Australia Part 1 : People

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One of the greatest pleasures of travel is meeting new people. In a way even the ones you new before you came change as a result of the adventures shared. So while I know Mr. Lyon , Mr. Lovelace and Mr. Lightner I feel I gained new insights into what makes these three men tick.

In the category of brand new friends made we have the tannest German ever, Mr. Nico Bloedel. We met Nico in Byron in the car park. He recognized my PC shirt and the rest is history! Nico and his lovely girlfriend have spent the last few years living in their very well kept Toyota Van. They work for a few months of the year inland and spend the remainder traveling the coast searching for waves and good times. They accompanied us to Noosa and even saw me off in Manly the day before my flight home. I was blown away by how well they have perfected the art of vagabondry and can only hope to attain a similar level of freedom someday.

Jordan Noble of Note surfboards proved to be the Australian counterpart to Ryan and an all around great guy. Someone Id see fitting well into the Central Coast of California or Oregon. Low key and a subtle wit, creative and driven he was a serious inspiration to the Crew and has offered his humble abodes in Victoria for future adventures in surfing and crafting. Many good things to come.

Ms. Sasha Leitmanis is a longboard riding pasta making princess from the land of Victoria! With absolute grace and not a bat of her eyes she took in we three scuzzy travelers to her humble Broken Head abode. She took boards to the face, giant lizards on the front porch and a veritable barrage of farts from four stinky boys and somehow loved every minute! After all that she gave us shelter again in a much nicer Noosa apartment. It was a treat to watch her transition from land to sea, where she rode a few different logs with refined form and delicate precision. Having recently tried the log life out myself I can appreciate how hard it is to keep from looking like a fool while sliding one. Action shots soon.

I had conversations with Belinda Baggs and Kasia Meador, surfed with the likes of Christian Wach and Jack Lynch (crazy koala) and witnessed film making innovation from Cyrus Sutton. I sat shotgun next to a sunburnt Morgan Maassen and heard tales of insanity and debauchery from they unsinkable Kyle Lightner. Never could I have expected to be amongst such interesting surfers, all driven to create and do what they love most. I have no excuses for putting up with a nine to five I hate after seeing all these people live the dream. I pledge to do what I love to do no matter what and to never give in to the status quo.