Around The World In 80 Waves

I decide to try and squeeze one more break in before returning to Perth and drive another 50 kilometres south to the Margaret River area. It is another of the world’s great great wine growing areas and there are vineyards everywhere but all this is once more wasted on myself.

However I guess I can be very pretentious at dinner parties upon returning home, waxing lyrical on the geography of all the regions I have seen on this trip.

As usual I am more interested in the surf opportunities and head straight for the mouth of the river, and the break there known as Surfers Point which is legendary in surfing circles.

I am gutted to discover that the road is closed upon arrival so they can beautify the car park and its approach, so there is no chance of me even seeing the break.

I drive on to the next beach called Gnarabup, but as I feared the swell has all but died and what little there is left is being ruined by the westerly winds which have picked up again.

Whilst there I have a chat with a local lady called Mim, who tells me more about some of the local Great White population. A short while back the beach you see here was full of tourists swimming and kids playing in the shallows. That was until somebody gave a warning that a shark was in the water causing an understandably rapid exit for everybody! 

The 5 metre long shark which would have a mouth the size of a kitchen table then swam along the length of the bay, rolling onto its side so it could have a good look at everybody on the shore as it went. Not satisfied with that it then swam back the other way doing exactly the same thing.

If they had tongues you could imagine the thing licking its lips!

Given I don’t want this to be the last thing I ever see, I am all of a sudden not at all unhappy about being unable to get any more waves in this part of the world!

From there I drive into the town of Margaret River, which is the home of Gath who manufacture helmets which you can wear whilst surfing.

I have a bit of a grail quest finding their operation which is on a business park right on the edge of town. It is where all the helmets shipped worldwide are manufactured and as a consequence I decide it will be the best place to buy one.

In more ways than one I have a big head, and have been unable to find one anywhere on my travels that is large enough for me. Even in their workshop there is only one in stock that fits comfortably so I snap it up.

Thus far I have several bouncings off boulders on my travels and that my face and teeth are largely the same as when I left the UK is arguably more by luck than judgement. I am flying to Indonesia the following day and think that making some effort to protect myself whilst surfing all the reef breaks there will be a sound investment.

It is a worrying sign however, because with tangible levels of self preservation and common sense creeping into my psyche I must be getting old!