Snapper to Greenmount, barrels & drop ins

 Gagging to see some half decent surf I trotted off to Snapper rocks, being busy at work and the operation I haven't seen any decent clean surf in Oz since Tassie last year. Once in Coolangatta the walk around from Greenmount beach is pretty stunning, snapping a few on the way to Snapper. It's a cool setup here with the walkway taking you right by the ocean enjoying the view and the sunrise. I forgot how amazing the colours can be in the water when the sun hits the surf just right, nature at her best.
 
   Greenmount and Rainbow bay was fairly mellow but, Snapper was a total different story with irratic wobly story to the waves as they first jacked up just before the rocks, peeling down the line further as a cleaner line. One thing I did notice was a lot of blatant dropping in and a bit of agro, I was watching one guy in particular that sat about 50m down from the takeoff at Snapper and he'd watch someone take the gnarly drop and pull into the barrel then he'd disrespectfully turn around and paddle for the same wave. Who does that? Why? How did this person think it was ok to drop in on someone in the frign barrel? I don't care if he's the best surfer in the world it still doesn't give anyone the right to do this, he not only did it once but at least 3 times while I was watching causing each surfer to bail, and if you have been to Snapper it's not a nice spot to get hammered because of someone elses incompetence. Personally I can never understand this side of surfing, surfing is meant to be about having fun, enjoying the feeling of being in the ocean and riding one of natures treasures. Having a laugh and most of all bringing smiles to yourself and the people around you, not being a feckn prized prick ruining everyones day just because you can't handle the drop that someone else can.

this guy's got no respect and again the pic below, if you know him tell him to pull his head in.

Another drop in by someone else

   Right so, that little rant over hahaha. Their was a few decent lenses out and about too and a "Red" camera, I was wondering at the time if there was something going on. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed in me photos that Occy was ripping the place apart. So I was stoked I finally got to catch some of his magic as he's been someone I've always looked up to, a bloody legend. It was fairly busy in the lineup and  some interesting drops been taken at Snapper, very entertaining to even just sit there and watch it all. I also went up to the surf club for lunch, they have the best view up there and the best food. I had an amazing Thai beef salad, it was that frign good I will be going back again, big thanks to the lovely waitress that recomended it and a thanks to the chef. The waves during the day weren't massive to my usual shooting locations but it was good to see some surfing again and a dreamy and beautiful wave just peeling and peeling and peeling. What a place, definately going back there and hopefully i might enjoy a beer or 2 with the legend Occy at some stage and exchange surf stories.
cheers

Traffic jam

Early morning solo mission!?

A whale giving me a wave, i swear it was waving at me

Luanching

Slotted

Style

Occy

A whale of a time

   It's been almost 2 weeks now since my hernia operation, it wasn't your usual case of the intenstine protruding. My hernia was made up of a fatty layer that hangs over you intenstines called “omentum”, which was pushing out of a 50mm tear in my stomach muscles where my sensitive belly button is. The omentum protruding out was the size from the wrist to the finger tips while holding a softball! The operation went well and am now recovering.

   My hernia was the main reason why I haven't pushed myself to chase big waves to photograph of late as it was getting increasingly bigger every week. I'm sooo stoked that i am not far away from getting back into it now. So all we all need now is a couple of big storms to romp through the great Southern ocean into the sth Pacific sending massive swells to grace the coastlines of Tasmania, Fiji Tahiti and all inbetween.And hopefully will time well with me days off when I get back to work, that seems to be the hardest part hahaha.

   Meanwhile I have been chilln out in Surfer's Paradise, being stuck in me room for the first few days after the operation was driving me nuts. As soon as I could get out and walk around ok i went straight down to the beach where it was pumping. Unable to pick my camera up at this stage was quite frustrating but, at least I had me toes in the sand and ocean washing around my legs while i stood motionless watching the surfers glide across mother nature. It felt great, bloody awesome to be honest.

   At that stage I wanted to be on a boat, so a week or so later when I felt I was up to it I decided to go on a whale watching trip. It was an amazing day with us spotting a couple of whales, one coming right up to the boat and then tripping us all out as it dove under us to pop up on the other side. The whale turning gracefully over slightly to get a better look at us probably thinking what a bunch of nutters. They are so stunningly beautiful, moving through the water with ease occasionly coming up for a well earned breath of fresh air. It was the best day I have had in Australia yet. A huge thanks to the lovely friendly crew on the boat, I highly recommend the "Sea world whale watch" boat.

