Monday, 23 May 2011

The Crossing Land Education Trust

Last year I was contacted by Dean and Annette Turner about installing some new kitchen floors down at Bermagui at the Crossing Land Education Trust. I jumped at the chance to travel down there to work and stay onsite and was impressed with the hospitality that I received ...many thanks Dean and Annette!

http://thecrossing.thebegavalley.org.au/

Visit my website http://www.adamsfloorcoatings.com.au/

About The Crossing

Mission
The Crossing is a community hub for sustainability involving young people in positive environmental projects, inspiring them to conserve.

Status
The Crossing Land Education Trust is a recognised Environmental Organization in Australia, an independent not-for-profit project and sustainable bush camp near Bermagui.

Youth Journeys
The Crossing 'puts sustainability into action' offering many different landcare journeys and projects to develop young people's capacity to live more sustainably.

On Crossing journeys young people help the community with Landcare and learn about the sustainable management of natural resources. The highlight is a big Australian journey from the Sea to the Snow. The journey also provides direct entry and recognition under the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award for young people in south east NSW.

Governance
The Crossing project is overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors and was founded by Dean and Annette Turner who have 20 years of environmental education and wilderness experience with teenagers. Over a thousand volunteers have helped create The Crossing and building is still underway.

Design
The Crossing uses sustainable permaculture design with water reuse, energy saving, habitat recovery and estuary protection. The land is a key wildlife river crossing between coastal National Parks.

Conservation
Koala habitat recovery is a major focus of The Trust and The Crossing is involved in the largest koala survey in Australia. The Crossing has also registered a Conservation Agreement with National Parks on the land title to protect the habitat of endangered and threatened species. Over 70% of the materials used in construction of The Crossing are reused or sourced from the site.

Location
You can find The Crossing on the Wilderness Coast of southern NSW, just up the river from the small seaside town of Bermagui.

Youth
The Crossing provides environmental education and leadership projects for young people primarily from 13 to 25 yrs with sustainability education for cross generation multi-aged groups also encouraged. Projects are usually for multiple nights with a converted 1930's red rattler train carraige as bunkhouse. (see pics below)

Below is a slideshow of what I saw while down at Bermagui...just click on slideshow when in Picasa

The Crossing 2010

Annette making dinner in the old bus engine well....Thanks for the beautiful meals Annette!!!!

My floors below

before

After

water based stained and mastersheild flake floor systems

Beautiful Bermagui

Camel Rock

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Postcard from Western Australia 2011

Its that time of the year again, do we head for Indo or back over to Western Australia for large winter swells? I received this postcard from my old mate Eric Bridges just recently and he supplied me with a few lines and photos from his recent trip over to the Magaret River region of Western Australia..

Margaret River Glass-Off.......grab a wine or longneck of beer
and sit down and enjoy the show!

Northpoint Fun

Hey Adam…just back from Margaret River and what a trip…on Friday the 6^th May 2011 this huge clean swell arrived.

I went to Cowaramup Bay as Margaret’s main break was massive.

Surfed south point at day break with a couple of others and got myself in all sorts of trouble when I tried an over ambitious bottom turn on 6 feet of walling wave which shut down on me and broke my legrope.

Had to swim down the point with 6 foot sets of white-water driving me and board onto the rocks.

Got a good healthy hiding and some great bruising but board was sort of Ok so retied legrope and paddled over to Huzzas which was also breaking at 4 – 5 foot with some great rights into herring bay.

Next I went to north point to watch 30 of the local Big Wave riders doing their stuff in real Solid conditions. You have the pictures so you tell me how big it was. The locals were calling it 8 foot, but as you know sandgropers have HUGE feet.

So at 11 am on Friday the 6^th may this huge set comes through breaking out at third rock a 100 yards further out than the pack and it just cleaned them all up. Not bad for an 8 foot wave ??

Three unlucky guys got washed around the north side of north point, not a great place to be one young and very fit guy who had lost his board was forced to come in on the vertical wall of rocks and got some broken toes and bad cuts.

Two lid riders used their booger boards to bounce their way across rocks while being hammered by 8 feet of white water. Like being hit by a mack truck.

In my 41 years of surfing I have never seen such an amazing piece of luck and made the effort to shake their hands and suggest they buy a lottery ticket cause they were lucky lads.

At the same time as this was going on down at main break Margaret’s one of the local big wave riders was being dragged 2 hundred yards under water by his legrope attached to his 9 foot pin tail and he told me that he had had an “anxious” moment when he could not release his leggie until he ended up in the lagoon. This was not ya normal 8 foot set as it was also a 10 wave set that really did the damage all along the coast.

Mate never underestimate the power of the wild west.

eric