The Road fairly travelled...

We're going Travelling for a bit...Not sure how long, could be a bit, could be longer than a bit...If your short on a read and fancy a collision of letters posing as exaggerated story logs then check out my Blog. It has an inflated sense of self importance and will remind you to get another hobby rather than reading this. No seriously read it...I'll use words that remain undiscovered but I'll use them in exotic locales giving them life and form...such as Rahlly which is 'really' with a South Australian accent .




Looking across Playgrounds surf spot, Nusa Lembongan. A beautiful haven on the brink of becoming a Plastic Bag.

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Exploring the Mooney Mooney Creek.

Exploring the Mooney- Mooney Creek
If you want to see this in Breeze magazine, it's worth a visit. A beautiful magazine. http://issuu.com/breeze-mag/docs/issue_8?e=3466652/6944682

Adventure is as easy as a kayak and hat.

Under the mammoth Mooney Mooney Bridge

Chasing it down I realise can be a balance of effort, timing and timetables, so mini adventures can be the way to go. One only has to drive over the familiar Mooney- Mooney Bridge, in any direction and glimpse the Mooney -Mooney Creek to activate that curious sense of adventure. The creek appears to disappear behind sandstone cliffs and dense forest. ‘The unknown’, I say. I’ve rattled the question in my head, ‘What lies behind that fold in the creek’?


Ten minutes from Kariong, down the Old Pacific Highway, past the Reptile Park, take a right at a dirt road, straight after the Old Mooney Bridge, stay on said little dirt road, this will run parallel to the river, watch out for the dry docked houseboat and this is roughly where you need to be.

Located within Brisbane Waters National Park, The Mooney- Mooney creek is best tackled as close to the actual Mooney- Mooney Bridge as possible, if you are going upstream. There are plenty of spots to launch from, about 50 metres down from the Bridge we parked our cars, applied sunblock, grabbed the camera and threw a bottle of water in, and away we went.

The launch off is as easy as you like, the rivers pretty wide here, still very much part of the Hawkesbury with a vastness that is every bit Hawkesbury river. The intimacy of a creek here is to be discovered upstream. The waters a touch muddy and just for good measure the rocks are brown, slippery and muddy as well. Don’t stand on them, you’ll take a bingle. It’s a fairly non- descript entry point but the distractions are a little further on.

Mammoth Bridge aka Mooney Mooney.

What an amazing tree!

Inescapable as you begin your paddle, the Mooney- Mooney Bridge is an improbable piece of engineering. Its size, at water level is monstrous, demanding your admiration for the aesthetics of the thing. Nature rallies as best it can, employing thick forest to soften the brute, running trees like lumpy, green, woollen socks up and against the hard concrete. There’s no menace to the bridge and it’s far from ugly, just an odd engineering and nature unison that somehow works, but a contrast that makes you lose your place in the river for a while. Once we remember where we are, our mission is to paddle to where it becomes impassable, some 3.5 k’s north- west, around 5 or 6 bends we understand, where it becomes squeezed by boulders, rock pools and adorned by nature.

Once past the bridge, you begin to commune with your surroundings. The dabbled sweep and gentle movement of my paddle is only broken by the ridiculous hyper orange- red of my kayak. Companion in paddling, Adam, points out that his Kermit-green, mixed–forest, Pot Pouri –kayak, is far more wildlife friendly and insightful. Brash and bright, my plumaged kayak is a disgrace and likely to scare all living things out of water and land. With shoulders still engaged, heckling over, we continue.
After some 45 minutes paddling, the muddy waters begin to appear more brackish, lighter and a narrowing of the waterway begins. The waterway begins to take character, broken tree limbs are strewn across sandbanks, startled movements reveal birds and water dragons scurrying to safer vantage points. The Eucalyptus forest inches into the higher parts of the bank and we see rainforest trees like Coachwood and water gums becoming more common. The further we go, the more diverse the paddle becomes.