   So here's a few shots of recovery time for me. And here's to hopefully a future with no more hernias and days of big surf to shoot and share with everyone my curious perspective on the world as we know it.

Sláinte

My recovery accommodation

The lovely seaworld whale watch crew

Just luv this shot, so graceful

Looks like they're all staring at a painting on a wall...

I want one of these and I'd say I wouldn't be the only one

One of those moments in life for a lucky lady

That's pretty high and dam impressive, so much trust in this shot

Contrast of Life

A lightning view from my blacony in Surfer's

  I've only just realised how long it's been between blogs, so I guess I had better fill everyone in on what's going on.

   I took the plunge last November to move to Australia, the offering of over double the hourly rate and the draw card of working 3 weeks on and having 1 week off was too much to say no. As much as I luv NZ and my family their it was just too tempting. And yes after being here for 4 months now it was totally the right decision made.

   I'm currently residing in a small mining town in Qeensland called Mt. Isa when on me 3 weeks on and Surfer's Paradise on me week off. I'm driving a beautiful 300ton crane building a environmental friendly gas powered power station to replace the old one. The temperature's consistantly around 35-40+ degrees and has now and then gone up to a head boiling 47 degrees, my best mate on site is bluey, a 5 litre blue water bottle which I usually chug down 1 1/2 of those a day!!

  Mt. Isa itself is basically a hole which i cannot understand why, with the millions of tax dollars each year produced from the mine and power stations the town is old and run down and in desperate need of repair. being 1,800 km's inland from Brisbane you could say it's kinda remote. There are some really nice people here, but I do feel sorry for them living here all their lives hence when i get me week off i head to Surfer's for some fun, surf and sand.

  Going on last week I had off their might have been a little too much fun...I treated myself to the 26th floor in the Circle on Cavill tower with a killer sea view, totally loved something different and a bit more flashy from my box room in Mt. Isa. First night in Surfer's I decided to go to the Hard rock cafe for dinner, I timed that quiet well as they had the battle of the bands on and I have been wanting to see some decent live rock bands for a while now. It was a pretty awesome night.

   Over the next few days I just cruised around and chilled out. Amongst the hectic Surfer's night life I found a little Irish bar called Kitty O'Shea's that had some great mellow live music. Being almost more of a dinner place it never got that crowded with drunks. The staff were really friendly and it was good to be able to just sit there, listen to some tunes and share stories of travel and Ireland, very much reminded me of being in one of the pubs in Strandhill. A big thanks to Sadie, Kelvin and the rest of the staff.

   I know their's other places to go but all in good time, if any swells pop up while on me week off my goal is to go chase and let my passion for heavy water take over. It's been a patient waiting game so far and I only just missed the Kirra swell by 1 week!

   Yeah it's definately a contrast from work life to chill out life but this is the lifestyle I've wanted for some time, to be given more than 1 day off a week to actually go do something enjoyable, so with a bit of luck I'll see some amazing OZ surfers charge some of the heaviest waves in the world while making a bit of coin in the Isa.

Bring it on and fingers crossed

The not so environmental friendly mine in Mt. Isa

Storms here are impressive with killer lightning shows like below

Balcony reflections

Surfer's by sunrise...

Surefer's by day...

