Tarrant

It was our last full day in Australia, so we took it easy. After sleeping in, we drove down to Torquay to shop and visit Bells Beach.

Torquay is an inviting little town and reminds me a bit of Santa Cruz. Surf shops line the main road and laid back cafes dot the town. Bells Beach is just outside of town to the west. There are two boardwalks from the car park; one overlooks the Winki Pop break and the other leads down to Bells Beach. Both are top surfing spots but not today. The tide was out and the wind was unforgiving, but there was a lone surfer out on the waves. We watched him for quite a while, before he rode to the beach and three kite surfers took his place. The kite surfers were traveling so fast on the wind, they made wakes visible to us perched up on the top of the hill.

We were about to leave, when a guy walked by me with a black tee shirt that read, “Football” across the top of the CSU logo and “Colorado State University” right below that. I blurted, “Go Rams!” and he stopped, looked down, and said, “Yeah.” Turns out he’s good friends with the punter’s (Australian Paddy Turner) parents and had recently been to campus in Fort Collins. Oddly, the team was playing Hawaii, as we spoke; Paddy’s parents were there for the game. What are the odds of running into someone wearing a CSU tee shirt at Bells Beach? Go Rams!Read more