The Daily Good News
Shit winds , overcast and I’ve had a good run lately, so it wasn’t too much of an ask to look after old mate during the day as the women folk went out for a wild knees up . I had a longneck in waiting for after I’d been relieved of my shift. As time marched down towards beer o’clock , the old fella found his voice and started describing how he wished he was still able to move , not leap from tall buildings or run down Black Caviar , just simply move his limbs on request.
Something we all do without any real consideration or appreciation, I take it for granted much too often .
So when the ladies got back chirpy from their extravagant cocktail doused lunch date , rather than crack that delicious, cold Coopers red , i put the old boardies on and did two hours of beach sprints , burpees , push ups , swim sprints and finished with some yoga.
No one around on the beach, water warm and for once it’s not stinking hot. Now I’m showered , tucking into a veggie stir fry and feeling like a God walking the Earth.
A very tired , stiff God to be honest. And it feels incredible just to be able to move whilst I’m still able . Grab it with both hands people, you never know when your last unassisted step is going to be.
Fuck ,that beer is going to be sooooo good.
liked that Blowin....
My town has got a new sick Chinese restaurant. Happy daze!!!!
My daily good news is picturing Blowin doing yoga.
Is that just the Amyl talking , Stu ?
In too short boardies with a rogue nut making the odd guest appearance during downward dog.
Facto, if it's like the one at the bottom of the Bowlo at the worst best point wave in NSW, then good luck to you, haha!
Same spot Craig : post surf lunch time flathead and chips + cold schooner = Happiness
But really , it’s all about the surf club cafe - does a macadamia cream chia bowl with fruit and pastachio nuts that you’d eat straight out of the urinal at the public toilet across the park if that’s where they were serving it. Incredible.
"In too short boardies with a rogue nut making the odd guest appearance during downward dog."
I was feeling the love until you put that picture into my head
haha,,,Namaste
I was waiting for the kale smoothie .........
Touche Blowin, great feeds from the Surf club. Though I'm partial to the bakery and it's breaky stack and chocolate donuts.
"Facto, if it's like the one at the bottom of the Bowlo at the worst best point wave in NSW, then good luck to you, haha!"
The good news is certain states - Australian footy states - don't really have bowlos and RSLs and such. We don't have rugby league either for the most part. Happy daze!!!!
Good food in my town though. Otherwise you're cooked.
Surf club cafe still got that super uptight lady there?
Think she might own the business.
Hasn't stopped me from buying coffee there but she cracks me up.
Yeah Facto, I'm from South Oz and when people here said they were heading to the "Arry" to watch the footy, I was baffled. In SA they're just rent-a-halls but here they're life-sucking casinos.
Some Bowling clubs are unreal.
Particularly the small town , old school ones .
Yep totally, the character and the characters!
Gerringong Film Society set out the foldback chairs on the polished wooden floor of the Town Hall last night. Film they chose was 'Backtrack Boys' and my wife wanted to see it, hence the li'l trip down the coast.
Was chatting to a mate of mine a few months back about issues my eldest boy was having and the advice from BD was competely unexpected. "Get a dog," he said. Moderates kid's tempers, calms them down, acts as a circuit breaker, these were all part of his explanation. So as I've reported elsewhere on here we got a dog, Maxy Walker, and he's been fantastic for all of our boys.
Reason I'm saying this is cos 'Backtrack Boys' follows a fella called Bernie who's set up a program in Armidale for severely troubled boys. "First step is to keep them alive," says Bern. "Then keep them out of jail. Then we chase their dreams."
Core of his program, which was widely discredited by govt agencies, is that each boy gets a dog for which they're responsible. They're shown how their energy affects the dogs and it's the first time they've considered their own energy, leave alone how it affects others. They also train the dogs and take them on the road to various shows.
It's pretty grim stuff at times, a thousand demographic miles from my white bread life, but a fantastic film to watch. To see how programs outside of the bleak institutional path can have positive outcomes. And also how bloody good it is for young kids to have a dog.
Told my mate BD about it and he's gonna try and play it here at the local community hall.
