this spot either, regardless of fishing style. We tried one more spot that’s known to be popular and once again got skunked. The plan was to stay and fish for a few days, but because the fishing was so slow and there was no rain in the forecast, which was needed to bring new fish into the system, we decided to head out. Had we saw fish being caught I’m sure that I would have stayed until I caught a few. For someone who loves fishing as much as I do, I really don’t love getting skunked.

The upside to our leaving early is that we got to the little town of Raglan sooner than expected. For some reason I had always thought that Raglan was in the far north of New Zealand, but it’s really central which worked out perfectly with our schedule. Out of all of the places that we visited in New Zealand, Raglan is the one place that I could imagine myself spending some time. It’s a super cute little surfing town with really nice people and a few great restaurants. When you drive down the hill toward the main point you have the most amazing view of the world famous point break. The waves were less than epic, but there were still lots of people out and a few good rides were being caught. I hadn’t brought my shorty because I knew the water here was way too cold and I figured that if the waves were epic I would rent a wetsuit. Josi and I watched for a long time and after much consideration I decided that it wasn’t worth the drive back into town to get a pee’ed in rental wetsuit. At the time I was thinking to myself that in a few days I was going to be surfing perfect point breaking waves in the tropical warm waters of Tahiti. In retrospect I wish I had even just bare balled it and caught one wave in my board shorts.

Our next stop was the city of Auckland where we treated ourself to a fancy hotel right downtown for two nights. The weather was less than perfect, but we still ventured out on the town. We walked through all of the hip and cool areas of town and treated ourself to a really great steak dinner on our last night.

While New Zealand is a wonderful country we are excited to be trading it’s cold Fall weather for the sunny warm beaches of Tahiti.

: Noel Fox

Posted in Adventure, Fishing, Photography, Surfing, Travel, Wildlife
Country: New Zealand

New Zealand’s Cool by Design

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Noel

Being a designer at heart, it was super cool to check out the design scene in New Zealand. To my surprise they are willing to take more risks in their main stream markets then we do in North America. As seen in many of the pics attached to this link, a lot of the food with premium placement at the super markets are far edgier then what we often see back home. Some of the designs featured below are because I like them, others because they are out there and others, like the spotted dog, because I just don’t get it. Good, bad and awesome, I hope you enjoy them all.

Being on the road and in so many wonderful locations I find that I’m always seeing things that I may not see otherwise. When I go home I’m looking forward to seeing Vancouver with an explorers eyes.

Posted in Design
Country: New Zealand

Road Trippin’ in New Zealand’s South Island

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Noel

It was really cool to wake up in New Zealand to a beautiful sunny day overlooking the lake and snow capped mountains in the small ski town of Queenstown. Our B&B was perfectly situated only a few blocks from where we picked up our Toyota Hiace camper van. As far as renting a vehicle, it was definitely the best $35/ day I have ever spent. It came complete with a fridge, fold down bed, kitchen table, lots of storage space, bedding, towels, dishes, stove, you name it. Additionally, for only $116 NZD for 15 days we rented a GPS and a electric heater. Having a GPS is a God send, and given that it was so dam cold, the heater was well worth it. Josi and I have always talked about possibly getting a 4×4 camper van so I was stoked to have the opportunity to see what it was all about for two whole weeks. At some point we will be getting one for sure!

We had been told to expect some chilly weather in New Zealand as we were running into their fall so it shouldn’t have been such a surprise to us that it was so dam cold. On our first day Josi bought a warm puffy jacket and wool mitts, and I bought a few pair of wool socks, a merino wool sweater and a toque. For our international friends reading this blog, if you don’t know what a toque is, it’s the proper name for a wool beanie. Warm clothes all on we were ready to tackle driving on the wrong side of the road in what’s sure to be another epic adventure.

Our first stop was Queenstown which is a super cute little ski town with lots of shops catering to those who didn’t dress appropriately which came in super handy. We checked out the shops, had a few great meals, but didn’t get to snowboard as it was too early in the season.

The South Island of New Zealand is the perfect place to practice driving on the right side of the road because there isn’t anyone on the highways this time of year. We started by driving south to Milford Sound which was a great drive. Towering mountains, lots and lots of sheep, and to my surprise, lots of deer farming. And not small dear like I saw growing up on Vancouver Island, but huge big ones that look more like small elks. It was really cool to see. The funny thing with the deer is that even though they were raised on farms, they still act exactly like wild deer. When you drive by, the entire heard of over a hundred will all freeze and look at you. If you stop on the side of the road, they will all run. I liked seeing them, and at the same time I kept wishing I was seeing them in the wild rather than fenced up.

