King Waka's Korner

We had just knocked off work for the year and I was looking forward to the 3 weeks leave to go surfing and just hang out at home, the norm for this time of year is to get in early have a quick surf and head back home before all the holiday makers would wake up and invade the water. So Thursday being my first day of holidays I was down at Cuddy and enjoyed some fun clean little waves on the reef riding my mat with just a couple of the local crew to share. It was around 9 am and as I was getting changed out of my gear the phone rang and it was my boss from work asking where I was? ' standing in the carpark ' was my reply ! ' Get your arse home now mate, a fire has started over the back from you and is heading towards the coast with a hot NW wind behind it, they are talking closing Sussex Road ' ! Well there went my plans of having another surf so in the van quick smart! Great start to the holidays , just read my previous blog concerning the bushfires!

smoke & water - Thursday from adam williams on Vimeo.

The water was just full of ash and burnt leaves

The surf was only small most of the time and with the fires still active you just never knew when it would spark up bad again and the fear of not been able to get home was always on your mind!

NYE 2019 from adam williams on Vimeo.

Spooky Monday

By now everyone was on edge, you didn't want to travel far but was going mad being cooped up at home, so with a predicted large south swell I really wanted to test out my Edge Board in some serious juice! By now the smoke haze was a daily thing so driving down the hwy with Paul following in his car was a freak out and driving down Bendy Road I had not 1 but 2 Lyre Birds run across the road which was a bit of a omen to what was going to occur in just another weeks time, anyways we arrived in the smoke fill carpark walked up the track and could barely see the Island but sure could hear the ocean

I was stoked as I was going to get this board in some bigger surf whilst Paul only had his mat with him , so walking up the beach you can see how bad the water and sand was , littered with burnt leaves and ash with the water the same! The waves weren't giant but powerful, a long period swell direction you needed plenty of length and flotation to catch them which this board has, I dropped a 9" GG fin in and pushed it forward in the box so still had release in the tail but was so stable with no wobble and it bit into the wall when needed on crucial takeoffs allowing me to project out onto the wall to a nice smooth roundhouse, I got some bombs so was pretty happy with the board. Well Paul went okay as well , there was another mat rider out there as well so they enjoyed themselves till Paul got smacked my a large set and had his Go Pro camera clean ripped off his head never to be seen again!

After we got out it was time for a feed and another surf check!

Edge Board

Smokey Monday Gilliagans from adam williams on Vimeo.

Soft Board Fun

and the water is still disgusting with some much ash!

Had some fun riding my mat and this little 5'2" soft board from Ocean & Earth

ASH & WATER from adam williams on Vimeo.

Driving Down Bendy Road

Bendy had got scorched....BIG TIME!

It was a few days later after the fire had gone thru and they still didn't have any power for the 5th day , so I was surprised when the guy on the roadblock at the entrance of Bendy Road actually let me pass and it was just so sad to drive down , seeing all the fallen power lines and burnt out trees & bush ! As I was driving thru Cunjie I spotted Grubbo and Halley and asked how they were, with Grub aka the Gate Keeper/ RFS/Forestry/National Parks gave me a run down on how they saved the local community from the fire.I finally pulled into the car parked at the Island and bugger all cars, just a handful of locals out and I soon joined them but it was weird and didnt feel right ! The water was just trashed with ash and leaves and all we spoke about was everyone account and how the survived the bushfires, I just caught a couple and went in, I just couldn't stay out there and take waves from the boys, it just didnt ' feel right '! I called around to another friend to see how he and his wife was going, he broke down in tears telling me how he was away fighting the fires with his strike team and his wife was left to look after everything back home , including evacuating 80 tourist from the local caravan park.

kneedge from adam williams on Vimeo.

A few weeks later and back to work, the air is slowly clearing so we ventured down the coast to Bawley on the Saturday with the SCUMM crew and then again on Sunday by myself with the soft board.The air is finally smoke free again with us enjoying blue sky's and a ash free ocean! Its going to take a few years for the local flora & fauna to recover, we need good rain and the regrowth will happen as it has always!
Just no more fires please!!

Maximum Inflation

Slippery Simon

SATURDAY from adam williams on Vimeo.

Festersauris from adam williams on Vimeo.

Happy New Year Jokes

2019 -2020 joke from adam williams on Vimeo.

