Crazed, Dazed but Unphased

The points are going to be very busy this weekend. 

Get some. Share some.

And for the rest of us amateurs, have some respect and wear a legrope. Nobody thinks you're cool swimming after your log as it bashes its way shorewards when you fall off the nose after that hang 10 in the barrel.

Kneeling

Somebody else kneeling where my quad came to grief last weekend.

Quote Week - 5

"A ship in port 

is safe

but that is not 

what ships 

are built for".

Anon

Something Borrowed

Continuing the bridal theme - "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" 

Today I'm borrowing a few old film shots from my first blog, Brine Time (all 793 posts are still able to be viewed).

GfG at Granite riding the ancient Joe Larkin pig mal with no leggie. It was old even in 1984 and weighed a ton - an epic to carry around all of those points. Didn’t used to see many mals in those days. A couple of guys from the Alex Headland crew, but that was it. The Larkin is awaiting restoration.

GfG at Granite. Probably same session as the other shot. We’d backpack around to the outcrop overlooking the furtherst cove. Surf. Shoot. Come in and scoff down a Mars Bar and a Coke and go out again, eventually returning for a massive pancake and maple syrup lunch and game of Space Invaders (20cents in the slot machine) at the little shop at the entrance to the National Park called The Noosa Wave.

The second shot above is one of the ones that accompanied a story I wrote about Noosa that was published in the Switchfoot II book.

Monochrome Monday (is back)

Hot Buttered

It starts with a young fella travelling up to the Gold Coast to learn the foam mowing trade under the guidance of the legendary Brian "Furry" Austin (RIP) at the back of Kirra.

Along the way, it intersects with the brains trust that was Hawaii in the 70's and the air brushed surealism of Martin Worthington. It now spans two generations of surfing and includes movies to boot.

It is Hot Buttered Surfboards.

Doublers

Before I saved enough pocket money for my own second hand crate at age 10, we had one large men’s bike to share amongst the six of us kids.

We younger kids couldn't reach the peddles, so we became adept at "doublers" where one of us would sit side saddle on the main horizontal bar and the other would sit on the seat and steer.

It was a real trust exercise and luckily we never had any major accidents or "neckers".

Today's post is dedicated to my siblings. I still can't believe one of you used to ride over the rest of us Evil Knevil style!

South of My Days Circle

Oh, they slide and they vanish 

as he shuffles the years like a pack of conjuror's cards. 

True or not, it's all the same; and the frost on the roof 

cracks like a whip, and the back-log break into ash. 

Wake, old man. this is winter, and the yarns are over. 

No-one is listening 

South of my days' circle. 

I know it dark against the stars, the high lean country 

full of old stories that still go walking in my sleep. 

from South of My Days Circle by Judith Wright

The Other Green Room

Less than 100 meters from the chaos and carnage in the lineup there's another green room - a tranquil spot in the rain forest where a whole miniature universe exists if you take the time to be still and focus.

BIG thanks today for those who fought and continue to fight to save our natural wonders.

So Many Parties (so little fun)

Election Time Down Under
We are being feted by well oiled political machinations and their laser like focus on what really turns us on at the Ballot Box.
And how we are spoilt for choice in the Senate, a supposedly purposeful and august hangout for movers and shakers who will decide what's in our best interests.
And to reinforce the illusion of choice we get to complete a ballot paper that is just over 1 meter long (39 inches)! Welcome to 21st century, not.

Here are some of the fringe sects vying for control of the country and my best guess at what constitutes their manifesto's:

One Nation
(southern cross tattoo sporting xenophobic white folk who's ancestors arrived on boats and therefore  don't know that black folk were here first?)
Shooters Rights
(assassins of highway signs, especially the ones that have silouhettes of kangaroos - rumoured to be a sub-branch of the NRA?)
Australian Motoring Enthusiasts
(fast, sleek and simple - ban slow ugly cars?)

