Adam Lewis traded his usual winter haunts for Western Australia this year and wasn’t disappointed with his decision! Read on as he brings us his tips for a successful trip down under and how he fell in love with the place and its people.
After a slightly unsuccessful trip to Cape Town the previous winter, my ability to pick a quality winter trip for both a surfer and windsurfer hung precariously in question. Don’t get me wrong, I love Cape Town, it’s easily one of the most beautiful places in the world. But bumpy, impressively busy and blown out waves had left both my partner Lucy and I looking for something more. Would the wilds of West Australia be the answer? Both of us have pretty hectic schedules through the summer, so the winters are really the only sustained period of time that we get to spend together, adding if anything a little more pressure to the situation. On paper Western Australia seemed to have it all, if a little risky with the prospect of forgoing the creature comforts of a big house with a hot tub in Cape Town for a small van and life on the road in W.A. However even during planning, it felt like a dream trip.
F L Y I N G
Flying with windsurf gear to Australia looked tricky not to get stung with excess charges. Some companies let you fly pretty easily with 2 x 23 kilo bags, which if you only wanted to bring one board and a few sails would be fine. But having broken all of my masts in the first week the previous time in Australia, I was determined to bring enough spares this time! A slightly more cunning solution was needed. So after a lot of searching I found some flights with China Southern Airlines; I’d never heard of them, but the stopover was short and more importantly you could fly with a “golf” bag for free and extra windsurf bags were only around £100 per bag. Having priced up my baggage with Qatar at around £650, £100 a bag seemed like a steal, although a little risky as you can’t pre-book and have to pay on the day.
V A N
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