Summercloud Bay, South Coast, NSW

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

The company Ocean and Earth were kind enough to repair the zippers on my boardbag free of charge which gave me an excuse to roll down the south coast for a couple days of surf. They're warehouses are located at Sussex Inlet just down the road from Wreck Bay. The first day was good with consistent head-high waves peaking and pealing off perfectly across the reef. The nor-east breeze was light and the grommet bodyboarders were getting barrels on every little wave that came through. It was kind of strange for me to surf with only bodyboarders. They were pretty laid back for kids but still it was kinda strange to be the only one standing up. I surfed into the dark and was out by myself for the last hour of light once the kids left to get back for dinner. The sun sets in the southern corner of the bay to the south which means the waves were a beautiful back-lit green for the last hour. On the way in I stepped right onto an urchin at sunset. Plucked out some nice pieces in the van that night with the tweezer's. Camped right there in the Park with just Kangaroo's for company. Incredibly dark as there is nothing around. The next day I had breakfast with the local dog walking crew down at Manyana beach and listened to all the local gossip. Then I headed back for another long session at Black Rock, or is it Summercloud? What about Aussie Pipe? So many names for this spot. The surf was even bigger the second day and the nor-easters were stronger cleaning the swell up even more. It was a little bit more crowded but still plenty of waves for me and my bodyboarding buddies. There were even a couple of guys coming in with surfboards as I was leaving... Great waves for a 24 hour period.