At the carwash, a Winter in Yamba, “On the Goon”, Shane’s $10 Tour

1/12/2010 to 5/12/2010

Finally it was time to leave Coffs Harbour, really not soon enough.  Most of the week there was spent watching movies in the hostel, though the last two days were pretty fun; between walking in the rainforest and taking the hostel’s free canoes down the creek and into the surf (flipping the boat in the process), it still couldn’t make up for the lack of activities the town had to offer. 

I woke up around 8am and packed my things, not worrying about waking anyone since the Swedish blueberry pickers had already done that at 6.  I could hear it raining outside, but made no mind since I just wanted to get out of town…until I made it to the parking lot.  It was coming down in SHEETS.  I quickly put my left-hand pannier back on the bike (it’s getting harder and harder to take off / put on, will need to look into why) and ran back to dry ground.  It took another half our or so for the rain to subside enough for me to pack my roll bag and make the soggy journey northwards.  First though, I stopped by the local McDonalds for breakfast and free WiFi of course – and ended up staying for a few hours since the rain was getting lighter and lighter, and there was no point in riding in a downpour.

I finally moved on around noon, and decided to take the scenic route once more.  Bad idea…since it seemed that all the rain that had passed over Coffs Harbour just went inland, along the route I wanted to take.  About halfway to Grafton (next big town), I just decided to bag the scenic route and took the first sign back to the Pacific Highway.  Another bad idea…it should have been indication enough that I had to zoom all the way into my GPS to even see the road that it wasn’t paved at all.  At the time I didn’t really care, but about 30mins and less than 15km down the road, I realized that riding in loose gravel / slippery mud really isn’t that fun on a heavily-laden bike.  I finally made it back to the highway (rain still very much in tow), and on my way to Grafton.  I stopped there for an hour or two, to upload Coffs pictures and blog entry, and also to dry off.  It seems that my wax jacket isn’t as waterproof as I had thought it to be.  Somewhere down the road I’ll see what I can do to waterproof it again.

Well, it really didn’t stop raining the entire way from Coffs to Yamba, but I finally got to the hostel around 3pm.  And what a difference!  The hostel here was purpose built, about two years ago, and you can tell it’s almost brand new.  If there weren’t bunk beds, dormitory rooms, and shared bathrooms down the hall, you’d think it’s a pretty respectable hotel…in that things actually work, there are nice fixtures everywhere, paint is not fading / cracking.  It even has a rooftop terrace and a hot tub on the third floor balcony, and there was a café / restaurant / ice cream joint in the first floor (which had a good mix of locals and backpackers at all times).

So to step back and describe Yamba…it’s a town of about 5,000, though population can triple during holiday season.  Weather in winter is usually 25°C and sunny, in summer it’s 30°C and sunny.  Just five minutes down the road it the world’s 10th best surfing wave, the founder of Billabong grew up here and has a $25m “vacation” home here, and so do a lot of pro surfers.  It has nice boutique shops and restaurants catering to local and tourist tastes.  Most importantly, it has an unrushed, laid back, and friendly vibe to it; all the locals know each other by name, and they know the vacationers who call Yamba their second home alike.  But at the same time it’s not built up at all, the local council has pretty much blocked any further development of land, and it’s unpretentious / not commercialized.  So you can understand why it was named the best town in Australia a few years back…which didn’t hurt property prices (I’m told certain places selling for $300k a few years back now go for $2.5m with little additional development – also meaning developers have stopped looking to Yamba to build).  Clearly weekly rent can be pretty expensive as far as vacation places go, but it’s very nice nonetheless.  As a side, I’d like to be the guy who determines which town in Australia is “the best” so I can invest ahead of time.

Unfortunately, I happened to arrive in Yamba during winter weather…25°C, but even worse, cloudy and rainy.  The entire east coast of Australia has been getting hammered by rain over the past few weeks – it’s not necessarily a bad thing though, as the country is in a persistent state of drought, so filling the dams is always a good thing.  Otherwise it’s back to not being able to water your lawn, no washing your cars, and two minute showers!  The rain, or at least the cloud cover, lasted the entire week, which is why there aren’t any pictures in this post – light was too flat to take anything interesting.

