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.

Quiksilver Pro 2011.

Its been a few days....but that seems to be the usual. I've been pretty busy lately, spending a majority of my time down in Coolangatta. Last Friday I headed down there with Matt to see the Dean Morrison movie premier, "A Dingos Tale."I stood in a crowd of about 200 people in the pouring rain outside the Kirra Surf outlet, as we watched the feature film and drank free Corona and Monster energy drinks. Everyone was real stoked on the movie and every time a big maneuver came up on the screen (which was quite often), plenty of "yeeewwwwwsss" cheers, and whistles were produced by the mob of family, friends, and fans...not a bad way to begin my evening. The next stop was Neverland Bar, in downtown Kirra. Here I continued  my partying as I took rounds of shots with Dean and his crew, and raged the dance floor with Balarom Stack, as Dion Agius took over the DJ booth and blasted some of the most ridiculous, yet highly enjoyable music. What an epic night. 

I spent the following morning recovering, yet again, and finishing my paper sitting on Greg's apartment porch, watching the lineup at Snapper on display in front of me. Not a bad place to do some homework by any means. Its extremely busy and buzzing constantly, especially with the Quik Pro going on a mere 100 yards away, but at the same time its so peaceful...you can watch handfuls of pro's, local rippers, and Aussie grom's go haywire on some of Australia's best waves and watch tourists and surf fanatics moving about the ground like ants...your other option is to just simply look out to the ocean and listen to the sound of the waves. I don't know about you, but I'll take either any day.

I just want to say that the Quiksilver Pro is the best contest on the planet. This is a proven fact, because theres not a thing bad about it. You sit on the beach, in the Australian sunshine, amongst thousands of people from all over, watching the best surfers in the world tear Snapper apart wave, after wave, after wave...eat free food (if you have a media pass like me), drink as much RedBull as you please, jam out to music, and enjoy the lifestyle. Picture perfect...literally. Huge thanks to Greg Weatherall for hooking it up with the internship. I couldn't be any more satisfied with the opportunity I've been given. 

Only downfall to my Saturday was getting a $300 no seatbelt ticket from the cops. I was in the backseat of the car and had literally gotten in there no more then 2 minutes before we got pulled over. The cop was a dick...but I've learned my lesson. Click it or ticket. 

Sunday night and Monday morning I completed my photography assignment. 15 tasks, photographing any subject matter, as long as I incorporated the task criteria. It was a bit tedious, but some pictures came out pretty decent. 

I've spent my last two days, back down at the Quikie. Shooting has been exactly what I expected. Filming the highest level of surfing from no more then 50 yards away is just as mind blowing as you'd think. Today was the Quarters, Semi's, and Finals. I watched Kelly take down Taj for the victory...like the guy needs to win another one...the 2011 ASP Quiksilver Pro was a good start for Kelly, as he begins his hunt for title number 11. He's a machine...and, the best, by far. Not too much of surprise to see him on top.  Talk about a mob. Kelly's trip from the water to the podium took 20 minutes. Thousands of people cheered as he was handed the 1st place trophy, and everyone and their brother had some sort of camera in the air trying to get an angle of Mr. Slater. Such a good day....that put a cap on my first ASP event and this is truly something I'll never forget. 

I got two real good sessions out at Snapper over this two day period, and I finally got in the water at Duranbah (D-Bah) too. Crazy sandbar that breaks off a jetty and A-frames all up the beach. So fun, but such a heavy wave. Has the potential to be one of my new favorite spots, especially because the rights are p e r f e c t. I can't wait to catch it on an offshore morning. 

MagicSeaWeed has given me some praise for my shooting...which seems to be working in my advantage because I've been invited to follow the tour and shoot the event down in Rio de Janeiro during the second week of May. How sweet would that be. It's still up in the air for now, but definitely a possibility. 

Thats all for now. I'm beyond beat at this point. Enjoy some shots from the past week. 

Check www.magicseaweed.com for some of the ASP tour coverage shot by Greg and I. 

View from Greg's apartment...not too shabby. 

I'll sit and do my homework looking out at Snapper any day. 

Best. 

Oz came out to watch the contest. 

Point and shoot. 

Competitors area. 

Looking back at the crowd from the point. 

Mick charging it. 

