From: u8801863@cs.uow.edu.au (Nigel Brendon Robinson)
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: A "TRIP" down memory lane....
Date: 31 Aug 92 02:41:15 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Wollongong University, Australia

For those of you who are new to alt.surfing I have kept 
a post from ealier in the year and I thought it would be worth 
re-posting as it's now out of circulation...
How do we go about storing some of the stuff that comes into
this group.It seems like alot of things just fade away...
We need an archive site,but I don't know how to do
that anyone else know ???? (Robert,Theresa,Clark,Lud ??? )
It would be just like re-reading old surf-mags... :-)

This trip was the first one I'd done to Bells so I 
don't mind re-posting it ...


- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
		Easter Surf Safari.	Fri 17th - Fri 24th April 1992.

	Compiled by Joe, with added comments from the gang.


- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Note: All Measurements in relation to Head High.

Day:		Place:						Wave Size:
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday		Lud.> Jim and Tim turned up friday morning,
		We surfed Bird rock, around .5 to 1 head high waves, a
		little uneven but ok.
		Met up with Jim and Tim intermittently throughout the
		week.

		Joe>Drove to Bells via Canberra, Yass, Albury, and Melbourne.
		(Mark, Nigel & Joe)
		Joe> Been on worse car trips. The freeway makes it easy.
		Nig> That stop off at the road-house was a bit of a trip-
		out after the second carrot.There was this guy who was 
		standing out near the road throwing up.He was a bloody
		attention seeker.If I was a psykologist I'd be able to write
		a thesis on this guy's actions...He got out of the car, threw
		up and then kept throwing up as each car went by.Making sure
		to lean out each time towards the car going by.
		On the rare occassion I throw up I try to find a place a
		little more secluded.Such as a toilet or your bedroom, or the 
		boot of a car.
		That had me fascinated for about 15 minutes while we were 
 		waiting for our chips.People are the most interesting animals
		sometimes.
		Getting lost in Melbourne was also fun.
		I've had a few car-trips that were bizarre,but I think we
		covered most of the emotions from downright ectasy ,to the
		pit's of despair back to tired and irratable pissed off 
		debates with Mark.
		All in all, thank god for caffiene.

		Lud.> The "gang" consisted of "Jim Jum" from
		Wollongong, and his mate Tim, from Geelong, Nigel and
		Mark also from Wollongong, Joe from Canberra, Paul
		from Melbourne, and myself.
		Bit of an instant crowd :-).

		Nig> Just add water... :-)

		Hour's driving time from Bell's is about 1.5 to
		Melbourne, 7 to canberra and 11 to Woolongong ?
		(Correct these times Nigel.)
	Nig>	Well, with Joes drugs I'd say it's about 68 hours to Wollogong.
	
		Lud.> Joe, Mark and Nigel arrived at about 1am on sat.
		morning, I'd met Joe on our previous surfari, but not
		Nigel and his mate, Mark.
		I didn't know what to expect in the way of
		appearances, I had sort of a vague impression that
		Nigel might look a bit like a punk rocker with short
		"back and sides" haircut, complete with a good
		smattering of tatoo's :-), but ala's, he was far worse!, 
		he was your typical "averge" poor Uni student :-).
		Concealed within his long, what looked like some sort
		of army coat, he looked a bit suspicious :-), I was

		Nig>My mum gave me that coat,I don't know where it came 
		from but it serves the purpose.Holds up to 6 cans in
		each pocket.

		almost tempted to say "you have the wrong address
		guy's, no one called Lud. lives here" :-), but when he
		mentioned he'd brought along a crate of his home
		brewed beer, he suddenly looked a lot friendlier :-).
		After getting aquainted we finally hit the sack a
		little after 2 am.
		Nig> I felt like a Truck had run over me 5 times apon
		arriving at Lud's place,and Lud expected a coversation...

Saturday	First Surf at Bird Rock				.5 to 1
		Joe> Foaming at the mouth to get into the water
		     dissapointed on getting out. Wanted
		     overhead tubes man.
		
		Lud.> I didn't have the heart to wake them at 5 am for
		an early , so we hit the water about mid morning, by
		which time the swell had already started to drop off a
		little. 
		Bird rock was unusually uncrowded for easter, perhaps
		because it wasn't exactly pumping, so we all got our
		fair share of waves. Nig seemed intent on examining
		the reef at close range a few time's :-), most people
		would tend to "wire" a new break a bit first, but not
		Nig., straight to the inside :-).
		He definitely get's the wave hog award, no respect for
		his elder's at all :-).
		Nig> Or that local fuckwit who kept hassling everyone
		out for waves.I did hassle him on one wave just to get the 
		prick back,but alas it didn't work.I had the inside position
		to go right and he faded left forcing me to go left,so I would
		have to run him over to go right.He then turned and went
		right.Some people are just tooooo tense.
		The first wave I caught I forgot there was a "reef" and did 
		a floater only to be standing in kneee depth of water.
		Still no damage.Plus those reefs weren't real reef.They
		had no sea urchins or boulders/cungee/coral outcrops.
		The ones that produce the insane tubes man...