Living in the van was super cool, and after a while you long for a nice bouncy bed with a warm toilet in the next room. We had a chemical toilet, but we chose to not use it, preferring the bushes when driving and at the camp sites at night. It seemed a better option to cleaning it when we were finished. For places to park, you can either stay in camp sites for $6/ person a night, or in a motor park which means showers, kitchen facilities and most importantly, power. Power = Heater Works. We camped without power a few times, but for the most part we opted for the warmth.

From what I have seen thus far, New Zealand is like a mix of small town British Columbia combined with the East Cost of Canada. The people all dress very casual, their cars are practical and everyone seems like good and friendly small town folks.

When we drove up to the top of the south island we chose to follow the coast highway along the West Coast. There are lots of cool things to see along the way, including glaciers, walks and twisty roads that wind along steep cliffs over looking the ocean. There wasn’t much in the way of swell coming through so we didn’t do any surfing. Once we got to the northern part of the South Island the weather had turned on us and it was cold and wet so rather than tour around to wineries and such, we chose to book our ferry to the North Island a few days early in hopes of finding some great fly fishing.

Posted in Adventure, Photography, Travel, Wildlife
Country: New Zealand

On the road in New Zealand

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Josi

Leaving Australia early in the morning, it didn’t even occur to us to check our flight status and it’s only when we made it to the airport that we were informed that our flight was delayed because of the heavy fog in Christchurch. At that point, they weren’t even sure if we could fly at all as they indicated that the flight was delayed with no real estimated departure time. Noel and I just kicked back for a while at the airport drinking some overpriced coffee until they announced that we would finally fly around mid day meaning that we would most likely miss our connection flight to Queenstown. Not to worry they said, someone would have a plan once we made it to Christchurch. The plan was to fly us from Christchurch to Invercargill which is the most southern town in New Zealand. From there they put us in a van and drove us for 3 hours to Queenstown. What a journey! When we finally made it to our B&B that night, our heads were still spinning.

After being in tropical places for the last 5 months, waking up in Queenstown was like stepping into an industrial freezer, which we did in Australia when we visited our friend Andrew’s refrigerated storage business. When Andrew invited Noel and I to take a tour of his massive refrigerated installations, I only took one step inside before I decided to turn around to wait outside until they returned. My toes instantly curled into a ball and my feet were cramped. That’s about how I felt when I woke up that morning in Queenstown. I thought it was nice and romantic that we had a stove right next to the bed, but it turns out to be an absolute necessity, rather than a mood setter. A funny thing that we noticed is that most houses here in New Zealand are not insulated the way houses are in Canada and most of them don’t have central heating systems. Suddenly, wearing pants, socks and shoes became a necessity. I even purchased a puffy jacket & gloves. Luckily I asked Orb to send me a toque with my last shipment of clothes which has come in super handy.

Queenstown is a gorgeous little ski town right on a lake and surrounded by stunning mountains. The ski season hasn’t started yet, but you can tell that this little town becomes quite busy during peak season. I would love to return in the Winter time to snowboard and see how it compares to Whistler.

Picking up our van from the rental place was fast and easy and for about $35/day, we got this sweet camperized van that has everything you need for a great road trip. It comes with a mini fridge, a sink, a mini gas stove, dish ware, cookware, a double bed, bedding, nice little benches to hang out and a kitchen table that folds down to unveil a map on the wall to help you plan your route. The only extra things that we requested were a GPS and a mini heater since I am always cold! We loaded up our two suitcases and our surfboard bag and off we went exploring.

Not too far from Queenstown, there is a super cute old mining town called Arrowtown that we stopped by for a nice lunch. The next day we headed out toward Milford Sound, making it as far as Te Anau where we spent a chilly night sleeping in the van. Even the little heater didn’t quite keep us warm that night. The next day we drove from Te Anau to Milford Sound which to me is the most stunning drive on the South Island. The sun started to shine amplifying the Fall colours and making for great photos along the way. We stopped at the Divide to hike part of the Routeburn Track leading us to a great view point of the Valley. I would have loved to do the whole track which takes about 3-4 days, but unfortunately it was really cold and we didn’t have the necessary camping gear for such conditions. I really don’t like being cold!

