fake tans. beer. recession.

nothings been happening around here.
been pretty lazy.
been drinking.
been looking for work. recession has hit hard so i've got no luck there!
med trial coming up. hope im healthy enough to do it.
med screening tom morning. trip to london.
laptop this evening.
emails being sent.
blog being left alone and very dormant and boring.
no news.
nothing exciting.
black hair.
beanies.
vomit.
pounds.

so much shit, but nothing of pure substance, unfortunately!

SA is home!

Department of Immigration and Citizenship

Australian Government

Form 111

Under section 116 of the Migration Act 1958

(For use on immigration clearance)

Part A - Notice of intention to consider cancelling a visa

Part B - Record of whether to cancel visa

Part C - Notification of decision to cancel visa under s116 of the Migration Act 1958

So am most of you know, I was denied re-entry into Australia after my 2 week holiday in Bali. I was not only denied entry into the country, but I was swiftly deported out of their hands and back to my home country. Which kinda sucks in a way, seeing as though I use a British passport, to them, my home country is England. So there i was, sitting in an interrogation room, with a flight booked to London, via Singapore.

Lets take it back a bit..way back...to about the 1st of September 2009, at about 15:30. I was on the phone to the Australian embassy, speaking to some guy who, after much discussion, said the I would be able to walk straight back into the country, NO PROBLEM. (I should have taken down his name and used it as a reference, rookie error!) So 3 days later, I, along with my saffa mate Jerry, were boarding a plane to Denpesar, Bali. Frothing for 2 weeks of sun and waves!

Bali was pretty crazy! Nothing like I had expected. We ended up getting sucked right into the Kuta night life, the second day we were there! (Effing Arac!) None the less, the rest of the boys arrived a few days later and we started making plans to get outta Kuta, ASAP! Swell was looking promising for the weekend so we missioned off to Ulluwatu. Spent the weekend there in anticipation for, "The best swell in 9 years!", but it never came through like that. Any way, long story short, we had a few sessions there, got probably one good wave out of the three days it was good and then we headed back to Kuta for the last few nights. Straight back into it, like a flipping moth to the flame! The last day was spent cruising Poppies 1, bargain shopping, followed by our last Bintangs before heading to the airport. By now, we were all ready to get back to Oz. Me and Jerry especially, and we were ready to get back and start working!

Low and behold, after our 3 hour flight to Darwin, I was stopped at customs at 3:30 in the morning. Then it all started, all the questions, all the suspicions. I knew from there it wasnt good! Four hours later, (after being in one room, getting all my luggage searched inside and out, being told that if I had given misleading information or told nothing but the truth, I could be imprisoned for 10 years) I was denied entry and my visa was cancelled on the spot. An hour later I found out that I was booked on a flight to London, via Singapore, at 19:00. I was kept in the interrogation room until about 15:30, with cops outside the door at all times. Then they escorted me through to the waiting lounge where I had only my back pack, my passport and everything was with the custom control police. At 18:50 I was able to board the flight, and get my passport etc back. I had a form with me the whole time from boarding that first flight to Singapore, that stated I was a PIC, (Person In Custody), haha, was pretty nerve wracking! I landed at Singapore International Airport at 22:15 local time, and was immediately met by 2 police officers who escorted me around the airport, and then took me to the waiting room for my next flight. The one officer stayed with me until the very last minute, literally 5 mins before the plane started to move, then I was allowed to board the plane. I reckon that everyone on that plane was scared of me, seeing me escorted around by police! I could see them skinnering to each other!

Now I am in England, The Isle of Uck, Dead Mans Land. I'm not getting down on this situation, as cheap flights to various islands can be found here and medical trials pay ridiculous amounts of money! yew! I'll try keep updating my blog, but I doubt there will be much exciting stuff happening, maybe just a few posts to keep everyone in the loop of whats happening!

Until next time, here is a shot of me at Padang, shot by the local guys who hassle you for money!

Return ticket home: was - 4th September '09. now - 4th April '10.

Today I should be packing to go home, back to South Africa. Instead I am packing to go on a 2 week trip to Bali.

