Yesterday's Waves

What an amazing day of surf yesterday!  Long time locals today were saying they haven't seen it that good here in 30 years!  And I just so happened to be here at this time.... wow!  Check out the photos...

 

Right now I'm enjoying some amazing home made sauerkraut prepared with LOVE (by far the most important ingredient in anything) and some delicious home grown tomatoes while tomorrow's coconut yogurt is culturing... life is pretty good :)

Non-cyclone

As it turns out, the cyclone turned and didn't hit here directly, so we were left with beautiful weather for most of the day (a few moments of drizzle, but nothing severe) and big perfect waves measuring significantly overhead.  Normally the swell here comes from the southwest, but the cyclone descending from the north sent swell from the opposite direction, causing waves to break in places where there are usually no waves at all.  This morning, everyone was running around like crazy trying to figure out where the best waves were to be found.  I lucked out and scored flawless surf (pics and video to come) not once, but twice today with only a handful of other people out in the water!

Raw Strawberry Coconut Cheesecake

Cyclone on the way!

Today is super hot and humid (even more intense than Costa Rica, which is extremely humid during the wet season)  with a category one cyclone headed right towards Dunsborough, expected to hit early tomorrow morning with 70+ mph winds and "heaps" of rain!  On the bright side (not that I'm looking at the cyclone as having any dark side, I'm super excited for this gnarly weather!) the cyclone is also supposed to bring epic surf!

It has also been a great day in the kitchen- I've been working with Samudra head chef Brendon to perfect my Superhero Chocolate Chia Mousse recipe and after several attempts and adjustments, he gave his stamp of approval!  Also, today is my friend Claire's birthday, so Nikki, Zephyr, Cat, and I made her an amazing strawberry coconut cheesecake... its in the freezer getting hard right now, but I snuck a little taste before we put it in and it was incredible!  Time to run across the street for a swim in the ocean, then its birthday party time!  (Stay tuned for what could potentially be some epic storm video footage!)

I haven’t recently had any events that would merit a blog entry of their own, but so much has been happening that I’ve decided to write this entry as a stream of consciousness flow of everything that I’ve been experiencing.

I've been making quite a few promotional videos for Samudra... have a look at http://www.youtube.com/samudrayoga  The other night the sky was so clear and the stars were so bright.  It was the first time that I could clearly distinguish the Milky Way stripe of stars across the sky.  Australian slang is very interesting.

Here nobody says they want to do something- like you would never say "I want to surf", its always "keen" I'm keen to surf, I'm keen to go to bed, I'm keen to eat
Also, "awesome" is never used... if something is really good, its "bullshit" which can be really confusing for me sometimes, as I am accustomed to bullshit being something bad. If the waves were really good, you say the surf was bullshit! If it was bad, its "shit house."  They never say afternoon- they call it the arvo, pronounced avo like avocado. As in "i'm gonna go surf in the arvo" or have a good arvo.

Yesterday was Australia Day, but with the knowledge I have gained about the history of the treatment of aboriginals, I joined a few friends in not celebrating the settlement of Australia by the English.  I went to work as usual, which included a few hours on the ice cream bike… with everyone on the beaches, I set the all time world record for raw ice cream bike sales in one day!  I’m becoming a regular character in town now as the raw ice cream bike man… as soon as I take it out on the streets everyone that drives by honks their horns and waves… Even though I don’t always sell “heaps” of ice cream, it is an incredible marketing vehicle.  I’ve learned to ride the ice cream bike on two wheels, with one of the front two wheels up in the air- if people weren’t already tripping out on the ice cream bike, they definitely are now!  I’ve had some fun waves this past week, including some fun barrels.  In the process of trying to expand raw/superfood consciousness in Australia, I’ve run into some interesting cultural barriers that I hadn’t experienced before.  Just yesterday, one person asked me “Why do people feel the need to be healthy?” and another said “There’s no way I want to live until I’m 120.”  On February 6^th, I’ll be leaving to work with David Wolfe and promote Samudra on David’s tour along the east coast of Australia, going through Brisbane (still very flooded), Byron Bay, Sydney, and Melbourne, before flying back for one week with David at Samudra.  This will be a great opportunity for me to experience the east coast to help me figure out what I want to do in my future in Australia.  I really miss having a Vitamix blender… the Magic Bullet is nice, but there’s just nothing like a 240 mph blade for making the best superfood elixirs ever!

Cave Music

Last night after a long and exciting day at work, I had an experience that could only ever happen in Western Australia.  After watching an amazing sunset over the ocean from atop a mountain, I had the great pleasure of attending a concert of a brilliant band from San Francisco inside a 40 foot tall cave!  Alas, I managed to forget my video camera on this occasion, so words will have to suffice to describe this incredible experience.  The band played one great song after another, the sound vibrating throughout the lit cave, creating quite a surreal experience.  They played on for hours and hours and it just got better and better.  Today is another big work day for me, I'm working on lots of really exciting projects and staying directly in line with my purpose, which is such a great feeling.  Wishing everyone the best day ever from down under!

