Break 8 - Point Addis

Sunday 12th December and its a pretty ordinary day - about 20 degrees, dark clouds hovering and bit of rain about.  In someways your classic Melbourne, four seasons in one day, type of day.  I'm lukewarm about going surfing today - Sue and I were out last night and got home about 1.30 in the morning which is very late for us.  I got up about 8.30 to go and get a coffee and to then pick up Sam.  I'm home about 9.30 with Sam and we um and ah about going anywhere and he is of course super keen to go - I say ok and having consulted the surf forecast decide to head the West Coast and Anglesea. Its about 11.00 when we decide to head off and we leave in Autumn type weather - wind blowing, heavy cloud and quite cool. 

We get to Anglesea in pretty good time and we're there a bit after 12.30.   Anglesea's a pretty little spot with the river on your left as you drive in and the beach is a nice wide stretch of yellowy, white sand with red cliffs looming from the river mouth entry into the beach.  We get out of the car to check the surf and it coincides with Winter arriving, we've gone about 10 meters when it starts bucketting down with rain, we check the surf quickly -its ordinary and by the time we get back back to car we are both soaked.  We decide we'll try a bit further on and if that's no good we'll come back to Anglesea for lunch.

We head to Urquarts Bluff which is about 10 mins on from Anglesea towards Aireys inlet.  When we get there it looks like there's a school event on and it's quite crowded with kids - the surf though is fairly ordinary and we are soon back in Anglesea for lunch.  It's about 1.15 when we get lunch - Sam has a bowl of chips and a Milkshake and I have a spinach and fetta roll and a cafe latte.  We eat in the cafe right on the corner in Anglesea and its not a bad spot with a wide range of choices and the staff were really good -it had plenty of fried options and so right up Sam's alley.  There's a couple of good Cafe's in Anglesea and all in all its not a bad spot.  After lunch we check the surf at Anglesea and its improved a little but not much - I suggest we try somewhere else.

Getting back in the car and Spring has arrived - sun's in and out between clouds and the wind's dropped a bit.  We head to Point Roadknight about 5 mins from Angelsea but there's not enough swell to make that much of a choice.  Sam convinces me that we should try Point Addis because his older brother Tom surfed there and said it was really good.

Point Addis is about 10 mins back from Anglesea heading towards Geelong and is about 5 mins from the famous Bells Beach.  I had been to Point Addis once before but had forgotten what a spectacular little place it is.  Point Addis is at the end of a sealed, bush enclosed road with a sign highlighting Kangaroos are in the area.  You get down the beach via a wooden boardwalk and steps and its a nice little climb to an ampitheatre type beach, enclosed by reddy, brown cliffs and bush surrounds with a rocky point at the right end of the beach as you approach it.  We arrive on a mid tide, about 2 hours from high tide and Summer appears to have greeted us with bright sunshine out as we lug our Boards down the beach.  Here's a link to a photo of Pt Addis: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Point_Addis_from_top_lookout.jpg

The surf is ok with some waves down the middle section of the beach but not much happening out at the point where it usually works ok.  Sam and I head out and paddle out the back quite quickly and then sit and wait for a set to come through - I reckon we are out there 10 mins before the first lot of waves come through.  I turn onto one and start paddling hard, yelling at Sam to start paddling.  The wave is a slow buidling and breaking wave and I jump up quickly and head right down the face and turn to go back up and I can see Sam in the whitewater on my right being flipped over by his Board and tumbling under water - classic wipeout of the day.  I keep going on the wave and come into see how Sam is.  He's fine and getting ready to head back out.

We both get a few waves and whilst it's very inconsistent I really enjoy the surf.  The view from the water is just fantastic and with the sun coming out it's just lovely sitting out there.  Sam has another great stack but again his paddling is really improving and I can see him being a much better surfer before the summer is out.  We make the longish climb back up to the car and I'm feeling pretty tired by the time I'm trying to wriggle out my wetsuit.  It's been a really good day, typical surfer's day - cruising around trying to find waves and then having a really nice surf.  It's 4.30 when we head off home and we've knocked off another break.  The pity with this quest is I can't come back for a while.