Not to far past the Divide, we came to a long one way tunnel that goes under a huge mountain. When the light went green we drove into this cold rocky hole that’s blasted through the mountain. I was a bit scared at first because instead of going straight, it winds and turns left and right. I was wondering when we would finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! A few minutes later we came out on the other side and witnessed even more amazing views all the way to Milford Sound. There is something hard to describe about being in the mountains where the sun filters it’s way in a multitude of layers as it shines through the fog and bounces off the sides of the mountains creating this mysterious and magnificent scenery.

The only down side about going all the way to Milford Sound is that you have to back track all the way to Queenstown in order to go North along the coastal highway along the West Coast of Southern New Zealand.

Snacks, coffee and singing should entertain us for a while!

Posted in Adventure, Flights, Travel
Country: New Zealand

The Dream Continues – Byron Bay

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Noel

There is something magical about surf towns the world over. Byron Bay is one of the more specials such towns for me as it has everything a surfer is looking for including great waves, tasty cafe’s and cool people. The lack of photos I took in Byron, and in this post, is a testament to how much surfing I did.

Going to Byron for only eight days I knew that we weren’t guaranteed waves. Even the extended wave reports weren’t offering much hope, but we paid for the trip so we are here. Turns out that we got lucky because even though the reports weren’t so good, we managed to have really fun waves for all eight days! Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t catch it on a day when legends are made with the outer point barrelling all of the way into the bay, but still, there were lots of really fun waves to be had. Best of all was the the water is warm enough that you don’t need a wetsuit unless it’s a cloudy and even then, a shorty is more than enough to keep me warm.

When we first got to our hotel I was bummed because I thought that we had booked a place way closer to the point, but it turned out it was pretty great regardless. The point was an easy 15 minute walk down the beach and right out front was a really great and pitchy wave that breaks off of an old ship wreck that’s still sticking up out of the ocean. The crowds out front aren’t too bad and the vibe in the water is super chill.

The famous point break is a right hander that peaks off of a rocky point and peals over a beautiful sandy bottom right into the bay. When it’s working it peals all the way though and must be about a 300m ride. On smaller days it’s still a long wave, but it tends to section which allows people to line up all the way along the bay making for lots of waves for everyone. It’s a super crowded wave, but if you are willing to sit outside of the main peak there are lots of waves to go around.

Most days Josi and I walk down the the point and I surf closer to the rocks where it’s a bit bigger and Josi hangs on the inside and catches the smaller waves. Then on the way back to our hotel I go for a surf at the ship wreck which is a much shorter ride, but it pitches both right and left and is heaps of fun.

The beauty of the set up in Byron is that there are surf beaches that point in all directions which pick up most swells. Yes, the point is epic, but even the beach breaks right out front of town spit up super hollow and are loads of fun. I rode into of a lot more barrels then I made it out of, but I did manage to ride out of my first back side barrel which was super cool. When the water is warm and the bottom is sand, you feel fearless and tuck into everything, even if you know you aren’t going to make it out. Of course the camera never comes out when the waves are the best, but Josi was nice enough to take a few snap a few shots.

On top of the great waves Byron Bay offers lots of really great restaurants, cool people, and super chill vibe which is always great. I even managed to catch up and go for a surf with my old friend Alvin who came to visit Byron in 1996 and never came back to Vancouver. He is basically living the dream because his work is flexible enough that if the swell is great he can surf, and his wife and two kids love to surf as well so he logs lots of water time.

Our next stop is New Zealand which is going to be fun. We have rented a camper van at the bottom of the South Island and we are driving up to the North Island. I have been told that the water is freezing cold, but if we find some perfect waves I’m going to brave it in my shorty for sure. In the very least, I’m looking forward to getting in some fly fishing which I know I will do regardless of the swell.

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Food, Surfing, Travel | Tagged Byron Bay, Foxy and the Fox, Noel Fox, Surfing
Country: Australia

Loving life Down Under

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Josi

Having lived in Whistler for 5 years, a good half of the friends I made are Australians, some of them still living in Whistler and some now back here in Australia. All of them without exception, told me how awesome Australia is so I was super excited to finally come and check it out. Funny enough two friends who I met through Pro Ride Snowboard Camps and who I really wanted to visit happen to live in Manly where we had planned to stay. To my surprise, Manly turned out to be like the Whistler of Sydney, no wonder why my friends choose to live there! It’s really the perfect place as you get the peace and quiet of a smaller beach town with good surf, and you are only a quick ferry ride away from downtown Sydney.