		Afternoon Surf at Fairhaven			.25 to .5
		Very strong Cross Current made it hard
		to stay on the peak.
		Nig> Yeah,this place kept closing out and we discovered the 
		kooks from Melbourne for the first time.
		I had some fun floaters on the close outs though.
		What else could you do on some of them.

		Torquay Pub - No one got Lucky.			Strike-1
		Crashed.....
		Nig> I stayed at home for this one,I was still stuffed from
		the trip down.Mark went to a party and got to meet some of
		the locals and discover their drug antics.Plus had the 
		pleasure of seeing one guy get hassled out until he threw
		up and got kicked out.

Sunday		Lud & Nig got up and went for a surf at Steps.	.5 to 1
		Every one else was still recovering
		from the night before.
		Joe> Hell knows I wasn't getting out of bed.
		Nig> Lud's wake up call "Nigel are you in there !!!???"
		No Lud, I've atral travelled down to check out the surf and 
		it's no good so go back to bed.		

		BREAKFAST:
		13th Beach was the next stop. Good waves and	.5 to 1
		not many hassles.
		Nig> Still more kooks around,but some good waves.Pity it
		wasn't bigger I would have liked a bit more size in the
		surf.
	
		LUNCH:
		Went Back to 13th in the afternoon but the 	.25 to .5
		had dropped down a bit.
		Joe> Anyone got a spare Mal?
		Nig> Here I was taught the art of sharing waves by Paul.
		Silly man didn't realise I didn't need any lessons.I'd been 
		practising for many years,and no-one has yet realised
		that I have divine rights to every wave.
		
		DINNER:
		Geelong Hotel - Huge Party.			Strike-2
		Joe> Almost got Lucky but Nig was on another 
		     planet.
		Nig> It was a nice place too with many girls in bikini's 
		looking lustfully in my direction,plus a full-on local female
		fashion entourage parading by just for me.
		Flash,zap,god has just spaketh to me...
		hey wait a minute that was the swim-suit edition and the
		other girls who were my fashion parade were just passing
		by, not there for my visual pleasure after-all.
		Shit,I hate it when HE brings me back to earth with a thud.

		Crashed..... by this time feeling the pinch.

Monday		BREAKFAST:
		Watched the Coke Surf Classic.
		Joe> Judges were giving out classic scores too!
		As you all know Richie Collins won.		improving

		LUNCH:
		Point Danger Supertubes - Evening Patrol.	.25 to .75
		Joe> Shark Patrol.
		Nig>This would rate as my worst surf for the whole trip
		gutless,onshore mush, that reminded me tooo much of a bad
		day in wollongong.

		DINNER:
		Movie Night.
		Joe> Lud treated us to some amazing surf footage
		     of his favourite spot through the last
		     decade or two or three...
		Nig> This is where we all discovered what the 70's soul 
		surfer's were really like.How the long hair and the Charles
		Manson look were acceptable things....bloody hippies. :-)

		California Games Computer Surfing. Some really	2 to 3
		outstanding manouvers. Best wave scored a 9.2.

Tuesday		BREAKFAST:
		Joe> Bells & Winkie were full of locals, pro's and
		Tourists (like us) so we went for a long drive
		and stopped at Spout Creek.			.75 to 1

		Lud.> Bell's and Winkie were pumping, great waves from
		head to double overhead almost, clean and almost
		perfect, but the crowd, beyond description, 3 to 4
		guy's trying to surf most wave's !. Not for the faint
		hearted. The biggest crowd's I've seen after easter.

		Lud.> Spout was working pretty well, with shifting
		peak's up to head high, nice right's and left's, but
		the best were the left's.
		Someone had to take a few photo's of the gang surfing,
		and I got stuck with the job :-(.
		Joe was getting some nice left's with a few coverup's,
		Paul was swapping board's around and consequently spent
		more time out of the water than in, but eventually
		cracked a few nice left's.
		Mark, who is a goofy, kept on taking off on these nice
		left's, but insisted on going right, made it bloody
		hard to get a good photo.

		Nig> Mark is a natural footer.

		Nig. as usual was hogging most of the waves, going
		left, right, and every which way.

		Nig> Oh well,some-one had to take out the wave-hog award... :-)


		LUNCH:
		Went home and watched Big Wednesday on the TV.	5 to 6
		Joe> Have you ever seen a more believable movie?

		Finally got to see Lud's home break Imposso's,	.75 to 1.25
		or Outside Imposs'os as it is formally
		known. 
		Joe> A long paddle out to the Outside but 
		     well worth the work.

		Nig>This is where the real hoggery came into play as myself 
		and Mark were riding a 7'4" and 7'6" that Lud owned...pity 
		those guys who were out before we arrived.This was also the 
		time I had to paddle out paddle back in to get the legrope
		out of the car and then paddle back in again after the 500m
		jog to the car.I Wuz fucked.