Kinda comes to an end. Need shoes and a map.

If you want to see this in Breeze magazine, it's worth a visit. A beautiful magazine. http://issuu.com/breeze-mag/docs/issue_8?e=3466652/6944682

Pioneers of Indonesia.

 

 

 

 

As surfers you would have to say that crowds are never a good thing, floating around in the line-up, tea-bagging uselessly, elbow to elbow with a camp band of your new ‘friends’, just a pain really. Many of us opt to escape busy line ups and beaches and some opt to leave the big smoke altogether. Well one of the original characters and pioneers of frontier searching passed away recently in Bali, Australian ex pat, David Wyllie, widely credited with first surfing and discovering Bali gems such as Canggu, Greenballs and Cimaja in Java passed away peacefully in his son Hamish's arms. A founding member within the Indonesian surfing community, the passing of Australian David Wyllie is a sad occasion, if not just for the unique person he was but also for the sheer fact that more of this generation are getting older and increasingly attending more of their mates paddle outs and funerals. The weathered, storylines etched into the expressions of David’s mates hinted at what a genuine loss David is to them, a losing of one of their own seemed tough. David’s life was celebrated with a ceremonial paddle out both in Bali and Terrigal Haven, hip flasks of Scotch were passed around the paddlers circle, 2 guards of honour from the Terrigal surf club boats, a local Aboriginal representative paying tribute with a smoking, farewell- fire from the point, an epic storyteller, a journey man, a pioneer and family man his paddle out was huge and fitting for the character that was David Wyllie.  Dave, wetting rail for shaper Sam Egan. Indo previous to David Wyllie, Alby Falzon and the like was an unknown entity, it was a frontier. Originally from Terrigal, Wyllie was a first generation Bali surfer, one of a few 70’s surfers who cut tracks through the wilds of a once woolly and windswept Bali, a pioneer with which much of the DNA of the original ‘search’ tag of surfing came from. Wyllie is largely credited with being the first to surf Canguu, a massive effort given how tough it is to even find today, back then a Zig- Zag of tiny pathways, a maze of rice-fields and it’s unmarked, potholed goat tracks would of made getting there, in a word, tough. However David Wyllie would often just hoon down the beach on his motorbike until later the path was more familiar to him. Bali paddle out. It is credit to the likes of David Wyllie and impressive no end, as 30 years ago when Wyllie first ventured through Sumba and Bali they were really still frontiers. Sumba is still pretty wild now. Back then it would have been insane. David’s sister-in-law, originally from East Sumba but now living in Bali, recalls that when she and other children of the village first saw David and a couple of his mates under the beach’s Pandanus trees, well they freaked, she explained, “These were the first white people we’d ever seen, the kids were frightened out of their wits”! Weird white people under Pandanus Trees was a historical nightmare in the Eastern islands, for in the 18th and 19th centuries European slavers would occasionally raid a village, and the white man was revered for stealing children. However this was to be David’s slice of heaven for more than half his lifetime and his chosen home for 40 years.\ Getting around on bareback horses, pushing deeper and further into unchartered Indonesia, traversing and scouring the Jungles for paradise, unridden waves and fishing heaven, David’s life seemed unparalleled,  “he lived the dream, chased the dream, and probably beat the dream to death half a dozen times when most people would've packed up and gone home”, David’s mates commented. Hamish Wyllie, David’s son, reflected and captured a great moment in the celebration of his father’s life for all to enjoy, commenting, “Dad was generally happy anywhere, sometimes he had money, sometimes he didn’t, if he did he would pretty much spend it on everyone else, if he didn’t he would just go down the beach, catch fish and lived frugally until money came his way again, which it would”. A legend remembered and a life celebrated happy travels David Wyllie. If you'd like to see this from the Tracks website, here's the link...http://www.tracksmag.com/201303255714/Blogs/Tracks-Blog/Remebering-Indo-Pioneer-David-Wyllie.html

Ex Pat Billy Hangan and Indonesias surfing elite.