In a couple hours, we'll be departing from Sydney international airport to Denpasar, Bali.

As the header states, our return ticket that was first made for us to return home today, has been extended untill April 2010. We chose to extend our stay here because the Oz life is too sick. Hard work for good pay, cheap flights all over the world, good waves and sick people. What more could we want??

If we were to go home to SA today, we would feel that our Oz experience is incomplete, we have to stay longer!

A text message received from Jerry once we had decided to stay in Oz, "Bru. We are absolute fiends! Come for 3 months, stay for 10. I love it! Yew!" I reckon that says it all. We are loving life, good times, good work, good mates.

This blog will most likely be very untouched for the next two weeks while we loose ourselves in the Bali atmosphere.(not that it gets updated that often anyway!)

Finally.

After quite the wait, i got a pic for my blog. Nothing spectacular but gives you something. Something is better than nothing! Yew!

Any way. Here is the deal. Jerry and I have decided to extend our stay in Australia untill April 2010. We came for 3 months, stay for 10. Long, i know, but oh so worth it. We have a few plans up our sleves, and all will be revealed in due time.

Right now I am sitting in the emerald shop, after working the whole day, every day since Thursday, and I shall be working every day untill this coming Thursday. Maybe hit Mona Pub on Thursday night, then on friday at 5 in the arvo, we are off to Bali for 2 weeks! Frothing! Accompanying us there in Bali are the local Nulla boys including Sully, Rosco and Big Rich! Big Rich will be filming our Indo experience, so hopefully we'll get some sick ass footage.

Cronulla

Cronulla is the place to be!

We have been lucky enough to been welcomed into Dessie's humble abode, about 300m from the Island. For those of you who dont know Des is the owner of Emerald Surf City, a bodyboard shop in Cronulla who sponsors the Island contest each year. Des and his girlfriend Lauren, have been feeding us well, showing us a good time and taking us surfing. We have also been cruising with the Emerald crew, Sully, Ros, Mitch, Big Rich, Beaver and plenty of the frothing Nulla groms, its been really sick and we've had some really sweet sessions.

For those of you who don't know or don't follow Frothspot(Jared Houston's blog), i suggest you go and check it out here. For those of you who do follow Jerry's blog you would have noticed a few shots of him at pumping Island. I unfortunately missed out that day due to work commitments, but the next day was on. We got up early and went to check out Cape(AKA. Cape Fear, Cape Solander, Ours, Queer lefts and many more). We rocked up and decided to surf this left and paddled out. We scored some sick barrels for about and hour or 2 untill we heard a few whistles and a voice shout, "Oi, get outta the water ya maggots!". We paddled out pretty darn fast and got straight into the car and drove off. Close Call! We headed straight back to the island which was about 4-6ft but still pretty low. We ate a bit and when the tide was high enough, we were out there. Jerry was up to his usual antics and flying high all over the place! I was trying to pick off the good ones from the peak, but I somehow kept choosing closeouts? got some mad props for it though! Day was over, job was done.

A couple days later, a few nights out happened with the boys, and this was followed by and early morning down south, in hope to catch a sneaky swell. Sully, Mitch, Jerry and myself rocked up at Nuggen car park, after trying to drive the track down which failed miserably with us pushing Sully's car out and his car now sounding like a tractor. Walked to Nugs to see no one out! Perfect. We were out there and Mitch sat on the rocks shooting untill the tide was too high. Hopefully some shots will follow soon!

The next few days looks pathetic in terms of waves, but I'll be taking full advantage of this and working my ass off! Manual labour pays so well here!

PS. Well done to Jerry on his second cover. Check it out on his blog and support our sport, go out and buy the issue, or better yet, subscribe.

Man oh man

So the past few weeks or so I have been suuuuuuuuper slack in making post. I do apologize. I have a good excuse, sorta! I dont have a camera anymore, so posts with out photos look plain and stuff off boring. None the less, i shall give you a brief run down on the past few weeks.