Very positive news Stu, perhaps you have heard of this guy https://www.stevebiddulph.com/Site_1/Home.html
My son's a man now so it's been a while but followed Steve's approach. One of his big things back then was boys need excellent male teachers in primary school in particular. This topic can quickly get into gender politics because in some ways education has become too feminised - curriculum and % of women teachers to men. Luckily my son had outstanding male teachers all through his education and in his sport as did my daughter.
Yeah, I've read a bit of Biddulph, who has some great ideas but needs an editor to better express them. More my fault than his, I guess. Too picky.
And yeah, I totally agree about male role models.
Speaking of: Just spent the last few hours on the rocks at the local showing the boofs how to rock hop through the inter-tidal zone, ("Stop when the whitewash hits, wait for it to subside and you get a view of the rocks in front, then move until the next whitewash hits.")
Few tentative moments alone on a shelf with a set hitting, but no bark lost and puffed chests on the way home.
Nice mentoring, did the real hands on practical rip lesson today myself. OK you are in it, do you remember which way to swim to get out? Are you calm? Is it really that bad? A nice result, sometimes being there is the best teacher.
And yep Biddulph really helped when I was a young dad, the question I was asking was 'OK how do you do this?' The wild spirit of Man, grounding initiation in nature - that's still really good stuff today. About to do the 1st road/surf trip with the youngest. It all adds up.
Stu, literary offshoot was the work of Robert Bly, very different to the online Men's groups today...
I’m not sure if your kids read , but I lost my shit on these when I was a young fella https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Price's_Adventure_series
If your boys are into nature these might strike a chord.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/willard-price/408994/
One of my favourites- if I remember correctly- made it into the 100 best boys books of all time list.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Adventure
Raising three boys has been the given me some of the most frustrating, challenging, rewarding and joyful experiences ofmy life - hard to put into words. Having great people around me has helped.
https://pathwaysfoundation.org.au/ - provided the space to stop, support and celebrate my sons stepping into manhood.
https://ritesofpassageinstitute.org/product/the-making-of-men/ - good practical guidance on supporting the journey from boy to man.
Arne Rubinstein is a pretty handy surfer and top bloke.
Surfed with two very large orca today. Was suiting up, totally focused on the nice rip bowl out in front, when I noticed cars pulling over and people milling out.
Huge bait ball and lots of sea birds, and in the middle two orca. Paddled out towards them, but never got close, so back to the waves. All of a sudden they were pretty close, maybe 30m away, but fully focused on hunting. Magic experience.
Fun waves, too.
Lucky bugger.
Nice one, IB.
I had a prick of a day yesterday, dog ran away, kids fighting, and Craig's posting photos of fresh runs in Colorado while I'm doing his job. Had enough. Did a kid swap with a mate: our eldest came to my house in the afternoon, youngest went to his.
He took them down the point for a swim while he emptied out his pots. When I picked up the kids he passed me a good size lobster for dinner. The kids already wanted Mexican for dinner so lobster tacos it was.
Great way to end a shit day.
Well done, Stu.
Sometimes you really need to put your thinking hat on, aye.
Lobster tacos ......are you shitting me ?
Euphemism?
Nah , I just love seafood and I love Mexican. Combine the two particularly using freshly caught seafood and it’s on .
Eaten a fair bit of crayfish but best ever was cooked by a bloke at the Bluff (81 I think) that I picked up (cray not the bloke) during the day.
He used his own special sauce crumbed and fried was unbelievable.
He was from the Gong just finished a stint on the cray boats in Gero (he didn't eat cray) was travelling with a dog that wasn't his and got to bang a hot girl from NSW while at the Bluff (chances out that zillion to 1).......don't make them like that any more.
Pretty good surfer as well
he probably cooked her a crayfish dinner and served it with a couple of glasses of chilled sparkling.
that would go someways towards increasing your odds.
he also gets away with buying an inordinate number of boards ...
Good point Zen being naive I suspected he loaded the sauce with something.
Just scored an hour of cool chest high runners by myself at a spot that is usually pretty well populated. Gotta be lucky sometimes!