Indonesian Pro Surfing With Billy Hanigan
By Aaron Pirini | 08 February 2013

Agus Frimanto taking a Shipwreck wave to task (L). First ISC win by a Lembongan surfer was Putra Frimanto in West Timor. Pic: Tim Hain Tracks' Aaron Pirini speaks to Aussie expat and ISC judge Billy Hanigan about the Indo professional surf scene and its slow journey from bumbling adolescent into a more assured player in its own right. Indonesian pro surfing has a healthy domestic circuit and a talent pool to rival most western 'QS aspirants. Even so, a maiden CT star is yet to materialise. Why? Is it only a matter of time? You'd think so watching the local talent on display each day. As a mentor to many of the Indo up-and-comers, Billy Hanigan explains there are a few variables in play here – the bright lights of the CT can be a tricky one, plus issues including visas, homesickness and the trade of perfect Indo waves for less than ideal QS comp stuff are but a couple of issues. Billy knows as well as anyone that the "Indo World Champ Someday" ethos lives in the minds of many of the young superstars within Bali but the reality still remains elusive. The competition scene, Billy explains, "is really healthy, refreshingly supported by the surfing industry and a network of long-time visitors and expats chipping in and lending a hand. "It's a terrific time to be a young surfer in Indo really; if groms are willing to give things a shake, it's something that can have real benefits in the long term, if they work hard and take advantage of the opportunities they can really set themselves up. It's not uncommon for an up-and-comer to get picked up by a big brand where they're generously paying for education, employment opportunities and of course support into the contest scene." The Nusa Lambongan groms huddle up Pic: Tim Hain In that regard, Billy says, all the major labels and their reps look to be on the same page. The ISC judge and mentor goes on to explain, "the Lembongan Surf Team (LST) is performing really well; around the year 2000 long time visitors and locals got together out of pure fun to run the now annual surf contest, over the next 12 or so years the team and contest has yielded big results." After giving rise to original surfing stars like Dingo and Agus Permawan (Agus is now a mentor for the kids on tour) all the major labels now have a surfer from Lembongan on their books. A big contributing factor to this success was the change from “pure fun” to an agenda raising funds to send sponsorless groms Indonesia-wide for contest and industry exposure. In 2010 it all came together when an 18-year-old Petra Hermawan scooped both the ISC Pro Jnr and Open titles in the same year. After that achievement interest on the island peaked and saw the annual contest handed back to the local lads and it has taken on the fun factor again. But the wheels set in motion by locals like Pak Ware and expats like Troy Sinclaire and West Australian “Finny” are in full motion. It seems from Billy's enthusiasm that each kid on tour is a ball of energy and the crew in charge headed by ISC boss Tipi Jubrik create and enable that deeper cultural awareness of what an organisation like the ISC can achieve. As well as dealing with the expectation, disappointment and accomplishment that accompanies competition, Billy feels eager and keen to continue working with the kids on Nusa Lembongan yet, the question remains, will there be an Indo World Champ one day? "Who knows," Billy says, "Right now our lads get to be part of the Indo scene and associate with the stand up people involved with it, it's great and I'm glad to play a small hand in it." As we speak Billy Hanigan is building a small team to have a crack at the 2013 Indo Junior series. The link if your interested in seeing this on the Tracks website is...http://www.tracksmag.com/201302075508/Blogs/Tracks-Blog/Indonesian-Pro-Surfing-With-Billy-Hanigan.html

Frontiers Ocean men, Tom Carrol and Ross Clarke Jones.