		DINNER:
		Crashed..... By this time pretty wrecked.

Wednesday	Freezing Cold Dawn Patrol at Winkie (Bells).	1 to 1.5
		Joe> Never Been so cold in my life.
		Nig> Fuckin' wussie.The surf a Winkie is more the style of the 
		way waves break in Wollongong.Except they can be alot meaner 
		and not as long.
		Joe> Hesitated on takeoff and got planted into
		     the bottom. Got some good rides.
		
		Lud.> Finally got the gang out of bed early enough for
		an early !.
		Joe wasn't the only one to go over the fall's :-),
		your's truly did the same, I blame Nigel, or was it
		Mark ?, who sat right in front of where I was about to
		take off, that slight hesitation in trying to decide
		whether to go or not was enough to get worked.
		Paul was having fun on his 6' 1" board as well,
		practising super late takeoff's and freefalling with
		the lip, looked very impressive from down the line
		:-).

		Winkie had nice clean wall's, relatively uncrowded.
		Iv'e never heard so much bitching about the cold :-),
		It's not even winter yet, still not cold enough to
		need boot's, but Nig. and Joe were carrying on as if
		they were at the south pole :-).
	
		Nig> The water was ok, it was the wind that got me chilled.
		The surf here is still no-where as cold as that was and 
		probably won't be until mid winter...
 
		We all got a few waves before the crowd factor
		increased to the stage where breakfast became more
		attractive than the surf.

		BREAKFAST:
		Back to Imposso's for some easy waves.		.75 to 1

		LUNCH:
		Rincon (Bells).					1 to 1.5
		Nig> Here I discovered how much power Bells doesn't really
		have in comparison to Wollongong/south coast area.
		It's more like the beach/some point breaks of the north coast 
		of NSW.
		Fat and placid,most of the time.
		Power Failure Jan Juc/Torquay.
		Joe> Ever prepared Lud had the gas on in minutes.

		DINNER:
		Down to the Torquay Pub for a couple of Surf
		Movies (Rolling Thunder/Surfers) and have
		a couple of beers.
		Joe> Some idiot whooping everytime he saw a big
		     wave. Labotomy?

		Lud> By this stage the "younger" members of the surfari
		were completely surfed out.
		Nigel just crashed, I dont think he saw more than
		15 min. of the first movie, but perhaps he just
		enjoy's watching movies from a prone position across 4
		chair's :-).

		Nig> You've got it wrong.I watched the first movie called
		"Rolling Thunder" then watched about the first and last
		five-ten minutes of "Surfers-The Movie". 
		I knew I shouldn't have had that fourth beer.Should have stuck
		with a bottle of coke.
		Then again the sleep was good and I really needed it.
		But I don't really need to watch a movie about surfer's I know
		tooooo well what they are like.... ??!!!
		The good thing about going to a place where no-one knows you 
		is that you don't have to worry much what  people think of 
		you.Not that I usually do... :-)

Thursday	BREAKFAST:
		Long Drive down to Kennet River. Quiet to 	.5 to .75
		start off.
		
		Lud.> The wind being s/west, Kennet is one of the few
		spot's along the coast here that is offshore for
		that wind direction, swell is a lot smaller than
		around bell's but at least it's offshore.
		Mark was the first one out.	
		Joe was too worn out to surf, Nigel was feeling
		sick, but eventually the small clean waves sucked him
		out for a reasonable session.

		Nig>I was within a whisker of throwing up there and then.If 
		we had driven for another 30 seconds I would have been cleaning
		up a mess on the side of Lud's car.
		The locals here were once again kooks with no idea how to snake
		a ride :-) .You'd catch a wave turn around and watch the guy
		you dropped in on and he'd fall off,then you keep surfing.

		LUNCH:
		Southside and Centreside (Bells).		.5 to .75
		Joe> Takeoff, Bottom Turn, Closeout, Duckdive,
		     jeez I hit my head on the bottom!!
		Nig> Shit happens!!!
		DINNER:
		Time to relax and prepare for the trip home.

Friday		BREAKFAST:
		Everyone heads home. 

		Nig> Stopping in Albury to pick up my Kombi .... Yiha!!!
		Lud.> All in all it was a pretty successful surfari,
		the waves were'nt classic, but there was enough swell,
		and varying condition's that the gang got to surf most
		of the main break's in the area.
		Everyone was pretty well surfed out after a week, I
		don't think anyone could have handled much more
		without a break.

		Nig>I had to go back to uni for a holiday.... :-)
		By the way did Sean get my tape etc LUD ?? Please
		aask him for me....!!!

		They are all a great bunch of guy's, It was great
		to get together and enjoy the surfing with new
		friend's. Remind's me of the hassle free, fun times of
		the good old day's :-).

		Nig> So that's what it was like.... :-) that's not much 
		different to what I'd expect usually.
		As the saying goes... the more things change,the more they
		stay the same.


THE END.


-- 
Women need to find the right partner to have sex (and sometimes the right
excuse),Men just need to find the right place.