Monday, December 12, 2011

Girls Gone Wild at Wedge

F1000013 It is becoming something of a tradition now for our group of girls to head up to
Lancelin once or twice a year. As the back beach often provides nothing but
disappointment we have begun venturing further a field. Now with two 4WDs
between us, we have been sleeping at Lano and burning up to Wedge to surf. This
is what we did this trip. Checked out the back beach. (Filthy, silty, weedy close outs
with two frothers out) then went for a drive to Wedge just for the sake of it.

F1000012 For those not in the know, Wedge Island is a little island off the coast of WA, north
of Lancelin. The coastline in between is relatively uncrowded and isolated. The
Bombing Range (yes, it has that name for a reason) is a long strip of white sand and
waves accessible only by 4x4 and enjoyed by surfers and fishermen alike.

The little encampment of holiday and fishing shacks is generally just known as
Wedge. So we head up to Wedge, past the makeshift rubbish tip, and then find our
way onto the beach to drive until we like the look of the waves.

Generally speaking, we’ve always been with fathers and husbands when doing any
serious beach driving. Last time we came, there was a cyclone, high tides and no
beach to drive on at all. Great waves though!!

So this time we made it along the tracks and onto the beach with Leeann leading
the way. I always encourage this as I seem to have a blank zone in my brain for
directions when it comes to this place. Onto there beach and there was some
hilarious fishtailing until I suggested to Leeann that she go a bit faster – which she
happily did without any further encouragement.

F1000014 At this point I need to say again that conditions were hideous on Saturday. Not
another soul on the beach for as far as it stretched. But the winds… Strong cross-
shore winds which eventually swung onshore.

F1000015
So surfing consisted of catching whitewater, or if you were sensible, hiding in the car and reading a book, like Jo did. The winds were creating a small dune under my car that directed sand up and
straight in through the windows! After packing up, we had a good inch of flour-like
sand over everything in the boot.
F1000021

 F1000016

Now. Which entry did we come onto the beach from? The one next to the cliff?
Which track did we take? I don’t remember this corner? Must have been left… I
don’t remember these bushes. I was supremely happy to follow Leeann for reasons
I already mentioned. So we ended up driving up a too narrow track to a hill that
we hadn’t been to before. We decided to turn around. Leeann performed a perfect
three-point turn at the top of a dune, cos no one told her she couldn’t. I decided to
do mine on a ‘flat’ section of ground and wound up with one tire off the ground! An
adventure if ever I saw one! We were all out of the car to inspect said tire. Solutions
were debated and tires were deflated.
F1000019 The girls had no problem pushing me out and promptly enjoyed covered up the holey evidence. I gunned it back over our previous hill and then it was Leeann’s turn. Halfway up the hill, then back down. At this point we were wandering the track trying to figure out where they’d ended up. Tires down and then they were up and over. A left and another left and we were out. Nothing dramatic but I think we all felt like we had been tested and passed.
F1000017
About 20km out of Lancelin we saw a group of skater guys preparing to leave their
skins on the bitumen during their descent from Nilgen Lookout to the valley below.
Typical Aussies; topless in boardies. Some of them may have been wearing thongs
(flipflops).

The reward for our search is always a bbq fry up. On Friday, Tania and I did the
food shop and bought a kilo of bacon (which we didn’t come close to eating!) eggs,
tomatoes, mushrooms and hashbrowns! Nothing tastes better after a surf!

Champagne slushies helped fuel us for the night we spent walking the entire length
of the Lancelin township in gale force winds. Turns out the pub restaurant can be
booked out in Lano. Should have made a reservation! And that’s without the skimpies
working. So back we walked to a quieter restaurant. Tania and I were upsold on the
seafood pasta, which tasted like it only had those two ingredients.

Early start on Sunday morn as the forecast was favourable. Straight up to Wedge this
time. Saw two tiger snakes and a bobtail before we even got to the sand track. We
all paid a lot more attention to the directions this time. A few more cars on the beach
today and some pretty nice looking peaks. A group of four longboarders were loving
the peak near where we parked up. Conditions were a lot smaller than the previous
day and just perfect for us.
F1000020

F1000022 I took out my 5’6 mini simmons and had a great time catching its first shapely waves.
It is taking some getting used to after my usual 7’6 and 9’1. Any advice would be
much appreciated. Feels like it needs positioning in the centre/front of the board, but
with more weight on the back foot.

F1000024

F1000023
Between both days, all the girls had some good waves and the two plus hour trip
home was a very subdued affair. Of course we didn’t leave before we had bacon and
avocado toasted sandwiches with the remainder of the kilo of bacon Tania insisted
we buy. Good call.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Dunsborough Escape

F1000007
El Salvador CA
F1000010

F1000009

F1000008

F1000004
This shot was meant to have James skating along behind me, but clearly I needed to have used the fisheye, not at 35mm.
F1000001
cross country