The Tom And Ross Show Rolls Into The Central Coast

Tweedledum and Tweedledee (or Tom and Ross as they arebbetr known). Pic: Ben Writer Like any great double act, good cop, bad cop the Ross and Tom act in the film, 'Storm Surfers' is a classic Butch Cassidy and Sundance kid formula. 'Storm Surfers' is a mighty showpiece and the central coast crowd on Monday 17th September, was pumped. The mixed crowd warmly welcomed Tom, from Newport, a short paddle from the Northern Beaches and Terrigal's over achieving favourite son, Ross, RCJ. Reacquainting with old mates in the front row Ross engaged the crowd and the show kicked off. These guys anchor and characterise 'Storm Surfers' with ease,  epic storytelling, a mysterious and beautiful nemesis played by the Tasman and Southern ocean,  thunderous 3D swells and a campfire of supporting characters had the effect of seat surfing into the action itself. The larger framed of the three stars and the overwhelming scene stealer is the ocean itself. Massive, scary, beautiful, terrifying and as 3D as a punch in the face. Some shots, with the horizon absolutely heaving, well, I heard whimpering from grown men, I felt the shoulders tweak, spring involuntarily, motioning too scratch out to the safety of the screens shoulder, albeit a celluloid shoulder.. Ever present the cinematography has the ocean as the untamed wild rodeo bull, unforgiving of errors, quick to punish and not terribly keen to be sidelined as a bit player to the crazy antics of Tom and Ross. The barrel shots, well, they felt and looked like you were in the bloody things. For non surfers, you'd have to say here's an invitation into another portal, the waves and the 3D as immediate to being in the barrel as could be without water. The instinct to wetty warm didn't seem out of place. Settle in and get buzzed. Pic: Ben Writer Tom and Ross reflect the magic of the Australian character, a character we see less of in the corporatisation of just about everything these days. The great mix of personality, science, action and adventure is almost as good as Mad Wax. Almost. It is hard to glimpse Ross and Tom belonging to ages that often reflect beer guts, less risk and arm chair athletics. At 45 and 50 these two are more 17,  ridiculous, playful, totally fit, obsessed with the ocean and a lesson to us all. The spirit of the film owes much to the actual presence of both Tom and Ross in the cinema physically, both pre and post film. Storm Surfers for all it's awesome technology hinted at days of the Alby Mangels, 'World Safaris' film making forays, shot pretty much straight out of the back of a truck onto a white sheet in community halls, Australia wide. Old school cinema where the act of being at the film was half the experience, where the talent mingles with the patrons. At any point it didn't seem beyond reason that either Ross or Tom may break into  intermission with a set piece of 12 bar blues via the spoons, gazoo or washboard. Storm Surfers had this kind of old school, fun appeal. Ross regarded his peers from Terrigal who hemmed the front row seats warmly and Tom the dignified professional regaled hammerings and lucky escapes, each answer, coloured by Tom’s  vibrant, wise fatherly, ocean warrior mystique, clearly enthralling all generations in the crowd. Ross's mental and physical adaptation techniques for dealing with a 30 foot wave beating was hysterical. Comparing the worlds biggest wave beatings to  being mobbed by hot women, generally on a dance floor with a hazy mix of house music and images of a hedonistic Ross cavorting with loads of chicks on the dance floor had the crowd  a gibbering mess. That a beating gave him a sense of euphoria and pleasure confirmed any suspicions of the man. Too funny.

If you want to check this on the Tracks website, here's the link.
http://www.tracksmag.com/201209215007/Reviews/Surf-Gear/The-Tom-And-Ross-Show-Rolls-Into-The-Central-Coast.html

Imperfections in Paradise. The sometime hidden dangers for ex pats in Bali.

The sometime perils of Ex Pat Bali.