Everything you need is right there

"Everything you need is right there!" 
This is a great quote I'm borrowing from David Wolfe that has been a recurring theme for me ever since arriving in Australia.  Nearly every time I think of something that I need, it shows up right around me as soon as I take a few seconds to observe my surroundings a little more closely.  This has literally been happening to me every day.  Yesterday, I was driving to go surf when the director of Samudra called me and told me to meet him on a street that I had never heard of so he could take me surfing to a spot that required 4WD to get to.  (Getting to most beaches around here requires an automobile with significant ground clearance capable of serious rock crawling and driving through deep loose sand.)  Before I could even say that I didn't have any idea where that road was, I spotted the street sign of the intersection I was approaching, and, low and behold, it was the exact street that I needed!  At home I have several aloe plants that I'm always using on my skin and in my superfood elixirs and today I was thinking how nice it would be to have an aloe plant here, but how hard it would be to find a nursery that had one. As I thought this, I walked around a side of the building where I'm living that I hadn't walked around before, and growing right there were two aloe plants!  I couldn't believe my eyes!  So next time you think you need to go somewhere to get what you need, consider the possibility- better yet, the probability, or even best, consider the certainty that everything that you need is right there, its just a matter of opening your senses and becoming more conscious of what is around you.

Getting into the flow

My first few surf sessions in Australia  were a other than spectacular as I tried to adapt my surfing to suit the waves here which are very different than those at home, as the waves here break over reefs instead of the sandy beachbreaks and rocky pointbreaks I am accustomed to.  Thankfully, two days ago I had one of those sessions where it all comes together.  I finished work at 5 PM and was just planning to have a relaxing afternoon because I thought the swell was supposed to have dropped off.  I got a text from Samudra's marketing manager, Gus, telling me I should get to Gallows (located in between Hangmans and Guillotines) as soon as possible because he had just had an incredible surf there.  At first I was dismayed because the drive to Gallows requires 4WD to make it through sand and over really rough rocky roads, but I rang my the Samudra cafe manager, Ben to see if he wanted to go and fortunately, he was "keen"!  We jumped in his truck and made the drive out to Gallows to find 4-5 foot surf very reminiscent of Seaside reef in San Diego.  It wasn't too crowded and I started getting lots of really fun, ripable waves right from the start.  From the water we watched the sun glow red as it set through a haze of smoke from nearby fires and as darkness approached, it was time to catch one more wave.  A good looking right came my way and I turned around and started paddling.  The offshore breeze made it a little harder to drop into the wave, so I squeezed in two more paddles before popping up.  I put extra weight into my front foot to keep from being blown off the wave by the wind and as the wave hit the reef it jacked up and through the crystal clear water I could see the rock reef looming no more than a foot below the surface.  I quickly shifted my weight to my back foot to keep the nose of my board above the water as I made the steep drop.  I bottom turned right into the pocket of the wave as the lip folded over me, enclosing me in a perfect round barrel.  Seconds later I came flying out of the barrel onto the shoulder of the wave with a feeling that I have never experienced outside of surfing.  Pure elation, excitement, adrenaline, and joy.  I got my first Australian barrel, hopefully the first of many to come.

Back to work!

All is sunny and beautiful here in WA!  Waves have been big, but with less than ideal conditions, but last night's session definitely got my adrenaline pumping!  Three days ago I started working at Samudra (http://www.samudra.com.au), an oasis of raw foods, yoga, and surfing- the exact 3 things that I live for!  I've really been doing a bit of everything there since I started there, from selling superfoods, to working in the Kombi (Australian name for a VW bus) Cafe, to doing promotion, filming and editing promotional videos (see the first one here to get a look at the Kombi Cafe http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samudra-Yoga-Surfing-food-4-life/133581510019256?ref=sgm#!/video/video.php?v=1558532609263&comments )  and selling raw ice cream around town on the beach on the ice cream bike! 

  The people I work with at Samudra are the coolest people ever, by far and I am having a non-stop incredible time working there.
The fly population here in Western Australia is nothing short of gnarly.  As soon as you go outside, you instantly get a fleet of 10-15 flies assigned to your head, attempting to enter eyes, ears, mouth and nose.  And when you go to the beach, the minimum assigned fleet is 40-60 flies- its unbelievable!  It was driving me absolutely insane.  I am reading a book written by an American woman about her experience on a walkabout with Australian aboriginals.  No sooner had I become completely fed up with the flies then I reached a chapter in the book written entirely on the subject of the menacing Australian flies.  She had apparently experienced similar frustration with them until the tribe leader explained to her that aboriginals do not see the flies as a pest, simply as something completely natural and appreciate that the flies are actually grooming and cleaning the people they land on.  Reading this chapter brought about a radical change in my interaction with the flies.  I now accept their presence and try to embrace them as much as possible and do not swat them away unless they attempt to enter my mouth, in which case I am doing so for the fly's own good.  I highly recommend this book to everyone, it is called Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan.  Happy New Years to everyone and check back soon for more adventure updates!