Cattle Grids Revegetation Project – Saturday 16th July 11am

Save the Date- it’s time for some more Surfrider Foundation Tasmania winter activity!

Where: “Cattle Grids Headland”, 4 Mile Beach (just south of Falmouth from the St Mary’s pass turnoff). Meet at the carpark.

When: 11.00am Saturday 16th July (Members are encouraged to stay for saturday evening/sunday for other events).

Why: “Cattle Grids” is one of the better known and loved left hand point breaks on the East Coast of Tassie, so much so that several years ago a group of local sufers and community members embarked upon an ambitious project to landscape and revegetate the “Grid” headland, at the North end of 4 Mile Beach. A six figure sum of money was granted for stone work, inluding steps, paths, sculptures and storm refuges with seats and viewing platforms of the wave.

Much of this work has been overgrown by coastal scrub, and use of parts of the lanscaped project area (for example inappropriate vehicle access) has led to degradation on parts of the headland.

The original Cattle Grid project is a positve symbol for all Surfers around the state, and is an initiative that we should all be proud of and recognise.

We all love the surf and our beaches, but be honest……how much do we ever give back and contribute to our states “surf sanctuaries”?

If you would like to contribute to the care and maintenance of this area and are willing to join Surfrider Tasmania in this project, please register your interest via return e-mail, by accessing the Surfrider Tasmania Facebook Site or contacting Peter Whish-Wilson on 0410 754 728.

This is meant to be a social gathering for surfers and other community members. Camping and other accomodation, a BBQ and surf competition are also being planned for Surfrider members if surf conditions and weather permit (including on the sunday 17th July).

Once again please e-mail me prior to the 16th of July to register your interest so we can organise the logistics for the day.

A Weekend In Tassie

A trail of cars makes the one-hour drive south from Hobart, straddled high with board bags and
proudly parading Surfrider bumper stickers. Passengers face’s stare keenly out of fogged-up windows, taking in the passing scenery in the breaking daylight, rolling green hills, of farmland and logging, small towns and a seasidevillage.

It’s too early on a Friday morning and we’re on our way South to Southport, ready to meet our skipper and head down the coast as part of the Surfrider Foundation National Education Conference Wilderness day, which is held annually the day before the conference.

Finally we reach Southport and unload the boards into a small dingy at the rustic jetty. Several old fishing types unload their boats and hurriedly push past, failing even an acknowledging grunt. Dingy packed we motor out to Dave’s boat, an old charter vessel from Western Australia that’s been converted to be able to fish for crays in some of Australia’s most treacherous waters.

The passing scenery changes dramatically. No more buildings, roads or even signs of human life. Vibrant blue sky over calm, ever-stretching sparkling sunlit ocean, islands dripping with white cloud, snowcapped mountains, dolphins … what a paradise!

”It’s not like this every day… “ the Whish-Wilson family kept telling us. “Huey must’ve heard on the grapevine that the Surfrider crew were coming down south.”

Go!It was only several days earlier we had received an emails alerting us to the possibility of great weather and the opportunity for a surfing boat trip. Kristy couldn’t keep the grin off her face.
As we passed the most southern point of Australia and further down and around the south-east, that same grin returned. After passing dozens of high granite and dolerite headlands, some compellingly phallic, we reached our destination. As promised, the wind was fanning offshore and conditions perfect with cool, hood worthy water temps. There are already two other surfers in the water who have completed a 12km hike through wilderness to access this wave.

Strong, straight swell lines march out of the south west and stand up tall as they felt the pull of the mighty rock. After bending about thirty five degrees they freight down the groomed bank, their perfect shape being assisted by the stiff offshore wind.

The predominantly left handed sandbank is held in place by an imposing dolerite island stack that points directly into the oncoming swell. A fierce rip runs back out along the rock, creating a deep channel that is filled with twenty foot lengths of bull kelp.

In the background the crew can see the snow capped mountains: this is surfing in Tasmania! But it’s no cake walk, the thick ocean swells and rips make the takeoffs challenging. Once at the bottom of the wave, it doubles up and makes a run for the distant rock, throwing up several fast bowl sections in the process.

The Surfrider crew all surf till their arms can take no more. Mission accomplished, it’s smiles all round on the trip back. Many take the opportunity to duck below deck and catch up on some much needed sleep, while others decide to double check what they had earlier for lunch courtesy of seasickness!

FRIDAY NIGHT

By evening we felt satisfied with our outdoor exploration and we’re ready to settle into some serious conference action for the weekend.

