From Hawaii to the shores of Peru

Lire la traduction française.

For the past 24h, I’ve had the catchy surf rhythm of Brian Wilson and his gang in my head. Incidentally, did you know that only one of the Beach Boys actually surfed? What a bunch of posers... Not like us though, we are the real deal. We now know how to read the irregular patterns of oncoming waves and feel comfortable with 9 foot long boards under our feet. As of today, Stephanie and I are gnarly surfers!

Every morning, the local surf shop takes out a group of newbies and teaches them the ropes of how to handle the gigantic and awkward foam boards needed to ride the waves that constantly crash onto the 6km long beach of our local bay. I have to admit that at first, I was really not sure of how I would fare on one of these floating contraptions. From the beach, it looks so technical and physically demanding. First, you need to fight the first set of crashing surf and go beyond the zone of white water. Second, once you get to the area where the waves are forming, you need to paddle in at just the right moment; start too soon and you’ll tire out before the water starts to push you. Start too late and you miss the ride entirely. It was with great surprise that I managed to catch the very first wave (with a helping push from the instructor) and even more amazement, got up on the board and rode the surf for a good five seconds. What an incredible feeling! Of course, the next couple of tries were concluded in disastrous wipeouts, but before the morning was over, I was able to get a pretty constant success rate and even started playing a bit with the more intricate maneuvers of the boards (the ones that do not involve just standing on it and waiting for something to make you fall off). Stephanie also got the hang of it pretty quickly. She can read the wave pretty well and knows instinctively when to start paddling. We’re both hooked! Hang ten mate!

Last week, I stumbled upon a pretty interesting contest. It’s really poorly advertised so our chances are significantly better than for that “Best job in the World” thing they had last year. They are looking for a team of two people to travel Australia in a fully equipped camper van for six weeks, making a weekly video to document the adventure. Up for grabs are: Free gas, Free admission to all the local attractions and the Possibility to win 10,000$ at the end. To determine who the 7 teams that will participate in the adventure will be, all they ask for is a 2 minute video presenting ourselves in an original manner. The contest is called Van-Tastic and HERE is our entry. Watch it and tell us what you think before we upload it on the official website.

See HER view
See His and Hers Pictures
See His and Hers Video