+ Slept on Narrabeen beach - bloody freezing

+ Worked like a peck - bloody tiring

+ Worked more and more, and also have more work lining up, which means money, which means living large and coming home with cash money. Boom!

+ Surfed a few times - namely, the island, (all the Nulla groms froth on travelling boogers, so we got pretty much any wave we wanted - perfect), suck rock, seconds left and also Cronulla main beach.

+ We surfed a contest, got knocked first round - lesson to be learned, stay sober the night before any contest

+ waves are here today, pumping waves, I've been hearing stories all day about how good they were. the reason for me only hearing the stories is because i was working, like a peck, again!

+ tomorrow looks good - no work, good waves! Too amped!

Hopefully I can have some photos next post, and more time to write more information down, yew!

just another week down under

Much like our first week in Margs, we are stuff off bored. We have been in search of work, but got chased away. We have made many phone calls, but the recession is getting ou's hard here. We have had 2 surfs in this last week, two of which were last night and this morning. Neither are worthy of any praise! damm!

We have been basically just been cruising the Avalon streets, hanging out at Krugers' house, waiting around for swell and/or work. 

The SIC was on hold for friday, but the swell didn't build as well as the contest directors wanted, so they have put it on hold, yet again. There might just be a swell coming for the boys to surf, fingers crossed! 

Also, a few changes have gone down with my appearance. The best comment that I've received so far is, "Ah, what the hell happened to you?" I explained. Then, "F**k! You're an idiot!" (laughs) Shot maxy! haha

A lesson to all

Never leave yourself signed into your different accounts on the net, on a communal PC that has many users. i.e. Log out of your blogs, emails, facebooks, myspace, etc, all of it!!!

In doing so you can prevent bad things from happening to you.

Take this previous post for example, "Coming out.Living loud.". That post was compliments of Jared Houston, who, being the good friend he is, decided to use my blogger account, that, in my tired state of mind, decided to leave logged in. 

Kids, never trust your mates with your various on line log in's, its a recipe for disaster.

Coming out.Living loud.

I would like to take this oppurtunity to let the public know that I have decided to live a life of homosexuality,Its been a long time coming.

Now that my mind is made up,I can finally breathe again.

Dont take offence,I love you all.

Think what you want....

A few waves
...
A few dreams
...
A picture is worth a thousand words

DROP BEARS

This post has absolutely nothing to do with the heading, BUT if you have been to Oz you most likely have encountered one of these fearsome creatures. Any true ozzy person will be able to give you an in depth description of these infamous bear like mammals. They are found all over Australia and you will never know they are there until the animal has dropped on top of you. As Jerry about these creatures! Leuhman gave him heaps of insight into them!

So back to why I actually deciding to make a post. I thought i have been very slack in making posts here, but its hard when the internet is down and also internet cafes arent in my budget anymore.

So over the past week or so we have said good bye to our flaming compadre, Simon, said hi to loads of free beer(check out Si's second  to last post on this subject), cruised at Sully's place with J Finlay, Shaun'o and Jerry, surfed the island before the contest on low tide - not the best idea! - worked my way into the pack of photogs to watch Jerry surf his heat from the channel, had some more fun nights, had a crazy surf at a place you wouldnt expect(well atleast I never), had unsuccessful job searches and dug in the Wooly's bins, thanks Wade.

Me and Jerry are now residing with fellow Saffa mate, Nic Kruger, where most saffa boogers stop by when they are in the land of milk and honeys. Kruger is the biggest legend ever, and I think with out him we would probably be leaving to head back before we expected. For those of you who have stayed at his place, you will understand how good this guy is. Oh, Kruger is also an ANIMAL. Once again, if you have stayed with him, you will understand that. Yew

Bad news is unfortunately present in this post. My handy water camera decided it didn't want to be waterproof anymore. So I dont have any fresh photos for you guys and I probably wont have for a while to. Which sucks. What sucks even more is that the card that was in the camera had some photos on that can never be replaced and also little clips of footage from the water of the SIC.