The front quarter of Bonython’s crowdBack at Theatre Royal, Campbell Street Hobart, hosted by the charming Surfrider supporters, Michael and Mala, more fun was in store. Come 8.30pm, the Theatre Royal dining room had been completely transformed into an makeshift picture theatre. It was brimming with hundreds of keen Tassie surfers, from groms to oldies, all pumped to see, meet and hear the work of surfing filmmaker Tim Bonython, who had made the trip especially for Surfrider to screen his latest works.
The crowd frothed over the first-ever-viewed footage from Tim’s recent travels with Bra Boys Koby, Mark and Rich. Footage included Shippies and some other gnarly unnamed waves from around Australia. Tim narrated, talking us through the various waves and adventures. It was awesome, hoots and grins and some massive, barrelling waves.

A raging success, nearly half the punters signed up to Surfrider on the night and all proceeds directed to Surfrider Tasmania. Despite the great action and company, Gene began to feel strangely warm in the stomach. Before long his fear of a return to seasickness gave way to the fear that he had something far more sinister! Half an hour later he was bent over a giant salad bowl, heaving great power chucks that forced much of his dinner deep into his sinuses and nasal passages. Pretty rough!

SATURDAY NIGHT

Saturday night, after a day of project stirring topics and conversations at the Surfrider Foundation National Education Conference, the Surfrider crew headed out for beers at the local watering hole.
A few of the crew ducked off early … SR Margaret River’s Gene, SR Tassie’s Paul and Julia and Kristy decided to make the most of daylight savings instead. We headed out of Hobart and took a spin in Paul’s Zodiac to see the Hobart Points and the Tassie scenery tucked in and around Lauderdale, and famous Hobart Point stretch of coast. Hugging the coast, we passed Lauderdale point, Mays Point(s) and finally , Cremorne Point. Paul explained the extreme fickleness of these waves, requiring a large, straight south swells to march up the estuary and make them work. However, he also told tales of their magical quality, low tide barrels winding down the steep farmers fields, again all in view of the snow topped splendour of Mount Wellington.

Paul drives Zodiac with scenic Tassie in backgroundWith the sun setting we park the Zodiac at Cremorne, and run up a carefully laid path through the dunes to a small coastal shack set upon the delicate sand spit. The development represents a bygone era when coastal planning and rising sea levels where unheard of. If someone proposed an idea of a development like this nowadays you would have groups like Surfrider jumping up and down in no time. But it’s a magical place, with the backyard overlooking the unique inlet and point break that could simply only be in Tasmania.

We motored home across the cool, bumpy water… witnessing the sunset over the windswept granite sandstone points of Hobart from the Zodiacwas… Intoxicatingly good. Who needs herbal tea, essential oils and massage when you live in Tassie? Relaxed, peaceful, calm.

Home at last at we decide to splash out and try some of the local takeaway. It’s not even past 8.30 and we’re shut down, “turned off the pizza oven hours ago”!
“Typical small town service!”, laughs Paul. “…and on a Saturday night too!”
Still set on pizza, Gene and Paul treated us all to homemade style.
Just as good as the homemade pizza was another Tasmanian wilderness experience: a screening of the 2003 film Wildness.

Through the lens and lives of two of Australia’s greatest wilderness photographers and local legends, Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis, Wildness was an awareness-raising film focusing on Tasmania’s South West region. The film follows the two photographers passion to share and conserve the southwestern Tasmanian wilderness areas.

Written and directed by Scott Millwood, the film covers the development of destructive dams through the 1950s – 1980s. It also showed the triumphs and setbacks of the community and how the support and influence of mainlanders could promote change in Tasmania.

We soak it up.

Wildness reinforced the importance and need for conservation and protection of Tasmania’s wilderness areas, and also portrayed something we’d been hearing and seeing a lot of examples of over the weekend – Tasmanians inextinguishable zeal for conservation of their natural landscape. Unfortunately we later learnt that this is offset by the die-hard attitudes of an equally determined redneck population, hell bent on harnessing Tasmania’s natural resources for their own enrichment. Surfrider’s latest battle in Tasmania has been against the might of the state’s largest private company, environmental vandals Gunn’s, who plan to build an enormous pulp mill on the states northern coast.

The film reinforced an underlying message that we kept sensing and hearing throughout the weekend – conservation and environmental initiatives take years of tireless work and commitment, sometimes, more than a lifetime or several lifetimes. However, with any luck the tireless work of Peter Whish-Wilson and the other northern Tasmanians will pay off and the pulp mill will fail to get off the ground!
Meanwhile, we keenly awaited the following mornings surf.

