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GAME ON
Six pro surfer girls (and their disco bus) take the East Coast of Australia by storm
By:
Karlee Mackie
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March 29, 2006
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The following seven days were taken from Aussie pro Karlee Mackie's diary. By all means attempt this at home. Special thanks to Gallaz for making this all happen. -Ed
DAY ONE I woke to a sunny Gold Coast morning, packed and ready to start an eight-day bus trip down the beautiful east coast of Australia filming a new girl's surfing movie, AKA Girl Surfer. On the trip with me was Rochelle Ballard (Roachy), Melanie Bartels (Bartels), Belen Connelly (Bee), Rebecca Woods (Woodsy) and Holly Monkman (Monkey). |
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Before we even left Belen and her quick MacGyver skills managed to put up a big disco ball right in the middle of the bus, tied with her hair band. The mischief had begun and the bus was christened "GAME ON"! After an amusing session at the Hot Tomato radio station we met up with our favorite TV host from Fuel TV and pro surfer cutie Kate (Skazza) Skarratt for interviews on D-Bah hill about the trip ahead of us and our involvement in making AKA. We then packed on our bus waved goodbye to Skaz and started to make our way down to Sydney -- first stop Byron Bay. DAY TWO Our first surf for the trip was fun surf out at the Pass. All though it was super small it was magically peeling off all the way down the point. Sonny Miller, our filmer, had a friend in town that let us borrow a heap of Mals and old school fish boards. Of coarse Bee ruled the session showing us her experience, grace and skills on her board taking the sets and riding them all the way down the line with a big grin on her face whilst the rest of us enjoyed a different cruise session trying to control our boards and impress each other at the same time. After lunch the call was made to get on the bus and head south to Ballina. We pulled up to North Wall Ballina to discover a sick shorey up the beach a little. I was out there to watch the Bartels air show and get a few fun ones myself. Everyone came in stoked. Twiggy our photographer was claiming and good old Captain Kev was looking at his watch ready to get on the road to Yamba. DAY THREE This morning we awoke looking out over the ocean at our good friend Sam McIntosh's family hotel in Yamba. Down the road were some scattered peaks at a beach called Pippies. The bus was loaded and out we went for session with all our crew. As usual we all came in starving and went into town for a bite, whilst chewing away Monkey went to the local hardware store and bought us all a heap of spray paints to go crazy on our boards with. We set up an art studio under the Pine Trees and went crazy. Spray of the day went to Roach for her huge red lips spray. Our arvo surf was back out at Pippies, but a fin joined us this time. Of course I thought it was a shark, and then out of nowhere six dolphins jumped out of the water and almost into my arms. They swam all around us for the whole surf -- we were so stoked. As the sun set we all came in to Twiggy's surprise of prawns and beer on the beach waiting for us. Cheers mate. "We all surfed for a couple hours and then got back on the bus to surf another beachbreak around the corner... We pulled up to yet another empty and beautiful beach with fun lefts and rights."
