Daly Head

Drivinglongtime, you need to upload them to a photo hosting site like photobucket or flickr and then just bast the image link that they provide you with once the image is uploaded.

Davel, your not meant to camp at Dalys anymore..closet would be Gleesons..dogs allowed but you wont be able to go Innes Nat park. Streaky/Cactus dogs allowed.

Hi Craig, why no capability to upload straight onto here?? Time to update the technology??

Way back in '04 I was a competitor and team manager for the WA team at the Australian Surfmasters Titles around the Marion Bay area of Yorkes. After the titles wrapped up we had a spare day so we loaded up the team bus and trying to escape the other teams and crowds at Pondalowie we went exploring on the advice of a local mate. This took us to Daly Head.
Well, what a pleasant surprise. Such a beautiful piece of coastline The memory of that memorable day has stayed with me forever. The view from the top of the headland was outstanding.
The team split up and spread out. I surfed the beachie down the 5 bloody hundred stairs, looked like shoulder high from up top but was way overhead. As I sat out the back, I couldn't see any sign of civilisation. Beautiful!! Though I couldn't help thinking of the newspaper headline "surfer disapears at remote SA beach. Feared taken by dirty big white pointer."
This area deserves NSR recognition. I was on the committee for the Yallingup NSR and can say all the hard work is well worth it. Say hi to Brad and the Prof when you have the dedication. Good luck guys.

Sorry drivinglongtime, we don't have that functionality yet, but maybe in the near future. If you want you can email me the shots at 9raig@swellnet.com.au and I can put them up for you.

amb, thanks for the information. Bummer about not being able to camp at Dalys anymore, but glad to hear Streky and cactus still good to go.

Malibumick - good call. Its a beautiful place and as far as I am aware the area north from gym beach is all owned privately (crown land?) and fairly tightly at that - I imagine there are Yorkes locals watching this thread that'll know about this. I spent some time when I was younger trespassing around this area. NSR recognition will always be a bit double edged, in that there is a perception that more surfers will come due to the publicity. Not sure if this is the reality of the experience of places already of NSR status, although they are generally better known surf spots. SA has an inbuilt crowd deterrent which reared its tooth filled maw yesterday at Streaky...

It'd be nice to get some basic facilities at Dalys, or at Salmon Hole/Dustbowl carparks - just a shelter of some description and maybe a toilet. Revegetating the area would be unreal too (back to its former state) - I was there earlier this year and it was pretty desolate - in stark contrast to the NP, which has really flourished over the last 10-15 years thanks to what appears to be a pretty good management plan.

Bins have been tried at dusties before..all that happens is they get full then people put their rubbish next to the bins and it ends up all over the area and in summer they reak!!there are toilets near daly's but who is going to pay to look after them? they council is in that much debt that its not funny. I know the idea has been discussed by FBAG. Unfortunately once you put facilities there more often than not the end up desocrated and abused..Big-ups to ED and co. who have done a fantastic job at FB!!

hey ben and barley, daly's headland is one of the last accessible places on Yorkes with decent breaks where u can go and enjoy the solitude (usually in the middle of winter!) and not be faced with toilet blocks, campgrounds, railings and carparks. The only problems are that most people shit on the Rockies side of the headland and let their paper blow free, when a simple dug hole would help the process along a bit. Theres the beginnings of a campsite at the Baby Dalys side, complete with dunny, but I really hope they leave the SH, RP area free from "improvements". The walkway was a good idea saving the headland/dune erosion etc but I guess modernity will eventually catch up. As for the track in, don't ever seal it... I'm still fixing my car from my last visit, as it does need a grading now and then, but too much bitumen etc... ah well, just another grumpy ol' man reminiscing about the good ol' days I guess.

ps even with chassis breaking corrugations, and no facilities, when the net says its on, you cant really hope for less than 8,10 people in the water at SH... last few times Ive been there coinciding with a swell (which i read about on the net!) there were 20+ guys in the water for most of the day... ahh, for the good ol' days (plus its a great place to go walking wit ya dogs with no hassles!!)

That Daly's road is one of the worst in the state. Even the more remote tracks on the West Coast are better.

If you wanted to torture someone I'd say going back and forth at 10-20km/h for half a day would do it. Surely they can improve the ruts etc. along the track.

Drivinglongtime passed on these two shots taken from Daly's back in the 80's.

A couple of his mates are out there, one of them copping a good one on the head..

What an amazing coastline. I've been chased in by a large shark at dalys late one arvo, my mate big Dave had a bronzey launch up onto his board and knock him off at spits and I once surfed p ms with a baby geese and watched in horror as they one by one went over the falls on solid waves and died.Countless great waves and laughter with mates an area to be protected for all future groms let's just try not to make it to sterile with our attempts to protect.Congrats to Benny ball bag on the success of swellnet you countless hours of work have paid off and I still have your book on costa rica you borrowed me 15 odd years ago.I think you should change your tag name Ben.

Kav! Great to hear from you, it's been a long time. I remember Big Dave's shark story from Spits but never heard the geese tale from PMs! What a classic.

Besides a quick trip earlier this year, it's been bloody ages since I was last at Yorkes. I'm thinking of coming over for the Classic in October if at all possible.

I was there when all those baby ducklings came over to us at PM's! It was funny and then sad. The swell must have dislodged them from thier nests and they came towards us hoping for salvation. Big Dave sat one on his shoulder and we hoped to save them till 8ft sets started rolling in and one by one the all were lost! That's nature I suppose...

Roger Matthews and a young old dog at daly's mid 70s


Skate ramp anyone?

old dog, you may remember a teams challenge at dalys, mid seventys, southbay ,fourpoint,roaders,northshore boardriders, was held at big chunky dalys 6-8 ft [10]maybe, lots of near drownings ,snapped leggies, was a stacked clean offshore swell lined up almost perfection. some great surfing done by jack howarth,spider palmer, big greg keam,can picture lots more faces but cannot put the names to them ? can you recall the comp ? and a few of the surfers ????

