South from Sydney
Our first stop south of Sydney was Lake Conjola .It just so happens that Lake Conjola is right in front of Green Island, an iconic south coast wave that has a long reeling left hander. If you score it on a good day, rides can go for a couple of hundred metres.
The first and only time I have received any sort of vibe about what craft I surf was the first stop, 150kms from my house and in my home state, just before heading out to Green Island a bloke in the carpark upon seeing me take my SUP off the roof began a tirade of insults about SUP surfers, talking to his mate but clearly aimed at being within earshot of me, “F..ING SUPs, the useless kooks, come down her paddle out, never look, wish they would all just F off back to Sydney…” etcetera.
This was a bit of a shock to me. I wasn’t sure if he was directing it at me or if he had just been dropped in on by ten SUP surfers at his last session. Now, ten months on, that was the first and last negative comment there has been. We scored epic waves in places such as Merimbula Bar and Pambula River mouth, both are very elusive surf breaks in NSW; they rarely break so to get them actually breaking at the exact time as us passing through was very fortunate. Merimbula has a huge SUP community and I felt right at home; for the first time in a long time I was not the only SUP surfer in the water. With each new destination came a fresh pack up of our caravan and gear, and a new set up at the end of a long day driving. We soon worked out what we did and didn’t need; this resulted in a whole pallet of gear being shipped back to Sydney after only doing 1000km to the next major city, Melbourne.
