Snacky Snacks

Joeleee's knee is back in action so with Dub and Mendez we head down past Anglesea to catch some of the rumoured swell from a storm off antarctica. Sure enough Roadknight has some size but damn it is tough to get out the back with so much white water so we often settle for big frothing rides with Mendez catching a couple of huge ones. Occasional venture out the back is rewarded by avoiding the huge rogue sets that come in every so often and I score the ride of my life on a phat wave which I feel obliged to mention. Evening finds us at Wye River pub, eating parma and watching the final surfers before dark, after which we return to the stunning Cumberland River Holiday Park for some C and K and a popular sergio victory. Day 2 we hit the snooze button a few too many times and miss the clean early sets but also miss the crowds, winding up back at roadknight with it mostly to ourselves. Some more dub adventures in the big sunny sloppy surf and we head exhausted to Anglesea for reasonable (jury is still out) burgers at the fush & chup shop before home. A spanking weekend, sure to be repeated.

Lockie

Bilious burger

I've eaten burgers on 4 continents (I'm still working on the others) but on Friday night at the Commonwealth Games rugby 7's I ate the worst tasting burger ever. I can say unequivocally that Telstra Dome chicken burgers are not tasty…. in fact, they are sh*t burgers. Limp bun, mayo and "chicken" patty with painted on grille stripes… rancid

(And no I am not confused with the sh*t burger I ate when the aussies got not-quite-bronze 4th Joeleee :)

Lockie

Serge Burger

Serge springs a surprise on Monday night by proving to be a talented burger chef! Who would have guessed that within this mild mannered modest man there lurks a patty maestro who hand kneads his raw mince in a bowl the size of a basin? It won't be as good as the Serge-meister but you too can give it a crack with the tasty CSIRO cookbook (online recipe).

Clean as a whistle

Pistol makes a halfhearted attempt to derail the early morning surf train by sleeping in, but the train will not be denied! Joeleee, Serhio, Dub and myself pile into the swedish beasty and head down to Phillip Island with only 1ft bumps reported on the west coast. Rolling up to Forest Caves we find a novel sight, a full car park! There has to be 15 times more cars than we've ever seen before and we suit up based on this optimism. The masses are right, Forest is clean clean clean with the banks and easing tide cooperating to give long right and left-hand breaks all over the shop. Joeleee still has a bung knee (see previous post) so swims out in the back to act as wave-spotter/encourager-of-suicidal-takeoffs which is actually a grand help. We manage a good couple of hours until the low tide mucks it up and our arms fall off from the big rip we've been in all morning. Lots of waves, no major mashage and high 30's in the sun, nice! Nude food for lunch so burgerless alas.

Lockie

Burgers I have known

New concept for the blog, nostalgic burgers. In particular, your first ever tasty burger memory? Personally I have to cast my mind back to when I was 8 and playing hockey for the South Perth Wasps. Each year we'd have a weekend trip out to country Narrogin to play rural hockey teams. All I actually recall about the actual tournaments were the rough country players who'd hack at your shin pads and spit on the ground a lot, plus the dodgy grounds set up in the middle of the local racecourse with bumps and lumps that would bounce the ball towards your knees if you weren't careful. However, what I strongly remember, can almost taste in fact, are the tasty burgers. Each year there was a small caravan type trailer made from corrugated iron sheets from which would be served the tastiest burgers. I never had the entry level burger, always springing the $2.50 for the burger with the lot. Pineapple, greasy egg, lean patty, soft fatty bacon, rosella tom sauce. At the end of a hard game of being hacked and spat on in the heat…. Damn it was tasty. Maybe cause for a nostalgic road trip one year if I am back in Perth with a weekend spare.

So here's the request, what's your first tasty burger memory?

Lockie

Forest Caves Beach - clean at last

The Zombie Master Stubbs had reported a flat west coast somewhere around dawn - or was it 9am? - Saturday. So it was Philip Island, as Serge and Dub didn't fancy swimming through raw sewage at Gunnamatta.

There was a competition on at Woolamai, breakers at 10 metres at Forest Caves, and a zoo at Smiths. Great opportunity for a burger interlude, 'nuff said.

I kinda knew it was always going to be Forest Caves (although this blogger has often been known to groan on hearing "let's see what it's like at forest's") but when we got over the dune at 1pm with the boards, the wind had died down and the waves were glassy. Even the huge rips winked in the sun, as if to say "Join Ussss....". Better still, there were less than ten people in the water. Once we'd got the hang of the rip just right of the steps, it was a great surf on glassy waves with a lot of power.

A few points about Forest Caves (comments welcome)
- Works really well in low wind at mid-high tide. Low tide break too near the shore.
- Watch out for a few submerged rocks around the steps area.
- No crowds!

Serge popped his surf cherry with 3 big big long rides. Nice one Serge!
Let us give thanks unto Dave: In nomine Padre, Spiritus sanctus etc. etc.