Hope everyone has had a good christmas!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The new car and beyond!....
AFter picking up the new car, (a pimp station wagon, black, aircon the works!)we headed to pick up the kit, say goodbye to Bernard 2 (the van) and we headed straight up to the Gnarloo (the wave sailing mecca in the midlle of nowhere). After a 2 hour dirt track ride we get oour first glimpse, blue waters howling wind and peeling waves! Tom nearly pees himself with the excitement and jumps straight out there. Erica decides to wait and access the shallow razor sharp reef break from the cliffs first, well someone has to call the ambulance! This continued for the next 5 days and Erica made it out onto the water, on a 3.4 at one point,slashing the shit out of the long gloriouse waves. The whole place was amazing, rocky cliffs and beaches to explore, so much wildlife in and out of the water, Tom kept spotting sharks on our snorkels, a little off putting....
We decide to move on and up, destination, Exmouth and the Nigaloo Marine Reserve. From gnarly extreme sailing we move to serene crystal clear waters, snorkeling and windsurfing with turtles, rays and more sharks, plus a million other fish life and crazy willy wonkas choc factory looking coral formations. Really tranquil....more soon!
We decide to move on and up, destination, Exmouth and the Nigaloo Marine Reserve. From gnarly extreme sailing we move to serene crystal clear waters, snorkeling and windsurfing with turtles, rays and more sharks, plus a million other fish life and crazy willy wonkas choc factory looking coral formations. Really tranquil....more soon!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Hey a little update from Oz,
So after arriving in Perth about 2 weeks ago we managed to sort ourselves a Van, Toyota Hiace, and turned it into a sweet camper with some help from some local Perthians…cheers for that…..So once the van was set it was defninatly time to find some wind!
First stop was Lanclin, pretty light wind but a great flat-water playground to start off and a few bits of shore break to play in with our kindly borrowed comp surfboard.
On from there we made it up to GreenHead, via ‘The Pinnacles’, crazy rocks that jut out from the deep red desert landscape. At greenhead we found a howling SW wind and got straight out on the water with a flat-water easy stretch and then an outer reef about 1km offshore with some nice manageable waves…great fun! We stayed in a gorgeous little inlet called ‘dynamite bay’ with great snorkelling.
Next stop was Gerelton, with two main spots we discovered. First Point Moore, a spectacular white sandy beach with turquoise paradise waters, absolutely stunning. It had a nice breeze and both flat water with small waves off the reef, although they didn’t seem to be forming that well. Then onto Corination beach. Now this place seems to be the spot people come to. With a windsurfer settlement camp right on the beach, although not as pretty as Point Moore, it had some great stunt ramps, flat-water and some rolling swell that was a great introduction to wave sailing even if a little onshore. This place was sooooo busy though with over 40 sailors out, and that’s not in the holidays.
We then lost the wind and decided to do some exploring further north. We headed to Sharks Bay Nature Reserve, wow, this place has some stunning empty beaches. The famous Shell Beach that is mined for its calcium rich shells but still retains its paradise look. But by far the coolest thing we stumbled on was a shoal Lemon Sharks basking in knee deep water, we waded out and were surrounded by 10-15 of the things along with flat fish and sting rays. It was so unexpected which made it all the better with not another sole in sight! (no pun intended!)
We are writing this while on our 13hour bus ride back to Perth. Why a bus you may ask, what with our amazing van we bought?! Well after our non windy antics we had decided to continue north to find some better wind and waves. Just out of a sleepy town called Canavon we get a whiff of smelly engine we pull over to investigate. Simple case of overheating we imagine and chill on the side of the road for a bit. Tried to move off but still its steaming so we rest up for the night in a trucker stop nearby. Morning comes back on the road, seems not so we limp into Canarvon. Send her in for diagnostic with a local mechanic and with three different people confirming our baby has a cracked head which plasters won’t solve! Bugger!!!
So the journey starts again this time with hire car and ready to tackle Oz with fresh vengeance. Lets hope this one last more than a week.
Now...
We now have the car, a very pimp black station wagon and have retreived our kit from the wreckers yard, heading up to the Gnarloo which looks windy for the next week so should be good....
First stop was Lanclin, pretty light wind but a great flat-water playground to start off and a few bits of shore break to play in with our kindly borrowed comp surfboard.
On from there we made it up to GreenHead, via ‘The Pinnacles’, crazy rocks that jut out from the deep red desert landscape. At greenhead we found a howling SW wind and got straight out on the water with a flat-water easy stretch and then an outer reef about 1km offshore with some nice manageable waves…great fun! We stayed in a gorgeous little inlet called ‘dynamite bay’ with great snorkelling.
Next stop was Gerelton, with two main spots we discovered. First Point Moore, a spectacular white sandy beach with turquoise paradise waters, absolutely stunning. It had a nice breeze and both flat water with small waves off the reef, although they didn’t seem to be forming that well. Then onto Corination beach. Now this place seems to be the spot people come to. With a windsurfer settlement camp right on the beach, although not as pretty as Point Moore, it had some great stunt ramps, flat-water and some rolling swell that was a great introduction to wave sailing even if a little onshore. This place was sooooo busy though with over 40 sailors out, and that’s not in the holidays.
We then lost the wind and decided to do some exploring further north. We headed to Sharks Bay Nature Reserve, wow, this place has some stunning empty beaches. The famous Shell Beach that is mined for its calcium rich shells but still retains its paradise look. But by far the coolest thing we stumbled on was a shoal Lemon Sharks basking in knee deep water, we waded out and were surrounded by 10-15 of the things along with flat fish and sting rays. It was so unexpected which made it all the better with not another sole in sight! (no pun intended!)
We are writing this while on our 13hour bus ride back to Perth. Why a bus you may ask, what with our amazing van we bought?! Well after our non windy antics we had decided to continue north to find some better wind and waves. Just out of a sleepy town called Canavon we get a whiff of smelly engine we pull over to investigate. Simple case of overheating we imagine and chill on the side of the road for a bit. Tried to move off but still its steaming so we rest up for the night in a trucker stop nearby. Morning comes back on the road, seems not so we limp into Canarvon. Send her in for diagnostic with a local mechanic and with three different people confirming our baby has a cracked head which plasters won’t solve! Bugger!!!
So the journey starts again this time with hire car and ready to tackle Oz with fresh vengeance. Lets hope this one last more than a week.
Now...
We now have the car, a very pimp black station wagon and have retreived our kit from the wreckers yard, heading up to the Gnarloo which looks windy for the next week so should be good....
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
This is a test.......
I have set this Blog up to Keep everyone in touch with Tom and Erica's current adventures and as a forum to share our pictures and stories with everyone. Hopefully if you are reading this you know us or have had your 'Stoked Session' captured by us and want to see if you looked as good as it did in your head.....I hope your not too disapointed!
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