Australia Part 2: Arrival in Coolie
March 3rd was our second day Down Under. Kyle and I started off early by going up the Noosa National Park trail along the incredible and serene looking surf points. Jogging along the popular wood covered walk path really let us relax and invest in getting to know these beach setups which were breathtaking. The water was glistening and the waves were already packed with surfers shredding it up in the bathtub temperature water. Kyle and I were really just trying to get a good understanding of Noosa, and jogging felt like the way to explore it.
After a quick dip in the glorious water, we were off to our main destination we’d be staying the duration of the trip—Coolangatta. Our drive would be around three hours down the “Bruce” Australian highway and take us from our current region of the Sunshine Coast down to the tail end of the Gold Coast. I was actually excited to get on the road and drive past a flurry of little surf towns I had grown up reading about. Even though we weren’t going to spend much time in any of these little towns along our drive, it definitely gave me perspective to see the towns that I had always heard about. Places like Maroochyadore, where pro surfer and style master Mich Coleborn is from, was actually quite a substantial and quirky little city on the Sunshine Coast with an airport. We then drove down to where surf legend Joel Parkinson is originally from, Calaundra, and checked out the beautiful beach at Moffat Heads. This day, we found the beach really stormy, and to up the anti, I had heard there was recently a tiger shark colony in Moffat, but there was still a few surfers out in the lineup. It would appear that beach culture at this destination in Australia, persists regardless of inviting conditions.
We ended up arriving in Coolangatta, the southern tip of Queensland around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. I was in utter anticipation for this little town that’s the high performance surfing capital of the world. I didn’t really know what to expect of the town landscape but I figured if there was so many top surfers who came from there, the town had to be pretty cool. Pulling off the freeway and seeing first glimpses of Coolangatta, I was getting goosebumps. Even the road signs on the Gold Coast are iconic—left to Surfers Paradise, right to Burleigh Heads. Still on the road, I was already in Heaven. Now on the little beach side highway, the first interesting feature we noticed was a massive “Kirra Surf” shop which we would eventually rent our surfboards from. Then, we started to drive past the main surf breaks of Kirra Point, Greenmount, and Snapper Rocks.
Kyle and I noticed the look of this town was definitely not that of other little charming surf towns like San Clemente, CA or even Byron Bay, Australia. The entire stretch up beach is built up with funky colored high rise buildings that made me think of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I guess I never noticed in surf videos but another thing about Coolangatta is that there is steep hills all around. Kyle said the place reminded him of San Francisco, “City on the Hill” because of all the abrupt slopes. At first glance, the town seemed kind of awkward, but we were hyped up and wanted to find out more.
We finally arrived at our Air BnB “Reflections” Building, overlooking the legendary Greenmount point break and it was quite nice. Modern and spacious, we were staying there for such a good price.
We were so exhausted and it sort of felt like a little jet lag was catching up to us, so we got a quick bite to eat (which was strange because the town is on two time zones being between two states) and had an early first night in.
The next morning, we checked the world class beach break of Duranbah for waves which were a bit blown out by the wind, so we got an incredible breakfast at the cafe overlooking it, Cafe D-Bar.
All healthy food in Australia is in my opinion the best in the world. The Aussies use a lot of honey and have the best fruits and veggies available. So getting a bowl of breakfast Muesli with Greek Yogurt is the best thing you could ever hope to do.
After breakfast, we went into our second phase of the morning and rented surfboards from Kirra Surf before heading to the Superbank. According to the local opinion, the waves were a bit weird at the moment. Ordinarily, The Superbank is a perfect surf setup because the waves are groomed from the perfectly shaped sand bottom that refines the longest and cleanest waves in the world. However, the week before Kyle and I got to town, a cyclone tore up the groomed sand bottom and made the surf a bit unorthodox. That being said, Coolangatta didn’t get Surfline’s “Best Bet” surf destination pick for this time of year for no reason, the waves were solid—with bathtub temperature water.
There’s something to be said for surfing playful waves in warm water. I often tell people that it’s more fun to try surfing at a warm water destination. Even if you have a tough time catching waves, you still get to hang in a natural bathtub! Win-win.
On this day at the Superbank, the waves were intense in their own way. A lot of big, fun, crowded waves, but the current was intense. Forecasting the waves for the trip beforehand, I kind of figured they were going to be pretty sizable at the beginning of the trip and shrink to more “fun sized” at the end. That being said, the first day was tough for Kyle (someone who didn’t spend his entire childhood surfing a massive amount) to make it out to the lineup. After getting swept half a mile down the beach, he decided to head in and watch for a bit knowing it would be smart to pace himself on this surfing themed trip.
I had better luck making it out as I saved some energy and picked my spots to attack the paddle out. I ended up making it out to the top of the point and catching a pretty iconic first wave at Greenmount. Taking off on a big ole peak out the back of the point with 10 surfers eyeing me down ready to jump in front if I showed the slightest hesitation, I did what I was called to do and absolutely shredded this first Australian gem. Dropping in with ease and purpose, I realized in one millisecond that the rental board I was using was a magic carpet, and it would serve a fine purpose for the trip.
The first big ole warm water wave was incredible. I rode down the beach having a semi Nirvana moment on my first green peeler at The Superbank—Opposite side of the world from Los Angeles, CA. As soon as I got back out in the lineup, I turned back around and caught a second larger wave. This one, I did a couple swooping turns and came into the inside for a Greenmount barrel. Stoked out of my mind, I came into the beach and was greeted by Kyle who had seen the whole thing. Success!
For the record, riding a large, beautiful, clean wave in warm water was sort of unique to me. Being lucky enough to vacation to Hawaii and Cabo as tropical surf destination since I was little, those places have great, intense waves. But they also are more aggressive, chaotic, and less playful then the clean and long waves of Queensland, Australia.
We surfed our brains out the rest of the day and were up for getting a great dinner once night came. The trip started transforming into what I dubbed the Kyle Sisson Bootcamp. Being stationed in a tropical place, frequenting epic workouts (happened to be surfing on this trip), eating awesome food and fueling ourselves up for the new year back home.
Listening to a bit of Navy Seal and Ultra Marathon Runner David Goggins’s audio book in the car also fired us up. We had two mottoes of the trip—Compete against who you were yesterday, and Be uncommon among the uncommon! -David Goggins
Rainbow Bay!
This rental surfboard was better than I ever could’ve hoped for!
The view from our Air BnB, Greenmount!
Moffat Heads was one of the towns we stopped at on the drive to the Gold Coast. It looked beautiful but not exactly inviting this day! Still a few surfers out there though! Look at the insane looking boulders!
The Kyle Sisson Bootcamp (I named) consisting of eating well, great exercise, and a tropical recharge was well in effect this trip. Massive healthy portions!