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Weekend Wave Wrap: Jungle Operations

By Venus Goes Gidget · On August 6, 2012 The waves keep on coming and coming. We had excellent surf conditions all weekend and it’s going to stay consistent for the last few days of our stay here. Whilst Huey keeps on delivering, our tired bodies are not quite anymore. Very tired arms, can’t even be compensated by 12 hour sleeps at night…so Mother Nature seemed to find another way to keep me out of the water. But first things first…

Friday, we decided to head to Tigertracks as G-land seemed to pick up again. It did not look unsurfable big but I was quite tired already so I thought maybe not. Tigertracks did not disappoint again. It was so much fun. Overhead high on the sets and some pretty steep, fast take offs. In the afternoon we headed back Tigertracks way to surf the Bommie on the low tide. Again, we had such a ball, it was heaps of fun. Well heaps of fun until poor Tin Tin got hit in the head by another guy. He was bleeding quite a bit and the jungle ambulance in the form of Milo, the surfguide on a motorbike, picked Tin Tin up to get him back to the camp over the jungle track. By the time our truck made it back to the camp, Tin Tin was already as good as new with 4 stainless steel staples in his head. They reckon he only needed 3 but they wanted to practice the new stapler so he got 4. Surgery indostyle… Saturday, we decided to extend our stay in the camp for a few more days instead of leaving Sunday. That’s why I took it easy on Saturday. We surfed Tiger Tracks in the morning again. I even got a barrel , well kind of because I did not quite make it out again. The afternoon, I spent doing yoga, meditation and massage to help my tired muscles recover and get ready for another G-Land session on Sunday. Saturday eve, we all had a few Bintangs on the beach by the bonfire. Some of the Brazilian dudes were jamming on the guitar and many surfstories were told. It also turns out that the fellow ranga in the camp (we bonded over discussions on how to avoid sunburn as a ranga) is in fact Mick Campbell, an ex-pro-surfer. He’s been on the Worldtour for 15 (!) years or so. Wow, I have to admit, I was quite proud of myself at that moment cos I’ve surfed with Mick a few days earlier and he even called me into some waves. Me, little Austrian gidget, surfing side by side with a pro….

Sunday was meant to be the day. G-Land was set to be smaller again. Headed out to Kong’s and wanted to make my way down to Money Trees for the ultimate barrel experience. That was the plan anyway. Ok, the surf-forecast was 6ft but I swear there were easily 10ft faces on the sets and 12ft on the bigger bomb sets coming through. And guess what, the locals here still call it ‘small’ !!! Oh well at least they did not say it was flat anymore. The current was really strong too. It took a lot of paddling strength to stay at Kong’s. I’ve thrown myself over the lip a couple of times. I got caught on the inside (scary shit – hit the reef but only gently). It was all worth it though. I had some amaaaaaaazing waves (no barrels though) and I think the best wipe-out ever. After 3 ½ hours out there, I felt a bit worn out and just wanted to get out. So I just let myself drift towards the next break rather than paddling back out to Kong’s. I was far too far out to catch any waves yet on the next break. But then this maaaaaaasive clean up set came through. I’m talking a mountain moving towards me. The line up at Money Trees frantically tried to paddle towards it to not get smashed. I happened to be in the perfect spot to catch the wave and I don’t know what sort of crazyness overtook me….I started paddling as hard as I could with what I had left in me. Paddle, paddle and oh my god, I really did catch the mountain with the whole line up watching. Unfortunately, I only caught it for a second before I stacked it massively in a picture perfect wipe-out. By the time the washing machine released me, I’ve tumbled all the way to shore. Oh well at least it saved me the paddle in. Good fun. Sunday afternoon was not so funny unfortunately. I was so tired after the earlier session and after lunch. All I wanted to do was sleep but then the boat was meant to be leaving for the Bommie. So I only really had an hour, hour and half break before we went out again. At the Bommie which is really a walk in the park compared to G-land, I kept on falling off at the take-off. My body just shut down. No more surf it said. But I kept on pushing, pushing so much until I stacked it again. This time, the board bounced back and the nose of my board hit me into my eye. Well, I thought first my eye. Luckily, it hit between my eye and my nose. I was bleeding and could feel the gash. Blood and saltwater dripping into my eyes, I paddled back to shore. We took the truck back (when I say truck I mean a truck operated by a lawn mower motor) over a bumpy jungle track. Now that was fun – not. Oh well at that point I was just relieved that it did not hit my eye. That was before panic set in. Who’s going to stitch my face back together? It was my face after all and I really did not want a butch scar in the middle of my face. Slightly anxious I was waiting what felt like for ages in the camp until the new surf guide got his arse into gear (Unfortunately Milo, the surf guide who helped Tin Tin was not here anymore). He eventually figured out that I should go to the other surfcamp because there was a surgical nurse from the USA staying. Yay. How lucky a surgical nurse. She would know what to do and she did. Thanks Sue, you are an angel. I did not even need stitches, she glued my face together with some fancy looking stripes and got me ready to get back into the water straight away. Sue comes to G-Land for a few months every year and is used to stitching up surfers here and wow she’s got some stories to tell…quote Sue: ‘People come to G-Land to surf and they don’t realise they can die’. Oh dear…

Well, either way, I look like a prize boxer now. My left eye is pretty swollen. Surf is pumping today and technically I could go in but if I’ve learnt one lesson (which should be a no-brainer really): Don’t go surfing if you are too tired. That’s when stupid things happen. So I’ve prescribed myself a surfing day off. Tomorrow is going to be the last day in G-Land and I’m sure I’ll jump in for one last session. I have to say though, this trip I had countless, amazing waves thanks to this magical place called G-Land, so even if I did not make it I could not complain at all.

See you back in good old Bondi soon (with a black eye and a new scar)


barrelbloodbommieBondiflatG-landKongsmagical placemick campbellMoneytreesoperationsaltwatersmallstaplesstitchessurfed outsurfstoriestiger trackstigertracksyoga meditation