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Up to the 20th of October
After staying in Mississippi
for 3 months, Doug and I were pretty eager to leave. Just a few weeks earlier
we had met a guy called Solomon who had agreed to
take us to New Orleans were our train was departing
from. Less than a week before we were due to leave, Solomon introduced
us to two Brazillian volleyball players who both had scholarships at the
local university (USM). They were damn sweet, basically the nicest people
we had met our entire trip. So they joined us when we went down to New
Orleans to leave, and offered us a place to stay in Brazil if we were ever
planning to go there (...already planning)
So finally we got on the train, with a relaxing
40hr trip across America's South...or so we thought.
*supplies* We bought
3 bottles of spirits, each 1.75L each, totalling 5.25L. (Old Crow, Gin
and Vodka) To properly mix we needed at least 15 litres of mixer which
we did not end up getting. The mixes ended up being at least 50% spirit.
Pretty nasty by the second day. Nothing unusual to report insofar,
apart from meeting a few unique characters on the train.
The train was chugging along,
trying to make up time because we had been delayed earlier. We were around
3hrs from LA at this point, and it was 4am. Suddenly, I heard a massive
bang, and the train decellerated real fast. We'd come off the track.
The carriage behind us was
tilting over, almost like it was going to fall sidewards onto the adjacent
track. The carriage behind that was at an even greater tilt. And the carriage
behind that one was actually on the other tracks, still upright luckily.
End result - no deaths, a few injuries including bruisies and broken ribs
to some of the train staff.
The media jumped upon the
accident, interviewing everyone, something for them to do I guess. They
bused us all to LA. From there we caught a bus to the backpackers which
was about a 1.5hr trip south of LA. A pretty sweet hostel right near Hermosa
beach, and by 4pm that day we were swimming in the ocean, the first time
in ages for us.
That night we hit the small
bars and clubs around Hermosa, pretty good fun. I hit the sack early, which
was not my choice, and Dougy decided it was better to stay up and bring
6 guys back to our room and make heaps of noise, resulting in him getting
kicked out.
23rd Oct
Trekked to Universal Studios
today with 2 English guys. I left at around 9am and didn't return back
until after 10pm. It was only at this stage that I learned Doug had been
kicked out the night before--he had been hanging around the Jetty all day
with no money and nothing to do. Dougy got to sleep in some guys car that
night, and we crashed fairly early as we both had flights the next day.
24th Oct
I got up fairly late, just
after 7am and my flight was at 8:10am. I made it to the airport by 7:55am
where I was told I couldn't board the plane as you had to check in your
bags at least 20minutes prior to departure. I had to get on the next plan
at 12 noon but talked my way out of paying the $75 change-of-schedule fee.
The flight went via Maui, further delaying me and I realised I wasn't going
to get a surf in today. The bus from Honolulu airport took 2hrs and I was
asleep when we went past my stop but had luckily told someone where I was
going and they woke me up a few stops past the Backpackers, and pointed
me in the right direction. Finally I checked in and got a cool room with
3 other people who worked at the hostel. Ate real quick at the $6 all-you-can
eat cookout and bailed to bed. Surf that day was 2-4ft, quite average.
25th
Oct
After a really good sleep,
I woke up around 9am and took the 25min walk to Pipe to see it around 1-2ft
and crossshore. Some smart-arse told me "you should have been here yesterday"
which pissed me off, but it was early days yet. I met up with a professional
photog who was making a surfing,boarding&skating video. He needed to
return his car to Honolulu so I took a ride with him into town and picked
up the rest of my luggage from the airport locker. The Backpackers shuttle
brought us back. That arvo I went for a quick dip at Off-the-wall.
26th Oct
Woke up for the 8am surf-check,
revealing 1-2ft light crossshore Pipe. I went to the local surf store and
bought a pretty decent BZ board for $40, the best 2nd-hand board they had
there. When I finally hit Pipe, the wind had picked up and there were only
patches of sunlight. Since Pipe was small, I took a closer look at the
reef, which is pretty intense. It is very uneven with many caves and sharp
edges. Getting nailed there, even on small waves was not fun. That afternoon
it began to rain, and I headed in. Apparently some swell was on the way.
