2009 Australia - Gold Coast Trip Report

Australia Trip Report

Summer 2009

Date: July 20 – 21 – 22, 2009

Present Location: Sydney NSW Australia

If not for chasing an momentary whim, that could easily pass in a split second, I would not be sitting here in Australia writing this…I am referring to the evolution of an idea to build just one hollow wood surfboard, and where it has led me, but more important, how it has changed me…

Fast forward though the years and the multiple forks in the “which way do I want to go with this” path, and here I am at the start of a forty- plus day trip around the world with my best friend, my wife Pam…Between the lines I just wrote is this advise: Follow your dreams…

Alright, brief background…I’m Paul Jensen, live in Washington State USA, husband, father, carpenter…Surfing since 1970…This trip abroad is to teach my ninth and tenth “How To Build A Hollow Surfboard” Workshops…

I started writing these daily trip reports during my first overseas workshop to Ireland as way to let family and friends know what the experience is like, as seen through whatever my life filters perceives them…One trip led to another, the list of those wanting to get these reports grew and another day is soon to dawn… (5:00 AM here)…

Back up to Monday July 20…

The planning and packing is done (that could be whole ‘nother story) and we leave for the airport at 10:00 AM…With a travel day reaching into the thirty hour range and with 99% of that sitting confined, I wanted to start the trip physically tired…Last evening I hit the lake on my stand-up-paddleboard and pulled my way around the lake pretty hard for an hour…Felt great…This morning I’ll take my lay down paddleboard out and get the muscles to burn…

(above) Long Lake with more than a few drops of my sweat mixed in…

After and hour on the water it was back home and soon we were ready to roll…We got to SeaTac, followed the local customs, and got onboard the flying bus for a trip to LAX…Nothing worth noting…

(above) On ground LAX… scenery above…

(above) scenery below…

From LAX we were on to Auckland, New Zealand…12+ hours…I was dreading it…I’m 6’3” and do not fold well…However I was as giddy as a kid on Christmas morning when I saw that our seats were the first ones behind the first class bulkhead…That translates to “first class legroom”…Oh yeahhhhhh…

For flights this long, it always means major time zone differences, and inevitable sleep pattern changes…My goal during these flights is to stay awake till after they feed you, then sleep, sleep, sleep…Awake when it’s feeding time again, then remain awake until after the sun sets, wherever you are…It makes the transition to local time easier…

After we changed planes in New Zealand , in less than an hour we were on our way to Sydney…Another 3:30 in a seat, which by now was tired of being in a seat…Finally on the ground in Sydney it felt nice knowing we were out of plane seats for three weeks…

The hire car was waiting for us, we loaded it up and changed to shorts…Despite it being mid winter here it was sunny and close to eighty degrees…I tapped the GPS with enough info get us where we needed to end up…And we did eventually end up there after a couple of re-calibrations…

Our place to sleep for the next couple days is a hostel smack dab in the middle of the areas of Sydney that everyone wants to see…Once we checked in we were soon out the door and on the street…

(above) The Sydney waterfront from the mind blowing Botanical Park…

I would have more pictures to throw in here, but I just mindlessly deleted them…No biggee, we are back out on the street today and I have a fresh battery and an empty SD card…

More later…

Paul

BTW…the picture quality above sucks IMO, but it’s all I have left after the accidental deletion of my picture folder…Expect better…

Date: July 23, 2009

Present Location: Sydney NSW Australia

As some say here, “G’day”…

Today we are on the streets of Sydney…I rarely read the details of a guidebook to get ready for a new destination, rather I prefer to get out and let the city reveal itself in a naturally flowing way…

(above) Within minutes of leaving our hostel we found a great bakery and got the first blast of fuel for the day…As good as anywhere…

(above) First time I saw a sign like this…Not sure what I was to be extra aware of…???...Wheelchair races, loud bursts of “BINGO”, canes being hurled…???...