Anyhow, the week was pretty laid back…I picked up the replacement Spot GPS tracker along with more dry bags and some bandanas (thanks mom) from the post office on day 2.  It took about 5 minutes to set up the tracker and confirm the first ping, so it’s working.  I spent a few hours working on the blog, setting up the “Where am I?” page, and updating the photo gallery as well.  It’s nice that I’m finally putting the blog together three weeks into my trip…I’ll keep tweaking things along the way until I’m happy with the layout and content, so keep visiting!

Whereas most of the backpackers up until now had been German, in Yamba we had Scandinavians.  Load of ‘em.  Sure, there were a couple of Germans (literally two), and some French / French Canadians, but the majority of people staying there were from Sweden, Norway, or Denmark.  And it’s not like they were staying there for a couple of days and moving on…I think on average the Scandis had been there for two weeks, with some having been there for months!  Scandinavians are always pretty interesting folks, they get their drink on pretty well, and are generally fun to be around.  One of them was the young Swedish version of Ellen Degeneres.  Absolutely everything (everything!) reminded me of her…from facial features, to haircut, to mannerisms, to goofy booty-wiggle dancing.

Later on in the week, together with Judd (Welsh guy whom I’d met in Coffs Harbour) and the rest of the backpackers, we “went on the goon”.  For the uninitiated, goon (or plonk) is the cheapest of the cheap boxed wine.  Cheap as get out, way too sweet, and gets you drunk.  It is the favorite amongst the backpackers due to its inherently high alcohol volume to price ratio.  That’s about all it has going for it.  It’s also known for giving some of the worst hangovers known to man (next to HEB/Wal-Mart jug sangria), and being the catalyst for many a poor life decision.

Also a highlight – actually the highlight – of Yamba, was Shane’s $10 Tour.  Shane was one of the owners of the hostel, along with his parents.  It was his idea to build the place after a couple of property deals fell through around the time Yamba was named the best town in Australia.  So, next best thing for him was to attract all the on-the-cheap surfing enthusiasts to his hometown.  And he’s done a fantastic job.  Beyond the great hostel, he is the most engaged hostel owner I’ve ever met (actually, the only hostel owner I’ve ever met), and an absolute asset to the Yamba YHA.  Beyond giving tours, he mans the reception desk, the café’s bar, serves as waitstaff when needed, organizes surf tours three days out of the week, and during the rest has lawn bowling and yacht racing events.  He’s really helped to created a close-knit family environment at the hostel.  Anyway, back to the tour…Come noon, about 10 of us pile into Shane’s van, and he takes us around town.  He shows us the regular sights: the several local beaches within walking distance, the multi-million dollar non-waterfront vacation homes, and the multi-multi-multi-million dollar waterfront ones as well.  We then head to the lighthouse for pictures, and then to the harbor for pelican feeding.  These pelicans were as big as the ones you see in south Florida.  And we were feeding them by hand.  Pretty fun stuff, but chaotic.  Next stop, a place called Angourie Point.  Angourie is where the owner of Billabong has his $25m house, and it’s also where the world’s 10th best wave is to be found.  After showing us the point, and driving us past Mr. Billabong’s house (who is also known to walk around town, meet up with the tour and anonymously chat with the backpackers, he’s that laid back), we went cliff jumping about 50ft from the coast in a former quarry.  Apparently quarry workers dug deep enough to hit the water table and flooded all their work…oh well, but made for great swimming and jumping from 30-40 feet up!  On the way back, jokester that Shane is (late 30s going on 15), he fooled us all into thinking there was a venomous snake in a small rock crevice, and he dived in to trap it and show it to us.  Of course, it was just a big rubber snake, but he scared the crap out of most of the group when he threw it out at us!

Unfortunately my time in Yamba came to an end too quickly, and with the worst of weather (though it wasn’t that bad).  I think if I weren’t on my tour around Australia I could have easily become one of those Scandinavians who has been there for months on end, continually extending their stays.  I’m sure I’ll be back though!