Last night we had the biggest rain so far and I woke up by a thunder that made the windows shake and a lightning show worthy of new years in Sydney. But it’s nice with a change, coming from a country with crappy weather I can never stay inside just bumming around when it’s sunny without feeling like I should go out and do something. So today has been all about reading, watching movies, drinking coffee and enjoying having the house to our selfs (we’re the only guests left and the owners left for a few days in Colombo). The surf season here on the South Coast of Sri Lanka is coming to an end (season is said to be November to April). I think we made the most of it but now there’s a mix of swells, the wind picks up to early and yeah it’s time to move on (there’s still some off season spots to surf if you’d happen to be here during that time). Lucky us the East Coast also has surf (ok the most famous breaks in the country) and the season there is starting right about now 🙂
All posts by Sara
Labour day in the surf
Pax is on day four or so of not surfing which means I’ve got myself a professional surf photographer for only 15 LKR per hour (that would be like 15 cents). Labour day and all it came with hard work this morning though – low tide and two swells in the mix made it peaky and that pink board spent a lot of time surfing around without me. Still I was the first one out this morning having a few fun ones before the rest of the small crowd decided to paddle out.
This guy showing how it’s done on his single fin.
Spending some quality time in the washing machine…
Turtle’s on the loose
We meet a man yesterday who invited us to come and watch turtles being released back into the ocean. This local man keeps the eggs safe from fishermen trying to sell the eggs as food and other damage from boats or fishing nets on the beach. They keep the eggs until they’ve hatched and then when the newborn turtles are ready they’re getting a bucket ride down to the beach to be released. Seems like a really great initiative.
Tiny little turtle getting ready for the swim of his life.
No doubt about it these guys know where’re they are going.
And we had swell
Eating. Sleeping. Watching to many episodes of Games of Thrones. Drinking instant coffees. Surfing some fun and uncrowded waves. Eating cake. Just one more episode. A sunset surf? Another day in paradise.
Tropical thunderstorms in sleepy village…
We woke up to some heavy thunderstorms this morning with lightning shining up our bedroom. So we stayed in bed listening to the massive down pour outside – sending some gratitude to my warm and very cozy bed. It’s a slow morning here in Midigama – or as the king named it Nidigama which translates to sleepy village. The rain has kept the wind away so I think the waves might be clean but I feel so lazy to make my way out. Maybe another coffee and a game of yatzy first…
Photo credits to Julia from another day with the same weather 🙂
There’s this guy in the surf…
There’s this guy in the surf that doesn’t talk to anyone. He won’t even smile back or look at me when I’m trying give a friendly good morning smile. He will just paddle straight past me like a dark shadow. We’ve shared the lineup just him, me and Pax several times but still no smile, no look, no nod, no nothing and I’ve been thinking he must really have some bad experiences with other people. Then if he doesn’t drop in on your waves he will back paddle you to sit deeper even if he’s just had a wave so no wonder. So by now everyone in the surf calls him Kamikaze. This morning another guy had enough of Kamikaze and they had a big fight in the water. There was to much bad energy in the water so I decided to opt out for breakfast. I guess that’s todays drama from the surf – now it’s coffee time.
Help! I’ve got to much jack fruit on my hands!
Not to worry this is a tropical super fruit – it is considered so good and full with nutrients that if you’d for some reason want to cut one down here in Sri Lanka you actually need a permit from the government to do so. There is an old Sri Lankan saying that “with a jack fruit tree and a coconut tree in your back yard you will never starve”. We’re definitely not starving – we ate an amazing jack fruit curry for dinner the other night.
Tourist visa extension for Sri Lanka
Today we made the round trip to Colombo to extend our 30-day tourist visas, Sri Lanka is just treating us so good so we’ve decided to stay a while. We’ve heard that the process can take up to four hours, you have to be in before 11 AM or they won’t accept your application, the bus to Colombo will most likely be stuck in traffic for a few hours and the train is crowded to (if it will show up at all). Anyways me, Pax and our little miss Norway decided to get on the 6:37 AM express train for Colombo and this time we where allowed to buy tickets for the train (last time the guy at the counter was just saying no – train late) – for 210 RP each which translates to something like 2 AUD each after waking the ticket counter guy up from his morning nap things seemed promising. The train ride was easy, we all got seats, Pax made a new friend and three hours later we where in Colombo Fort. We hopped in a tuk tuk to the “Immigration Passport Office” which is at 41 Ananda Rajakaruna Mw, Colombo 10 – we paid 350Rp for a tuk tuk – you can take the bus but hey we thought we be tight on time.
You will need a passport photo for the application, if you don’t have one no stress you can get one on the bottom floor of the immigration building, the price there was better than on the street, 200 Rp for 4 photos. Anyways then we headed for the third floor where they do the visa extensions, when you enter the floor there’s a small unsigned reception just straight to your left, most likely overcrowded with people to. This is where you will need to get your application and we where also given a what seemed to be totally random magic number. So off to fill out the application (we could have printed and done this beforehand to save time) and then we where supposed to make our way over to room 2 or 4 to hand in the application.
This is where it gets interesting, standing in the line to room number two a man called us aside and asked us to wait. Hmmmm we where thinking because he just took off but eventually he returned and we got some special treatment and where shown in to meed a Assistant Controller. This guy was quite busy on his phone but manage to look at our passports and do some scribbles on our applications. After some comments about the cricket we where sent outside to wait for our magic number to appear at the payment processing counter (counter number five). This is where we waited a while but not to bad – magic 106 came up and we got to pick up our applications and passports and take them over to the actual Payment counter (counter number 6). The visa extension fee is based on your passport so for a Swede it is 25 USD, New Zealanders have to pay 37 USD and Norwegians 32 USD. Anyways we all paid and handed in our applications and passports again and where told to wait. Ten minutes later our magic number shows up and that was it – all done within less than two hours. So now we can stay two more months in Sri Lanka if we want to. There’s no difference in price for a one or two months extension so if you ask for two months that’s what you will get. Oh if only Australian Immigration where this easy…
This guy we met at the train station this morning and he was also on the same bus back from Colombo as us, so excited and intrigued by Pax’s tattooed leg.
