My start to summer.

So I have to make this quick because I'm in Torquay, Victoria at the moment, sitting outside a coffee shop, using their wifi. BUT....

After traveling to Straddie Wednesday and Thursday of last week via jetski, and getting perfect barreling waves...I have been a studious boy, and I finished school this week. 3 finals down and that puts a cap on my time at Bond...Damn that went quick. I had quite the semester here in Australia. That being said, the time I've been looking forward to since I left Nantucket last september is finally here....summer. How better else to start my summer then just hopping on a plane and flying to Victoria, filming the Rip Curl Pro, and surfing PERFECT waves (Greg, you are a legend). Here are some picture to sum up what I've been doing here. I will be returning to the Gold Coast on Monday, therefore all you click-happy bloggers will get your fill on the full story of whats been going down. As for now. Enjoy this.

Oh yea...back in the states on Wednesday....????????????

Pillows. 

Torquay, Victoria.

I can get used to this...

Winkipop....going off!

One of many perfect waves to pulse through Bells. 

Empty Bells perfection. 

Bigggg A-frame. 

Need I say?

Rip Curl Pro, Bells Beach 2011. 

Right now...yes it is. 

Bells cliffs. 

Why are you getting out of the water?

Drainer. 

Barreled...very. 

View of Bells from Winki.

There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

Julian Wilson doing his thing. 

Distant cliffs. 

The crowd turned up for this one. 

They just keep on coming. 

On to the next.

Hello bloggers, 

First things first...class is finally over. A whole 12 weeks of school have flown past me. How? I have no idea, but Thursday at 3 PM, I capped off my last class as a Junior in college. 3 finals to go and then SUMMER TIME!!!!! People weren't kidding when they said it goes fast...

Like I said, I headed down for a little surf adventure a little over a week ago, in Lennox Head, NSW. It was AWESOME. Matt, Derek, Vic and myself all piled up into the car and drove down to a camp ground called "Flat Rock" where we slept under the Australian stars in our board bags...Roughing it to the max. After a bit of a chilly night's rest, we awoke to a warm sun, and a solid swell....7 hours of surfing and a surf check and roam of the entire point later, and I'd had my fill. At the end of the day, I was beat, but I got to surf some great waves, see some amazing views, and spent another perfect day here down under. 

I spent the remainder of that weekend, up till about 3 AM Wednesday slaving over Adobe software. My final design project for my Digital Media Design class was due by 8 Am Wed. morning. I slept little, drank copious amounts of coffee and redbull, and stared at my computer endlessly. I pretty much was miserable for those couple days, but I successfully completed my work (always leaving things to the last minute). I have included my most prized item in my design portfolio, a design magazine cover (DG mag) which is themed to a particular decade (the 70's in my case), which took me somewhere around 20 hours to complete, start to finish, all drawn 100% in Adobe Illustrator by me. I hope you appreciate this as much as I do...you better. 

DG magazine cover. 

Once I took that burden off my shoulders, it was smooth sailing. I spent the remainder of my week surfing LOTS. Dawn patrol at Dbah...Thursday, Friday, Saturday...standard. The waves have been pretty good, a consistent 3-4 foot. Pretty much all smiles for me. The one downfall to waking up between 5 and 5:30 Am, for 3 days in a row, is that your tired. And when I'm tired and I don't take a nap in my day, its all over. So for those few days I spent surfing, you bet I was in bed by 10 PM, at the absolute latest.  

Thanks to my buddy Matt, who took a trip down to Victoria to surf 8-10 foot Bells Beach, we got the opportunity to take his car for the few days he's gonna be gone. Having this vital asset, Victor, Derek and myself mobbed out to Nimbin, Saturday mid-day, after surfing perfect Dbah, yet again. Here we entered hippy central, and hemp capital of the country. Pretty much everyone there is either stoned off their ass, or on a different planet, tripping their brains out. Its quite the experience, but its a must when staying here on the Goldy. We decided to hit Snapper on the way back, so Derek and I threw on our boardies and headed to yet another epic sesh at Snapper....what a day. 

This entire time since my last post, I have been working on my photography portfolio, which was due today at 4. I have done plenty, and I mean plenty of shooting to accomplish this. This being said, we awoke Sunday around 11...fail on the surf. That being said, I think my body began to realize that 4 or 5 days straight of getting up at 5, and surfing for 3 hours was starting to take its toll, so to get a few more shots, and explore a bit more of this foreign country, we headed to a natural rock bridge, residing in the Springbrook mountains. Here we drove up windy mountain roads, past rolling grassy hills littered with cattle and horses, and hiked into a crazy Aussie rainforest. We followed the national park trails which took us to a natural rock bridge. The path went under the rock, where you found yourself in a cave, with a waterfall pouring through a large opening from the river above. It was a pretty magical place...check that one off the list. 

As for my assignment, well I crammed hard to get all of my photos properly edited, sized and cropped, and ready for print. I worked till about 2 AM last night, and then spent a majority of my day today working to finish it. Those damn 8" x 12" images cost me $96 to have printed, but I have to say, when all said and done, my portfolio all together, I am satisfied with my work. I have included most of my pictures in with the post, they're the last 10 photos...the other ones you've already seen. I hope you enjoy them. 

