Way out West

Back to the programme. I'm meant to be throwing up surf and travel photos and it's been a few weeks since a photo of a wave made it on here, so time to change all that. I landed in Perth, West Australia a couple of nights ago, just in time for the wedding of some good friends of mine (congratulations Anna and Mick, it was a beautiful day) and now I've got a week to catch some waves and spend time with friends.

The West coast of Australia is big and remote, edged with ancient limestone reefs and long beaches. Big storms from the roaring forties send swells spinning off up this coast on their way to Indonesia, and the waves that break here as thy drag up the coast are some of the rawest and most powerful on the planet. Pretty humbling and the joint breeds a certain type of understated hard charging surfer, comfortable and competent in just about anything aquatic.

So far, a few days in I've had a few surfs at Trigg Point in Perth, possibly one of the most crowded metropolitan waves anywhere but managed to snag a few thanks to the generosity of the ruling TPB boys. I couldn't buy a wave this morning but, just spent a few hours banging elbows with crew. But Down South is where it's at, and where I'm aiming for.....a few missions planned and a 3 meter swell is forecast for next weekend which is pleasantly intimidating.

The only problem being that one of my camera lenses in in two bits post-wedding (it looks like I tried to drop kick the thing, pretty upsetting) so I'm going to be standing a long way back with a telephoto lens for the next week, and my new board is lost in transit somewhere on it's way over from the Goldie. I'll do my best to get some shots in between, before and after surfs, and I'll try to find a computer and update you all next Sunday, let you know just how that swell pans out.

The top image is from 3 Bears, just underneath Cape Naturaliste and is a rare boiling right running off Mama's. As the name would suggest, this stretch of reef has three waves of varying size; Baby's, Mama's and Papa's.

The shot below is by Perth photog Mike Maxted and is of my friend Ryan Thomas on what's being hyped as one of the best days at Trigg Point in the past decade, just a couple of weeks ago. Off the top of the point and eyeing up the mental slalom course coming his way. I told you this place gets crowded...