More training :)

Have spent the past 2 days in Praia Grande. Had two good surfs yesterday, numerous ARS's in the fun lefts ;)  but then today I had two not so good surfs... Just one surprisingly good long barrel on a right!
Enjoyed an amazing sunset over the cliffs last night, and right now we're getting ready for a trip to Sintra to check out the town and go to Church. Looking forward to it!!
More fun photos to share with you....

Exploring Praia Grande

Yep, another day in Praia Grande.
Bree and I took a hike in the heat up the cliffs, searching for the dinsosaur footprint but all we found was a giant pepper shaker haha.

But seriously, the views up there are really stunning! Loved it!

The surf was tiny but I still had a pretty fun surf, tried to catch lots of waves before I got too cold ha. The water is not actually as cold as previous years, so today I swapped my PE cold water board for my old faithful PP board (that I won Puerto Rico with!), definitely my favourite board, it's feeling good!

How cool is this mural painted on the side of my friend's surf/bodyboard school hut!

Beach bums

Spent another lovely day at Praia Grande today.
Not much to say except it was another great day spent at the beach, I'll let the pictures do the talking...

 Finally with some free time, I can paint my nails :)

 The amazing house we are staying at. Muito muito muito obrigada to Marta and her family for having us in their beautiful home!! >>>

The highlight today was taking two of our non-bodyboarding local friends Marta and Rita for a bodyboard lesson. Nothing beats seeing the massive smiles on their faces, pure happiness!

Big Beach or Little Beach?

Welcome to Portugal!!

My travelling partners for the Sintra Pro... Me, Bree Brown (Aus), Marta Quintela (Portugal), Roberto Bruno (Brazil) and in front Isabela Sousa (Brazil). Such great people!

It feels so good to be here once again. I think this is maybe the fourth time I've been to this place for the IBA World Tour, and it's feeling more like home every time I come here.

Today we had the perfect day. Starting with a good sleep in (much needed after that massive plane trip), followed by a whole day spent at the beach, OMG I'm in heaven!
We headed to Praia Grande ("Big Beach") first. The contest beach. I was almost dying from the heat, it's about 32 degrees here, way more extreme than the 10-16 degrees weather I've been experiencing at home. Loaded up on suncream haha. Had a pretty fun surf at a left in the contest area. Felt so good to wash the aeroplane cobwebs away. It was great to see Jared Housten in the water, he was shredding as always.
Followed up our surf with a huge salad with the gang at the local Mar Bar cafe.

 Ha, I gotta admit the Mar Bar cafe always brings back crazy memories from the after contest parties we've had there in the past. Kira and Mandy I miss you girls! It feels strange not to have my Aussie sidekicks here with me!


After lunch we headed to Praia Pequeno (Little Beach), for a fun surf in the little wedges. Such a beautiful little beach!

The swell is forecast to get smaller the next few days, then pick up again in time for the contest. Fingers crossed for fun waves for the event. The low tide banks at Praia Grande at the moment are so fun!

Goodbye Werri, hello London!

Currently I'm hanging out in Heathrow airport in London, waiting 6 hours for my next flight to Lisbon. I unfortunately missed my connecting flight this morning and they couldn't get me on another one right away. I don't mind. It's nice to cruise a bit alone sometimes.

I made sure I woke up to catch the sunrise and go for a quick early surf at home yesterday. What an amazing sunrise!! 

The waves weren't great, but it was definitely worth going for a surf before my mammoth flight. It was such a refreshing start to the day. I was happy and ready to go.

I packed away the last of my stuff to make room for Rach moving in. The following card was amongst what I took down off my wall.... It's a card the Aussie bodyboarding girls made for me after my second place finish in the Ingles Pro in Gold Coast 2007. I love it. Such thoughtful and funny messages >>>

That was such an awesome trip, great memories, especially the Aussies going crazy on the beach in my final against the World Champ Neymara Carvalho!

Hopefully I'll get a repeat of that final in Sintra, but with a better result! ha ;)

As I waved goodbye to Gerringong on my way out of town I felt a little sad to be leaving home for three months. Even driving past the beautiful mansions in the south of Sydney, I felt no envy at all. I'm happy with the simple little flat I rent on the beach with Cobbie, I couldn't ask for anything more! Yeah I'll be back for summer.

How funny are the little coincidences in life. Of the 500 or so seats on the mammoth A380 Qantas plane I boarded (a nice new one!!), I was seated right next to the only other bodyboarder on my flight, Ben Player, the two times world champion from Avalon. Yew! 

It was nice to be seated next to a familiar face and have catch up chats on our super long flight. It's also nice knowing that I'm not seated next to a random creep that you feel nervous falling asleep next to. Ben Player may look a little creepy to some people, but he's not. hahaha. No really, he's not.

We watched a documentary about happiness. It was awesome, and reminded me to be thankful for all the good things I have in life... 

Yeah life is good!

Flipwhat??

Yessss, I can happily announce that I have a new sponsor!
Today I had the pleasure of meeting Corio from Flipmode clothing company, and what an awesome human he is!

We had a great chat, and he handed me a bunch of clothes and a signed contract, just in time for my trip.
I'm really excited to be riding for Flipmode, and I will be working with Corio on designing women's clothing for the future. Check their website out here... http://www.flipmode.com.au/
Anyway, I'm stoked. Thanks Corio. It was a pleasure to meet you!

Aside from my lovely meeting today, I had fairly uneventful today as I spent most of it packing and catching up with a couple of friends. As it's my last day at home here in Werri, I just had to go watch the sunset from the top of the headland at North Werri as a final goodbye to home. I love living here! How pretty is it!! >>>

Yeah, that's a Flipmode hat and jumper I'm wearing in this pic ;)

I'm off to sleep now. Tomorrow morning I'm keen for a quick surf before the drive to the airport. Yes, that's right, tomorrow I'm leaving for Portugal!! Cant wait!!
Again, here's the link to the IBA World Tour page to learn more about the tour...
http://ibaworldtour.com/

Freeeeeedommmmm!!!!

OMG I am sooo happy tonight!
I just finished a 12 hour shift in the IGA, and as I walked out those doors I almost screamed! hahaha.
Yep, it was my last shift for three months!!!
I actually like my job. But obviously I much prefer the idea of spending the next three months focusing on my two big loves, bodyboarding and travel :)

I gotta admit, I'm doing something a little naughty right now, drinking a beer. I just had to have one to celebrate.... Come on, I just worked 12 hours!
Well, I looked down a few minutes ago and laughed cause I have two interesting item in my hand, one is a beer (of course), the other is a device I dont know the name of, ha. Here's a pic....

I've been using it the past couple of weeks to help strengthen my grip,which is so important for bodyboarding, and especially important for my right hand since I broke a tendon in my finger years ago which means my grip aint too strong!
Well anyway, this grippy hand strengthening device thingy is great!!! I highly recommend!

Hmm anyway, I wanna go drink my beer, so that's it for tonight. OMG two days to go!!!