Noel and I were amazed by how nice everyone is here and by the warmth and hospitality that our friends showed us. Between camping with Andrew, Nick and their families, eating out with Chris and touring around and surfing with Stephen, the week we had planned in Sydney flew by way to fast! Meeting with Noel’s long time friend Juliet in Melbourne was also great as we had time to get a nice mix between the city and the surrounding beaches. It’s rare that you can visit a foreign country and meet up with an existing circle of friends. I somehow knew that I would love Australia, but I didn’t think that I would love as much as I do!

Besides seeing kangaroos for the first time, another highlight of the trip was when Andrew introduced us to Tim Tams! Man Oh Man are they good. I usually don’t eat these kind of cookies or super sweet treats, but the outdoors inspired me to dig in and give it a try. I was hooked after the first bite. I was in chocolate trance when the words came out of my mouth “Tim Tams are romantic!”. I have no idea why I said that, but I do hope that they use it for their next ad campaign, because they are truly like a kiss from heaven. I will have to bring a few packs back to Canada.

After some great times with friends in Sydney and Melbourne, we jumped on a plane for Byron Bay. Rolling into such a cool little surf town, and seeing all the beaches along the way, I knew that we would have a great time here. Byron is super cute and surfy which I loved. It’s also a bit on the weirder side of hippy which I wasn’t totally into, but Noel had warned me so it didn’t come as a surprise. You see a lot of legitimate hippies around town, but you also see a lot of self made young hippies, basically a bunch of young kids who have spent more than their share of fun tickets and who probably have a well-off family somewhere waiting for them back home.

I absolutely fell in love with Byron and the whole beach surf lifestyle that Australia has going on. I already pictured all the different sizes and colours of boards that I would have if I lived here! Seriously, the lifestyle here is great and I’m impressed by how food conscious the restaurants are here compared to back in Canada. Most of them serve organic food and they almost all offer really great gluten free and vegan options. Even the grocery stores offer a much wider variety of health food than back home. One more reason why I love Australia so much! After 3 weeks here, I am a bit sad to leave, but knowing that we are coming back for a couple of days after Tahiti and prior to flying back home in June, makes it much better.

After an amazing stay with friends and some great surfing, we are now heading to New Zealand where a camper van is waiting for us to hit the open road. Luckily Noel is a good driver because there is no way I would want to be driving a camper van on the wrong side of the road for two weeks!

Posted in Adventure, Food, Surfing
Country: Australia

Melbourne and Beyond

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Noel

Seeing as we are in Australia for only 3 weeks we almost left Melbourne off of the list. Luckily for us my long time friend Juliet and her son Ben were keen on having us come to visit so we jumped on a plane and flew down. When I lived in Australia way back when, I likely may have chosen to live in Melbourne over Sydney had it not been so far from the surf.

It’s great here because there’s a cool mix of European architecture and fashion mixed with a casual Australian vibe. Lots of great cafes, trendy boutiques, free museums, cool street art, easy to use train system and really friendly people. Juliet and Ben live in a trendy community called Yarraville which is just outside of the downtown core. While Juliet was at work Josi and I had fun eating out at cool cafes, shopping in the neighbourhood and exploring the city and taking photos for Orb Clothing. I find taking photos for Orb when we go to a new city I get to see it differently that I would otherwise. Cool buildings, interesting textures, light, street art all come to life in ways I might not otherwise have noticed.

One of the things I have noticed about Australia is that their packaging tends to be far cooler than it is in Canada. Everything from beer to yogurt mostly all have edgy and hip creative elements to them. It’s almost as though all of the old guys who create boring packaging here have died and that all of the young hip kids making cool art are running the show. Another campaign that’s super prominent at the moment is Dumb Ways to Die. It’s promoting stain safety and everyone from kids to their parents are singing the song. It’s print creative is quite fun as well.

After a few days in the city Juliet took us to Wilsons Prom, which is a national park on the open ocean to the east of Melbourne. We stayed at her friends cabin and had lots of fun exploring the park’s rugged coast, as well as chilling at the cabin. We also managed to have a great day of uncrowded cold water surfing. The waves were overhead and the winds were hard off shore which made for lots of fun and uncrowded waves. I surfed until I couldn’t feel my feet and then had to come in. I was impressed with Josi as she managed to surf for as long as I did and she did great.

Unfortunately our time in Melbourne was a bit rushed and we didn’t get to see too much, but we still had a great time. We are super stoked because we are going up to surf the warm waters of Byron Bay for 8 days.

