I love "Maggie" - 06/04/'08

"Maggie" of course is Margaret River - the landscape of lush rolling hills, stunning surf breaks and fantastic wineries.

Friends of mine, Sarah and Martin were heading down there for the weekend and invited me to join. I really didn't have the time, but also really wanted to go, so on the Saturday evening, I drove the 3+ hours south, arriving at the start of a great barbecue and hang out session with those two plus a few more.

Early the next morning, we all awoke and headed straight to the beach and into the water. Sarah and I were a little later than the others and as a result, we ended up at the wrong beach - we went to the one with the big international surf competition. The waves were phenomenal and many of the worlds greatest surfers were out on them.

So there I was, naively putting on my wetsuit, grabbing my board and walking down to the beach. Now to get to the beach, one has to walk in front of the huge bleachers with the fans and then down the cliff, disappearing from view, before finally being seen again out in the water. Well, as I walked pass all the people, I started to clue in to what I was doing - am I going into those waves?? HELL NO. So in my typical subtle fashion, I continued the walk, winking and waving at those that stared curiously and then disappeared from view down the cliff. Sarah was with me and once we were on our own, she started laughing as she realized that everyone must've been wondering who this mysterious surf god was. Luckily for me, there was another path that headed up to the car park, well away from audience view, so we went straight back up those, into the car and drove to the correct beach to meet our gang - I felt sooo cool for those few seconds...

At the second beach, the surf was a still lil' challenging, but manageable, so I wasn't about to deny myself the adventure. After a good beating and a looong walk back to the car, we went to a v cool hillside cafe for a quick brunch before I jumped in the car and sped back into town to continue work.

Thanks Sarah for the invite and the use of your board - Great to hang with you and your gang - plus also surf a bit with Martin. Thanks also to the nice folks at the PeaceTree organic winery who gave me some fantastic bottles and the kind police officers who stopped me to ask that I not drive so fast :-)