da prom

It has been a while coming but we finally manage to assemble the majority of the tasty posse for a roadtrip. Minus Stubbs the Zombie who is unfortunately indisposed, Joeleee, Pistol (aka dub), Sergio and Lockie, plus honourary member Michelle, head down the coast to Wilson's Prom which is chockers with familys and hippies. First day we're up early to be greeted by seemingly small messy waves at Norman Bay but upon investigating the south end of the bay we find some joy and ride decent crumblers for a few hours until brekkie. An epic game of settlers later (is it too much to mention that I win?) we head off to Darby beach in the north having been given the insider tip by a guy who professed to have surfed so long he used to ride doors ripped from beach shacks (?!). Darby's 1km walk from the road gives us the water all to ourselves and with a rough take off from a beach of stones we're out the back with some ripper freight trains thundering in to smush us. A ruptured ear drum returns me to the safety/warmth of the shore but Joeleee and Dub paddle their arms off and catch some huge frothas all the way to the beach amid whoops of victory, nice arvo out! An evening of atrocious hippy congo drumming and some less atrocious veggie curry later and Sunday morn finds us at Squeaky beach looking at the little bumps pretending to be waves. Proving that he's more at home in the water than out of it, Joeleee clambers up some rocks and leaps off onto his noggin doing some considerable exterior damage but not too much to the obviously robust inner workings. Time to head home then until the hopefully imminent next trip!

Final mention goes to the burgers with the lot at the Fish Creek takeaway by the petrol station: greasy, hot, cheap and definitely tasty.

Lockie

finally i get in the water

having missed a surf on the west coast i was super keen for a dip in the water in brazil. With most of the beaches near rio kind of brown looking i had to wait until Isle Grande to finally catch a wave. We end up at Lopes Mendes which is variously referred to as the most beautiful beach in brazil, crystal clear blue water, fine squeaky white sand along a 1km crescent. Add the warm water that lets you surf in your boardies, the brazillian girls in bikinis and the access via a 2hr walk through tropica rainforest which means less than 10 people surfing.... was always going to be a winner. I pay the incredible $20 per hour for a mini mal (only one guy on the whole beach with only 4 boards to rent) and [try to] catch nice 3ft waves until the tide turns the whole beach into dumpers. Sure i felt a bit whiter than the tanned locals, sure i felt a bit more unco than the tanned locals but hell, i surfed in brazil!

lockie

PS: am now back on home turf, looking forward to vic waves again!!!

brazillians burger better

some late updates from brazil, land of brown beauties, killer caipirinhas and tasty burgers. Only had a chance to sample a few and oddly enough all were egg cheese burgers, one at the sunday Ipanema markets, one on the tropical island of Isle Grande and one at a bus/truck stop on the way to Sao Paulo. Hard to stuff up an egg cheese burger really but also hard to make one tasty given the limited ingredients (egg, cheese and burger der). Yet all three greasy little things were definately tasty or maybe i was just hungry for anything after such dismal burgers in Peru and Bolivia. So i should conclude: tentatively tasty and such in such a splendid country i will surely return for more

lockie

Golden Waves of Summer 06

...it has been so far. In the greater absence of most of the tribe, Pete and Joel have been tooling their way around the Anglesea region, drawn by the potential  mild mannered 2-4 footers for which we adore so. Without being too ambitious, we've found great satisfaction in grabbing the top of one of these waves and riding it all the way to 6 inch water, hoping off, pulling a phat surfy dude pose and spoutin "Thats how ya surf bro." And then doing it again, and again. Urquhart beach was the beginning of this run. the extended reef to the right helps whip the swell around - its good to hang toward this point and ride the lefties in.  Much better at mid-high tide. However, this past weekend brought a new spot and it was hot! After abandoning the beloved Urquas for lack of swell, we sped down the beach to Point Knightsbridge main beach where the short boarders were in heaven. The first short board addition to the TastyBurger crew, Steve, was introduced to Dave in a kind (and ruthless) manner and cut up some very fine waves. But us big board fellas worked out very quickly that the  needed to find a bit of a hole in the beach for the waves to carry a bit longer - and low and behold, just west of the yellow marker tent, thar she was! Several party rides in and four dead arms later, the P & J had to call it quits and make promises to swim more during the week. Long live the golden waves of summer 06 - hurry up and get back Lockie!