Arrival Day - "Noosa or bust!"  That was our mantra when we landed at Sydney Airport knowing that this was just the start of a big weeklong adventure for us.  Getting to the Noosa Festival of Surfing (a good 14 hours away by car) was going to be a challenge in itself, but the one obstacle we didn't expect was our missing car rental reservation.  After two hours of confusion and stressful long distance phone calls, we got a car and finally made our way into the city just as Sydney's largest lightning storm in 20 years lit up the sky.

And then we got lost...very lost.  Driving on the opposite side of the road, on the opposite side of the car, operating opposite turn signals, and making our way around unfamiliar roundabouts made what should have been a 20 minute drive stretch into an hour.  We barely made the check in cutoff at the Glenferrie Lodge where we had booked a room!

Day 1 - The next morning we decided to take advantage of being in Sydney and got up early to do some sightseeing.  We took the ferry to Circular Quay and then played tourist snapping shots in front of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and Darling Harbour.  A visit to the Fish Market was a must-do on our list and we gawked at the overflowing seafood displays, later diving into a sampler platter of oysters and prawns.  Yum!  Lunch was at a fabulous little restaurant nearby in Pyrmont Bay called The Little Snail where we indulged in gourmet Australian fare and stuffed ourselves silly.

We hit the road shortly thereafter (driving over the Harbour Bridge twice trying to find our way out) and made it through rush hour traffic in the pouring rain.  A couple of bathroom breaks, two candy bars and eight hours later we pulled into Coffs Harbour and began our search for a place to stay.  Realizing that the majority of the town and its hotels had closed by midnight, we found the Annuka Breakfree Resort after a desperate exhausted search for a place to settle in for the night.

Day 2 - The next morning we awoke to find that the property we had stumbled upon was absolutely gorgeous!  Lots of little duplex bungalows all connected by a meandering tree lined walkway.  Unfortunately, by the time we pulled out for the second leg of our drive it was pouring again and we came to the realization that the storm was following us up the coast. 

Along the way we made quick little trips off the main road to check out Lennox Head (amazing surf, the incoming waves looked like corduroy all lined up), Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise.  Each town/city had its own quirky surf charm and it was amazing to see how built up and Vegas-like Surfers Paradise were.  Finally, we pulled into Buderim in the early evening and found our friend Kaye's house where we would be staying for the week.  Her son Tristan had a fresh batch of home brew to greet us with and we eagerly accepted his concoction after the long drive.

Day 3 - With all of the driving that poor Chuck had to do over the past two days (he's responsible for international driving, I'm responsible for domestic driving) he tried to take the opportunity to sleep in.  Unfortunately, Kaye poured me a big mug of coffee at the crack of dawn that morning and I ended up bouncing off the walls and waking Chuck up.  This is how the ban on caffeine started.  I'm no longer allowed to drink caffeine while we're traveling together, hahaha.  :)

We finally drove into Noosa Heads and our jaws dropped when we saw First Point.  Sparkling blue water, pumping overhead waves and a gently curved sandy beach were adjacent to a lush forest and it all hit us like a life size postcard when we first turned the corner from the boardwalk.  And here's where the "walking wounded" story starts...

The Noosa Festival of Surfing had already started a couple of days before we arrived, so we decided to surf the break just past the contest area since First Point was already closed off.  The only way we could see to get into the water was to walk down a path and over rocks at the shoreline.  But it didn't look that treacherous and we even checked with a local who said that was the best way to get to the break.  

Wrong!!!  Chuck made his way in first after accidentally introducing my head to the tail of the board and hobbled over the smooth rocks into the relentless shore break that kept on making its way over the rocks.  I watched him stumble, slip, and try to push our tandem board through the breaking waves.  I cringed as the first wave grabbed the board and nearly missed him as it was tossed back! 

Chuck saved the board twice from the rocks and finally made it to where he could paddle out.  Then it was my turn and with our leash in hand, I gingerly made it over the rocks into the water.  I was worried that I'd slip and cut my foot or get my foot stuck in a hole.  After getting hit by several waves on the rocks (they weren't big, but pushed and sucked pretty well) I grew increasingly nervous.  So when the next wave came, I quickly swam out with it to hopefully clear the rocks as it surged in.  But it pushed me back and then sucked me over the rocks instead!  Ouch!  

I ended up raking my right shin over what I was later told was their version of opihi covered rocks and nicking my hands and feet all over.  But I was finally in the water!  I paddled out to Chuck not knowing how badly we were both injured and at the board, found out that he had a chunk taken out of his foot by the rocks and got knicked up, too.  Blood was streaming out of his foot and my leg, but we really needed to get a practice session in.  So I hoped that no sharks would come (the other surfers casually paddled away) and we gutted it out for the next 2 hours.  

We caught some great rides, almost getting covered on one as we tucked in to make it past the section.  After several solid lift sequences, we headed in to a sandy area that was now visible from the break (great, now we could see it). 

Chuck left little puddles of blood from his foot for the half mile walk back to the competition site where we could store our board.  The looks on people's faces as we walked up was priceless! My right shin was covered in blood and sliced from knee to ankle, and both our faces gave away the pain we were in.  Everyone thought that I got gotten dropped on the rocks during our session and were in disbelief when they found out that this happened before we surfed well for 2 hours.  Now that's hardcore tandem!

The first stop on the ITSA's World Tandem Tour (WTT) was held on the north shore of Maui at Ho'okipa, a renowned windsurfing spot, in conjunction with the Tropical Energy Ocean Games.  After receiving many surf reports from friends via phone, we flew into Kahului anticipating big, ugly surf and intimidating conditions.  The reports were right.  There were shifty peaks, overhead windswell and steep takeoffs to deal with not to mention the periodic gusts of sideshores mixed in with pelting rain.   

Saturday was spent taking in the conditions and strategizing the handful of lifts that would work in the difficult conditions.  Big drops and bumpy rides are hard enough to deal with solo, but this was going to be tricky to tandem!  On Sunday, several of the teams ventured out into the stormy surf to practice after finding out that the contest was postponed yet another day.  A group lift session followed with the teams working on new lifts and helping each other out.

Monday was the big day with the semi finals being held early in the morning.  Surf was still as stormy as ever and the contest ended up cancelling the canoe surfing event due to unsafe conditions.  But for tandem, the show must go on and the contest director agreed to proceed on the condition that jetskis and water patrol would be provided for the female tandem partners who got separated from their boards and partners.  

We were seeded into our semi final heat with Archie Kalepa & Jamie Hidano, Jason Lusk & Jasmine (last name unknown), and Kalani Vierra & Blanche Yoshida.  We put together one good wave, faded out on another wave and then only partially completed the third wave to place us 3rd in the heat and 4th overall.  Due to what the WTT director later admitted was a mistake in seeding, we didn't advance to the finals and instead finished 5th overall.  Not bad overall though!

Not yet an official team, we ventured out into the waves at Makaha for the first time together with a "what the heck, let's just have fun!" attitude knowing that the tricky backside wave for us goofy footers would be a challenge.  Unfortunately, we didn't make a big splash in our first competition together - more splashing was done in a couple of good wipeouts - and surfed only one semi final heat.  But all in all it was a great experience and good practice for the following week's first stop in Maui on the inaugural World Tandem Tour.