Thats about it for now. Its 9:15 PM and I'm sitting on my couch writing this all up. I missed two very important birthday's this week, my Sister and my Dad. I've already said this, but Happy birthday to you both. I love you and hope you had a good day. This just adds more of a reason to throw a celebration upon my arrival...16 days, for all of you counting. 

Later gator. 

Rock slab drainer. 

Lennox Head point-break. 

Lennox Head, NSW. 

Mount Warning.

Hemp Embassy, Nimbin Australia. 

Make Love, Not War. 

Springbrook valley. 

You never know what you'll find in Nimbin. 

Dbah...dawn patrol. 

Tidal designs. 

It speaks for itself. 

Just chillen. 

Mossy log. 

Nimbin alley. 

Purple flower. 

Rainforest ground. 

Natrual Bridge, Springbrook Mountains.

What the...?

Jupiter sunset. 

Offshore nug. 

Droplets. 

Victor...looking sharp. 

Flat Stanley doing his thing in OZ. 

...not a cloud in sight. 

Beach crew. 

From where you'd rather be.

 Cruising the scene. 

Brush strokes in the sky. 

Danger. 

Derek heading out. 

Gold Coast Surf Life Saving contest. 

No perros. 

17 days since my last post....

....where the hell did time go. I have somewhere around 30 some-odd days left here in Australia. How that happened...I don't have the slightest idea. It hasn't really hit me yet that I actually have to leave here. Life on the Gold Coast has been pretty darn good so far if I might say. Given the chance to stay here...I probably would, but thats not practical, or is it?

So for a two week recap...here we go.

The week of March 14th was spent in a fine balance between work and play. I worked on school assignments a few days out of the week, writing papers, and spending more time then I'd wanted in the lab cutting and splicing footage together for my second editing assignment. I went out to the bar at the casino across the street Tuesday night, PA bar. Great time as always, except when I lost $60 bucks at the roulette table afterwards...last time I do that. The rest of the week is kinda a blur...I paid my no seat belt ticket finally ($300 just thrown away). It worked. Every time I get into a car, you bet your bottom the first thing I'm doing is buckling up. Thursday was St. Patty's day. Whoa, too many beers. No corn beef and cabbage though, and I miss that classic holiday meal. It was nothing like how I would have spent it back home, but it was a good time none the less. $2.50 Corona's at a bar in Surfers called Melbas. It was a bit of a mob scene. Plenty of drunken Americans stumbling about mixed in with the local drunken crowd. Good times. Surfed Broadie throughout the weekend. Nothing special, but always something to do...beats sitting around on the couch, thats for sure.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday put a cap on the 17 hours of work I put into editing my assignment for class. You try and sit in the editing labs for that many hours, day after day, starring at multiple computer screens, working out the dumbest footage ever. I didn't have fun...but at least I finished it and its one step closer to finishing up this semester. Crazy to think that I have like 8 days of class left. Time flies when your having fun right?

That applies to all....except when one of your roommates comes down with mono, is hacking up a lung all over the place and contaminating your entire apartment as he lays around being a worthless piece of shit on the couch all day. Fuck. Excuse my French, but I have a right to be pissed because I knew I was going to get sick and come Wednesday morning....I was starting to feel myself fall victim to the germs that occupied my living space. I spent that night studying for my last exam in my editing class, and becoming more ill by the hour. The next day, I awoke after a meager night's sleep and feeling like death...just my luck. My exam was not easy, and my hazy mental state made my exam be 10 times harder than it should have been. My 3rd time being sick in Australia...a trip to the doctor and lucky me, another sinus infection (too much ocean? nah never) and bronchitis. Sweet. Derek and I took it upon ourselves to disinfect the apartment, $40 of cleaning supplies later and we had the room sanitized like an operating room in a hospital.

I've spent my entire weekend recovering. Taking my medication and soaking up sunshine on the beach. It was the Gold Coast Surf Life Saving contest this weekend in Broadie. They had all sorts of tents, fencing and seating set up on the beach. Pretty wild. The competitors, all surf life savers from up and down the Goldie, competing in swimming, running, paddling and rowing. The weather was perfect for the whole event, and it got me pretty stoked on getting back to the island and taking my place back up on the Lifeguard stand.  Not a bad place to be on the road to recovery. I think I can say I've secured a solid tan by now. My skin is turning into leather. Hopefully I'll be better come mid week. Big plans for next weekend as were planning a trip down south to find some surf in NSW.

I've realized that the only thing that is going to keep me sane leaving this place is going to Nantucket when I get back. I'm about as excited for this summer to come, as I was leaving NJ to come here. Still my favorite place on the planet and what better then spending it with the people you love. Good times now...good times ahead.

Thats all for now. I'm tired, and don't feel like writing any more. I'll check back in later this week. See ya mates. Hope you enjoy the photos.