Click the button below to go to the beginning of the blog “RATTY” ROB’S SURFING ADVENTURE.

Don’t stand at the dock of the bay, wasting time...

The bus had other things wrong with it. The front left shock absorber was completely useless and the whole vehicle, needed about two thousand dollars worth of work on it. Fortunately Vegemite managed to eventually find the brake reservoir, and when he topped it up the brakes worked like a dream. Alm

At last we had a bit of money, enough for fuel and a bit to spare. We drove the eight hundred and thirty five kilometers up to Broom while the girls stayed on at Karratha. I remember seeing camels on Cable Beach and having another run in with some locals at the pub. Eventful places... No luck. Wit

We spent a few days at Exmouth, killing flies and walking out on the reef at low tide. By the time we got up to Karratha we were almost out of money. There were a lot of young people up there looking for work on the Burrup Peninsula Gas Project. Jobs were high paying but difficult to land, unless yo

The next day we decided on a change of scenery, we pulled up stumps and took the bus up the sandy desert track a few Kilometers further North to Tombstones.

We had two more calm days at the Bluff before a rumor began to spread around camp that a big swell was on the way. We had swum with turtles, ridden up sand dunes, and the fishing had been great. We used up a whole bottle of soy sauce just on sushi alone... On the fourth morning we awoke to long sw

In the morning we had a quick breakfast and then followed the North West Coastal Highway twenty four Km North of Canarvon before taking the turn off to the Blow Holes. The way was sealed for fifty kilometers and then turned into a dirt road. "KING WAVES KILL" read the road sign by the rock

We crossed the Nullarbor once more, this time without incident, and arrived gratefully back home in Perth to the welcoming arms of family and friends. It had been an AWESOME TRIP, but the best was yet to come...

By this stage we had been living, almost on top of each other, for 4 months. We had all gotten along well, 4 egos coinciding in relative harmony, but the incident with the engine and the inevitable stresses of life on the road were about to surface in a big way...

It was my turn to drive. We passed the Clybucca service station honking the horn and yelling from the windows. We stopped in Kempsey and refueled at the last out of town service station. Immediately after pulling out I was faced with red traffic lights on a 4 lane bridge.

The next morning we were back at the wreckers in Kempsey. We purchased heavy chains from them and hired their driver and a tow truck to go out and pick up the new engine from the farm and then deliver it to the bus. The driver was a very short, round, fat little man and I remember telling him that w

A few kilometers out of Coffs Harbor, we said goodbye to the girls and headed off on the busy inland route to Kempsey, a rural town about one hundred kilometers away. About seventy five Kilometers in, with Spit Ball driving, we were going down a hill when suddenly there was a huge BANG! and smoke st

Somewhere between Lennox Heads and Coffs Harbor we picked up a couple of female hitchhikers. Illana, a small dark skinned Israeli girl and her big boobed German companion, Helga, were more than welcome. The bus was actually six berth, when the couches were used as beds, so there was plenty of room.

We eventually headed down the coast and stopped briefly at Byron Bay for a day before moving on a further twenty kilometers to Lennox Heads. The big swell, still persisting and Lennox- a world class reef break, was holding up nicely. Parking the bus at the top of the hill we grabbed our boards and m

Cooloola National Park, now called "Cooloola Recreation Area" is located between Noosa Heads and Rainbow beach in Queensland. Heading North, it is one of the very last places that you can find good surf in QLD, but on the day we arrived there was none. After an extensive search, we turn

We took our little boat "S.S. Snubby" out once more along the shores of Northern New South Wales. It was a hot day as we putted parallel to the beach, trailing lures. There were plenty of Red Lobsters on the beach, tanning themselves in coconut oil and sipping cola. Not a bite. Not eve

We surfed a lot of beaches in Northern New South Wales. By this time our game plan and routine were always the same. On the bad weather days, we would travel, heading towards the next most promising surf spot. We would aim to arrive there at night, pulling into the local pub (hotel) car park abo

It was a perfect Sunday as we pulled the bus up and parked it at the top of the hill overlooking Bondi Beach. There were many people about enjoying the last day of their weekend. Just as we had stepped out of the bus and locked the door behind us this weird looking dood appeared from nowhere. He sta

Just before Sydney we stopped for the night in Coogee, a beachside suburb only eight km from the city center. There was nowhere to park that Saturday night so we just stopped on the verge outside a normal residential house. In the morning I was under the bus changing the engine oil when a pair of