RobotBlogger

Cleaning up some hard drive space, i ran into a bunch of videos from a few years ago.

GIANT manta ray. This guy was huuuge, our divemaster said 25 feet across. 

Months back, Brie bought me an a m a z i n g surfboard for my birthday. It's a Classic Malibu, by the legendary board shaper Peter White, up in Noosa. We were driving all over town looking for board shops, when we stumbled into the Custom Malibu shop and this interesting story.

Peter White still makes boards the old fashioned way - by hand. For over 20 years he's been carving foam blanks down into his world sought over board shapes. I met him in his shop, while looking for a longboard.

We got to talking, about boards, Australia, why we're here, videogames, all sorts of things. Eventually the conversation came back to boards. I wanted a longboard, but not an old-skool one, something like the modern take on a longboard. With a twinkle in his eye, Peter disappeared to the back and came out with something very special. A longboard indeed, but a strange one, one with channels - channels on a lonboard? - yes and a three fin tail. Very wide and thin, a huge nose scallop and that odd back end sporting a performance shortboard setup. Total frankenstein hybrid. Very cool.

On the stringer (balsa wood spine down the middle) where the board shaper writes the details and often signs the board, there was a curious extra addition:    "Mine"  This was Peter's board, one of his many experiments and evolutions, one of a number of arrows in his quiver so to speak, such is the luxury when you're a board shaper.

Needless to say, it was perfect. Better than perfect, it would be ages before i'm good enough to appreciate all the thinking and refinement this board has to offer, but i don't mind having the headroom.


Beautiful boards!

The other half of the operation, Janet White.

The epoxy shop - this is where the boards get their hard outer coating and graphics 


http://www.classicmalibu.com.au/

Labels: classic malibu, noosa, surfing

Fraser island, the worlds largest sand island. A UNESCO world heritage location with the purest dingoes in Australia and one of the cleanest freshwater lakes on the planet. You can polish jewelry and brush your teeth with the sand, it's that fine and clean (didn't try this...). It's accessible by 4x4 only, and somewhat rugged driving occurs inland, with the main 'highway' being a 100+ km long section of immaculate beach.

On our last day, the island was evacuated due to an incoming cyclone.

Dingoes. All over.


One of the giant sand dunes, with lonely trees


The haunting shipwreck


Some plant which looks cool with a camera stuffed in it


Sunset (i suspect, since i'm rarely up early enough and/or sober enough at that time to operate a camera)


Ok, this isn't actually Fraser.. it's the bit of land just on the other side where the ferry leaves from


Cyclone approaching


Time to leave...


Lake Mackenzie. One of the purest lakes on the planet. Crystalline blue pure water


Cane toad on the beach


Dingo, looking for trouble (or open cars with groceries)


This isn't actually Fraser either, it's on the mainland just on the other side, and i actually think it's famous. You know that road people drive down at the end of the movie when they drive into the sunset and roll credits? This is that road used for every movie, ever.


The Banksia only opens its seed casings during a fire. How perfect? The soil gets a bunch of nutrients and all the competition is gone. Nature = smrt


For an entry about Fraser island, there sure are a lot of non-Fraser island photos: This is the landscape by the ferries RIGHT NEAR FRASER


Ok this shot is actually of Fraser, and its endless beaches


A goanna. Smaller one, apparently. Sort of like a dinosaur, but without that chase scene in the kitchen


Dingo. (resists joke about baby)


The problem with camping is who will be in the site next to you
(NOTE: DVD player on chair. We jokingly watched nature videos for like 2 mins until the joke ran dry)


Sand islands are ALL SAND. That's basically the only way you get to be 'the worlds largest sand island'.
(NOTE: Road is made of sand)


Beautiful!


Are you honestly unsure how this tree got the name Strangler Fig ?


Little trail down to one of the many lakes


Photos don't really do this place justice....


Cyclones make big angry waves


These guys look all nice, but they're going to B&E the stereo out of that shipwreck


The main form of transportation


Aliens often land on Fraser Island. We hung out with them for a bit and they were all 'Take us to your leader' and we were all 'Whatever, pass the bottle opener' and it sort of ended on an awkward note.


Duststorm!



OK, here's the deal. Great white sharks live densely off the coast of Fraser Island. This was one caught a number of years ago. There's a permanent 'No Swimming' rule for the main ocean side, due to massive riptides and the likes of these lovely fishes. CAN YOU COMPREHEND THE SIZE OF THIS MONSTER?
(i've always wanted to start a daycare with the name 'Shark-Eyes Daycare, cold, calculated caring', but suspect it would bomb)


Bye Fraser, see you soon hopefully!

The video from Kirk and my GCAP talk in Melbourne has been uploaded to the innerwebs