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Design, Photography, Surfing, Travel
Country: Australia

Good Living in Sydney Australia

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Noel

Coming back to Sydney was like coming home for me. Between 1995 and 1996 I spent a year living in Australia with Mike Cowie, Foozeball Dave and my brother Jed. We were young and mostly what I remember doing was surfing and skateboarding. I spent most of my time in the little beach community called Manly which is just north and a short ferry ride from Sydney’s downtown. It’s a mix between Vancouver and San Diego in that the vibe is super chill and everyone is really nice, the upside being that there are no junkies or bums asking for change here in Manly. Living in Vancouver, Kits to be specific, I guess I have become somewhat used to the sketchy drugged out dudes asking for change every time I go to Whole Foods to pick up groceries. 20 years ago this was never a problem in Canada. North American society, specifically me I guess, is becoming desensitized and such things have become the norm. What happened to people’s values and self respect that such things are accepted as normal?

The beachside community of Manly, and from what we have seen of Sydney, is somewhat void of such things. Much like Kits, everyone is super fit, stylish, happy and are loving life. The culture somewhat revolves around the surf and all of the healthy living that goes with being by the ocean. Cafes line the beach front and every second person is carrying a surfboard, riding skateboards, or riding bikes. The waves out front are somewhat crowded, but even I was able to get more waves as I could count on the best of the 7 days that we were here. Some of the surfers were only wearing board shorts, but I was happy to have a shorty as the water was a little cool due to it being fall now. To my surprise, the waves were really great with lots of overhead peaks firing down the line. I had a blast!

Best of all is that the day after we arrived my good friends Andy and Nick, who I knew from when I worked at Manly Blades, took us camping about 4 hours south of Sydney. The plan was to surf heaps, but a massive storm that dumped 200mm of rain in 24 hours made the surf less than perfect. It was so great connecting with them and meeting their new families. Even though it has been 17 years since I have seen them, it was like we had been hanging out non stop without missing a beat.

We camped at a small beach community called North Durras and the place was teaming with Kangaroos. They were absolutely everywhere and it was pretty cool to see them bouncing all over the place. It wouldn’t be Australia without a spider or snake story. While camping there was a HUGE Huntsman spider about a foot from my head. Josi spotted it and screamed and I jumped. Andy told me that it was a “friendly” spider and that it is Ok to pick it up. He hinted a few times that I should, but I thought skip that, I can’t stand spiders! The next day he tells me that one of the same spiders bit his daughter not too long ago and he decided not to send her to school that day to keep an eye on her. Apparently it’s only poisonous if you react funny to it and regardless they can pack a mean bite. My rule of thumb, never pick up a spider. Luckily it didn’t rain the whole time and we were able to enjoy a big open flame BBQ and lots of stories by the fire.

Back in Manly, we stayed at a little guest house/hotel a couple of blocks from where I used to work and a half block from the beach. I loved living here because I was able to fit surfing into my daily routine. The pic above is Andrew catching a early morning wave just before we went for breakfast.

We toured Sydney and some of it’s many beaches with Josi’s friend Stephen, who lives in Manly as well. He is a member of the Manly LIfesaving Club and prefers to surf on a lifesaving board. It’s big and he rides it on his knees and to my surprise he was able to control it pretty efficiently. When we fly out to New Zealand Steven has offered for us to stay at this house right on the beach which is really great.

It was also really great to catch up with Bill and his wife Barb. Bill was my my boss when I worked here at Manly Blades (now called Skater HQ), and it was such a great place to work. Bill was great because he was good with business, and a the same time super laid back and all good times. We also connected with Josi’s Ausi friend Chris from back in Whistler who also lives in Manly. So many friends are now living in the same area!

On one of the days without much surf we took the harbour ferry into the city. SItting on deck and and seeing the famous Sydney Opera House from the water with the city skyline behind it is always a cool sight. We checked out the Museum of Art, which is free, and the art exhibits were all really great. We also had fun passing the time by taking photos for Orb Clothing. Had we had more time here we would have liked to check out a lot more of the sights, but on this trip surfing took priority and we made the most of it.

While there aren’t many, the few downsides to Australia are the distance from home back in Canada and the cost of living. Eating out and buying groceries seems to be about 35% higher than Vancouver. Real estate in the most desirable beach side locations is also hyper inflated. I guess if you are living and working here you don’t notice it as much as we do being tourists. It doesn’t help that we just came from Bali where things are so crazy cheep.

The upsides here in Australia far outweigh the cost of living that’s for sure. It’s nice here because when walking down the street people smile at you and say “good day” and the overall vibe is super friendly. There are loads of cool cafe’s and shops and the surf is right there. I could easily move back to Australia as it’s such good living and to my surprise, Josi totally loves it here as well.