Surfing & Sunset

Sunday afternoon I drove to Cowaramup to meet Drew for a day of beers and surfing. We went for lunch at Cowaramup Brewery (http://www.cowaramupbrewing.com.au/) and sat outside at a picnic table in the sun, drinking beer and talking for a couple hours. Families and friends sat around picnic tables on the lawn while kids played and laughed on the playground behind me, everyone out enjoying a Sunday session. Sunday is one of the most popular days to go out for drinks in West Australia, which I think is pretty cool…one last bit of fun before going back to work Monday.The brewery was really nice, rustic but modern and the beers were good; I tried the Hefeweizen first and Drew had a Pilsner then we both had the India Pale Ale, all pretty tasty.It was really nice to just sit and relax but we finally decided to start our surfing adventure since it was already getting late in the afternoon. We drove down toward the beach and decided to stop at Clairault Winery just to fit in a wine tasting. We tried a few different wines which were good but the atmosphere felt kind of uptight and awkward in the empty sharply classy tasting room and the robotic attendant didn't make it anymore inviting, spitting out a phrase at us for each wine. But I've been there now, the wine was good. So we continued to the beach. Drew thought Honeycomb beach would have the smallest waves so hopefully I could get up on the surfboard. After struggling into a wetsuit we climbed over the sand dune and into the strong current of the waves. Drew's surfboard is apparently not a good one to learn on since it is pretty short and narrow and the waves ended up not being so good for surfing either. It was really fun though, I body boarded a few times and came pretty close to standing up but the waves kept dying too soon. It's funny, I almost felt invincible in that wetsuit, like I put on my superhero gear and was ready to fight some waves. My eyes were burning as the salty water crashed into my head every few seconds, it was hard fighting the current to walk out far enough to catch the waves. So much fun, I'm pretty sure I will be able to stand up next time I try or if I have a different board. After battling the waves for a little while we decided to move on in our tour. Drew used his tourguide voice to tell me about sites and scenery passing by out the window. It was getting later in the afternoon and we weren't sure what else would be open so we kept driving a little while looking for our next stop. Drew saw the sign for Canal Rocks and turned quickly, definitely the next stop especially since the sun would be setting soon. I left my flip flops by the car and climbed rocks that looked like playdough sculpted by fingers and wires. Drew said they look like Salvador Dali rocks, exactly. We climbed to a few different spots then walked over the narrow bridge, spotted some sneaky crabs and crawled under the bridge to check them out and also found swarms of mosquito larvae under the water's edge. The sun was setting quickly so I grabbed my camera and took two shots as the sun sunk into the ocean and the sky exploded into pinks and blues. The next fifteen minutes was a kaleidoscope of changing colors and shapes streaking the sky, pink and orange deepened to purple and blue, seagulls soared over the rocks in the distance as the thin fingernail moon appeared out of the blue, gleaming white in the tie dye sky. It was probably one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen but Drew told me that the sunsets in New Zealand are even more incredible so I definitely have to go there. The mosquitoes began their evening feast as the sky shifted to darkness so we hopped back into Drew's car and tried to decide what to do next. Drew suggested something that involved sitting but he was determined to think of something good since he really wanted to beat Melia's tour a few days ago. We drove into Busselton which was dead of course except for two or three restaurants so we sat at Vasse Pub for awhile, eating and talking. It was a really good day and Drew promised to finish my tour another weekend…I still had to learn to surf and maybe we would check out the caves or Augusta next time. I'm so glad I am finally seeing the amazing sites of west Australia, and it doesn't hurt to have some pretty good tour guides.