Justy

It's a treat to visit a home. Phil and Judy Neck are old time friends of Gareth's and have a gracious home. Our first few hours in NSW (New South Wales) were filled with luxury. Visiting them for only a few days was a great break in our routine. Phil's lifetime of travel and adventure made for great stories, and Judy's incredible feat of raising 3 children while enroute...its enough to warrant the superwoman award! They're both awesome fun. As Phil rode out in his 1940's side-car motorbike we realized the extent of his madness.

We are here during a major surfing championships, and there is quite a crowd. Adam, Phil's nephew, is also a surfer. He's visiting at the same time as we are and is full of information. From him we are receiving our Aussie sporting education. Adam is from Western Australia, and works on a mine. He also trarvels tons using his surf and snow board for directions.

I got up early one day, and we went to the surf site. Because of the comps, local surfers can use the area before and after the comp and not during. There were already a big bunch of folks out, even though the sun barely broke the surface. Adam said the conditions were crap, with onshore winds and small waves there weren't many surfers standing on their boards. But just getting close to some of the crashing waves on the rocks ensured me of the sports' danger. A crashing wave is chaos.

Leave it to aussie children to play in the grips of chaos. As we walked by the rocks we noticed a bunch of children all standing on the edge of a rock, nervously giggling and looking backwards. There was a shallow pool of water in front of them, only interrupted by more rocks. Then, a wave came and washed all the kids off the rock and slammed them into the pool. They all bobbed up, saying 'Cool!' or 'That was weak' and one kid still standing was ecstatic 'I made it! I made it!'. These children were betting on being knocked off the rocks by waves, and they loved it!