Day 21 Woolgoolga to Wooli Rest Day

Waking up to overlook the ocean is truly growing on me the more i stay in surf clubs! Wandering down to the beach its always fun meeting and greeting the locals, who yet again happened to be more teachers. There has been a very prominent theme of PE teachers i have met throughout my adventures along this stunning east coast.

The surf this morning looked great, light winds and a long peeling right hand wave spilling across the beach! Perfect fun conditions, only i had to get moving and travel south to Coffs to see Matt a physio from Coffs Coast Sports Physiotherapy. The generosity and support provided to me by all the local medical teams across this coast is amazing. Not only was it a weekend, but Matt opened up his entire physiotherapy practice and dedicated 2 hours towards treatment for my shoulder. He looked over my MRI scans, discovered a few little interesting things like some extra bony cysts in the shoulder joint, massaged me, released the tension in my neck and spine from the head position I’m stuck in as i paddle. He also did dry needling and strapped my shoulder. I walked out feeling a world of confidence in continuing the paddle! His 8 year old daughter Holly joined him and assisted with the strapping and saw her first dry needling as she hopes to be a physio or vet when she’s older! We talked all things swimming, gymnastics, dancing, art and the bee population/extinction issues; it was great to be side tracked from the treatment for a few moments, and she reminded me a lot of my past self!

So today was an injury rest day, i didn’t want to flare anything up and rest is what my shoulders need so we headed back to the Woolgoolga surf club to pack our gear and drive on to Wooli.

Our destination was the Solitary Islands Marine Park Resort, a great holiday spot right on the river. They had mini golf which Fish and Nic took great advantage of while i had an afternoon nap! There was a pool with a slide which i was keen to test out but in all honesty the thought of getting cold wasn’t inspiring me after almost 20 days at sea and almost constantly cold (next time i stay there the slide will get a real workout!).

We headed over to the Wooli River Channel to sus out conditions for the next days paddle exit, it looked a bit of fun with a super fast rip running up next to the rock wall.

The water was so clear despite the overcast skies and here were plenty of fishermen along the rock wall.

Returning back to the resort i had the worlds biggest salad eaten out of a wine cooler bucket, followed by a lengthy nap. Exhaustion hit me hard today, i was struggling to communicate and honestly didn’t have the energy to. After a few hours sleep i felt heaps better but i still wanted quiet time so the thought of a group dinner in the kitchen was difficult to swallow. However deciding to join the rest of the resort residence for dinner was the best decision i could have made! I met 2 beautiful German girls who instantly became my mermaid sisters. We all had long blonde hair and we were all vegetarians! (must be a mermaid thing). All the boys were in hysterics but between my semi German conversations with the girls and their giggles at my ‘cute’ German accent we became an instant sisterhood! By the sounds of their travels it sounds like i should be spending quite a bit more time with them as they travel north up the east coast in search of warm waters and waves!

The evening began to wind down with a mix of dialects being spoken from French, German Spanish and Italian! It was so much light hearted fun, and a great way to end an evening i thought… until Fish said it was salsa time! I don’t know how long we ended up dancing for but i learnt to Rumba and continued to brush up on my Salsa! Despite how tired i was i didn’t actually want to stop dancing it was way too fun! Now i have to find myself a dance partner so i can keep practicing and return to the Sunshine Coast and shock Fish!