(above) Along the waterfront is big pier with big boats…This is the head and shoulders winner of I’ve got more money than you…

(above) Still pretty early with a low sun, we were at the Botanical Park that is a destination in itself…

(above) So many really exotic (to our eyes) trees and plants…

(above) The often photographed Sydney Opera House…

(above) Roof tiles…I could do that…

(above) Inside…The story is the budget to build it back in the 60’s was 3 million…They fired the architect when the building costs exceeded 100 million…Currently they are finishing it per the original drawings…This place is as much an icon of Australia as the Eiffel Tower is to France, or the Taj Mahal is to India…World class means just that…And this place is…

(above) Reflections on the base of outside space heaters…

(above) Boardwalk wood…

(above) Waterfront panorama on a winter day…

(above) Walk to the top of the Sydney Bridge…???...Costs only $200 per person…Steep in more ways than one…

(above) Sydney has a lot of old that isn’t being hid or torn down…Good cities are like that…Good cities are eclectic…Sydney is a good city…Sydney still has soul…

(above) Sydney also has a century old observatory with a big sky above it…

(above) Like looking down a bowling alley…Let ‘er roll…

(above) Wandering the big city downtown, we turned into this place…The Australian National Bank…Built and completed just months before the great Depression…No not last year’s, the one last century…

(above) The whole place is like this…Exotic imported marble walls, floors, etc…Recently restored, polished and shined …Wow is the word…

(above) In one of the many city parks was this guy, with a sharp knife and skills…

(above) Honeydew melon, orange, watermelon, apple, etc …Skills…Oh yeah this reminds me, the architect who designed the Sydney Opera House got his inspiration while peeling an orange…

(above) Even Jerome, the one man band was impressed with Mr. Ginsu’s skills…

(above) A less than 200 year old cathedral…

(above) Classic stone residences…Could fit in anywhere in Europe…

(above) Modern architecture reflected…

(above) Our view while having dinner at an outdoor café…

Tomorrow we get out of the city and start working our way north along the coast…Pray for surf…

Date: July 24, 2009

Present Location: Gloucester, NSW Australia

Today we leave Sydney and start our way north …We have about a week before I need to be in Currumbin to start the set-up for the workshop…Plenty of kilometers to drive, and a lot of new stuff to see…Here we go..

(above) First thing on the menu for today is food…We found this hole in the wall close to our hostel that was serving brekky…

(above) Our waiter was a tall Asian fellow with an Australian/ English as a second language accent…Stuttered rather badly too…That combo made for an awkward ordering of the food…Once we both understood our preferences he was off to fill our desires…Here’s what I had… “American style” pancakes, eggs, bacon, coffee with a side of potato wedges…No hunger pangs in my future…

(above) We hit the road and drove out of Sydney without causing any accidents…Our first stop was in Newcastle…Nobbys Beach…The wind was medium hard onshore, with a few bodyboarders getting what they could…We made tailgate sandwiches, soaked in the vibe as we ate, then ventured on…

(above) Not wanting to just blaze through the km’s on the main highway, we took the road less traveled and spun our wheels along a rural valley road…

(above) We mostly just drove along and soaked up the scenery…Occasionally we stopped and checked in with the locals…Clyde and the gang say “Whatt’z up…!!!...”

(above) Since it is mid-winter here, it gets dark soon after 5:00 PM…The early, late afternoon light threw a nice glow in the valley…

(above) Rural eastern Australia…

(above) Miles and miles, oops, kilometers and kilometers of big sky country…

(above) We drove on and on, and as dark was approaching we found a place to stay the night…We settled in, did some laundry in the sink then went for a walk to town…For dinner we cruised into The Broad Axe Bistro…Guinness Stew for two, please…Not bad, but not Ireland…After, we hit the street and went back to our place, settled in and were asleep by 9:00…Another day of newness awaits tomorrow…

Date: July 25, 2009

Present Location: Armidale (120km inland), NSW Australia

With time on our side, and without a commitment to be anywhere for about a week, Pam and I decided to stay inland for a few days on our way north…There will be plenty of beach time next week and we like to see the broader diversity of this place than just what the coastal strip offers…So on we go…

(above) First thing for us everyday, is coffee and baked things…If you haven’t been to Australia, the pies are the shizzle…

(above) Every business everywhere should have a picture of the founders hanging on the wall…Faces you can trust…

(above) Out on the street was the mid-winter street fair…Craft booths filled Main Street, with mostly the same stuff you see everywhere… Maybe these you might not see in The States…

(above) We set the GPS to “The Road Less Traveled” and got out into the great wide open…

