A message from Australia. Postage stamp found at Richard Schmidt Online
After years of dreamin' and droolin' over Jack McCoy's West OZ surf fantasies... the Green Iguana, Bunyip Dreaming, and Sik Joy, I went and had a very good look myself.Yes! It's all done with trick photography! There's no waves in WA!
April Fools.
I got to Western Australia on April Fools Day, a great date for a surf trip. Since I hung in there for 3 weeks, it's impossible and immoral to describe all the surf.Now jetlagged, grinning, and black 'n blue, I can only wish I was back there...
...sleeping under stars so thick I couldn't find the Southern Cross till I went back to Perth...Whilst I planned to stay at the abundant caravan parks, I ended up going from one extreme to another living in a huge mansion in the bush with running rainwater, camping for 3 days in the forest with no neighbors except mozzies and a 'roo. As the surf got better I got lazier, sleeping in the carlot, hahaa.... showering in the waterfall that flows from the underground Lake Cave...
and gettin thrown all over Trevor's 4x4 flying thro the "beach bush" cause the faster you go the smoother the ride.
As we say in Northern Cali, "If you don't live here, don't surf here!" So I lived in the Injidup and Grunters carparks quite abit to establish local residency.I started the trip on a macrobiotic diet, quickly switched over to Margaret River Bakery bread and Fig Jam, then to crackers and water in the forest, then I started hangin out in the Tea Rooms conveniently located near the caves, then full bore into the Wineries for local fruit, cheese and pates, Blanc de Noirs and Verdelho. Fanged my way around and lost 6 pounds, must've been all the crackers.The day after Moth and Trevor went back to work the first big swell of the Autumn hit. Thanks boyz for the sacrifice! The Sunday before I went north I scored doubles at Quoramup (alternative spelling to confuse the innocent): the biggest longest wave of the morning all the way into the Bay followed on the next wave by the nastiest wipeout of the morning rolling the board on takeoff and then freefalling onto the fins, cutting the wetsuit and decorating my leg with a blue tatoo. Well I neva did hit the reef! I have to go back and give it another shot.
Sooo, the waveS are much more powerful, I admit. I've never seen waves spit like that. And the lips are extremely nasty. Wipeouts are not as much fun as in California, more like getting stuck on a passing freight train. But the wine is better, the beer is stronger, the food is healthier and the boyz have excellent taste.
I may have to go back and catch Winter...