Currowan Fires

After living down here the past 14 years and have had experience numerous ' bush fires' over that time frame you sort of get use to having to have a escape plan if needed , have that battery operated radio and torch on standby , plenty of food and water ready to go, you know all the things they say on the TV and radio ' in case of a bush fire threat ' but you think nah, ' its not going to get that bad ' or ' we will be sweet ' attitude .....well this one caught out all of us...big time! It was late November and I was talking to one of my mates that is also a volunteer with the RFS and he mentioned this fire that was started by a lightning strike down south, he kept shaking his head and saying this is not going to be good and there is no stopping this, so with the combination of a year long drought, no back burning at all for the past 10 years during the cooler winter months , a ' fire dragon or monster' had started and there was no stopping it till it burnt the whole coast.read below this link from The Canberra Times

-fire-a-monster-on-the-loose/

Thank You Bob Hawke
I drank a 6 pack after fighting
the ember attack!

This fire had 3 goes at scorching us and we were lucky to get away with no damage or loss of property where as many a village , even whole towns were wiped out! The 1st go was on Thursday 20 of December and I was down early for a surf at Sussex and had just got out and back to my car when my phone rang and was told to get my backside home as there was a fire approaching from the west and they expected to shut Sussex Road , so by the time I arrived home there was black plumes of smoke coming toward us and a fleet of water bombing craft buzzing over our property hammering this fire till a late south change came thru and they were able to get it under control...no worries I thought and the next few days there was spot fires, little outbreaks here and there and enough to keep you on edge and listening to the radio and watching the fires near me app for up dates, then with predicated hot weather and winds NYE arrived and it really started to heat up , walking outside our house was like walking into a blowtorch and sure enough as predicted the fire again cranked up , fueled by extremely hot winds and again all we could do was listen to the radio and scanner and watch the app for updates. I was more prepared this second time round and after a group meeting amongst the surrounding neighbors , we all agreed to stay and fight to save our houses if need be, well with the approaching fire in site and water bombers ( planes and helicopters ) flying overhead again there was a knock on the door at 1.30 pm from a fire fighter asking if we were staying or going and how many in the house? Its getting real now and the day was starting to turn into nigh time , I walked out side and all I could hear was a huge roar & everything had gone black, my son and I both had goggles and masks with hoses in hand when the ember attack started , it was like shooting stars falling out of the sky , hot embers trying to light up dry material which last for what felt a eternity , with both my son and myself hosing down the house and stomping out anything burning on the ground and was one of the most scariest things I have ever experience and luckily again and south change saved the day by cooling things down , a really eerie feeling walking around in this dark red glow !! Of course the power and internet was long gone but we had our trusty battery radio and lights but it was still a sleepless night till the next morning till we could see the overall damage to the area , and we were lucky with our street not getting toasted but along the main hwy it was a different scene with fire damage everywhere but they did save the progress hall and fire station & fuel station!A week later we were fried again but from the north and this one was taking out the nearby winery when again a southerly change saved us but unfortunately it jumped the Shoalhaven River and also into Kangaroo Valley inflicting major damage! We have came out of this fairly good, loss power for only a couple of days twice and no major structure damage but if you just drive north or south its just sticks and ash !
It was the Xmas Break we never had!!!!

Thru my Eye's

VIEW FROM OUR PLACE

XMAS BUSHFIRES 2019 from adam williams on Vimeo.

SUSSEX TO WANDY
Going Home Saturday from adam williams on

BENDALONG TO WANDY

bendy to wandy from adam williams on Vimeo.

MILTON TO WANDY

milton to wandy from adam williams on Vimeo.

TABOURIE TO BAWLEY

tuckerbox to bawley from adam williams on Vimeo.

Manyana

The view from my mates house....freaking scary!!

LAKE CONJOLA
FOOD & WATER DROP

Neal rang me and asked if I would help him on a food and water drop for any of the local wildlife that might have survived , so after passing the roadblock at the entrance of Conjola Park I jumped into Neal's trusty buggy and we headed into Conjola itself and onto the caravan park to fill the tubes with water, then just a quick run up the beach to Buckleys where we set up 2 stations of food and water , everything is just toasted, saw a snake track on the beach , plenty of white man middens( beer bottles) and a coffee mug that I saved.

John Hall and the Gate Keeper/ Super Hero Paul Gleeson