(above) Rolling hills, grass land, scattered trees, and plenty of blue sky…

(above) Just a spectacular day for a country drive…

(above) Marshmallow…

(above) The rolling hills turned into a long and seriously steep mountain road that led to this viewpoint…Pictures don’t really convey the grandness of the place…

(above) We were checking out a one-store-town when we saw this guy driving…I waved him down and asked if I could take a few pictures…

(above) With pig blood still wet on his clothes, Glen and his buddies are on their way back from the hunt…

(above) Pig hunting is pretty common here…The dogs are let out, they get a scent, find the pig, attack, then the guys come in with knives and finish it off…The dogs have a heavy protective collar/vest that protect them from the tusks of the pigs…Glen said it was ok to pet ‘em, but I like my hands attached to my arms…

(above) Neal tells me to get closer and check out dental work…

(above) Thanks Neal…

(above) I think I might not have pork for dinner for a few days…

(above) After that cultural exchange, we looked at the countryside differently…

(above) Pam now with a resurrected hunter spirit, attacks a termite mound with the traditional Australian Whacking Stick…

(above)The paved road ended and turned to red dirt…We were missing most of the pot holes as we drove on in this unchanging cattle country…

(above) Synonymous with wide open ranchland is a 36’ Big Golden Guitar… They go together like stirrups and spurs…

(above) It goes to show, that if you can mold fiberglass big enough, the people will come…

(above) Pam claims she and Chad are twice-removed cousins… I see the similarity…

(above) Kind of goes without saying…

(above) Late afternoon…On the road again, on our way to another night in a new town…

Date: July 26, 2009

Present Location: Glen Innis (still far inland), NSW Australia

Today we had on our GPS set to ‘Waterfalls’ and ‘Historic’…So after getting a caffeine buzz on and carbohydrates in our bellies, we were out back on the hard packed…

(above) Off the paved and down the less traveled…Waterfall # 1 coming right up…

(above) From a vertigo inducing vantage point, across the divide is this stepped waterfall…

(above) Zooming in it looks like this…Might be fun to hike down and hang out on a hot day…The one slight drawback is the fact it would take sixteen hours of bushwhacking to just get down to it…Another point to consider are the lethally venomous spiders and snakes in the brush…That water sure looks good though…!!!...

(above) Back on the tarmac, classical music on the radio, on the way to Waterfall #2…

(above) Australia’s second highest waterfall…

(above) Same waterfall system, different point of view…Three pictures stitched together with a panorama program...

(above) On the road north again…If you saw a car every ten minutes, it would feel like rush hour here…

(above) There are heaps of these termite mounds…They are hard like concrete…Word is they are sometimes ground up and used for the surface of the tennis courts around here…

(above) The basic reality of the day was lots of time on roads like this…Wide open, very scenic, super rural, a decent way to appreciate a part of the country that most choose to bypass…We were digging it, all at 100kmph…

(above) The GPS ‘Historic’ got us here…A way out of the way, the way they used to live museum…

(above) The old train station is a good place to locate it…

(above) …as far as possible…

(above) Nice bit of welding and grinding..

(above) What was super cool about this place was that 99% of the stuff was not roped off, and you could pick up and examine all the loose stuff…No restrictions…This place is so out of the way they seem ok with that…

(above) You too would look like this if you were from this era…These folks I’m guessing are all in their late teens…

(above) Double exposure…

(above) WWII vintage…

(above) Now where are the keys…???...

(above) Barber chair on the back porch, facing the train station…Life is slower here…

(above) They had a couple dozen buildings (here are three or four) with specific historical themes…A blacksmith shop, sewing machines, war artifacts, tavern, camera shop, hospital, etc…They had items from as far back as 150 years to maybe thirty years ago on display…Again, 99% of it right there to hold and check out…

(above) How many knobs do you have to control your fan…???...

(above) Imagine your job is to monitor these gauges for eight hours a day, five days a week, fifty-one weeks a year…

(above) The words of the prophet are written in semi-precious stones…

(above) Late afternoon light…

(above) Nearing sunset, Eastern Australia, mid-winter…

(above) Life is good…

Date: July 27, 2009

Present Location: Byron Bay (200 meters inland), NSW Australia

Having had enough of a big bite of the inland region of Eastern OZ, we only had a few more things we wanted to see before getting back to the coast for the duration of our stay…

(above) Helllllooooo morning…!!!...Walking our way to a caffeine fix…

(above) Just exactly what year is it here…???...