Paradise Interrupted 

"The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new places, but in having new eyes" – Marcel Proust
 

Our lucky (sic) subject Paul Gill thinking he's back home at North Avalon while charging big Uluwatu on the Bukit Penisula. When I first met Paul Gill he was the Captain of a Palm Beach Ferry on Sydney's Northern Beaches. He looked to me to be all of 15 years old, but the powerful natural footer assures me he was in fact 19. As a passenger twice a week, on a commute for school between Avalon and Avoca, the Palmy ferry was quite a laugh, helter skelter swells often resulting in me puking hours later at school from the sea sickness. I'm sure Captain Gill had a chuckle, semi-deliberately steering the leaky frigate into those puke-invoking lumps. But this month (January 2013) much of the young sea captain's steely resolve was tested when he was assaulted and stabbed in a violent home invasion in Canggu, Bali. Paul was hospitalised, placed in an induced coma and monitored day to day. What had been for all intents and purposes a happy and enjoyable break from mainland Australia had now become a possible disaster. In Paul's own words a week after the incident, which reveals the character of the guy, he said, "Wrestling and fighting in your birthday suit is not ideal". Making light of a very heavy situation typifies the relaxed nature of the captain. Bandit wrestling was not high on the agenda for Paul on this trip; rather, he was keen on a stay in an idyllic island location, to raise the family in paradise for a while, interact and enjoy being in Bali. Bali, so popular with Australians, seemed the perfect choice. "Hand to hand combat was quite low on the wish list," Paul explained. "Being stabbed was just below this. [But] as disappointing as these scenarios are, these situations do occur everywhere." We all at some point think to pack up shop and go live the ideal life on an island – and many of us lucky enough to do so. However when a westerner moves to a Third World country, there is the disappointing but very real possibility of being a prime target for theft, robbery or worse. Paul's advice: believe it can happen to you and take responsibility for your own actions. Stage two of that Uluwatu moment. Awoken from slumber on the 4th of January, Paul and his wife were startled by two men who had broken into the house and had now entered their bedroom. With wife and two young children at the forefront of Paul's mind, Paul describes what he refers to as instinct, having been broken into a month prior, and the simple fact of there being intruders in your home. A rumble of sorts then took place. Paul recalls getting the better of one assailant but was blindsided and literally backstabbed by the other from behind. The entire nightmare and battle lasting just over a couple of minutes. As Paul's brother John explains, "In typical Gillo style, Paul self- diagnosed his injuries, plugged up his knife wounds, one of which was a punctured lung and with wife, family and guests in tow booted to the hospital. With what can only be described as horror and shock Paul's beautiful wife Jacqui passed out twice in the event trying to clean Paul up and get him to help. Paul was placed in an induced coma for a day and closely monitored before being released nine days later." A mariner and captain for over 25 years  'Junior', or 'Gillo' as he is known, has continued his maritime and nautical pursuits far and wide; captain in the merchant navy, captain of super yachts here, there and everywhere.  He has endured pirates from the Suez Canal, willingly competes in endurance events and chooses to swim the Rottnest Island Challenge. Mastering his craft early on with that rickety Palm Beach ferry, Captain Gill is tempered with a reflective, surfer's pause on the incident so far; "These things do happen, this was unfortunate, but there are gems all over the world where this stuff happens, Sri Lanka, Zanzibar, Puerto Escondido. Shining gems, spicks of paradise". A waterman through and through, even Paul's last name belongs to a fish; he is a tough surfer's surfer. Look at the photos above. As we go to print Paul has been released from hospital and whilst with injuries that would undermine most mortals Paul is upright and going okay. The Balinese are wonderful people and it's a shame when something like this happens. Where the yardstick measures determination it reads 'Gillo' and Paul plans on staying in Bali for the immediate future with his family. Paul intends to continue with Endurance events. Somewhere here, there must be a parallel between the beating that a marathon event gives you, overcoming the menace of that beating and the somewhat freakish healing and toughness that Paul has mustered from his assault and stabbing. A powerful natural footer hailing from Sydney's Northern Beaches, Captain Paul Gill sails on. To read or look at this story on the Tracks website, have a look at  http://www.tracksmag.com/201301305479/Blogs/Tracks-Blog/Paradise-Interrupted-%E2%80%93-Nightmare-Bali-Stabbing.html

Wrestling with Bulls...Sharks...