That last one's a bomb old-dog. Mystical third reefer?

I surfed it on the solid day of the first Billabong Pro Junior which was being held at 4-6ft Pondi at the time. Some big sets at the time. I recall Joel Fitz surfing big Rockpools with Ben Donnithorne too.

Also remember a lot of the interstate guys tackling big West Cape on that same swell - until that time (at least to me) WC was really only surfed when everywhere else was too small. They were all fresh from the North Shore though, so it's no surprise they were looking for something equivalent (which it apparently is, pound for pound).

Luke Egan told me he saw Neil Purchase jnr get a 10ftx10second tube at WC during that epic Billabong Pro Junior swell! They also named that part of the beach 44's as there were some 44 gallon drums washed up on the beach there. We had never even looked down there during a big swell! Now it's the most surfed part of the beach!

Wow, so that's how 44's got its name. I never knew that (but now it seems so bloody obvious!).

Remember the barrels they were getting at Seagulls (is that the name?) - the slabby shorey halfway between Pondi and the boatramp? In fact I reckon the swell was so big that day there was a third little peak even further up closer to the boatramp.

I walked around to PMs after Dalys, and watched from the headland as a couple of guys tried to paddle into 10ft bombs with a 20kt offshore breeze up the face. I ended having an epic surf at Tressies and Snails.

Thermal i think its called "Possums".

Ah, thanks AMB. That's a terrible name though. 'Drop Bears' would have been more appropriate.

@victor No I must have missed that one but I remember some epic state titles in the late 70's Weasel won it one year in solid Dalys when the Roaders boycotted it and held their own comp on the mid.BTW none of those stills were taken on very big swells. From down on the rocks it can look like hard work out there but once you paddled out it was a piece of piss and so easy for its size it was almost embarrassing.A big fat friendly slug of a wave with a bowl right at the end to thread.If dalys is pumping there are probably better places to be but I wouldn't mind hitting it again just for old times sake.So many memories, the best days of my life were spent grovelling at Yorkes in the 70s.

One of the most pressing issues for the Daly Heads region is the removal of boxthorns which appear to be taking over... Anyone know of any initiatives to tackle this problem?

Actually next time your down the bottom of Salmon Hole have a walk around and look at the work being done to remove the box thorns down between there and Daly's! The National Resource Management(NRM) have been issuing grants to remove them and local Sean Grey has been down there through the winter chopping the bloody things down!

There's still a shitload of work to do but hopefully with the establishment of the Daly Head Surfing reserve we will be able to get more hands and more funding to tackle the problem!

That's great news ys. Not sure about cutting them down as to regrowth... perhaps injecting them with the latest roundup or whatever? There sure is a lot of work to be done in this area, but I'm sure there would be many takers for an organised assault on this environmental blight. Also, in relation to the "reserve" proposal, I hope this doesn't entail a whole raft of rules and regulations - ie. having dogs down there. Apart from the classic waves, it's the freedom/"isolation"/lack of facilities in this area that draws me there time and again compared to the regulated/fee-wracked/"camp in this spot and NO dogs" horror of Pondie. cheers bud

The process for removing box thorns involves cutting and spraying the root with roundup which is being done but good point! We don't want them coming back. Unfortunately the seeds are viable for 10 years so any area needs to be checked for that long to remove any new plants regrowing! It's a tedious process!

And the Reserve plan doesn't seek to exclude any user(including dogs) so that won't change. It's more about establishing recognition of the area as significant to surfers and open up avenues for funding projects such as the box thorn removal. We would also like to have a toilet at Salmon Hole possibly set back in that depression next to the car park on the rockpool side. It shouldn't be too much of an eyesore there. A certain amount of infrastructure(such as the steps) is necessary to stop the place getting trashed and eroded any worse than it is already. Surfing isn't going to get less popular any time soon after all!

goodonya ys... recognition yes, more infrastructure etc kept to a minimum, yes. A toilet block in the old camp spot, hmm, probably good considering the amount of people who don't bury their shit/paper and make the top of the headland a deadly minefield. Otherwise, that area really needs to be left alone. we need some relatively natural areas connected with surfing to remain for the groms to come. Make sure you post a forum if and when there is an organised assault planned for the boxthorns. I'm sure a lot of volunteers could be rounded up to help out. So many good memories of that place...

With all the facilities being put there to encourage users to use them, does this mean more people are encouraged to visit these places and if so does that also mean the inevitable...bituman road is also in the works? Why put shitters up everywhere..A central location would have been sufice, soon there will be shitters,benches,gazebo's, daly's deli, hot coffee, bottle shop,bait & tackle get it all come one come all!!

exactly wat we dont want!! There's a dunny and rudimentary campground at the crabgrinders/baby dalys side - perhaps a little more needs to be done there for the average punter - perhaps not. An old-fashioned long-dropper near SH? Prolly a good idea considering the mess on the headland. Anyway, if the peoples don't like, the peoples will wreck...

Yeah that dunny might never happen as the council will need to by convinced. After all they would have to maintain it. I personally would like to see it happen as I still remember the time one of my mates set up his gas cooker to cook some lunch and the sea breeze blew a shit stained piece of paper which landed right on his lunch cooking away. Needless to say he went hungry!

As for improving the place with facilities encouraging more people to come, quality waves tend to make that happen anyway. Have a look at the worlds best surf spots. People will put up with anything for good waves. It's about preserving what's there for future generations. Imagine how much more eroded the hill at Samon Hole would be now if Ed hadn't put those steps in 10 or so years ago!