Australia

Fifteen long hours later (thirteen hours on cement road and two hours on the gnarliest dirt track I have been on in a long time), we arrived at our destination, a small, remote campsite with little vegetation and infrastructure, but an ocean view that even the best Hilton hotel would be envious of.

Exhausted, but excited about the sizeable left hand point break reeling off before our eyes with a fresh side offshore wind blowing across it, we fumbled through our bags to find the necessary tools to get to work! Within minutes we were all out there getting our first dose of Indian Ocean magic. Unfortunately for me, the day before leaving Maui I managed to injure my ankle in a car crash, and sailing on it proved futile, for now anyway. It was going to be a waiting game for me and an extreme test of patience!

However, the rest of the guys managed to get a few waves before the sun dropped below the horizon, dogging the boils on the waves caused by the increasingly shallow reef on the dropping tide.

By dark we had our little 'base camp' organised, with two motor homes and two tents surrounding the extremely enticing camp fire. Although it was warm during the day, by night the temperature dropped dramatically, as we were in the Southern Hemisphere and August does mark the end of the winter. I don't want to be a wimp, but my thin single sleeping bag in the un-insulated tent was just not cutting it for me and I dreamt of a warm shower and seeing the sunrise the next day! That was to be it for the sailing for the next few days, as we amused ourselves with other pursuits in the dramatically beautiful aquatic playground that had now become our backyard.

Although I was pretty much relegated to spectator status, by all accounts and from what I saw, the surfing was great and extremely testing. The incredibly fast left hander breaking over the virtually dry reef provided some exhilarating and long

rides, as our other friend and travelling companion from Hawaii, Kohl, together with the hot local surfers were absolutely ripping. Fishing was the other focus, as Scott Carvill, Bjorn and Kohl were hyped up for the ultimate rivalry to come back with the biggest fish! The first evening was to be Scott's, as despite taking 2 hours to make the boat trip back from the dive spot in pitch black through the shallow reef passes, dangerously low on fuel, Scott managed to pull in a massive Spanish Mackerel, amongst other good sized fish. Dinner proved to be a feast, with fish steaks all-round and a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red Label!