Animal Justice
(harnessing nano-science and DNA cloning to bring road kill back to life to reclaim their sovereignty?)
Help End Marijuana Prohibition
(crusading hippies promoting free organic gardening classes, mood swings, de-motivation and schizophrenia )
Katter's Australian Party
(crusading blokes with big hats promoting elocution classes for slow talking mumblers, like myself?)
Democratic Labour Party
(like unlike the undemocratic one?)
Australian Republicans
(like unlike their US brethren?)
Australian Christians
(promoting an end the segregation of my Church and your State?)
Australian Independents
(skate crew rumoured to be funded by the Independent Truck company, who wish to remove those annoying metal bump things preventing a good skate grind in public places?)
Australian Fishing and Lifestyle Party
(a bunch of blokes who can't fit a shed in their town houses who'll finally resolve the diurnal question once and for all - "is fishing a lifestyle?"?)
Australian Voice
(some sort of singing crew specialising in three part harmony, RnB, hip hop, blues country fusion as a means of uniting the country?)

Australia First
(sharing their love of flags with Union Jacks on them - think coins, stamps, billboards, Aussie flags on every car will be mandatory?)
Australian Protectionist Party
(sharing their love of Aussie machinery?)
Family First
(all singles and orphans will be deported?)
Smokers' Rights
(free lung transplants - rumoured to be aligned with the HEMP crew?)
Secular Party of Australia
(tax all cults and churches to the max and promote any theory of evolution except the Garden of Eden?)
Pirate Party
(probably the most party like party - where thinking hipsters hang when not shopping for cool?)

The Greens
(more grass, green veges, no meat - rumoured to be aligned with the HEMP crew, too?)
Stop The Greens
(MEAT, more meat, more palm oil, more trans-fats, more ugly mine effluent, more Fukushima's - rumoured to be a front for the International Nihilists?)
Stop CSG
(bunch of farmers who think Coal Seam Gas is fracked - bad gas asses?)
Palmer United Party
(no alignment with Mrs Palmer or the sex party - more Titanic than titan?)
Sex Party
(as the Surf Industry knows so well, sex still sells - rumoured to be aligned with Family First in a bid to rid the country of non-reproducing singles?)

ohhhh there's so many more non-partying political parties, but I've lost the urge to analyse. I'm afraid I've failed my civic duty. . . Let's face it, what the election really boils down to is:

Australian Labor Party versus Liberal National Party of Queensland

(a bunch of conservatives pretending to be in touch with the working poor, while denying that they are puppets of Big International Corporations versus a bunch of conservatives with old money and plus old skool ties to Big International Corporations?)

You decide.

Spring Doldrums

Monochrome Monday

Shutter Lag

 Quite a few times I have been asked "What camera do you use?"
And the answer is "many" - Canon DSLR, Canon point and shoot, mobile phone and a bunch of film cameras- Nikonos, Holga, Rolleicord (1936 model), Fotoman 612.

Today's photos were all taken with a little digital range finder Canon G12 in either full manual or AV mode. There's no mirror which is great for hand held slow shutter stuff (and my shaky hands).

I've taken this little black box all over Australia as well as the Maldives and Morocco. Dropped it in the sand. Dropped it on the ground. Still working.
People take no notice in the street as it doesn't look real professional.
One down side is the shutter lag - the time it takes for the camera to agree with my trigger finger to actually take the shot. But if you want something in between expensive and cheap, this is the one. Of course it's obsolete. The current model is G15 or something.

 

Two for One

well three for one actually or maybe four

The Great Curve

"Sometimes the world has a load of questions 

Seems like the world knows nothing at all 

The world is near but it's out of reach 

Some people touch it...but they can't hold on."

from The Great Curve by Talking Heads

Hava go

I hear a lot of talk from people who don't surf saying they'd like to try it and despite my encouragement, there's often more talk than action. It's the same with life in general - a lot of talk but not a lot of follow through execution of the talk.
This post is for those who get off their backsides and have ago at stuff in life that's a bit out of their comfort zone. Congratulations.