Bristol Zoo

The white stuff that falls from the sky

Back in early December we got a bit of snow here in Bristol, had drive through a bit of a blizzard to get to work, definitly not in the bay anymore.

Croyde Pumping in December

Best weekend of year was the call from the surf report website, hard to argue...

South Wales Coast - The new local

This part of Wales is only about an hours drive from where I live in Bristol... Porthcawl, South Wales - Water temp 12'c Porthcawl Line-up Porthcawl Rights, me bottom turning Ogmore Reefs, South Wales Castle, South Wales Coast

All Blacks v Wales, Cardiff Arms, Wales

UK Sights

BigBen - London London Bridge Buckingham Palace, London Punks - Camden Markets, London Cathedral, Bath

St Marys Cathedral, Thornbury

A taste of home!

Here's a pic of my old home'lo, Raglan. Thanks for the pic Davo, keep 'em coming! Pic 1: Boneyards, Raglan goin' off:

Coffee in the land of Tea

For anyone who has yet to have the priviledge, "The Bean" cafe and roastery in Whakatne, NZ makes the worlds best coffee. Simon's coffee's have turned the biggest coffee skeptics into full-blown addicts, including myself. Since leaving the shores of Whakatane, I have searched in vain for a coffee that can satisfy my addiction, nothing has come close. I had black mud in Bali, watery brown milk in Amsterdam, crap in a cup in France/Spain, and in England, the land of Tea drinkers, its been even harder. I have finally found a little stall operating in the centre of Bristol which knows what milk frother is though and can make something that resembles a latte. Thank god! Pic 1. Andrea getting a fix, Bristol Coffee stall:

UK waves take 2

One of the best weather sytems of the year for swell for the British coast passed by a few days ago so I headed to the coast again to see what it would deliver. Pic 1. This is the swell map, darkewr the colour bigger the waves. (Thats the UK in the top right hand corner)

Pic 2. Swell lines stacked and the winds offshore, Saunton Pt, Devon. Pic 3. Country Lane traffic jam. Pics 4 & 5. Putsborough on the Devon Coast, where we surfed with about 100 others, 3-5ft and howling offshore.

Pic 5. A beer in a country pub, perfect reward for a thousand duckdives and having to avoid kooky longboarders all day.

England puts out

The following pics are from a trip down the coast a few days ago, really good surf for anywhere let alone England! Water temp wasnt bad either, got 2 surfs in at 2 great spots. Pic 1. First look at the new swell at sunrise. Pic 2 & 3. Surf goin' off at Croyde Pic. 4 - Croyde again, this picture was taken while we surfing.

Pics 4 & 5. After having an awesome surf at Croyde, we went and checked out a Raglan like point break called Lynmouth on the way home and scored it by ourselves.

Leg 4 - Quiksilver Pro

The Quicksilver Pro 2005 was held from the 22 Sept - 2 Oct and is planned to conincide with the best time of the year for surf conditions. Once again the pro's scored perfect conditions and me and Emlyn were there to reap the rewards also. The follwoing are all pic's I took (except the 2nd to last one) while at the event (between surfing myself). For more pro pics and videos clips click on the "Quicksilver Pro 2005" link on the right hand column of this page Pic 1. Walking down to the contest site Pic's 2 & 3. The stage "La Graviere", Hossegor. Pic 4. The Crowd Pic 5. The Man, Kelly Slater. Slats only had to finish higher than Andy Irons to secure the title for the year but was knocked out in the quarters, Andy went on to win the event. Pic 6. NZ'er Maz Quinn got 2nd in the trials event allowing him to enter ther main event. He got through a few heats then came up against Andy Irons in round three. Maz got the wave of the heat, a huge left hand tube but got robbed by the scorers while AI got over scored and won in the last few seconds. Maz got blatantly robbed. Pic 7. Maz charged the huge, hollow surf and done NZ proud. Pic 8. The left, the pro's free-surfed this amazing bank all event

Pic's 9 & 10. Two angles on Mick Fanning's huge barrel in his against Jeremy Flores. This wave closed out on him after he rode it for about 50 metres. And he lost.