Swell should be present this weekend so keep an ear to the ground to see if the SIC round 2 runs. Support our Saffa mate and watch him on the live fee which can be foudf on the limited-edition website. www.limited-edition.com.au

Yew! Mona vale kings!

Mind Speakers

I found these, these people Inspire me, make me Afraid, make me Question Myself, make me believe More......

Speak your mind.Dont Be Afraid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTc_FoELt8s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxPthBOtVnY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O68MByaMVdM

...Unthunked Thoughts...

Im back in S.A now and have left my joyous time in Oz behind me, sad to go but happy to go home, the flight was way too long and all of it during the day, which made it even worse,

Except for the part where we flew over the Antarctic
this was pretty much the highlight of the flight and one of THE most amazing things i have ever seen!

The Pack-Ice we flew over, note we were 37000ft up and the outside air temp. was
-77 dergees C! FUN

Plane Stalking...14 hours results in cabin fever,i get bored easily.

......Prior to my flight, my companions and i decided to galavant around the beautiful city of Sydney while we had the chance, so, dropping our bags off at the backpackers, we started walking, pretty nonchelaunt, down the main street.
We were all a bit peckish so had a feed at the nearest Hungry Jacks, which was delicious as always.
But then something amazing happened, something that in S.A would be an abomination,
we strolleb by a pretty standard Quicksilver store, but Pik noticed something a lil different about this one, you see, this one had 2 girls standing just on the inside of the door, offering *Free* Corona, and us being South Africans, well, we couldnt just turn down an opportunity like that, the ONLY stipulation...Drinks had to be had inside the store. So we agreed very easily and made our way through to the center of the store, where we found billions of free Corona, sushi and champers, Oh and the reason for this "party", A man who was singing in the store to promote a solo album, Perfect!

Pik revealing the treasure we discovered

The In-Store joyousness

Cue 3 hours later, we got kicked out the store cos they were closing. so we took a beer for the road and went on down to the water way looking out over the Sydney Opera House....very very pritty, so we attempted to take pics, and we succeeded, before it started raining and we ran back to the backpackers which was a good 20min walk away....

The music from the Opera House making us smile

All worth it????
Oh YES!

The end has a start

So the TRIALS didnt go down too well. I suppose getting knocked by the guys you watch ripping in your favourite DVD's and you see getting spreads in the Rippi's and Movement Mags, isnt too bad.

The event was a super fun day that started off with some sweet 2-4ft waves breaking off the Nulla Point. Pity the conditions didnt stay the same for the rest of the day. My first heat i surfed like an absolute idiot and got a 3rd - stoked on the repro rounds. Surfed that heat and made it through to round three. My heat was star studded: Thomas Robinson - 4play rider, Thorpe Walleuw - super grom from the Goldy, rides for NMD, and James Kates - if you are familiar with Riptide and the FLUX DVD you will know who he is - Zion Wetsuits team rider.

The conditions went kak, locals surfers thought it was cool to make the Ski operator drive in circles around him as well - making a sweet wake for us to jossle in. Bottom line - tough heat, tough conditions - I wasnt prepared for it, better luck next year.

Si made it through to the 3rd round, without the use of the repro rounds! He got an unlucky 3rd in his heat, dealing with some bad conditions too.

That was it, overs. "F for FAIL".

Big ups to Nic Kruger who came down to show some good Saffa support - and leaving us with some sweet supplies. Also to Doc for the beach interviews, was super fun!

As the title says, the end has a start - Si's Ozzy expedition is coming to an end, but he has a few gold mines in the long run too help him get back in the main stream of things.

Another thing ending is our warm and welcome stay in Kiama. We are packing up and leaving. Heading north. No particular destination as nothing is organised yet - should be sweet though.

Down to business though - wave wise! Nothing has happened. Surfed the Island a few times, was fun, but nothing all time. We had the biggest mission today, check Jerry's blog to see his side of the mission. Forecasts looked good, but the onshore winds prevailed. After alot of train rides, hiking and walking - we were greated with this:

Jerry amped.

Jerry throwing some spray into his reverse.

We will keep you updated with what happens.