SUNDAY

Gene pointsNext thing it’s daylight and we’re in the car with wetsuits and boards (even managed to sneak in some hot water for later). The sun’s out, the light winds unusually warm. Until of course we hit the water… a race through the sand under a brilliant blue sky to see little 1-2 ft waves at Clifton, Hobart’s main beach.

There were others out, bracing the cool waters, like us, with hoods, booties, gloves, hot vest and 4/3.
From the lineup, we look down past Bruny Island, further past the last distant headland and into the great void of the Southern Ocean. This is living, braving the elements, beating the crowd, capturing the extra golden moments that come only to those brave enough to step outside of their comfort zones.

Do something special and be rewarded in the most special of ways.

By Gene, Kristy, Paul and Julia

Surfrider Foundation National Conference and AGM 2008

What a weekend! The 2008 Surfrider Foundation National Education Conference and AGM in Hobart was an outstanding success, with many interstate delegates vowing to return to Tasmania “real soon”.

The Friday pre-conference activity was a cray-fishing boat trip to the remote and beautiful Coastal Environment World Heritage area around South Cape (Australia’s most southerly surf location). Several local and interstate Surfrider members braved the cool water to sample the very nice Tassie 4′-6′ left handers on offer – with a snow capped mountain backdrop. Many thanks to skipper Dave Wyatt for making his boat (Velocity) available for the trip.

Surfing down southBack in Hobart that night around 220 local surfers crammed into the historic Theatre Royal Hotel (our wonderful conference venue) for a showing of some of renowned film maker Tim Bonython’s latest amazing footage (or as he called it, his ‘home movie’) of places like Ours, an unnamed WA offshore reef hell pit and of course Shipsterns Bluff. A big vote of thanks to Tim Bonython, long time good friend of Surfrider, who flew down from Sydney for the night to introduce the show.

The Education Conference got underway on Saturday morning with Matt Dell (Hobart Surfrider Branch President) giving an inspiring presentation on the 10 year initiative he has been running to clean up Tasmania’s remote wilderness beaches. Kristy Theissling from Coastalwatch then gave us some great insights on how to access latest website technologies to get the Surfrider message out there. Next, Chris Rees (Dept of Environment Tasmania) gave a thoughtful presentation on how government bureaucracies and community groups can collaborate to bring about positive environmental change. Andy Myers (ANU) then outlined cutting edge ways that marine researchers can manage and archive data through databases and networks. The morning session closed with former journalist and now Greens MP, Cassy O’Connor, explaining how to deal with the media when campaigning and providing some very useful political insights along the way.

The afternoon began with Rebecca Hubbard from Environment Tasmania outlining the importance of establishing marine reserves (which unfortunately currently only represent 1% of Tasmania’s coastline). Dr Stuart Godfrey (retired CSIRO scientist) and Peter Whish-Wilson then explained the critical importance and value of scientific research in a Surfrider campaign, using the long running Bell Bay pulp mill proposal campaign as an example. Gene Hardy from Surfrider Margaret River Branch (and SW Catchments Council WA) informed us about some innovative ways to increase awareness of the importance of looking after the coastal environment. Gene’s presentation included the premiere of a brilliant 16 mm film ‘Impact Zone’ (which should be available via the Surfrider Australia website soon). Dr Mark Hemer (CSIRO) then focused on climate change as he gave a presentation on trends in Australian wave patterns and impact on vulnerable coastal areas.

The afternoon concluded with a special presentation honouring the contribution that Stuart Ball, has made through his many years of wonderful work with Surfrider.

Sunday’s AGM saw something of a changing of the guard of the Surfrider Australia Board, with Chris Tola stepping down after many years of dedicated service and three new board members, Rex Campbell (Mornington Peninsular), Peter Whish- Wilson (Northern Tasmania) and Paul Maddock (Sydney Northern Beaches) being elected. We were also introduced to our new General Manager, Julia Chunn, who outlined her vision for Surfrider going forward. The rest of the day was filled with inspiring presentations from branch representatives from all around Australia outlining the great work that Surfrider is undertaking at the place where it really counts – the grass roots level.

A massive vote of thanks to conference organiser Peter Whish-Wilson and the Tassie Surfrider crew for their tireless efforts in staging such a memorable and worthwhile weekend.

Waves Of Change – Learning From Experience

The 17th Annual Surfrider Australia National Conference & Inaugural National Education Conference

Tazzie! November 7 – 9, 2008 we invited you to join us in Hobart  Tasmania to experience the famous Southern hospitality of our Tasmanian Surfrider crew, and witness some of Tasmania’s world acknowledged natural wilderness areas.

It was our first ever National Education Conference and the focus was on the environment in which we work and gaining tools to better foster excellence in administration and C.A.R.E.

Thank you for your attendance.