We left the Sunshine Coast and flew into LA, where we picked up the van that was to be our home for the next two months. We spent four days around the Huntington Beach area setting up the van and picking up new boards before setting off. We travelled south through California, then into Baja California, Mexico. From Baja we drove north, following the swell up the coast, finding new and legendary waves; from small beach breaks to big rocky slabs to cold river waves.
We had no real plans for this trip. We had locations that we wanted to visit, but no plans or dates. We had a 21st in Portland that we had to attend but that was the only set date apart from our departure flight. We checked the reports and charts frequently and based our trip around getting the best waves we could (which we accomplished pretty well).
After Mexico we drove north through the coast of California and into Oregon. We got to the top of Oregon and cut across into Portland, where we had friends waiting for us. From Portland we headed north into Canada and swapped our surfboards for snowboards. We spent a week there before heading west towards Vancouver Island. We spent a week in Tofino surfing the cold waters before we had to start heading back south.
On our way home we went down the west coast through Washington, Oregon and into California. We had hit pretty much every spot on the way up so we knew where we wanted to go on the way back, but we only had a week window before our flight home. We got back to Huntington Beach with three days before our flight home and sold the van. A total trip of just over two months and about 15,000 kilometres travelled, covering some of the most diverse coastline in the world.
We met so many people on this trip. Everyone welcomed us with warm hearts and open arms. Most notable were three guys we met in Mexico; Brian, Jeremy and Chris. We met them in San Miguel one night over a fire. We surfed with Brian the next day while Chris took photos. We met up with Brian for a beer the day before we flew out. He has recently told us that he will be heading to Australia next March. Traveling opens you up to so many things, but meeting new people is one of our favourite reasons for travel; we love hearing their stories, and sharing our own.
Words and images by Beau van der Werf and Michael Townsend.