Similar for myself. Went for a stroll and noticed a beautiful little mini peak groomed by the wind which was offshore in this spot. Warm , clear water and not a single other surfer to be seen. Had the no-leggie joy session alternating lefts and rights for a couple of hours on a voluminous fish.
Blissfully buggered now.
Not the peak I was surfing, but just a photo of a fun mini- peak from December. Such good fun. Nothing Earth shattering in terms of length , size or any other measure really , but when you score one to yourself you can catch 20 waves in an hour and have a ball. Standing on the sandbank between waves.
Few fish lurking on that inshore gutter too.
Awesome blowin', and that water looks so inviting. (Nice pic btw)
The colour has been touched up because the photo came out flat. The reality was much nicer ! It looks green when it was crystal clear.
Nice,i havent seen a wave that good this year around here.
It’s pissing down rain here. The relentless bucketing days I dream about whereby it’s nice to just curl up with a book or a movie and gladly indulge in a bit of hibernation.
Thought today of all days that an extra bit of good news wouldn’t go astray. So I’m putting up this old photo of one of the sweetest days surfing I’ve ever had the privilege of enjoying. Rocked up with a mate to see one bloke in a line up which looked like barrels made of blown glass. The water was almost too transparent on some waves. It’s damn clear water when the lip is casting a shadow on the bottom .Good times.
Yes , I do love a lineup shot at an unidentifiable and undisclosed location . True surf porn.
I bet you made that blokes day- ha ha!
Looks sweet though.
Yep.
Made sure I dropped in on him first wave. He sure seemed unhappy about it . Probably nothing compared to when he went in and found I’d waxed his windscreen and taken a steaming dump on his bonnet.
In reality he was happy to have a bit of company. Some big fish swimming around in those parts. He said as much.
Remember this thread? Some good photos.
Was almost gonna post a photo that makes me happy, but then I recall this passage I read in a recent Stab article:
"There aren’t that many new waves. At least since Mick’s discovery in 2017. If you can provide the new perfect aquatic canvas for Mick, Mason and Gabs, your contract is now justified. I heard Rippy paid an unnamed South African big wave surfer a healthy chunk of change for The Snake. It seems like all the brands have caught the 'experience' bug and are pushing the adventure side of things. Like exploring? Are you somewhat self-sufficient? Know how to put a trip together? You could have something there."
Now more than ever is the time for tight lips.
Fuck the guys selling out places for one more year on the gravy train.
Spose it's not good news. Sorry 'bout that...
Here’s a photo which makes me happy :
Lived in this house for a couple of summers. The place cost $100 a week to rent. It came with a couple of Jason recliners , the likes of which I’d never seen before. Surf / dive / fish / swim or whatever then kick back with your feet up , a bowl full of local green and watch the day drift away out the back .
Hardly any one around. A sensitive artist and his Spanish lady lived next door. We got into their routine of long lunches. She’d cook paella and we’d drink wine and smoke hash joints whilst we listened to Edith Piaf and Buena Vista Social Club . She had a thing against yuppies , only she pronounced them “ juppies “ . I didn’t disagree with her.
Me and the artist would catch King George whiting straight out the front. Dive for abs and crays. I got a bit of work on a cray boat , my missus worked at the bakery. Our neighbor got a commission to make driftwood timber fish . He had a worm farm and we’d get stoned and stand next to it , talking worms and gardening like some people stand next to the BBQ talking footy.
I grew some plants in the bush behind us. One night I got pissed and thought I’d go water them under the full moon , got completely lost and it took a couple of hours stumbling till I got my bearings.
Living is the best thing ever.
Hey Stu.
The photo you were going to put up wasn’t from your Spot X was it ?
Ha ! Must be killing you not being able to share the love. But you’re right not too. Here’s some good news .....You can send me the photos if it’ll relieve some of the tension Stu. I won’t tell a soul.
Surprisingly grunty ground swell hit yesterday, lighting up all the interesting spots, and today’s been unreal, too.
Many hours at my beloved local.
As a bonus, I clocked up session number 365 in a year (actually in 352 days). Not easily achieved in these parts, especially without succumbing to a longboard. Stoked.
Solid effort.
You deserve a groundswell for your commitment.
Thank you, kind sir!
Dedicated to good news ....