“The Sea is not for you or against you, it’s just very unforgiving of errors”.  Joseph Conrad.



Luke Allen's amazing Bull shark Survival story
When your national anthem has within it ‘our land is girt by sea’, it makes sense that the inhabitants have a relationship to the sea. If we’re in the sea, we accept the risks. Most of the time it’s just Bluebottles and sea-lice, they sting and itch but we move on until the next time. Occasionally however, encounters with more notable marine types have us breathing a little heavier.
Terra Firma poses far more dangers to us than the sea, but the sea and its inhabitants are renowned as poor negotiators in a brawl, often unpredictable and wild. Over the years we are familiarised to strategies on how to avoid altercations with sharks, such as avoid surfing early mornings, late afternoons leading into night and after heavy rains.   

An equal share in most attacks the Bull is known as a gangster amongst sharks, it dislikes walks on the beach, it probably mugs old lady sharks, likes murky and turbid water and has a general contempt for anything that floats, sinks, exists. They are picked on by dolphins but fail to get the hint. Brutish, foul mouthed and equally adept at swimming with ducks in ponds, the Bull Shark is at home in fresh water as it is in salt water.

Recently Luke Allen of Wamberal had to duke it out with a 10 foot Bull shark on the mid north coast. On this day at Diamond Head in New South Wales, the conditions were the opposite of what we know Bulls like to be in. Turquoise green and bright blue, the sun splintered equally in every direction at 11am, water visibility that ran into the double digits and a pod of dolphins playing nearby.  Not Bull conditions.


Luke's fingers and thigh post operations.
Luke describes the 2 minute brawl in sequences of instinct, luck and a battle of wills. The attack was pure stealth, sneaky, silent and body jarring onto his right side. Looking down to see his right thigh halfway into the Bulls mouth Luke recalls thinking, “I’ve gotta get myself away from this thing! It just seemed to have these enormous shoulders, there’s its head and jaw and there’s just like, these big massive, shoulders”.

Instinctively Luke tried to separate himself from the pest, a push and shove takes play.  The shark seems to of got it’s jaw stuck on the bottom of the surfboard, this has given Luke some precious time to get a good shove into the burly Bulls snout. Pushing the shark from his thigh the Bull then sent two quick ‘love taps’ (bites), a ‘piss off somewhere else’ love tap that chipped the femur of his right leg and the other  ‘love tap’ redesigning a couple of his digits. A gap in one of the bites on his shows where Luke has shoved his hand, his digits taking one for the team.

Downplaying the attack would surprise most of us but a possible legacy of Luke’s escape may lie in his ability to remain calm in similar situations of high stress and trauma.  Previous to wrestling sharks Luke worked as a firemen often attending to the horror of car crashes.  Remaining calm and focused in those situations possibly prepared him for Bull Shark wrestling. The only sense that Luke gives you he has survived something extraordinary is a hat he now wears,  which reads “I Punch Sharks”.  His mates had to give him that.

Tempered by the threat of a third attack Luke paddled determinedly for shore. Not looking back, adrenalin, froth, blood and bubble blocked out for the paddle onto the sands some twenty feet away. Bloodied, a large wound to his thigh extending into his hip, but with the presence of mind to stay calm and with two mates on hand a tourniquet was rigged across the groin and the hand was elevated and bound with a rash shirt. The pictures explain how lucky he was. Back on shore Luke diagnosed that he’d be okay and he set about trying to lower his heart rate.

Now, back in the water and loving his surfing Luke reflects, “there’s no science on conditions, and that’s coming from the experts, there’s no data that can say the Bulls like some conditions over others, I was just lucky and unlucky on this day”.

True that.

If you want to check the story as published on the Tracks website, here's the link... go...http://www.tracksmag.com/201304035723/Blogs/Tracks-Blog/BULL-SHARK-FIGHT-SURVIVAL-STORY.html