Postcards for Monday evening

Hello all,

Thought I’d put up a few snaps from today’s travels. Surf situation on the far north coast is not good. Pretty windblown and only some weak and tiny windswell along the Ballina-Lennox stretch. Only people we saw in the water were a few diehards catching knee high dribblers at Boulder.

The trip from Arrawarra to Lennox was uneventful. However we did stop at New Italy for a bit of a look around.

New Italy: David watching some more tourists wander in from the carpark.

I’ve been going past that sign for over 30 years now, and this is the first time I’ve stopped to see what’s there. Those of you who have stopped will know that it’s a small historical site that records in some detail an Italian settlement that thrived there from the late 19th into the early 20th century. It’s an interesting story that begins with a fraudster selling poor Italian farmers plots of land in an imaginary Kingdom located, he said, in the Bismark archipelago.

There are lots of exhibits of miscellaneous bits of old stuff along with copious explanations about not only the history of the settlement, but Italy itself. We checked it out for awhile before grabbing some pretty okay coffee and heading north again.

When we were approaching Broadwater (y’know that stretch where the Pacific Highway slims down to its original two-lane shoulderless design), I noticed a mildly amusing juxtaposition…

Mildly amusing juxtaposition

As we got up toward Ballina, the skies got darker and the showers more frequent. Happily they lifted at least briefly so that I could grab a snap of that timeless monument to human civilisation that is the Giant Prawn. I must say it seems gradually to be turning into an alibino Giant Prawn…

Who you lookin' at? The Prawn God of Ballina

The wind was going along briskly and the sky was once more turning very dark when we walked out along the groin at North Wall for a closer look.  I noticed a little memorial to which a bunch of flowers beaded with the recent rain had recently been added. My guess is that it may be to the young chap who was killed by a shark there a year or so ago.

North Wall memorial

More rain coming, North Wall Ballina

We made one more stop, this time at Boulder beach where, as noted earlier, half a dozen blokes were manfully persevering against tremendous ordinaryness as they sought to extract tiny amounts of energy from the anemic little windswell. The rain started to come down more steadily and we made for our tidy rented digs in Lennox.

Boulder blinder late Monday arvo.

Go well!

BSR 2009 05 04

BSR pic of the day

Bali Surf Report
Date = Mon, 04 May 2009
Time = 9.30 AM
Location = Padma – Legian
Size = 2-3 ft
Surfers = 9
Tide = low tide
Wind = offshore wind
Weather = overcast sky with bit drizzle this morning
Water = calm and swim able
Wave = more swells but small

Legian: High tide at Legian can serve up some of the most power-packed beachbreaks in the world. Always bigger than Kuta, although it usually closes-out on low tide. It also closes out on high tide if the swell is over 8 feet. Because Legian is in the curve of the beach, it collects the compressed energy of all swells. If Kuta is only 3 foot, sometimes Legian can be mignificent at 4 – 6 foot. A handy hint is that Kuta Reef is often about the same size at Legian. A hot crew of young Bali locals surf here regularly, so smile, share and be friendly to enjoy your sessions here.

On the road: Arrawara

Hello Friends,

Went for a surf this morning with our man in Coffs, Brian. Really hadn’t expected to get anything, but we went to check out Arrawara anyway. The waits were long and it was basically flat between the sets, but every now and then a surfable one would pop up. I’ve never surfed there before so it was fun getting in for that reason alone. To then get three or four chest high set waves that ran for over a hundred metres on a glassy morning under beautiful skies, well that was just a complete treat. A great mal wave and from what Brian says, it’s rarely good for shorter equipment.

Along with the very fun set waves, I got a kick checking out the wildlife. At one point a sea eagle flew over (a bunch of smaller birds in hot and noisy pursuit), but the real highlight was when a gannet decided to grab some breakfast and slammed into the water only a couple metres away. A second or two later he reappeared, even closer and with no more than a couple wingbeats was back airborne as he swallowed his prize.

Another cool thing to check out, particularly at low tide, is the centuries old aboriginal fishtrap (see pic below). Extraordinary to think how many storms it’s weathered over all those lifetimes.

Heading north once more…

The longer your board, the better at Arrawara

Aboriginal fishtrap at Arrawara headland

Travelling Wilbury’s

Arrawarra, 3ft – Don and PB + 6 others CROWDED.
Still a little wave getting in, glassy 150m long rides – just great fun. Don got up and personel with an Albatross that dived in a foot away, dolphins going by, sea eagle spiraling overhead, living in the bush is such a bitch

Mooona

It’s only about a foot or two on the sets this morning, but there are some really fun little peaks around if you get the time to get amongst it!

C C

Fine, dry and mild on the Central Coast this Monday morning.  The swell is smooth and small at 1 – 2 feet from the east.  There is no breeze at the moment but will go southwest to southeast later.  High tide 0405 and low tide around 1040.  Local barometer 1021hpa, 98% humidity, 11 degrees C.  Have a great week. 

In Byron Bay May 3rd 2009