Bad Tour Western Australia 2010

Happy New Year 2012......Lets hope for another good surfing year ahead, but first let me recap our trip down to the Margaret River area back in May 2010, before I loose anymore brain cells......

BAD WAKA

After picking up Robbie and Mark , we met up with Garry at Sydney Airport for our flight across to Perth, where we hired a Tarago van and headed south for Margaret River, and as you can see in the pic below, it was going to be a interesting surf trip at that!

pictured below left to right...Garry, Mark and Robbie.

I had not been over west since leaving there back in 2007, so I was interested to see what changes had taken place , and with Garry being a former resident of Perth as well, he was handed the driving duties to get us on the Freeway and heading south, leaving father and son team Rob and Mark squeezed in the middle seat, with 5 boards and all the luggage to go with it, so with me yaking my head off and Garry pointing out a few landmarks thru Perth, it was a funny start to surf trip....just dont eat the 'jam melons' growing wild along the freeway eh?
With the freeway not being finished when I was living there back in 07, it was a blowout to see it completed, and as we bypassed Mandurah and pushed on further south in record time, it was time for a pit stop and food at the one and only roadhouse that we could find, and of course Robbie gets all excited when he meets a fellow car 'nut' and proceeds to have a in-depth conversation with this complete stranger and possible closet rock n roll dancer...nice car though!

After leaving Robbie's new friend broken down at the roadhouse, we headed on down and finally arrived at Cowaramup and the turn off to Gracetown where we had a house booked for the week, and what a view it had overlooking the whole bay, with Southpoint and Northpoint being the main view!

Gracetown

After paying our rent down at the local shop, we quickly bolted up to our house, we unloaded the car in record time, and headed back down the hill again to the carpark at Southpoint...it was pumping and so was the crowd, but we got changed and did the long walk out to the steps and jumped in and joined the other 40 odd other keen surfers for a slice of the action

After a quick scratch around the inside, I headed out the back to find a lonely wave to myself and not have to share with any other hungry surfer, but after taking off on a bomb, I was dropped in on and knocked a fin straight out of my board without catching a decent wave...lol...spewing is a word that comes to mind, but I paddled in with my tail between my legs and a kneeboard with only 2 fins still attached!

On the way back to carpark, I bumped into old mate Kenny Robinson, who has been living and working over West for the past 10 years, and arranged for him to call in that night for a yak and a few beers. After getting dryed and changed I broke out my camera to capture some of the action in the water , Northpoint was cranking as well.

After driving into Margaret River township for supplies of food and beer( plus some araldite to glue a fin back in) Garry the master chef he is , whipped up a fantastic chilli dish, which was enjoyed by all, but by the next day had a lasting effect on Robbie's stomach and bowels!

The next morning we could see by daylight that the swell was still hanging around, and with us making arrangements with Ken the previous night to meet up at the entrance of his property at Ironstone, we quickly packed the car with boards and wetsuits and hit the road to meet up with Kenny

Rock Stars in the Woods

Waka and Robbie

Man meets Wild

Ken, Garry and Mark

After unloading our van and jumping into Kenny's fwd ute, we went hunting a few so call 'secret spots'  which were all way to big, so it was off to Borenup beach for a paddle before the side shore wind kicked in and blow the place out!

Hey, is that a Totem Pole??

After our surf and detour back to Marg's for more beer and food, we ventured back to our house on the hill , and watched the show as the sun went down ( which was the usal for most of the stay)

                                                          Piss Heads

Well the swell wasn't going to last forever, so when we woke the next morning, it was small but not flat, and there was still a little wave out at Southpoint, so out we went for a paddle and caught a few fun ones before we were joined by another dozen surfers, and with the extra crowd and hunger pains in our belly, it was time to go in for breaky and coffee!

Robbie still wasn't feeling well , the chilli had a ongoing effect on his belly, and with a good dose of the flu as well, he just wasn't the normal happy camper that he normally is (lol) so when Garry suggested doing some wine tasting  in the local vinyards, I was surprised that he decided to tagg along and sit in the car as we went from one vinyard to another.

                                                        Chick on a Stick or Mole on a Pole?

Rump on a Stump

Cowaramup Township

Nobody told me you were supposed to spit the wine taste out, and when I did, I still felt a bit light headed, and so with every visit to the different wineries , we would all come back giggling a bit more than before, and be greeted by a not so well Robbie, playing with his camera on the back seat, it was a crack-up! It wasn't till one of the last wineries, that he started to come good, with us (Mark, Garry and myself) now well and truely under the weather and so after a quick stop at the chocolate factory, it was decided to meet up with Kenny at the Bootleg Brewery for a few pints =........Bad Waka

left to right...Kenny Robinson, Bad Waka, Garry 'Bumps' Booker, Mark and Robbie Slater and
Eric 'da Bolt' Bridges

Well Robbie finally came good, a few pints under his belt and he was back to his usal cheerful self (lol) but not so good for me as I smashed down 6-7 pints of Chocolate Stout, very yummie, and after that it was all a blur and stumble...I do remember getting back to the house and stumberling down the steps pissed without falling over, and then trying to eat another chilli dish and steak ....fark, I was sweating and slobbering , chasing that steak all over the plate,with what I thought was a blunt knife..lol...and then with one emotional outburst 'cant farking eat this' and much to the amusment of everybody else, stumbled off to the comfort of my bed and woobbie (lol) a very Bad Waka indeed.....good one fella's!!!