At the local fruit shop – that’s where it’s at
I’m in love with this island – the people are just so friendly, the waves are awesome and the curries are amazing. So tomorrow we’re going to Colombo for our visa extension. Some photos from further down south yesterday.
Worst surf so far but oh well
I sweet talked Pax and the crew to go for a second surf at midday today – just because it was uncrowded and pretty nice yesterday at the same time. Today it was well still uncrowded but so bumpy and the current was strong anyways still tropical – still paradise and the GoPro decided to tag along to.
Day off in Midigama
After 17 days straight in the surf the swell was a bit to messy this morning and the current looked just as strong as yesterday so we’ve been out and about in the village, just relaxing and playing a few games of Yatzy or as our German friends say Kniffel. My arms and shoulders are quite happy they got the day off to but seriously we’ve been so lucky with the waves so far – can’t remember if I had these many consecutive days of surfing ever?
Surf looks nice on the pic but it was fat, big, messy and a strong current on top of that 
Making new friends – as a tourist you’re every street dogs best friend – they follow you around anywhere.
Surf Instructor for a day
We’re having a really nice visit from parts of the Westin family – we seem to be in the same places at the same times spread out over the world. So when in Sri Lanka we went surfing 🙂 Welligama is a 10 minute tuk tuk ride away from us, has some fun waves to surf and you can rent boards just on the beach. Said and done – I had so much fun in the water with these two 🙂 Let’s do it all again tomorrow!
Surf report from Sri Lanka
Been having so much fun in the water the last week, my shoulders are sore my back hurts and I’m all surfed out – it’s such a good feeling. We’re having maybe 2-4 feet of swell since we’ve been here which is perfect – and ohhh did I mention the water is tropical and there’s big turtles popping up for air every now and then – a m a z i n g. Pax got some cuts from the reef and decided to dry them out and take some snaps of me and Mikey a few days ago. 
Photo bomb = first week in Sri Lanka!
After two weeks in Thailand we jumped planes and ended up in a very quiet Sri Lankan village called Midigama not to be confused with Welligama or Mirissa…
There’s not to much going on here except for surfing which is exactly what we are after. So happy to be sharing fun little waves with turtles, and the water is so clear and warm – just loving it.
We’ve been hanging out with Mike & Viv for a few days having some rum, crashing peoples quiet and romantic dinner (sorry – it was the rum’s fault!), celebrating st patty’s day with some crazy irish, checking out the old Portuguese fort in Galle just north of where we are staying, surviving this crazy Sri Lankan disco bus ride with neon Buddha dancing at the front and eating some amazing curries – thanks Mike and Vivo – good times! Some photos from the past days below.
Trouble in paradise!
Go Went Gone – we left Sydney just over a week ago finally our big mission has started! First stop is Thailand where Rodna and Anders are getting married. So it’s been a hectic start – I’ll give you one groom to be in hospital with meningitis! Luckily it’s a mild one and he should be all good in time for the big day… Always remember travel insurance can be a really good friend. In between hospital visits and tailor appointments I’ve found a nice yoga studio around the corner – so we’ve been doing hot yoga every morning – it’s been so good even though I’ve never sweated so much in my life. And the place where we’re staying has a pretty cool pool to.
Maybe I should work on my underwater face…
48 hours to go – it’s about getting it all done at once…
Just another weekend, wedding, surf contest and some samosas
All of a sudden there’s just one more weekend left for us in Sydney and the one after we’re leaving and oh yep this is my last working week for a while. Playing a bit of tetris with time and logistics – oh well Saturday we headed over to Manly because I wanted to see the Australian Open in surfing live on the Sunday and we got to catch up with Sofia and Dan for some curry to on the Saturday night.
Manly vibes always makes me happy – love it – Steph is hanging out with the WV 🙂
Another hipster coffee shop
Andy and James came by to check out some surfing to!
Tyler Wright in the Semi final making the chunky waves look so easy
Winner of the event – Miss Laura Enever
After the final we had some other business to attend to. 
These crazy cats (not Pax) had to get married before the big bang in Thailand next month! Not a bad way to end the weekend 🙂 
Pax’s pie addiction and the Australian Boardriders Battle
When Pax realised that Team Argentina (Steph and Fred) had never ever been to the greatest pie shop known to man the weekend surf trip quickly turned into a pie trip… I’m not complaining they do a good coffee and the staff knows our order even though we live three hours away…
Before hitting the coast I had a cruise down the beach to check out the final of the Australian Board riders Battle where the local surf clubs around Australia compete against each other. I walked down just as Tyler Wright was surfing. I left before she put it all on the line and went left – left at the Alley means straight for the rock pool…
Early morning are you working?
Uh no not me – so we went down the coast on Saturday morning looking for some leftover swell. There wasn’t much left so I settled for some cheese & spinach rolls, a pod of dolphin and some little ripples at sharkies beach.
On my way home! Where is home?!
I’m at the airport in Melbourne waiting on my flight back to Sydney (it’s pretty boring and I’ve had to much coffee). I’ve been here for work so nothing to exciting. My newest taxi driver friend and I was talking about where you’re from and how you define where your home is. And about languages, he’s from Punjab – the Indian side he reckons that Punjabi changes it’s accent every 10k. Like people in the north of Sweden have a hard time understanding the most southern accent maybe. His kids are already so globalized having gone to school in both Australia and India and speaking three languages.