Barrels, Tubes and Barrels...

It has been some time since my last blog entry but I must admit that not much has been happening. To some of you it might seem that there is nothing else on my mind than surfing. Surf pics, surf stories and waiting for new swell over and over again. And I have to say that they are right, even though I would change the "nothing else" into a "not much". My day regulates itself pretty much through the tides and Bekki's working rhythm. It is Great! It does get a bit boring sometimes, especially when it's cold and wet, but I really enjoy to have no other commitments than to sleep, to consume food and to visit the toilet every now and then... I wouldn't like this to go on forever but I'm loving it right now.
Anyhow, to tribute today's title I have some new pics I wanted to share with you. As I said it's really hard to capture a wave at the right moment and not be too early or late but I think I had at least some lucky shots.

There are some other exiting news though. Rebekka and I have decided to go to South-East Asia in August. It will be a 4-week adventure through Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore and we are really looking forward to that. Everyone who has been there says it is such a beautiful region and so worth going there.
Before that we'll spend some time at the farm, in Yamba and in Byron Bay to escape the cold and meet up with my relatives at last. So we have a lot of really cool things to look forward to and are very very exited!

I have changed all pictures into  X-large because I thought they where too small before. Check them out, they look much better now.

And the swell arrives...

At last the swell arrived! The weather is really bad by now. It's raining and the wind has picked up and all together the day started rather slow. We got up late and had another great brekky with Dylan. We checked the local web cams for surfable waves but all we found was big swell and strong winds that mushed everything up and made it unrideable. I was so looking forward to this day and the arriving swell and was really disappointed to have just another day without surfing. But later in the afternoon Dylan got the hint that there where clean waves in Warriewood, not far from Newport, with only a few guys out there. We literally jumped off the couch, grabbed our stuff and drove straight down to the beach. It was on!!! Nice right hand waves coming off the headland, 4-6 feet and maybe 10-15 people out there. The wind was pretty strong but offshore which shaped the waves nicely. Dylan and I got changed in a rush, because the water was definitely warmer than the air, and paddled out. I didn't get too many waves but it still was great to sit there with really good guys and feel the raw strength of the ocean.
But enough with the stories. We had an awesome time out there and I can still feel the afterstoke.
Here are the pic's:

These are only some of the great pictures my awesome and beautiful girlfriend Rebekka took. A huge thanks to her for standing in the cold with such endurance.

Still Sydney...

It has been only a few days , not even a week, but I feel like I've always been here. North Sydney is so beautiful with all it's beaches, headlands and everything else. It just has this lovely flair that lives in everyone and everything and makes you want to stay here forever.

 During the last days though, you could feel that winter is arriving. It's just getting a bit chilly and the water feels colder every day. It's still warm enough to hang around at the beach and Dylan, Bekki and I went for a swim in the morning, which was lovely. Dylan and I tried to get the hang of the "inside barrel shot" with my camera but that really is harder than I thought. These are the best shots:

The camera is really cool and we're having so much fun with it. I hope I'll get some surf footage soon but at the moment I'm out there when it's on.

It has been nice to hear from some of you and also to get a bit of feedback on my blog so keep it up!

Just some pics

I'm having such a great time here. The weather is great. It's warm enough to run around in boardies and t-shirt and the water is beautifully refreshing. We got up late and spent the day at Avalon after a fruity breakfast with Dylan and his friends Olivia and Mitchell. The swell had dropped so we got out the long planks and had a little session at Avalon. Under the open blue sky in crystal-clear water and only in boardies!

But here are some pics.

                           First day at Mona main beach

                           That was Long Reef, my first surf. Small but nice!




We also tested the quality and underwater function of my new camera. I really like it. I actually wanted to show you some of the HD underwater high quality footage but I havn't quite worked out how to upload vids.
 I'll show you soon. The quality is sick!

SYDNEY...at last!

Hi folks,

here's my first blog entry. But what shall I write about? I guess I just give a brief overview over my trip so far.
The flight was LONG! I was trying to find an other word for it but this one describes it in the best way. After a  6 hour flight I landed in Dubai where I bought a camera ate something and tried to sleep. Unfortunately the third point didn't work out to my satisfaction. After hanging around more than 10 hours at the airport my aircraft, a huge and supercool A380, took of towards Sydney, Australia. I really don't know how I managed to survive that trip. I still couldn't sleep so I killed time watching  the latest movies (my tip: The Fighter), trying to sleep and Bacardi&Coke...I guess that was the trick. After a 14 hour flight and the weird sensation of watching your hangover come and go again I arrived in Sydney. FINALLY!
Bekki picked me up at the airport and drove me up to the northern beaches, where we met Tim after a brief surfcheck and a little walk along Mona-Vale main beach. It was so nice to see all the places I loved and had to leave in 2007. It felt like coming home. After a late breakfast we headed down to Newport beach where we watched the surfers and relaxed in the sand. On the way back up to our car my tiredness struck me. I was hardly able to lift my feet and Bekky almost dragged me up the last steps. Tim told me to take a hot shower and jump into bed and so I finally slept (after about 45 hours without sleep) for 1.5 hours. Later on we drove up to North-Bilgola headland, ate a warm soup and sunk into bed at 8pm.


The next day started slow. We had a morning swim, caught up with Dylan before he had to leave for uni and headed to Narrabeen to buy a wetsuit. We found really good wetsuits and paid a lot lot lot. But I love it!
Keen to test the latest material emerged from the Rip Curl Search we drove to Longreef and surfed for
2 hours. It was beautiful! The waves where small but clean and powerful. I was stoked. That first surf made my day and it was ironically the same spot I had my first surf in Australia. Now I'm with the Barbers and I'm probably going to meet heaps of the guys I went to school with. I'm really exited...