-- Karlee Mackie
DAY FOUR We all woke for the super early; word on the street was a south swell was on its way. But NO, so we all loaded the bus and back tracked to Iluka. We pulled up to the breakwall and ran down the track to find sweet little glassy peaks and just two guys out. We were out there and about 15 minutes into the surf Rochelle got the sickest barrel in front of us all. The girls were all cheering and amping to get the next one. We all surfed for a couple hours and then got back on the bus to surf another beachbreak around the corner at Fraser's National Park. We pulled up to yet another empty and beautiful beach with fun lefts and rights, we all ran down the beach and straight back out there. My session ended pretty quickly when my head and the sand bank got a little too acquainted and took the skin off the right side of my face under my eye. It hurt so much but I put my brave face on and held back the girlie tears, as I sat and iced my faced I looked out to see a huge storm on the way towards us. The sun then slowly disappeared and Sunny made the call, "Let's head Fred!" We loaded the bus had a quick shower under the water bottles and made our way to Forster. Our drive was by far the best one yet. Sunny filled the bus with beer and Bee pulled a bottle of Jack from her bag whilst Monkey and Roch pumped out the tunes. Our bus was rocking, the storm out side was bangin and Captain Kev was looking nervous, "Can we keep the noise down a little please?" DAY FIVE We woke to yet another beautiful day, the storm had passed and bought us our cute mate Elle Black up from Sydney to join our trip and have some fun. Woodsy had got up early and gone down to Newcastle for the day to compete in the Pro Junior. Monkey and Twigg soon rolled up with good news that they had found a fun left hander for us to spend the morning session at. Whilst we were getting our gear organized, Kev had found us a big old 4WD to take for a spin. We packed our gear and rolled down the road to find a sick beach all to ourselves. Mel and I found a car seat in the car park and carried it down with us and set it up under the umbrella. We surfed and ate for hours and the sun soon set and yet another day was over. But a night of ten-pin bowling was called and us Aussies felt we had what it took to take these Hawaiians down. I managed to nicely place almost every ball down the gutter as the Hawaiians rolled theirs right down the middle scoring strike after strike. Monkey and Woodsy had no tricks to up their sleeves, so we lost. DAY SIX Not the best surfing conditions this morning and tired from our big night out at the ten-pin bowling. Not that keen to get straight out there, we made plans to shoot later in the day once the conditions cleaned up. We decided to show these Hawaiians how to really bowl and hit the lawn bowls this time. Monkey booked us a spot on the greens and when we arrived to the Foster Lawn Bowling Club we were greeted by two old lawn bowling legends, who showed us some tips to the game and check out what skills a bunch of surfing chicks had. The Hawaiians started were making big calls but we were quietly confident this time that they were going down, and after 3 rounds it was obvious that us Aussies were good at something those Hawaiians weren't. So we took them down and the wind was dropping Twiggy was starting to freak out and we could see Sunny and Todd were looking a bit anxious as well. So Kev pulled the bus up and the girls waved goodbye to the oldies at the bowls club and head off for an arvo session out at Boomerang beach. Woodsy joined us for the session after driving back up from Newcastle and after a super fun surf with all the girls we came in and shot the last section of the movie as the sun set behind the headland. The day soon came to an end and the time had come to load up and move out, before setting foot on the bus we had a quick lecture from captain Kev on some squashed Tim Tams he had earlier found on the floor, "This time when I say no food on the bus I mean it. NO more food. Please, girls." "Sure Kev," as we smuggled some chips a few more packets of Tim Tams and a cooler of beer onto the bus. SYDNEY here we come. DAY SEVEN Everyone awoke all yawning and stoked to have had such a great sleep, our week was ending and we were slowly getting tired. The weather seemed to favor us and let our sun-kissed bodies rest from the sun as we decided to spend the day exploring the beautiful Sydney harbor. First stop was at an old teammate's house by the name of Layne Beachley. You may have heard of her before -- she won 6 world titles or something. Anyway Layne's house was beautiful a nice view over Curl Curl and lots of trophies and surfboards everywhere you turned. So a quick hi and bye and we were off to the Taronga Zoo to show off our fuzzy Aussie bush pals, koalas emus echidnas and kangaroos to the girls. Sydney Harbor was next stop -- no Nemo to be seen but lots of laughs and more eating as we walked around the Opera House and sat and watched the ferries move in and out of the harbor. The sun had now set and Monkey was starting to get her usual arvo thirst with Sunny right behind her, we were off to Bondi for beers and dinner at the Ice Bergs Pub over looking the bay of Bondi. Perfect way to spend our last night all together. DAY EIGHT Our last day, the trip had come to an end. It was one last round of interviews with the Today Show and then off for some breakfast in Dee Why. We ate and the time had come to say our goodbyes and hugs were exchanged as our fun group had to go there separate ways. It was a trip that would be remembered forever, like "When me and 5 of my friends partied and surfed our way down the coast." It's something I recommend to any girls out there who want to get away and have some fun with each other. Jump in your car, tie the boards on the roof and make the most of the waves you find. Explore new places and remember to smile enjoy new places and say g'day to the locals as it never costs anything to be friendly. If you smile with the world the world smiles with you. GO TREKKiN'! MORE WOMENS SURFLINE HOME PAGE |
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