After about three weeks of living in the city, Zippel gave me a call and said the surf was going to be pumping during the weekend. He invited me to head down to his family house and surf for the weekend. Without a second thought, I said yes. Of course I wanted to go surf! So, on Friday night we packed up his car and headed down the coast to Jan Juc.
Jan Juc is a little town nestled along the Great Ocean Road. It is most famous for Bells Beach, one of the stops along the WSL. I was able to catch a little of the Bells Surf Competition a couple weeks prior. It was amazing to watch the pros shredding massive waves.
The coastline of Jan Juc is a truly rugged and beautiful sight. The majority of the waves crashes into massive cliffs, but there are also a ton of beautiful beaches tucked in between the cliffs allowing us to a variety of scenery. The best surf breaks were rock bottom point breaks. Some points were plenty deep enough to not worry, but once you get a little deeper in the wave or on the inside, there is plenty of sketchy dry reef. I found it to be a truly amazing place to surf though!
On Saturday morning, we woke up at sunrise, stoked to get into the water. After putting on our wetties, we started walking to the surf. I soon realized that Zippel’s house was only a few hundred meters from an epic point break called Steps. At the top of the steps, the view was incredible. The sunrise turned the cliffs into a bright golden color. The ocean was pristinely glassy and the surf was pumping! There were about 20 guys already in the water.
After a relatively easy paddle out, we made it to the lineup. What an amazing place to be! The sun, cliffs, coastline and waves all blew my mind. We spent the next 2 hours surfing awesome rights, about 5-8 ft faces. The wind started to pick up to a gentle offshore breeze. The entire day turned out to be prime conditions. At sunset, we got another session in, taking advantage of the perfect waves. By the end of the day, my arms were weak and I felt exhausted. One of the best feelings in my opinion; exhaustion from an epic day of surf.
Sunday morning turned out to be just as great. The swell picked up a little and the set waves pushed up to be close to the biggest surf I have been in. I chose to sit on the inside, away from the crowd. I was able to watch the party waves and paddle battles while patiently surfing my own waves. I was able to get into the biggest set waves that broke outside of everyone else. Despite my muscles burning, I pushed myself back to the lineup over and over again. The waves were too good and just the right amount of scary.
A weekend of surfing great waves really got me stoked for surfing more. It is time to just buy my own vehicle so that I can make trips down the coast to surf on my free time. I hope to find a job in Melbourne that will help pay for my costs of living. Then, I will buy a 4×4 car that will eventually take me around the country in a month or two. Right now, the water is not too cold here and the waves are just starting to get good. So I will fight the cold as long as I can before doing a road trip up the coast, exploring the country’s beaches and surf breaks. Which means, many more exciting adventures coming up for me!