(above)The local bakery fantasy zone…One each please, and I want ‘em NOW…

(above) $35 tab…More you can’t see…We eat GOOOD…!!!...

(above)Some old guy in a suit and tie, pulls up to the bakery in this daily driver…

(above) After stuffing our heads, we are back on the road with the GPS set to “Stone”…

(above) Well out of town, up and down single track dirt, our progress is full stop for the locals to finish their commute…

(above) Waiting for the barber to open up…

(above) Big rocks…The tree is easily twenty feet tall…

(above) Some geologist could explain it all in detail, I just know it is impressive…

(above) From the only crack in the thing…

(above) You are looking at the second biggest monolithic rock in Australia (Ayers Rock is #1)…No tourist shops, no picnic areas, just a big rock in a big piece of country with a stiff cold wind blowing hard from the inland and chilling us to the bone…

(above) The charred sliver of the tree to the right was rhythmically twisting in the wind…

(above) Walking along I saw a several of these …

(above) The area has sheep, cows and horses…These big dogs pretty much live with the sheep, watching for predators and getting the strays back with the group…

(above) Every now and then a fox gets a sheep and the ranchers eventually get the fox…This one is hung out as a warning to the other predators… A timeless message that everyone understands…

(above) This old bloke has hung his share of critters from fences…

(above) These horses here in the hills are pretty much free to roam…

(above) Nearer to town they are better kept within a fence…

(above) A rural classic…

(above) Purpose built…

(above) Heading east towards the coast…

(above) Are they crazy…KP…???...(Inside joke)

Date: July 28, 2009

Present Location: Byron Bay, NSW Australia

Mr. & Mrs. Road Warrior finally said enough…No driving for at least a day…Byron Bay is our oyster, time to find the pearl…

(above) After sleeping in until beyond 6:00 AM, we stimulate our systems with enough coffee to find our way to the beach…Oh and a pretty beach it is…

(above) Pam sees if her shadow stretches further in the southern hemisphere than it does in the northern…

(above) Not bad for winter…

(above) Pam got in a jog while I did the stroll…What, me hurry…???...

(above) Up the rock to the lookout…

(above) The daily crew was ready for yet another day in the drink…One guy said it was day 957 consecutive for him…Is he sure it could be one or two either way…???...As always, I’m dubious…

(above) Caffeined up I am seeing if I can be faster than my shadow…Saw it in a Bruce Lee movie, and if he could do it……..

(above) Me, testing yet again another theory…Don’t ask…

(above) Pam asked if there were any sharks out there…

(above) We rented a couple bikes and rode around for four hours…Here is the view from the furthest point east in Australia…

(above) The lighthouse at Byron Bay…

(above) Built in 1901 it says..

(above) Not sure what this was / is…

(above) “That beach looks fun, let’s ride down there…”

(above)I see waves…Crappy blown out waves…Time to surf…

(above) Sometimes you’ze just gotta have the best… 4th Gear Flyer … (Go ahead and quote me Paul)

(above) Winter, schwinter…Mr. Hawaiian Tropic don’t need no stinkin’ wetsuit…

(above) Blown out, closed out, I call it fun enough…Back to the bikes…

(above) Rolling along we saw these fine athletes plying their skills…

(above) The rules are simple…I asked…You drink heavily and the last person to remain standing after endless drinks and pitches, wins…

(above) Back on the bikes, back to the beach…

(above) Then over to the rivah…(correct spelling)

(above) After returning the bikes we celebrated a really wonderful day…

(above) Out on the street, it was pretty easy to find out who in years past, felt they never were listened to…

(above) Can that be true…???...

(above) Now we wander the commercial side of Byron…Found this poster that takes me and Pam back to where we met and were wed, close to 26 years ago…Spent many a day doing what is shown…

(above) For you Guilhem…

(above) Late afternoon, walking back to our place…

(above) So true…

Date: July 29, 2009

Present Location: Chinderah, NSW Australia

Our plan today was to have some Byron beach time early, then drive north slowly and appreciate the various beaches…

(above) Sunrise from the veranda of where we were staying…

(above) Pam having visited Japan last year, gives the classic Japanese photo pose…

(above) I am really enjoying this eastern Australia beach walking thing…

(above) Water side, the 1’ waves have decent shape, just too small and weak to justify trying to ride them..