and Surfer's by night from my balcony

Tasmanian Tripping

   It's funny when you just think of a place because of one thing and you don't know anything else about it. Tasmania has so much more to offer than just Shipstern, the people are as friendly as the Irish and have big hearts welcoming you anywhere you went. On a trip recently there for other reasons than surf I was also pleasantly suprised by the beauty of the surroundings as I was tripping around. From classic stone buildings restored to their original state to the eucalyptus soaked hill sides and the stunning east coast beaches it's certainly a place to return to.
   Not really expecting Shipstern to break I was more driven to see the sights and the first, well you could say delivered. Driving around Hobart in the evening of the first day looking for a nice bar for a pint I kept going pass a Hotel and for some reason it was tempting me to go in. Within 5mins of being in there I found myself in the barmaid's car playing with a baby Wallaby she had saved. Stef did say she had a boyfriend straight away, but I respect bar staff and never have, never will hit on bar staff so she had nothing to worry about, besides I had this a cute baby Wallaby in my hands and it was frign soo cool to hold him. It was so fragile but Stef said Wally was getting stronger every day, she had saved it from the mom which had been mowed down by a car, so sad. Back in the bar I got to know the 2 barmaids better over a few of the best Guinness I've had since leaving Ireland. What a brilliant start to me trip. I got to know them a little more during my stay, really nice young ladies that made what could've been some dull nites so frign halarious that I got sore stomach muscles from laughing so much.
   Oh and by the way if you sit in the corner of a bar and want a drink feckn ask nicely and respect the hard working barmaids, don't just sit their gawking at them and throw sexual verbal abuse at them expecting to still be served. They're their to serve you drinks, not to take crap that they don't need to hear, if i'm in the vicinity of your bullshit I will say something and believe me I feel strongly about respecting bar staff. Sure have a laugh with them but don't cross the line, I told an older guy off at this bar, Stef said to me he's done that for years and thanked me for standing up for them, apparently he's come in since as he's a regular but now is really nice to them. Happy days aye...respect.

Stef & Wally

 The next day was the business part of the trip with a bit of a sore head, so I got what i had to do out of the way quickly and proceeded down to Shipstern. I didn't really know how I'd handle the walk in, with the van parked up at the end of the road I started on me trek in. Oh shit my legs burned so hard, I'm not exactly made for hills but with the thought of Shipstern breaking I pushed on through the bush and got to the lookout eventually. Sitting down catching me breath I saw my first set hitting the reef, holy shit it's truly a scary looking beast but so perectly mutated that you can't look anywhere else. The crack and boom as it unleashed on the reef was easily heard from my vantage point. Considering I didn't even expect to see it break while in Tasmania I just sat there thinking how frign lucky I am, life is great. Having not seen anything remotely like this since Ireland I ended up walking in 3 times over the next 5 days.

The walk in

   The second day I was lucky enough to meet Marti and Mikey, they were walking in to paddle it, fair balls to them because it was big enough and blowing a side shore gale producing over a 1m chop out there. They paddled into a few but it was just too bumpy, stuffed if I know how they didn't get mowed down by the rogue sets. It was a pretty heavy session to watch, I know it wasn't perfect by any means but I was stoked to the eyeballs to see it bigger and gnarlier than the first day. Because the wave breaks over reef the colours that saturate the wave as it breaks is this beautiful teal green, every photogs dream. There were alot of waves unridden as there wasn't anyone towing really but the boys were their to push themselves in the paddle zone, some waves are more stunning with no one on them and that lets your imagination run wild.

Marti & Mikey sitting on the edge

Every beach should have 1 of these

   I also had the honor of meeting the legend Wizz, the brains behind Harddartz surfboards. Not just surfboards thou, he also does wooden carvings. Each piece he brings out is as impressive as the first, a bulldogs head larger than life carved out of a solid piece of fallen tree, so much here so much to see. You know, I went to the world respected "Mona" gallery in Hobart and personally I think some of his work should be in there, one piece in particular of a hand that is just freaky with long gangly fingers and protrudent knuckles simply carved out of a branch. But what really caught my eye was the timber surfbaord hanging on the wall waiting for another day to be ridden. It looked like nothing I had ever seen with it's water channelling system and beautiful grain. I heard that it rode like no other board gliding across the water with ease, balanced to perfection. I heard you needn't force a turn, the natural wieght and grain in the board along with it's unique finless design and channels it does everything for you, I heard that this was possibly the perfect board...

The legend and the future

  Driving back to Hobart along the coast their's some impressive scenery, one of which looked like a scene out of Lord of the Rings with a city of towering pinnacles of stone.
   Hobart is a bustling little city, easy to get around without getting lost. Cafe's, galleries and trendy little shops line the yatch soaked harbour. The surrounding headland's a combination of bush and houses precariously hanging on the edge watching over Hobart. I did not expect to get anything from this trip, it was a trip for other reasons so you could say I was pleasantly suprised. I fell in love with Tasmania and the people and I will be definatley returning.
   I'd just like to say thanks to the friendly people I met along the way especially Marti and Mikey for urging me to head back into shipstern even thou my legs were fecked and cheers for helping me out. Last but not least a huge thanks to Stef and Sarah, I didn't expect to make such awesome friends as you 2, your gorgeous smiles and wicked humour made my trip.
Cheers Tasmania

Mordor

Best mates Stef & Sarah