The 3:30am alarm rings for the annual road trip to Noosa. Half asleep, we all take turns jumping in the shower. I grab a banana, we tie the surfboards on the roof of the car and then we all jump in.
As we set off for the two day trip from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast we check the swell charts and forecasts, eager for the two weeks ahead. Passing paddocks covered with low fog as the sun comes over the horizon, the sun rise is made even better because we’re viewing it on the way to our destination - holidays.
With a couple of playlists under our belt, we hit the New South Wales border and stop for lunch. Lunch usually consists of a pie from the bakery, and with eight of us in the family, bakeries love to see us coming.
Finding shelter in the barrel
Lunch done, we hit the highway again. The next day follows a similar pattern but we reach Noosa at 3pm and get unpacked as quickly as possible because the surf report is predicting perfect conditions for the two weeks ahead.
Rolling into the carpark at the far north end of Sunshine Beach brought with it a sense of relief
This isn’t a normal holiday - as soon as we arrive on the Sunshine Coast, the game begins. Day after day is spent staking out the best local waves, sometimes driving over an hour to find the perfect bank.
Every evening ends huddled around WillyWeather, Swellnet and a little Magicseaweed while every morning involves a hunt and finally that first dive of the day.
The call on the right wave was normally made by my older brothers - they were the ones surfing so they got to choose where we went.
Though sometimes if there was something that we (Alexander and Will, twin brothers and the two halves of Two Sea Photography) wanted to shoot, we would make them head in and make the most of it.
Smacking the lip in the Sunshine Coast
No day was ever the same and that’s why this holiday was always something that we looked forward to every year.
One particular day during the 2015 Noosa trip stands out the most. It was mid week and all reports looked good which was positive considering the day before we drove up and down the coast and couldn’t find much of anything.
Rolling into the carpark at the far north end of Sunshine Beach brought with it a sense of relief as we saw 2-3 foot, clean as a whistle waves with a breath of a westerly rolling in. Perfect conditions for the morning session.
As we got ourselves organised with our camera gear and tried to find the perfect spot to set up, our brothers were up in the car park squeezing into their wetties and eager to get out there.
Two A-Frame banks within a couple of hundred metres of each other were sure to keep us busy. It was relentless - set after set were producing the goods.
While it wasn’t huge, it was clean and the quality of surfing being demonstrated was second to none. It was one of those sessions when one wave was hacked apart by rail to rail surfing and the next held an explosive aerial followed by a cheeky barrel every now and then.
Paired with the landscape that makes the Sunshine Coast what it is, it was great to watch and we felt lucky to be in the right place and time to capture a little bit of it.
It’s mornings like that one, surrounded by your best mates, doing what you love that make you appreciate how special and rare moments like that are. Until the next trip, we’ll be charging the batteries and keeping an eye on the report so we don’t miss a thing.
Words and images from Two Sea Photography
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