27th Oct
Checked Pipe again, fairly
small again. Decided to surf Lanikea which was 1-3ft, left and rights.
Got tubed in Hawaii for the first time today. Lanikea is apparently consistenly
the best spot. It has long wailing rights when it gets large, and when
the swell is smaller it breaks both waves, with tubes common.
28th Oct
Surf was really flat today.
Decided to just go snorkelling and sleep on the beach. That night there
was a blender party in one of the houses contained in the hostel village.
We bought some Tequilla and limes and made sweet magarettas. Crashed early
again, anticipating swell.
29th
Oct
As usual(typical) when you
get really loaded the night before, the surf cranks the next day. Today
the swell jumped heaps. Surfed Pupukea in the morning at around 4-6ft for
a while before crusing back for a feed then surfing Off-the-wall/Backdoor
for a few more hours. Pipe wasn't working due to the wrong swell direction.
Apparently a 10ft swell is due on Tuesday, but predictions here are based
on current conditions--ie, if its flat, some einsteen will predict an increase
in the swell...no shit!
30th Oct (Saturday)
Rised early and surfed just
West of Rockpiles. Didn't surf long as I had rashes and also blisters on
my feet from the fins. It was only around 1-3ft and not clean. Just
slept the rest of the day. There was a party that night because it was
the Saturday before Halloween, apparently thats a good enough reason to
go and hit the piss.
31st
Oct (Sunday)
Surfed Rocky Pt in the morning,
which was around 2-3ft, and really really nice. Of course, being a Sunday,
it was really crowded too, with much aggro in the water. Went snorkerlling
at 3 tables beach in the arvo until I saw some waves coming through at
the reef near the 3 tables, so I grabbed my board for a bit of a bash.
1st Nov
Woke up around 6:30am for
the early check which didn't show much happening. At 10:30am I decided
to hitch a ride to Lanikea and none other than big wave legend, Derrick
Doehner, picked me up. I didn't regonise him at first and in conversation
asked him if he surfed. Fucking stupid. Anyway, the surf was around 2-4ft
with a strong crossshore. A couple of Scottish chicks checked into the
Backpackers today and so that evening we had a chat and a few bottles of
wine.
2nd
Nov
Feeling seedy? Yes.
Surf was flat luckily. Went snorkelling and slobbing all day.
3rd Nov
Surfed Pipe properly for the
first time today - it was clean and the skies were clear. It was 1-2ft
with 4-5ft sets. It kept on rising throughout the day, and seemed as thought
it would be even bigger tomorrow.
4th Nov
The swell had picked up alot.
The sets were coming in at 6ft(hawaiian). I surfed Pipe in the morning,
it reminded me alot of The Box actually. As usual, it was packed. The crowds
are the worst thing about Hawaii. Still, I managed to get a few set waves.
That afternoon I decided to surf Rocky Pt, it
was 2-4ft with at least 6ft sets. Got cleaned up pretty bad here, drilled
on the reef and swept down the beach. This was after I pulled off the back
of the first of a set of waves, to find the remander of the set bearing
down on my head.
5th Nov
Surf dropped off today but
the sun was still out. I decided to give stand-up a go and borrowed Mike's
board(guy I was staying with) and headed out to Ehukai. That night we headed
to the Willis Brothers for a few brews and a little guitar. Apparently
a 15ft swell was on the way...yeah right.
6th Nov (Saturday)
The surf was flat, the sky
was overcast and the trade winds were blowing hard. Not very much to do
today except laze around. Tomorrow I move to the Willis brothers house,
just up the road.
7th
Nov (Sunday)
The weather today is still
gloomy, overcast and raining, although there has been an increase in the
swell. We were all kind of off it so we decided to buy a case and play
the drinking game "Golf". Predictably, I hit the sack early, and was woken
up around 7pm where it was decided we would head into Honolulu. There was
this bar with a $3/entry bikini contest going on so I used Mike's ID and
we checked it out. Not too shabby. Crashed late after finally making it
back to the North Shore around 2:30am.
