Making Friends With The Neighbours

I can't stop thinking about these beautiful, beautiful paintings by Philip Govedare  (via  Wolf Eyebrows )

Remember a few years ago when we talked about  Vogue magazine making surfing high fashion ? Well, things are getting ever surfier over at Chanel... Yeah, sure, I guess. I must say, however, that that is possibly the prettiest man I have ever seen. I don't know what it means in terms of surfing, but  Pete Bowes would probably have something to say about all of that, I imagine. (Clip via EBNY )

A sick little film from Clare Plueckhahn and Fran Derham, from Cos We Can . LUNCHBREAK from CosWeCan on Vimeo .

So, today was my last full day here in Newcastle as resident writer at The Lock-Up Cultural Centre. And I’m sincerely bummed. I’ve had the most wonderful time, met so many great people and found my feet in the surf, so I’m sad to leave. Today Garth asked, “ So you must be missing home by now ”, and my honest answer was “ No. Not at all .” I mean, I miss my loved ones, but Newcastle is great and I have been busy and productive and happy, so I haven’t had much reason to look forward to the end of my time here or feel any home-sickness. In truth, I’d love another month here. I feel like I haven’t had enough time to get everywhere I wanted to go, meet all the people I wanted to meet, surf all the breaks, hang out with crew, to read, think, write. So I’d love another month or two, but I’m off to Sydney tomorrow and then to drive/camp/surf my back up the east coast next week with my friend, Terry, so things aren’t too bad really. But I was hoping that today I would be able to get in ...

If you live in Sydney, and you aren't locked into any plans for Saturday afternoon, you might be interested to come along to this discussion called,  Surfer Girls - women and surfing , at the Museum of Sydney . The event is part of the Surf City  exhibition , which is now in its final weeks. See you there!

Watching footage of surfing is usually pretty fun. As you watch the waves, you can feel the movements in your own body, to the point where I often find myself smiling. When music and audio is added into the mix, the whole thing (if well done) can really take off, and I find myself not only smiling but also leaning in towards the screen. This clip (which the very talented Ryan Kenny, made with Shaun Cansdell ) drew me into the fun of it all even further by linking tempos, colours, footage, graphics and movements and playing them all off each other. I think it's really clever and fun, and it looks sick! Enjoy! Shaun Cansdell/ Ryan Kenny from Ryan  Kenny on Vimeo .

When I arrived here in Newcastle, indeed even before I arrived, I was told repeatedly that this was a male-dominated, hard-core, localised short-boarding town. That the waves did not lend themselves to anything else, I was told. The couple of chicks I had spoken to told me of unfriendliness and drop-ins, of guys treating them with contempt. I was, understandably, apprehensive. However, what I have found instead is a growing scene of longboards, eggs, fish and beyond, adding to the established scene of body-boarders, knee-boarders and body-surfers. I have met the most welcoming, friendly and inclusive crew, who have showered me in kindness, maps, invites, company and knowledge, as well as local crew, who are generally stoked to have a chick out in the water with them. People have loved that I love their breaks, that I want to know more about them. Different to Byron, my being new hasn't proved to be a sin or a threat. I found it happening out of the water too; in cafés like One Pe...

Somewhere in Central America - February 2012 from High Seas Films on Vimeo . See more of Mikey DeTemple's stuff here (But I found this, again, via The Endless Bummer ).

The other afternoon, my friend Emma, and I drove down the coast to check out a couple of breaks I had heard are really lovely. By the time Em finished work and we got our crap together, time was getting on, and rain clouds had gathered to threaten the afternoon sun. Nonetheless, we persevered and headed south, out of town. We stopped at the first of our destinations, to a carpark filled with utes and old cars, which I thought probably bode well for the state of the surf. As we walked down the short, sandy track to the beach, a panorama of soft sand, clear water and peeling waves opened up before us. A reef was breaking down the way - a flotilla of bodyboarders enjoying it's fruits - and there was potential at a breakwall at the end of the beach. But the peaks along the beach itself were inviting enough, with more surfers than I had expected out in the water. Hailing from Byron, however, to me anything less than 50 people seems pretty reasonable, so I was keen. Also, I hate surf-c...

Tonight has been filled with a trawl through my reader to catch up on my favourite blogs. The Endless Bummer remains a perennial treasure trove of clips, ideas, images and amusement. Exhibit A: The Very Latest in Hip Retro Future Surf Wear Thank you, Toddy. Thank you.

Here in Newcastle, there used to be a hospital overlooking Newcastle Beach, right down by the shoreline. Opened in 1817, the Royal Newcastle Hospital only closed in 2007, to make way for - you guessed it - apartments, and the hospital was moved away from the sea. Although I understand the economics and practicalities of it all, I still think it's a shame our public buildings and services so often get shunted away from the coast to allow for private development. I'm certain that the views and sounds of the ocean were wonderfully healing for patients and staff alike. Indeed, Dianne Taylor and Suzanne (who works here at The Lock-Up and whose knowledge of local history is vast) have both separately told me a wonderful story about the pleasurable proximity of the hospital to the beach. Apparently, when it was quiet or they were on their breaks, the nurses and the doctors used to go down to the beach, to swim and surf and play. When they were nee...

Yesterday afternoon I was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours chatting with Dianne Taylor. Dianne is a volunteer at  Newcastle Museum , who spends a lot of time talking to people and recording their stories as oral histories. She is an amazing lady, who believes that everyone has a story to tell'. By listening to these stories from so many different people in and around Newcastle, she has developed an incredible knowledge of the social and cultural history of the region. I was stoked to have met her. Recently Dianne has been focused on collecting stories about surfing, and has been speaking with all kinds of people from Catherine Hill Bay to Foster to record their memories and knowledge about surfing in the region - breaks, people, anecdotes, events, understandings, relationships, shapers, shops, music, art and all the things that go into what it means to surf here. Like me, she is mostly interested in 'everyday' experiences and memorie...