7:30 AM contest crowd. 

Thanks Officer Dick...I think I get the point. 

Some photog homework...frozen droplet. 

Quite the turnout for the final day.  

Taj Burrow...throwing the tail. 

Jordy Smith hacking away. 

Kelly Slater....doing nothing out of the ordinary. 

Put your cameras up! 

Kelly...champagne shower for the win. 

A kid in a candy store.

Life couldn't get much better at the moment. Despite the minor setback I gave myself while surfing last Friday, putting my knee thru my surfboard...theres not really much I can complain about ($40 at the ding repair shop to fix). The Quiksilver pro was up and running last Saturday, where I put my internship to work, and Greg (owner of Motion Media) and myself filmed the top pro's in the world kill it down at Snapper. Greg hooked it up huge and got me a "media pass" wristband which gave me access to a fair amount of the tents, and concessions that Quiksilver had set aside for competitors and those working the comp (free food, clothes, redbull, coronas)....pretty sweet deal if you ask me. It was so awesome to witness that level and intensity of surfing first hand, plus the atmosphere of the contest alone was crazy. So many people, especially beautiful women, basking in the sun, watching surfing, and loving life. Definitely one of the most amazing things I've gotten to experience thus far in my life. 4 hours of shooting in perfect 85 degree Australian sunshine at one of the biggest ASP surf events in the world, has definitely got me thinking that this is a profession I may want to pursue. Unfortunately, the contest has been put on hold since sunday, due to a flat spell thats moved into the area. First time since I've been here that theres really been no waves. I kinda lucked out though, no waves and I don't have a surfboard at the moment. The Quiky's scheduled to continue this coming Saturday, and the reports are claiming a pretty big swell to start showing up tomorrow and holding all throughout next week. Things could get a little crazy over at Snapper this weekend. Big waves, big barrels, big hacks...the shooting should be perfect.

Had my Human Resource Mgmt. midterm on monday....that sucked. 7 essay questions from 6 weeks of class and 2 hours to take it. What kind of shitty exam format is that? Talk about a hand cramp. It took me 9 pages to finish, but that was pretty much the bulk of work I've done all week. In other Uni news, I have my first major photography assignment due Monday. 15 prints, and explanation of the subject matter and what I was trying to achieve thru the photo. This is one of the few assignments I've gotten that I actually won't mind spending some time on. Being surrounded by media nonsense all the time, its really starting to grow on me. Still working on building that network (it's going REAL well lately).

Last night was the Intersection ASL party. Intersection is a feature surf film, produced by Taylor Steele. Its a compilation of edits from the best surfers around the world and edited together to create a full on movie. The catch to this movie is that it was put together via internet voting on each part, and once the movie was created, people could vote on the best part...the winner receiving a fat check of $100,000. Well thats what the party was last night...to announce the winner of that contest. It was held down at a bar/club called Komune down in Coolangatta. Such a sick party. Free Coronas, free redbull, and mobbed with pro surfers and hot chicks....heaven. So unreal to share a beer with surfers like Jordy Smith, Ozzy Wright, and Matt Meoala. I watched Ozzy put on a live show with his band Ozzy Wrong, standing 2 feet from the stage, and shared a beer or two with Jordy, as we watched his part of the movie play on the big screen. I ran into Sal Masekela there too...pretty funny considering I've seen him on TV a million times before. My experience here has been unreal. I feel so fortunate to go to events such as this. I watched 20 year old Matt Meoala walk away with 100 grand...what a bastard. I ended up down at Snapper at the Quiky Pro tent, where the DJ was blasting tunes. Security at the door was tight, but I somehow managed to talk my way in, where I continued my night of partying till somewhere around 2 AM.

A $50 cab ride home and a hell of a hangover, I woke up in my bed this morning. I spent a majority of today sprawled out on the beach. Nothing the ocean can't heal...(also a full day of doing nothing). No more hang over, but I'm still pretty beat. Calling it an early one tonight. The remainder of this weekend is going to be pretty eventful. Definitely looking forward to it.

Here's a link to the edit Greg put together with footage he shot, as well as what I shot.
http://magicseaweed.com/Snapper-Off-And-Running-Content/3080/

 More pics to come this week....enjoy.

An everyday sight

Waterway shot. 

Magic hour.