8th Nov
Got up around 8am and cruised to Sunset with
Mike and Andre(photog)-- still not that good anywhere really. Later that
day we headed to Pipe where I surfed Off-the-wall at around 2-3ft with
some 5ft sets. Much good fun, got barrelled on a really good set wave.
That afternoon we were supposed to meet the Willis Bros at Chun's Reef
for a surf but they didn't show so I ended up trying standup again (unsuccessfully).
We then cruised round to Lanikea, and some 6ft sets were hitting the reef.
On the paddle out, I got caught inside almost as I was outside, and got
axed. My leash broke, and I the set waves and rip were keeping me in the
impact zone. I finally swam my way into the channel and then began swimming
to the beach. I ended up about a half mile down the beach from where I
started. I walked back to Waimea from Lanikea, frustrated with faulty equipment,
then stopped at Waimea shorey for a sand-blasting.
9th Nov
The swell had dropped off
today. Ak(neighbour) gave me a lift to Haliewa where I got a new plug.
Surfed Lanikea that morning around 2-4ft, good fun. That arvo I surfed
Kammies(3-5ft), and got into a verbal fight with some old local dude who
reckoned I dropped in on him when in actualy fact he fell off. Yep, he
reckons he would've beat me up if it wasn't for the fact that he was in
a good mood. What a dick.
10
Nov
The 7am surf check showed
the swell had risen again, and I was predicting maybe 6-8ft at Pipe. However,
the tide and swell direction was wrong, making for undesirable conditions.
It was still large, but messy and generally unsurfable. Ak said he was
going to the West side so we cruised with him and checked out a few spots,
and ended up at almost the tip of the West/North Shore. This place was
called Yokohamas, and the water was ultra ultra blue and beautiful. The
waves were small, around 1-2ft with 3ft sets pushing through, breaking
over an extremly shallow reef. I got cut up after a tube shut down on me.
We took the scenic route back to the North Shore, it was good to see some
of the undeveloped parts of Oahu.
We arrived back just after
dark, and chowed down. It was Veterans day the next day which meant a party
tonight. We headed down to the plantation village(part of the backpackers).
One of the guys had a guitar but couldn't play so he handed it over and
we got a pretty good sing-along going in one of the houses. After the quiet
time of 11pm, we decided to head down to the beach and start a campfire.
A good night had by all.
11th Nov
Woke up around 12noon feeling
very very ordinary. When I finally checked the waves, they were actually
pretty decent. Mike and I headed to Waimea Bay with a few chicks we had
met the night before. Waimea was small and fun, it was cool to jump off
the rock. While we were there we heard a bunch of ambulances speeding to
Pipe. It turns out a man in his forties and drowned there after surfing
3-5ft Ehukai.
12th Nov
Woke up at 9am, surf was 2-3ft
and just shitty--the wind and tide had affected it greatly. We just hung
around until we caught the bus into Honolulu where we went to the hemp
shop. Mikes friend came and picked us up and we had a few drinks followed
by Australia vs USA in ping pong, where the USA won 3-2.
13th Nov (Saturday)
After waking up at Rich's
house at 5:30am, we headed for the North Shore from Honolulu. Rockies was
the pick, which wasn't epic but it was still 2-3ft and fun. Had a late
brekky then cruised once again back to Honolulu. Hung out at Rich's place
for a while before we cruised to the Tailgating party for the University
of Hawaii(UT) vs Fresno State football game. We managed to score 2 free
tickets, which was sweet considering they charge aroun $30 a game. We got
more than our money's worth--the game was a tie in regulation, and it wasn't
until Fresno State couldn't convert on 4th down in 2OT when Hawaii finally
won it 31-24. We met up with Charlie later that night and headed to Duke's,
a surf bar which was closing almost as we arrived(11:30pm) so we went to
another which was open to 4am. Met a few cool people at the club, one who
was called Brynn, who was a local school teacher. The club starting kicking
people out so we moved on to another dance/rave thingo which wasn't serving
alcohol(!!) and cruised home around 6am. Fun fun.