Boom!

The Silence before the Storm!

Hey Ya'll

Really sorry about the minimum updating but nothing much has happened except us working our butts off with top top results!which is too sick!



We leaving now to go up and hang out with Jerry and the boys, then its down to Cronulla tomorrow to prepare for the reason we came. Looks like Sunday will be the day but keep checking the site for running time updates.

In the Meantime here's something to keep your wild imaginations going...

http://www.riptidemag.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2893&sid=6ed940e11d532f72adf3e4211106dbe5


http://www.riptidemag.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2892


Holding Thumbs

2 days that changed our minds

After heaps of debating, we decided to head south. We got a lift to Bomaderry and took a bus to Ulladalla - which at the time, we thought was the place to be.
Set up camp, got hungry, went to the shops, ran into Thurston, Hubb and PLC. After hearing tales of the waves they scored a little further south at Bawley Point - we decided at first light we would hitch there.

Woke up early after a freezing and uncomfortable sleep and headed for Bawleys. Oh what a great decision this was. Our new found friends took us straight to the Nuggen car park. Looking out from the deck we saw off shore bowls and crowds. Knowing that Supers was just around the corner we had to go check it out. We jumped back in the car and arrived at the Supers set up. Walked to the point and we were greated with 4 tow surfers, 6 boogers, 3 water photogs, a boat with 2 more photogs and a star-studded crew watching from the rocks. After the froth had settled we saw Ben Player get the most insane wave i have ever seen. I've never seen any wave been ridden so well like he did on that one. A 8ft heaving slab, he paddled, scooped, dissapeared in the barrel and somehow made it out of it. Nuts if you ask me!

We decided that the crowds at Supers were too hectic (yeah, good excuse actually haha), so we went to Nuggen. We cruised to Nuggen point carrying all our equipment, 2 boards, 3 sets of fins, 4 backpacks, 2 sleeping bags aand one motherless tent. Leuhman tagged along and laughed at us the whole, shot for the help bru!

Nuggen was looking so sick, but crowded. The crowds consisted of: Winny, Hubb, Skipp, Novy, Morgan Brown, and a few other local ozzy's. Too amped!

Paddled out and saw exactly what every grom like myself dreams of seeing-All the pro's doing everything you see on the movies, but a few feet away from you. Was a crazy experience. I got a few waves and got a taste of what Nuggen can do.

Me, blending in with the crowds.

Novy flighing high!

After frothing at Nuggen we walked back to Supers. When we got there Benny P was towing in Eli Beach into heaving pits! They switched positions and Ben Player was surfing 6-8ft bombs by himself. He was shortly joined by Pierre Louis Costes and Glen Thurston. Was really something else and watching that session has changed my mindset about how good waves can actually get.

One of the many waves that changed our mind sets.

Pency in yet another mind altering wave!

Went back to Nuggen point and set up our tent as the sun was going down, we made an attempt at making a fire, but it failed horribly! So we retired to our sleeping bags and checked out the days pics.

We got woken up by Luke and Jimmy and were greated with this:

The view from our tent, what more could you ask for??

We surfed, packed up and headed to supers. The skis were out again and the crowds were already lined up on the rocks. Saw a few good ones slip through and I got out there. Got a few sick ones, got a few bad ones, got a few beat downs. Loving life!

Sitting on the rocks watching the skis going in circles, and all the pros arrived. I was amped so off I went. Sat in the line up with PLC, Novy, Alex Bunting, Jose Marquino, Tom Rigby and all the skis. The waves were firing, but to get a good one was stuff off hard! Managed to scoop 2 and decided that was enough for me and headed to the rocks.

Unknown lost in the mist of a cracker!

Bunting is a pure-bred hellman!

Me lining up in a good one!

Novy does unbelievable things!

We left to head back to our temporary home, Supers and Nuggen behind us, but not yet defeated!

All-in-all, seeing and talking to basically the top 20 pros in the world, watching them surf insane waves, seeing how different the bodyboarding community is here, sleeping on rocks, camping in the cold, missioning 7 hours to get home - it was so damm worth it!

