Racecourse Beach Weekend

This weekend was the most fun I've had here in a while. 14 of my friends (5 Americans, 8 Canadians, and 1 Aussie) took a road trip down past Bateman's Bay to a place called Bawley Point and stayed at Racecourse Beach campground. It was amazing! We got there pretty late after getting lost a few times so no one was around to check in. There were no other campers to be seen so we just pitched our tents on a grassy patch near the pool and beach and away from the cabins so we wouldn't disturb anyone, and figured they would just make us move in the morning if we weren't allowed to camp there. After setting up camp, we went down to the beach to test the water and have a look at the surf. I had to keep telling myself that it was real; that I was actually on the beach in Australia, feeling the waves wash over my feet under the moonlight. When we went back to the campsite we noticed we weren't alone. Several possums had discovered us and Jaret had a jolly-good time chasing them around for probably half an hour. The next morning we got a late start and a lady from the campground informed us that we were not on a campsite but let us stay there anyway. I think she just didn't want us to be near the other campers being loud and obnoxious all through the night.

We went to get brunch at a little strip mall sort of thing down the road and came across a little surf shop. Some people went in to see about renting a surfboard. The guy there usually only rents his boards out to people to test them before buying them so he didn't really know what to charge us. He asked what we thought and Lindsay said free would be nice. About 5 mins later they came out of the shop, surfboard in hand and didn't pay a dime! I couldn't believe it. This is the kind of kick-ass people you meet when you get away from touristy places where all they want to do is rip off stupid foreigners. We then headed back to the beach to catch some waves and some sun. I think everyone got a bit of a sunburn that day. But wow was it ever fun. Before supper Jaret and I decided we needed more food so Joe let me drive his car to the store. It was the craziest thing I've ever done. It was like learning to drive all over again but boy was it fun. We had a big BBQ for supper where a kookaburra came to visit and then went back to the beach and made a very illegal campfire in the sand. Don't worry, we were very careful to not set the place on fire and we never found very much wood so the fire never got very big. On the way to the beach we happened to look up into the sky and saw the most amazing blanket of stars I have ever seen in my whole life!!! I felt like I was inside the Milky Way, I even saw the Southern Cross. We had to stop to lie down in the sand for a while and just stare in awe at the beauty. It was an amazing night.

The next morning we got in a little more fun in the sun before we had to head back to boring old Canberra. I seriously considered staying behind.