New hobby

So not much painting of late. Or collage or textile work. There just aren't enough hours in the day. Plus having to work really cuts into my 'me' time. :P It's finally starting to feel like we're getting close to Winter and so I have been doing a suitable activity.

A workmate started teaching a friend and me about three weeks ago and we're unstoppable now. It is so easy, I recommend it to anyone that wants to learn. Being a lefthander, I did feel a bit challenged. Generally I'm pretty good at reversing instructions but this was pretty confusing to mirror. I found a few nifty vids on youtube giving left-handed demos of how to do different stitches. Helped a lot.

So I have set myself the task of making a blanket. 10 squares by 10squares. That's 100 squares, kids. So far I've made about 15. There's just something about crocheted granny squares. It's so retro and nostalgic. It reminds me so beautifully of my childhood. You know those hazy, intangible memories that are more feeling than anything else? I spend half my life trying to recapture them.

Toes on the Noes

I was re-watching the ROXY short surf film 'Shimmer' the other day. The interviews are a bit naff, but I like girls surfing and Roxy is always so 'feel good'. Graceful and pretty. Kula Barbieto is a featured longboarder and I saw her pop up, turn her board and then cross-setp to the nose in a sort of graceful, two-step gallop. It made so much sense! I keep trying to take my time getting to the nose and then fall off because I've missed the opportunity while I worry about keeping the board in trim.

My Uncle had told me that you need to have your board in the top third of the wave and to get down the front straight away.

So on Wednesday I gave it a go. Waves were tiny, but there were a couple of people hanging five, so it reminded me to give it a go. I managed to pull off two Hang 5s on separate waves! All without falling off afterwards.
Stoked.

Gnaraloo 2010 - unknown surfer

After work today I'm off to pick up my Dad's 1969 Cordingley Stringerless 9'4. It hasn't been used since I took it out after I first started surfing, about 3 years ago. Now that I know what I'm doing - sorta - I'm keen to have another go. Plus it weighs so much that I'm thinking it will be a whole lot better for noseriding than my new, light 9'1. Apparently, though, it has a convex bottom.... we'll see how that works out.

Margaret River Drug Aware Pro

A quick trip down south for some waves and to take in the spectacle of an international surf comp.

We had to park on a golf course and catch a bus out to the surf break...

Waves had been 8-10 foot on the Friday, but we arrived to a rapidly dimishing swell. Uber long waits between sets and competitors were struggling to get two scoring waves in their heat. Lots of heats were extended to 40 minutes. The groms had the best day of it, surfing Southsides while the pros waited on a flat Main Break.

The crew

The women's finals finished after the mens and I was pretty spun out to see 90% of spectators leave after the men's presentations finished. They took place whilst the women's semi was still running, I might add. Guess there still isn't as much of a following of women's surfing...

We stopped in at Gracetown on the way back to our little chalet. The swell had dropped even more. Still looked fun, but we didn't have boards with us and a 60min round trip to get them would have left us with 40mins of light. We could surf on Sunday.

The Search

After a mega meal of pizza at the Malt Market, and a round of shots from a friend of a friend who insisted, we hit the hay. We awoke on Sunday morning to the sounds of 25 knot onshore winds and the swell read: <1 metre. Unheard of. So no waves for us. We perked ourselves up with pancakes and coffee before hitting the road.  

Easter holiday highlights

We made the most of the unusual 5 day weekend by driving 5 hours down south to Denmark. We were organised and got our x-trail serviced before we left. So as luck would have it, something in the service broke the computer and the car 'forgot' how to idle. Couldn't get it in to be fixed for another couple of weeks. So we left in the old Crystal Voyager, packed to the roof with longboards, in the dead of night, to putt our way down south.

Ocean Beach

 Camping was pretty busy and chaotic compared to in the sticks last year, where we were camped in the Stirling Ranges, away from everything. Amazing weather, generally, and great company. Blown away by all the high-tech camper trailers and caravans people have these days. Aren't you meant to leave all your crap at home?

Ocean Beach after watching the dolphins surfing

We had rain each night but the days were wonderful. Monday was the only really wet day, so we hopped in the car and made the trip to the treetop walk. Tall, old tuarts that are known for developing human-size holes in their trunks. We also made a trip to a maze made entirely of plants. Quiet and peaceful. 

We got some tiny waves at Ocean Beach. Nothing to write home about, but it was fun. I loved that you could tell the local girls apart from all the visitors. The locals were surfing in bikinis. It was definitely a longboard wave. The beach is south-facing. As the sun set behind the hills and the surf club, the face of the waves became bathed in gold. We surfed two nights until it was too dark to see, sharing some golden, tandem waves.

Me at Green's Pool on a sunny day

Rock Pool swims

Jess at Elephant Rocks

Local art market on Easter Saturday

Happy Campers

We received hours of entertainment from our pterodactyl-like neighbours. However, I think we were all after a bit of solitude. A lot of fun, but next year I think we'll aim to get off the beaten track...

The ideas are forming.

More images here: My Flickr Set - Denmark