Surfing Life

What a time to be putting out a Travel issue. As we go to print, the continent has just finished burning to the tune of 12.35 million acres, 33 human casualties, over 2000 houses gone, and an estimated billion wildlife dead. The threat of fires, howe

In an age of catastrophic climate change where all efforts should be directed towards reducing carbon emissions, what is the responsibility of travelling surfers? That’s a good question and something I struggle with. I travel a lot and this last year

Mt Woodgee is more than just a brand name. It's a mountain found geographically on the map of southern Queensland. It's a unique place; a place with its roots entwined at the very core of some of surfing's richest history. Once a tropical fruit farm,

The Straddie Assault, Jim Beam Surftag, the ASP Banquet … all essential annual torch-ups required to keep the Australian surfing ecosystem in balance. So too is the Australian bushfire season. The occasional fire is an essential part of this ancient

You know we’re living in strange times when surfers no longer own the poster children for the surf industry—the big apparel brands. Those days are long gone. With Rip Curl selling to outdoor business Kathmandu in 2019, and Hurley currently being slic

When I was six to eight years old, I spent 18 months driving around Australia with my mum and her partner, Max, who’s like my old man. I was homeschooled along the way and that’s where I learned to surf, fish, tie knots, and spent all this time outsi

We landed in the middle of the night on Kaadedhdhoo Island, where we were met by the cruisiest Maldivian local you’ll ever find. In the morning after a short sleep, just enough to get us functioning, we were at our first destination and bleary-eyed w

“This place is the next Bali!” screams a young Australian as he slams a Jager shot amidst a sea of backpackers and deafening house music. It’s late and I’m at Bravo Beach Resort, the premier nightclub on the wave-rich Filipino island of Siargao (pron

The immigration desk can often provide a telling insight into the country you’re about to enter. The United States, for example, has all the fear, intimidation and severity of a nation under siege. A place where, if you fit the bill, you might be ask

Handing down information from generation to generation isn’t a new thing but handing down surf travel information certainly is. It’s only in the last six or so decades that we’ve really been casting off our bow lines and setting off on adventures to

Nobody knows who they are in their teens, but I had a thirst for knowledge and experience. You can always learn so much from listening to someone else tell their story, and failure is an especially good teacher. You gotta go experience it for yoursel

“Hello,” said the uneasy-sounding voice on the end of the phone. I answered with an air of anticipation—not just any anticipation, but the he’s-gonna-pull-out kind. “Maaaaate …” he said. “I’ve had some dramas on my last trip. Got a belly bug—been on

When Wade called and asked if I wanted to come to film the European leg of the Championship Tour (CT) and check out Ireland afterwards, I dropped everything. That time of year on the east coast of Australia usually suffers from small swells and the d

Making an informed decision on the right travel gear can be the difference between a great trip or a waste of money, time and energy. There are enough stressful factors to navigate when travelling overseas. Purchasing the right travel luggage that’s

Flights are booked. Quiver is sorted. Clothes are jammed into your board bag. Sleepytime has been occupied with dreams of perfect barrelling reef breaks. You have been surfing six hours a day, five days a week for the last six weeks to get yourself r

NOTOX's essence is to combine high-performance board design and ecology in the manufacture of our surfboards. Despite the popular perception of the sport, as being a natural, quasi-spiritual experience, the surfboard industry is responsible of known

These are deeply challenging times and it would be remiss of us to encourage you to bury your head in the sand and continue with business as usual. Surfing is not an escape at this point. At best, it is fuel for the fight. Harmony with nature has bee