Textish Tuesday (Barabajagal)

Text #1 "Just sittin on the lawn in freemantle park havin an ale with K waiting for grinspoon and then inxs to come on Happy days!"

Text #2 "Feet numb. Just spent the last four hours in the rain. BEST SURF EVER and now to ingest calories."

Text #3 "Still at markets. Lots of hippies and music"

Text #4 "Surf update. It's on an awesome bb brothers. Lines of swell as far as the eye can see....so will anyone else be crook tomorrow?"

Text #5 "Well comrade it's blowin a grey gale here in the land of smoke and mirrors. Hope you can find a few sheltered waves."

Equatorial Reef Shack

Most nights we would anchor 

on the calm, western side of various atolls 

where expensive holiday accommodation abounded. 

But come morning, 

we would up anchor to spend a day 

in a reef pass with views like this 

from the porthole.

The afternoon ritual consisted of

lazing on the top deck at dusk 

sore and surfed out 

in a post-session daze 

waiting for the tropical light show. 

The shooting stars were a bonus.

Monochrome Monday

The Humble Bottom Turn

Here's saluting the humble bottom turn. Not as popular in the mags as the impossibly deep fish eye barrel over razor sharp coral or the tow assisted air boost. But usually the first critical step towards maximizing Stoke.

Moon Wood Water Wood

Down by the River

 

A day in the life of a river mouth - a place of work and play, navigating the swell.

"She could drag me

over the rainbow

send me away

down by the river"

from Neil Young Down by the River 1969

The last installment in my homage to Neil Young series (for now). Irrespective of whether you love or loath his music, you have to admire his work ethic - according to Young he wrote this song and Cowgirl in the Sand while sick in bed suffering a 39 degree fever. Keep that note pad handy!

Little Marly

This spot is called "Little Marly". I have no idea why though. Maybe somebody can explain. Two interpretations of the bottom turn by two different generations - both stoked.

Big thanks to my log mentor, The Bazzmeister, who chauffeured me for over three hours enabling me to catch a few waves like this and trap some light in the ancient metal and glass wonder that is the Nikonos II. 

Hello also to Johnno from Mudgeeraba (via Cairns and Noosa),  who had a chat with us post-surf. It's great to see that in this insular, digitised, downsized, diconnected age we can still talk story with total strangers and then discover they've been where we've been and know the same crew we know.