Landrover x Teewah

Just love the kid on the mini motorbike in the background. Single fin, film era near the wreck of MV Cherry Venture.

Gaydon to Mumbai

From Gaydon UK where they have been produced for 60 years to Mumbai, India where their parent company resides, the people who make Landrover 4x4 vehicles probably didn't anticipate their products would be used by surfers looking for empty waves, parked beside campsite fireplaces all over Oz.

Analogue Search Engines

Back to back

Maybe it's because backhand is a novelty around here with so many "natural footer" opportunities that I enjoy it so much, when I find a nice long wall running left.

Same spot. 1985 to 2010. 25 years later the stoke remains hurtling along and leaning backwards right over on a rail to set up a reo as you dodge barnacled rocks.

Granite Grinder

Time Thief

Sometimes I feel like a time thief. Trapping moments in my little box.
Stealing a 5ooth of a second here, a 10th of a second there. A few decades ago and a few days ago. Which is which?

Painting with light

If photography is "painting with light", what do we call "painting with pixels"? Same spot. Same session.

Still Raining, still dreaming

somewhere above this perpetual rain lurks a bit of sunshine

Rollin in the Brine

Finally I got to rest the longboard and the bike

And roll around in the brine on the quad again (it's been a while)

As we get a bit of this (been a while there too)

Air Crafts

However you fly, have a great weekend.

Simply Living

More Sharing

Probably before you were born there was a wonderful concert in Madison Square Garden, New York featuring a legendary lineup of rockers and rollers - Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Ravi Shankar and Ringo Starr to help a bunch of poor folks on the other side of the planet whose lands had been devastated by Nature.
It was the Concert for Bangladesh (check it on iTooons or ask your folks) and probably the first of many monster aid concerts. It raised a lot of money but there's still way too many folk we share this planet with who can't even get a safe mouthful of water to clean their teeth, let alone adequate food and medical attention.

It's been said by many of those that don't wallow around in the brine as much as ourselves that surfers are a selfish bunch, devoting way too much life time to the selfish pursuit of Stoke - chasing the hedonistic pleasure of carving, riding, sliding or rolling along on air mats, four fins, two fins, no fins or just our hands and feet. Working only as much as will fund the next board or adventure. Connecting only with those who live in our insular briney bubble.

So here's a chance to prove the naysayers wrong by putting some of our hard earned cash into helping a bunch of folks we'll never meet, who probably don't surf and probably have divergent political and spiritual beliefs to us. Because we can. Let's help the folks in Pakistan via the Oxfam website.

Drop Ins Welcome

Sometimes a drop in is welcome - like when you are out on a small day on a log with a few mates and you have a 1964 Nikonos II and a roll of 35mm...

Mono Mateship

Caught up with a few old mates yesterday.

The waves were small, but we had a barrel of fun.

The early bird catches the worm

Am doing this.

And this.

To avoid this.

Nine Eleven

Today we remember the innocent victims of the 911 terror attacks and all of the other innocents - "collateral damage" of violence of all kinds that we humans have justified, packaged, sold and perpetrated on each other. I'm reminded of the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:38-39

“You have heard that it was said, 

‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer. 

But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, 

turn the other to him as well."

"Revenge, at first though sweet,
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils."

John Milton  Paradise Lost

Peace is easy to say and hard to practice. If it was easy, we'd all be living in Paradise.

Global Warming

Winter ended early and spring has delivered its annual bounty of beauty. Time to get outside and ride.

Another Reo

Backhand to boot in the land of unexploded military shells.

New Moon/New Era/New Leader

New Moon and we have a new era of Oz politics with a minority government promising a new era of co-operation and consultation.

Ignoring Excellence

Ignoring excellence.
In the quest for perfection.
Same guy. Same spot.
42 seconds apart.

Splash

A splash of colour on an otherwise bleak day. Hope you are all safe and dry despite the earthquakes, wild winds and floods of the last 48 hours.

F1_11 @ F11

How many of us will be able to say that 500000 people came out on an overcast night to see our retirement farewell? After 40 years of service, the Aussie airforce has traded its fleet of F1-11 fighters for something way more shiney and way more expensive. And a big crowd rolled up for the show last night.
I shot a 54 second timelapse of this hardy old aircraft as it did a U turn above us while doing a"dump and burn". I wasn't worrying about reciprocity failure or hyperfocal distance. I was thinking that this was the end of an era, that started analogue in 1970 and Vietnam. I wanted to clap and cheer.  Not for its killing capacity, for it was a weapon of mass destruction. But its testament to efficient industrial design and longevity in this digital era of inbuilt obsolescence and turnover based profits. And then I pondered, even if you can move at the speed of sound, even if you're the shiniest in the pack, eventually your day will be over. This post is dedicated to our old mate Greg who left us unexpectedly last week. RIP mate.

Walkin the Dog

Overcast, Sharky. Flattish.
Maybe take the dog for a walk or go for a paddle or both.

Friday Night

"Friday night last orders at the pub,

Get in the car and drive to the club,

There's a massive crowd outside so we get in to the queue

It's quarter past 11 now we won't get in till quarter to two."

Lily Allen from Friday Night

Thursday's Child

Wednesday 3 AM

Last night of winter and a tawny frogmouth is hooting outside in the trees. I'm lying awake at 3AM thinking about my wonderful blood and brine brother GfG who's celebrating a monster milestone today.
A million scenes replay behind my eyelids like postcards stored in an old box of treasures. There he is in countless Kodachromes - sitting on the rocks at Waimea, the pier at Huntington, on the road to mischief and adventure. There he is on p333 of the coffee table surfing book Switchfoot II burying a rail at Granite.
Just seems like yesterday I was treading water at Wurtulla with a manual focus Nikon telephoto while Gfg drags a hand in the wall as he takes off on a Joe Larkin longboard. No eggie. No rashie. Short shorts. Happy Birthday bro. (Sorry I missed the coverup!)