Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach

For about a week in April, the surfing world tour championships come to Bells Beach, a famous surfing hot spot in Australia about 90 minutes outside Melbourne. The big competition is called the Rip Curl Pro, and each day various surfers compete against each other for the win, and the chance to ring the winner's bell (Bells Beach- get it? but actually the winner gets to ring the bell). The best of the best come to compete- and we got to watch some of them firsthand!

Today Katie and I went to Bells Beach and watched some semi-final and final rounds of surfing- it was awesome!!! Not gonna lie- it was quite a trek getting there and back. We had to switch trams/trains/buses/shuttles about 5 times (not an exaggeration) and as we got closer and closer to the surf competition, our own competition began= the battle for a seat on the bus. It was packed- people from everywhere were coming to watch the Pro and were all pushing and shoving each other to get on the next bus. We had quite a few close calls (I'm talkin, multiple times we chased after buses and shuttles to catch them in time; may have thrown a few elbows at a couple people to make sure we made it on the bus- and by "may" I mean we definitely did), but in the end we had a bit of good luck and made both journeys there and back!

The surfers were unbelievable- watching some surfer dudes catch a few casual waves on the beach was nothing compared to this serious surfing business. They surfed all the way across until they hit the shore, made some awesome moves, and performed incredible tricks! It was so cool.

Here are some pics of the Rip Curl Pro and some of the competitors we saw today:
(forgive me if I've accidentally matched up the wrong names with the wrong people- hard to remember looking at the pictures with their faces so small!)

Rip Curl Pro!

Katie and I, enjoying a fun day at the beach watching the surf!

Jeremy Flores FRANCE

Joel Parkinson (last year's winner- what a pro!) AUSTRALIA

Mick Fanning AUSTRALIA- this was the end winner of the finals today!!!!!!! #1 in the world now!

Joel Parkinson- up close and personal

Lakey Peterson USA

Mick Fanning- WINNER!!! Making his way to the finals... little does he know he is walking into victory

Kelly Slater USA- ranked #1 in the world! But today he was defeated...

Mick, makin a splash in the finals

And the crowd goes wild!