(above) Waves in the sand…

(above) Pam lightfooting it…

(above) After the beach walk /thing, we checked out of the palace we stayed at, got some health grub, then set the GPS to “every possible beach”…

(above) Beach check # 7 of 83…

(above) # 42…

(above) Between beach drives we saw this sugar cane plantation…

(above) Then we stopped at a roadside veggie stand…You want it, they got it…

(above) Cane field panorama…

(above) Some of the flora along a beach trail…

(above) Beach # 65…

(above) Local fishermen doing what they do best, lying…

(above) Heading to find a place to stay the night, we saw this cane field fire…

Today was a lazy day…We dug it…

Date: July 30, 2009

Present Location: Ashmore, Queensland Australia

Today’s plan was simple…Beach time…

(above) We drove to the closest pointbreak to find the swell grew a bit overnight…

(above) On this trip, I left the hard board behind and opted for the 4th Gear Flyer to be my primary wave riding device…

(above)Me kicking into an empty peak…

(above) Turning the corner at the bottom…I surfed the mat for about an hour then took a lunch break…

(above) Welcome to winter…Yeah it’s as warm as it looks…

(above) After lunch, I grabbed my ‘hand board’ and had another session here…

(above) We just had a totally sun filled day here at the beach…

After our day at the beach, we went to Grant and Jackie’s house where we will be staying for the rest of our time here…

Date: July 31, 2009

Present Location: Ashmore, Queensland Australia

Grant and I had a simple plan for the day…Surf then set-up up for next week’s workshop…

(above) After brekky, we drove to a point / rivermouth break…

(above) The water clarity is insane…The water temp is trunks…The speed is fast… Looks good, let’s surf…

(above) Me & Grant…We were out for a bit more than an hour and had other things to do so we tracked it back to the car, got coffee and did a mini-tour…

(above) Grant points out Surfers Paradise…

(above) Skyscrapers to the sand…

(above) This break is in anybody’s top ten in the world list…

(above) I don’t name names of breaks, but if you surf, you know where this is…

(above) Grant said it is an average day…The good days you get waves that run forever down the point…hard to wrap your mind around how far that is…even looking at it, it looks impossible, but it’s a reality…

(above) Tomorrow the swell is supposed to get a bit bigger, you’ll see what I see…

After we did the surf check we took our stuff to the workshop venue, then back to Grant’s for a relaxed afternoon …

Date: August 1, 2009

Present Location: Ashmore, Queensland Australia

Grant and I had another simple plan for the day…Surf then chill…

(above) Like the movie “Groundhog Day”, the conditions in the Alley were exactly like they were yesterday…Light winds, water 68 degrees, swell 3’ to 5’…On the fun scale it was a solid 8…We surfed for about three hours …

(above) Saturday at the beach…All part of the lifestyle for the Gold Coast…

After our surf we ran a few errands then enjoyed a warm winter day at the Newby palace…

Date: August 2, 2009

Present Location: Ashmore, Queensland Australia

Since our streak of fun way going so strong, we rolled the Currumbin Alley dice once again…

(above) This is what you get with loaded dice…Hey, it’s Sunday…Not as bad as it looks…Plenty of open shoulders way down the beach…

(above)Low literacy area…

(above) Oh, yeah…

(above) On the other side of the point, a sandbar had it’s groove going on…

(above) Looking south……Surf+city…Just the way it is here…

(above) While the recreationalists were playing, an artist was out spreading some oil…

(above) Grant and I had a few hours of waves then went back to the hacienda for the rest half of the R&R…I knew that next week would be busy so I opted for food, a nap and reading the paper…I know, tough life…

Date: August 3, 2009

Present Location: Currumbin, Queensland Australia

Day One of the Gold Coast workshop is today…The months of planning, the weeks of gathering, the days of fabricating are culminated today…

(above) After the introductions and hearing the home rules, the guys are set free to start their boards…

(above) Selecting the woods for the deck and bottom is stage one…More than one of the blokes put together some perfectly bookmatched cedar as good as any plywood fabricator could…

(above) The guys got right into helping each other on their boards…It usually takes a couple of days for this to happen…A good group…

(above) Herald, is a Dutch fellow living in Japan who came over for the class…Here he is showing Chris the founder of the Eco-Village who is hosting the workshop, what needs to happen next on Chris’ board…

(above) The wood patterns for the boards are as varied as the guys making them…

(above) One side laminated, time to move it to free up the work space…

(above) Pam, got into it…She jumped right in and helped put together the deck and bottom for a board…You go girl…!!!...