14th
Nov (Sunday)
Got woken up around 9:30am
at Rich's house, feeling especially ordinary. Mike, Charlie and I then
got dropped off in Honolulu where we started the 2.5hr bus ride back to
the North Shore. The surf had picked up and was now around 4-6ft and cross-shore.
We needed sleep badly, and just crashed out shortly after we arrived.
15th Nov
This morning I could sense
my body getting sick. Didn't do much as the surf was average. That afternoon
I filmed at Lanikea, which was 2-4ft and kinda messy. Nothing special.
That arvo I cruised to Pipe, which had some good set waves, around 6ft.
I paddled out, then realised it actually wasn't that good but stayed out
about an hour anyway. The tide and wind were playing up, causing a lumpy
wave.
16th Nov
Today I had to go into Honolulu
again because I had left my flippers at Rich's house on Sunday. I got the
shuttle from the hostel to the airport then bused my way to downtown Honolulu
where Rich was going to meet me outside his work. I quickly jumped back
on the bus as I had heard reports of the swell cranking. Arrived back on
the North Shore around 3:30pm(almost a whole day wasted because I left
my flippers at someone's house) and headed to Ehukai where some solid 8ft
sets were coming in. However, it was closing out a bit, and the swell direction
was all wrong, favouring the right handers. Pipe was not breaking at all
really. A few mega sets came through which I enjoyed watching as people
paddled in vain to get over them.
I headed to Waimea Shorey, where it was 4ft and
breaking basically onto the sand. However, there was another deeper patch
of water between the breaking wave and the beach, which mean if you got
bounced by the wave, you'd land in the deeper water just metres ahead of
the breaking wave, and you'd usually be ok. Bailed early, body is getting
sicker.
17
Nov
Feeling pretty average this
morning. Franny gave me some sort of herbal healing drops for my throat,
which helped surprisngly.
Headed to Ehukai where Pipe wasn't working due
to wrong swell direction. The beach had been taken away overnight and now
that stretch of waves was breaking over sand-covered reef. I headed out
at Off-the-Wall, which was a nice 2-4ft and some decent breaking waves.
It was breaking both waves over the sandbar. I got wave-of-the-day...a
long peeling left which I stayed barrelled on for quite some time. The
surf quality dropped off over the next hour, and the wind came in and blew
things up. Spent the rest of the day at the beach across from the hostel(3
Tables)--the wind had picked up considerably, making things messy. However,
after glass came through, and just before sunset, we headed to Pipe and
Backdoor for some nice 2-3ft barrells.
18th Nov
Had a few the night before
so I ended up getting out of bed pretty late. Finally got to the beach
at 3pm where Pipe was a messy but tubing 6ft. I paddled out and Mike got
some footage of the waves. I came in after just 3 waves, and Mike Stewart
was just heading out, who basically got the best waves from then on.
19th Nov
Woke up early, it was sunny
and there was swell. Checked the Pipe stretch where Backdoor looked the
pick but was very crowded. Devided to head to Lanikea where it was a solid
6ft on the sets, even bigger on some. We got out there and there was about
50 other guys trying to hit it too, so after a few waves, we decided to
head in and hitch to the eastside where we'd hopefully get uncrowded waves.
We spent around 3hrs hitching our way around, but we didn't find any waves--it
was cool to see the other side of the island though. A guy gave us a really
long ride all the way back to Waimea and we surfed Pinballs there at around
3-5ft.
20th Nov (Saturday)
Saturday morning revealed
2-3ftPipe and 4-6ft Sunset apparently. It was uncrowded too due to the
fact we'd had decent waves for several days in a row, and that it was Friday
night last night. Headed to Ehukai where I got some good ones before the
crowd started to get out of hand. Spent the rest of the day just hanging
out with 2 English guys I'd met at the hostel.
That night there was a party at Ace's house,
right near Chuns reef, that overlooks it in fact. It was a pretty cool
party, there was a decent band playing, and there were heaps of tripped-out
stoned surfers. I was walking back to the hostel, which was a long way,
when I think I cut my foot which later got infected.