The sky is falling

So the past few days have been a bit boring. Never fear, because off-shore winds and good swell is near!

We did a bit of searching - found nothing and settled for the consistnet wedge! We were lucky enough too see a tornado, we took some shots. We have also experienced babysitting - easy money!

Tooheys NSW is very good!

Si turning into what was a long barrel

Si doing his thing on the end bowl

Storm chasing

The tornado shortly before it broke up

A watery revo by yours truly

Bommie

Next week is on!

dropping ths kids off at school

so here's how the days event went down:

woke up early

went down to drop the family kids off a school

looked at the schools front garden and, surfed it.

The sight that appeared whilst dropping the kids off

Our morning breakfast

my first wave

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa" - you can hear the angels singing

shhhhhhh....quiet!

we almost forgot

please enjoy

dont you wish your granpa knew stuff like this?

blowhole madness

so we woke up to howling winds and thundering rain, all i wanted to do was turn over and go back to sleep. opted not too and surprisingly enough, my tiredness soon turned into ampedness to explore our current backyard coastline.

Got down to the beach and saw the wind was strong but not too bad! We saw some potential and we saw 2 sick as blowholes! These things are mad and are bloody loud!

We also splashed at the local beach called South Bombo - was super fun.

Here's some shots:

the main Kiama blowhole

me at another blowhole a few bays down

si showing his stuff

The past few days...

So we've moved on from the infamous Mark-up River, feeling tired, hurt, bummed and broke!

We moved onto greener pastures - the east coast. After a stuff load of money and about a day of travelling we have reached the cosy Plett-like town called, Kiama. Its situated about an hour and a half drive south of Sydney and if you, like Si and myself, opt for travelling by train, 8 hours is the length it takes. We did do a bit of a touristy thing which included many arb trip cats, plenty asian school kids speaking in full Ozzy tongue, many friendly people, a few famous places and one over friendly local explaining in depth, with the use of props (my smelly Pep shoes), those famous places - over and over again.

Oh, and one stuff off grumpy old man!

The photos below are some of the experiences

Airport boredom

Train waiting

Si taking it all in

If only tides and swell was on our side

You know how it is

Kiama evening

The chasrts are looking promising this week, hopefully we'll be able to get some waves.

We will keep you all updated

box pilgrimage

So after a week of fart arsing around we decided to hike down to the main beach and check out "The Box". We got a lift which took us straight to the car park and we were greated with less than ideal conditions. As we were comtemplating going in we saw 2 bombs come through and then our mind was made up.

The wave was really wedgey with loads of barrels and plenty of ramps. We all had our fair share of barrels with Jared, as per usual, flying above the rest with the ramps that were plenty.

The last wave i got absolutely destroyed me and after getting undressed we were greated with this:

The hike home after a surf that made our lazy week way worthwhile..

Hopefully we can get Box again but with better conditions

Skatepark hooligans

We were horribley bored so we found a cement skate park, and footskated the hell out of it!

...under the cover of darkness of course...

Ozzie kid hooligans

Pik with the bat wing

Jerry going old school with the Canonbaaaaaall

...the days adventure tires us so...

After a Hella mission


We decided to go surf this morning....normal for us....except we had about a 10km walk, cos NO we dont have a car...so cool, lets do this, we'l hike despite our warnings from the locals that people dont get picked up hiking, we thought we'd press on and start walking....20mins of nothing, so we started walking back, but stil hiching, then someone stopped to pick us up, PERFECT! we got to the beach, had a bit of warm water fun, then....THEN....hiked back........AN HOUR OF HIKING, and a motherless far distance still to go later, a kind elderly coupled decided to pick us up....tooo stoked! that walk = not cool!!

On the plus side, we did do some insanely budget shopping at the locals Coles store and scored some delicious deals to whet out taste buds and keep us going on those loooooong walks, cuase that definitly wasnt the last time..especially with this week coming ;)

jared.rides.well.yes

Pik cutting the early morning butter

Jerry-bag, again, opting for the warm water flip