After a slightly unsuccessful trip to Cape Town the previous winter, my ability to pick a quality winter trip for both a surfer and windsurfer hung precariously in question. Don’t get me wrong, I love Cape Town, it’s easily one of the most beautiful places in the world. But bumpy, impressively busy and blown out waves had left both my partner Lucy and I looking for something more. Would the wilds of West Australia be the answer? Both of us have pretty hectic schedules through the summer, so the winters are really the only sustained period of time that we get to spend together, adding if anything a little more pressure to the situation. On paper Western Australia seemed to have it all, if a little risky with the prospect of forgoing the creature comforts of a big house with a hot tub in Cape Town for a small van and life on the road in W.A. However even during planning, it felt like a dream trip.