21st Nov (Sunday)
Woke up late, feeling seedy
from the party-effect. Franny got her bike stolen and 2 English tourists
had all their bags stolen off the beach. Break-ins are prevelant here.
The waves were small and crowded, so I barred it today and let my feet
recover, as they were covered with blisters from the fins.
22nd Nov
Still feeling pretty ordinary
today. Went for a surf at Pipe, it was crowded and around 2-4ft and clean.
Got some fun waves
before my feet started to hurt alot(3 massive
blisters on each foot). After that I crusied in Halieva and got a new video
for the camcorder. Crusied back to Pipe that arvo where the sets were an
inconsistent 6ft. Stewy was out again and I got some ok footage of him.
There was another party tonight but I barred it to watch the Denver Broncos
beat the Raiders 27-21 in OT.
23rd Nov
7:30am get-up. Surf was 2-3ft
at most and not that good. I think I'll barr it today and let my feet recover.
I got Mikes 6ft fish and attempted to surf Rubber Duckeys (the break outside
the hostel). Cooked dinner for the 2 English guys, Ben and James as they
had done so the previous night. Watched a movie, had a few billies and
played some card games..crashed around 1:30am
24th Nov
Only one week left! Throat
and nose was giving me trouble. Surf was really, really flat today. Apparently
it's picking up, (what else can it do when its flat??) however it was nice
and sunny so good for snorkeling.
25th Nov
Thanksgiving day today. Surf
was apparently huge but in reality it wasn't. Still same old small crap.
Just layed round today organising stuff. There was a party that night at
the Plantation village--copious amounts of alcohol consumed and a good
time had by all.
26th Nov
Surf actually picked up today.
Woke up around 9am and went to Ehukai where Off-the-Wall was the best and
least crowded. Some sets were breaking in the 6ft range, really really
big barrels, with 3 photogs sitting on the shoulder. That arvo we headed
back to Pipe where it had dropped off to 2-3ft with the occasional bigger
one. Sunny Garcia was out, got some cool footage of him. I decided to try
stand-up again and got nailed, dinging the shit out of his board on the
reef (that cost me). Headed to the plantation village for some tucker where
another party was on, this time at the UH students house. Got to bed at 4am.
27th Nov (Saturday)
Feeling seedy? Yes. Still
woke up early around 7:30am, and surf check revealed fuck-all. Apparently
Off-the-Wall is ok, Slept in a little more. Markel is getting sick now
too. Didn't both going surfing, went to Pupkea for the sunset(photos and
video) Had a few drinks with the 2 aussie chicks(Lauren and Julie, see
photo), watched TV and cruised to bed.
28th Nov (Sunday)
Surf is shit again. The trades
are blowing 20-35mph and its only head high. Getting ready to go. Just
found out that I'll have to spend a night in Denver airport waiting for
the Fort Collins shuttle bus. Damn!
29th Nov
Went to the doctor today because
of a possibly infected foot. It was swollen and very painful to walk on.
It turns out that it was infected. The doctor prescribed some antibiotics
(penicillin) and told me to rest it. So I did.
30th Nov
Another day spent mainly in
bed with my foot raised. The foot still looked shocking but got less painful
as the day progressed.
1st Dec
Jay (the German chef) drove
me to the airport at 8am. The north shore was raining and still not that
big. I didn't miss much in the last few days fortunatly. The plane ride
to Los Angles from Honolulu was cool. I had a sweet chick sitting next
to me for 5 hrs. Ok. Now I'm on flight 496 to Denver, about to take off.
Hopefully I can find someone who lives in Fort Collins to take me there
- otherwise I'm spending the night at Denver airport waiting for the shuttle
bus in the am. Ok, now I'm at Denver, I met this really strange but cool
lady on the plane who was heading somewhere in the direction of Fort Collins,
and overheard I was looking for a lift from DIA so she offered me a lift.
She was actually only going to drop me 15 miles from Fort C (cause she
lived elsewhere) but she ended up dropping me on the front doorstep. I
went round the back and the door was unlocked. Stoked!
The story goes on. What went on in Colorado can be found Here
Also, there are many more photos I took in Hawaii
which you can view Here