I hope you all had a fantastic Easter weekend and know I had you all in my thoughts. Easter itself turned out to be a complete blast and perhaps one of my favorite days in Australia thus far. Saturday night a bunch of people randomly decided to hit up this huge kite boarding competition in Ayr, about an hour and fifteen minutes out of Townsville. The competition itself started around 9:00am and went until 10:00pm so the next morning we met for breakfast around 7:00am (very early here in Australia!) and hit the road.
In total there were nine of us in two cars, blasting music with the wind in our hair and not a care in the world. That sounds complete cliche, but in reality that's what we were doing. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, blue skies and no clouds to be seen. Even the drive was a great time - but I've always been quite a fan of road trips. We pulled up to the beach around 9:00 and quickly sussed out the situation. There were pitched tents everywhere, people wandering around in their bathing suits, barefoot and sipping on Red Bulls. It was what I had pictured Australia like - laid back, surfer-type people everywhere with their shaggy hair and tan skin.
We found a place on the beach on a little hill which overlooked the entire competition. When we got there most people were just warming up, surfing around on their boards and trying to get the feel of the wind. We were told that recently the wind had been completely horrible for kite boarding and today the strong wind was absolute perfection - I guess we came on a good day! I headed down close to the water with my camera I rented from the art school and started shooting. I had the best time playing around with the settings on the camera and trying different angles - at one point actually laying in the sand because I was convinced it would make the picture that much better. As I was shooting some of the guys boarding noticed and would come up real close and throw tricks out right in front of where I was shooting, which lead to some amazing pictures!
After a bit we took a walk along the beach and passed around the volleyball. The walk and intense sun completely wore us out so once we got back to our little hill we headed to where all the campers were staying in search of food. The company holding the competition had a barbie (BBQ) set up with the classic Australian sausage and slice of bread. I slabbed some tomato sauce (ketchup) on and was all set - we found a nice spot on the grass to eat and laid around there for awhile. Once we had finished someone spotted an ice cream truck and who can say no to an ice cream truck? I had vanilla with chocolate dip and this thing they call a flake - which is basically a giant chunk of chocolate they stick in the ice cream which is absolutely delicious!
While enjoying our ice cream we wandered around the camping area where people had set up all sorts of little tents and were selling the most random things. Most people were selling odd children's toys like sling shots and toy guns. Everyone was so friendly and we lost ourselves in conversation for awhile. At that point I was ready to see some more kite boarding so I took off for the beach, camera in hand. It was later in the day at this point so the competition was further along and the tricks were getting much more intense. I noticed how packed it had gotten and the intensity by the water so I made a beeline for the edge. I was in awe at the men literally flying and sending their bodies in the most insane directions. I have never seen anything like it - I guess it's similar to wake boarding but so much cooler. I could just picture Dan doing it, throwing up tricks like these crazy guys. I decided I have to learn to kite board at some point in my life - it looks like the biggest thrill.
We stayed and watched for awhile and noticed our skin turning increasingly red so around 3:00 we decided to head back. The drive back was equally as enjoyable as the one there and at one point we came to a screeching halt on the side of the road so we could jump out and steal some sugar cane! I don't think I've ever eaten sugar cane right off the shoot but let me tell you, I know why pandas just sit around and eat that stuff all day - it was delicious!
Needless to say I had one of the most insane, beautiful Easters of my life. I missed you all terribly, but was happy I was able to get out and do something instead of sitting instead and thinking about all the glorious food and good company I was missing back at home. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend as much as I did!
Love & miss you,
xoxo Sara
Oh - here are a few pictures if you want to check them out! :)
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