BTW: All photos by Pam…

Date: August 4, 2009

Present Location: Currumbin, Queensland Australia

Day Two of the ”I think I can do that” workshop rolls on today…

(above) As agreed upon the night before, we needed to surf before the workshop…Sunrise looked like this…The surf was so similar to the previous sessions it really doesn’t warrant showing…The basics are, super clear water, waist high surf, no wetsuits needed…I won’t rub it in…

(above) Post surf we headed up the Alley to the workshop…Grant knows how to skin the paper from a board and schools Fillip on the fine points of angle and tension…

(above) Every class has it’s “moments”…Today we discovered some of the batches of resin never had the hardener added to them…Result: wet, uncured resin and wasted fiberglass…See my hair, it got clearer (It’s not gray)…

(above) Grant is in his zone, just going from board to board, never speaking, just lifting and pulling…Poetry in motion…

(above) Herald is upfront on the religions of the world…Any questions…???...

(above)Future boards are being laid out on paper and the wheels are spinning in the minds…

(above) Pam the apprentice, knocks out frame parts like a pro…

(above) Frames get assembled…

(above) Decks get sanded…Helllooo Japan….

(above) Radha goes mental on the deck of his board…You’ll see it better later…

(above) Damo cuts away some selvedge before sanding the finished side…

(above) Tony has re-designed the tail of his 7’3”…Should turn out killer…

(above) All in all, it was a busy day, with a ton getting accomplished…

(above) Of course I have to get into the action every now and then…

(above) At the end of the day it was Greg who said “ Is it really this easy…???...”

Date: August 5, 2009

Present Location: Currumbin, Queensland Australia

Day Three of the ”If he can do that, so can I” workshop jets forward …

(above) Another pre-dawn trip to the beach pays off photographically…

(above) The Dr. Seuss plants thrive here …

(above) It’s all just so damn pleasant….

(above) The surf today was not calling my name, so Pam and I went for a morning walk…

(above) Seaside living at it’s finest… The residents here are some of the gazillionaire surf industry sumos…

(above) Throw a martini glass from here and it will hit the high tide line…

(above) Everything is perfect, wish you were here…

(above) Back at the car park, the decades old friendships get another day woven into the cable of life…

(above) Chris of the EcoVillage and Grant yuck it up after a surf…

(above) Back at the workshop, a range of personalities are displayed…

(above) Time to work…

(above) Frames are fine tuned…

(above) The fingers on the chin observers all say “Hmmmm”…

(above) Grant demonstrates the fine points of the plunger gun…

(above) The cool thing that is happening is the help everyone is giving everyone else…

(above) Looking ready for glue…

(above) “Looks good on this side”…

(above) Indeed…

(above) Back here too…

(above) Oh yeahhhhh…

(above) Sometimes you just break out all the clamps…

(above) The vibe level is definitely a good one…

(above) It’s a love thing…

(above) Chris took off the Director hat long enough to kick up some dust…

(above) Late, late afternoon, the synchronized gluing was pure poetry in motion…

(above)Late, late, late afternoon it was time to drag the stragglers up to where everyone else was…

(above) Look in the eyes…Time to call it a day…

Date: August 6, 2009

Present Location: Currumbin, Queensland Australia

Day Four of the ”dust is my new friend” workshop breezes forward …

(above) Ready for rails…

(above) Mid morning the newspaper stopped by for an interview and the accompanying photos…

(above) Meanwhile the worker bees, kept on slaving…

(above) Late mid morning the Brisbane TV news stopped by for an interview…These things are pretty weird to do…Act natural…