Waka in the Wild

Wilyabrup

After waking up the next morning fully dressed and all my eyebrows still intact, my head still feeling furry, we decided to head over to Yallingup  and check out Smith's and Supertubes, but first we needed fuel, so after a quick stop at Cowaramup Tractor Sales & Service, where we were greeted by the not so helpful or trustful business owner( who had the personality of my backside) 'No pies here mate, better try elsewhere boys', so after filling up,we continued onto Yal's for a surf and breakfast.

                                                    Service 'without' a Smile

                                                                      Yallingup

                                                                       Smiths

                                                   Egg and Bacon Rolls

Bumps catching up with the outside world.

                                               Eric 'da Bolt' Bridges  Smiths Beach

                                                              SuperTubes

                                                              Mark Slater   Supertubes

                                                                          Bumps

FAT HANDERS

We were all up super early the next morning, with a promise of offshore winds and a slight increase in swell, it was looking good for Fat Handers to be breaking good, so by the time Eric had pulled up out the front and I had got my GoPro camera ready  for its first real test, the rest of the boys were keen to hit the road for the short drive around the corner. Robbie had decided to take off first down the beach, while the rest of us took the walk over the sand dunes(high ground), so after arriving in front of the break and no sign of Robbie, Eric decided to take some pics while we went surfing, not knowing or seeing (lol) that in fact Robbie was perched one sand dune away and out of sight of Eric.The surf looked great, 4ft of offshore swell, but with another thick crew already on it and with more guys paddling out.

Below is some footage taken with my Go Pro camera.

 
                              All pics by Eric 'da Bolt' Bridges

Bumps

                                                                    Mark Slater

                                                  Bad Waka

                                                                
                                                                          Garry
                                                                         Lefties Carpark

Guilitines

A Morning at Fatrock

After our fun surf the previous day at Lefties, we were keen to try elsewhere for a surf and catch up with WA Kneelo shaper and legend Blair Micklejohn (pictured below)

                                    Slats on the job

Mark paddled out for a few waves, while I was happy to have a rest and plugg a few photo's off

                                                    Cobblestones

Dolphins

Bootleg Brewery and Prevelly Park Pizza

After heading back over to Yallingup, and after having another surf at Supertubes and a feed at Dunsborough Bakery, I suggested that we walk out to Bears  for another wave....not having a fwd, I was assured that it was a fairly short and simple walk from Sugerloaf Rocks carpark..., yeah right...so off we drove and pulled into the carpark and proceeded to unload our boards and start walking (lol)  well the first hour wasn't so bad, but Robbie seemed a bit distressed and when he keep blowing the single plugg in his rubber thongs( not the best footwear to be wearing while undertaking a 'short and simple' walk) you couldn't but help laugh! So after seeing the onshore come up and another surfer passed us heading back to his car, we turn around and stumbled back to the safety of our car and air conditioner, while dodging all forms of wildlife on the track...mainly snakes! Robbie settled down after 30 minutes, no more winging about his thongs and his cold seem so much better as well (lol) so it was back to the Bootleg Brewery for another fun drinking session. After parking the car and running down the pathway to re-hydrate ourselves with some icy cold beer, the barman took one look at me as he poured my beer and said  'fark mate...your back.... you were really pissed last time youse were here'....famous last words, and a omen to what was to happen later in the night.Again we were met with Kenny who was having a few after work beers, and Eric had brought along good friends Peter and Denise , to join in on the fun....Bad Waka

                                                               Chocolate Stout
                                                               All pics by da Bolt....I think?

It was starting to get messy down at the Brewery, god knows how many pints we sank and when Eric mentioned pizza for dinner at Preverlly Park and the guy was going to kick us out anyways, we were out of there quick smart! Robbie, Mark and Garry took off in one car, and I was thrown in with Eric, Peter and Denise ( who all 3 of them dont drink) for the 30 minute drive...its all a blank to me! When we finally arrived at the pizza place and spilled out of the car, it wasn't too crowded as I thought, but what took my attention was that the resturant had change hands since my last visit, and now was run by a couple of french guys, with an arrogance to match their nationality....such a funny night...'you French pigs'...it took all night for the poor prick to realise that we were paying him out!

Northpoint and our final day

As always a new swell will come up as we are leaving to head back to Perth, with a huge crowd hitting Northpoint, Mark was still keen to venture out one last time before we left

Northpoint

                                                       Robbie behind the camera
                                                                  Bumps below

A few spectators down on the rocks

Memories

Beautiful Sunrise

Humour

Sand...its everywhere

Mulga Scrub...its everywhere too!!

Da Bolt

Snail Shells

Snake Tracks

Sand Sculpture's

Orange Sundowns

Good Times

                                                         A few key words that best describes our surf trip

                                  French Pig, 'What', Bad Waka, Shit Rock,
Fat Handers, Old Man Wave, Too Big, No where Breakers,
Shit Handers,Fat Reef, Quokka Soccer, Airwick, Call me when its small, I've Got A Generic Fear of Water, Bootleg Brewery,
Mole on a Pole, Chick on a Stick, Rump on a Stump, Ken&Reggie,Black Crab,Bears, Rob:Art, Land of Fat Handers,
Sand, Wineries, Man Candy, Chilli, Cant Farking Eat Theses,
Girl's Blouse-My Mascara is Running,'Ya Going out?,
Me Bungs come out of my thong, Dont Tell them your from East,
Once out of the postcode its all Good!!!