BTW: PAYC colors on display…

(above) Attention to detail pays off…

(above) Focus on the tedious…

(above) Australia wood surfboard sweatshop…

(above) Another lay lapses into evening and they just wanna keep on it…

(above) One more day tomorrow…

Date: August 7, 2009

Present Location: Currumbin, Queensland Australia

Day five of the ”Will I ever ride a foam board again?” workshop slides toward the end…

(above) Another day, another sunrise…

(above) Moon about to set…

(above) Back to the EcoVillage where the ‘roos have free range…

(above) You know you are in Australia when you see these…

(above)Pam gets the tube work done so the final skin can be put on the final board, finally…

(above) Tony made the 7’3” frame kit into a pintail…

(above) Jesse’s rails are 90% done…

(above) Jim sands the tail block even with the deck…

(above) Focus through the chaos…

(above) Radha sits content with the result of five days work…

(above) He did this inlay of a wood knot into the deck…

(above) Jesse put his heart into this one…

(above) Not bad for a first board…

(above) Later afternoon and I’m feeling the fatigue…Grant lends a hand finishing a couple rails…

(above) One tired dude…

Date: August 9, 2009

Present Location: Currumbin Alley, Queensland Australia

The first annual Wooden Surfboard Day is happening today…

(above) The day starts early, with the new house guests Roger Hall and his mate Michael from New Zealand having a cuppa and crumpets…

(above) Roger brought over a stack of his boards to show at the park…

(above) Meanwhile Monty, Grant and Jackie’s three legged cat looks for an exit from the hubbub that is happening in the driveway…

(above) Beyond the trees, as they have every day we have been here, one of the hot air balloons is aloft in the early morning sun…

(above) We got to the beach early and were met by Chris from the EcoVillage, who brought on of his 50’s era balsa planks…

(above) The Wood Surfboard get together was soon a happening, with boards laid out on the park grass...The park is straight across the street from the Alley, where have surfed nearly every day…

(above) Andrew Wells built these…Andrew was one of the guys in my Melbourne workshop in March…He has developed his own style and construction method which is strong, light and georgeous…

(above) Airbrushed tiki work…

(above) The airbrush work and the wood go together perfectly…

(above) Andrew’s inlaid accent strips…Not at all easy…

(above) All the boards were there to handle and hold including this 11’ Brewer balsa… The whispered words were $40k…

(above) The non-pros were on display as well…Craig Patterson a local plumber had a couple of his boards out to oogle…

(above) Craig’s nose block…Really well executed…

(above) Nobby, a great guy from Japan came just for this day…This board is hollow Paulownia, not glassed, just varnished…

(above) Contemporary replia “toothpicks”…built ro ride…

(above) A really nice Raidata Pine hollow…

(above) A hollow board made from recycled pallet wood…

(above) These things are inspiring on as lot of levels…

(above) Laser cut, all wood fin by Richard Harvey…

(above) Inlaid wood logo…It reads either up or down…

(above) Just a great day (as they all have been since we got here) in the park…Over 120 woods boards of all sizes and construction methods on display and somewhere over 700 spectators on hand…

(above) Three TV stations, a few newspapers and two documentary crews covered it…

(above) Grant Newby interviewing octogenarian Barry Regan for TV…Barry still makes and rides classic wood boards…

(above) One of Barry’s boards…

(above) Wood boards taken to the level of fine art…

(above) Abalone veneer…

(above) Roger Hall’s chambered boards…

(above) Roger is years ahead of anyone else in terms of wood boards designed to be ridden and the artistry of these boards is again years ahead of anyone else…Everyone else is playing catch-up…

(above) A hollow wood, flex tail…Pretty innovative…

(above) Nice to see some alternative thinking…

(above) Cut away flex fins are all part of the flex tail package…

(above) The coolest logo for a wood board…

(above) 99% of stuff on display today was…

Date: August 10, 2009

Present Location: Ashmore, Queensland Australia

Today is our last day here, a day to get ready for The Big Travel Day tomorrow, and some time to get up into the hills…

(above)After getting the chores done we went up to Mt. Tambourine… The road up had grades as steep as 18%...Really a car destroyer if you live here…This hill is a launch zone for the hang glider crew…

(above) There is a cutsey wootsey village at the top that sells this stuff…There is not a single thing for sale in the entire village that a realman would buy…I spent a lot of time waiting outside of the stores…sigh…