Redhead big surf 8-03-12

Dad and Grom Silhoutte Surfcheck Blacksmiths Beach 4/3/2012. The early sunlight blazing off the chop created a blinding glare. Alas the onshore wind was up already.

Blacksmiths surf check 04-03-12

Redhead Double ski 4/3/2012 Mick and Ray take a long line in.

Redhead double ski 04-03-12

Bird on watch Redhead Shark tower on a damp and gloomy morning 5/3/2012.

Bird on watch Redhead Sharktower 05-03-12

School of bream in the shallows of Lake Macquarie 5/12/2012.

Bream in lake Mac 5-02-12

Belmont Yacht races 5/2/12 These two boats pass at full throttle with not much to spare.

Belmont Yacht Races 05-02-12

Blacksmith’s Beach Litterer - the Crow.  The early bird gets it out of the bins for breakfast. Maybe we can train then to put it back in.

Blacksmiths Crow 05-03-12

Redhead sand dunes showing a bit of colour after some rain 5/3/2012.

Redhead Sand Dunes after rain 05-03-12

Redhead’s big rip 11/2/2012. There has been an awsome rip out the front of the 1st Creek for a while now that keeps you paddling the whole time to keep your lineup.

Redhead Beach Rip 11-02-12

Redhead Beach 22-1-12

Redhead Body Boarder 4/2/2012

Redhead Body Boarder 4-2-12

Redhead first Creek wind on the water 22/1/2012

Redhead 1st Creek1 22-1-12

Redhead Beach 4/2/2012

Redhead Beach 4-2-12

Redhead First Creek 22/1/2012

Redhead 1st Creek2 22-1-12

Redhead Shark Tower 21/1/2012

Redhead Shark Tower 21-1-12

Photos by Jo and Geoff from their New Zealand South Island hiking trip last week. Some beautiful landscapes, a very beautful place.

NZ South Isle1

NZ South Isle2

NZ South Isle3

NZ South Isle4

NZ South Isle5

NZ South Isle6

NZ South Isle7

NZ South Isle8

Poor Wendy (formerly named Bertha) the Chicken, somehow broke her leg. Dale and Zoe took her to the righteous vet at Raymond Terrace who set her leg in a cast.

Wendy in the cast

Poor Wendy had to be suspended in a basket and with lots of loving care was slowly on the mend.

Poor Wendy on the mend

Because she was so good, the next trip into the Vet for a checkup Wendy got a little special treatment.

Wendy picked out a video - her favourite Chicken Run of course.

Wendy picks Chicken Run

Wendy went in to try on some new shoes.

WBB goes shoe shopping

Wendy even picked a handbag to match.

WBB picks a matching handbag

Wendy paid from her own credit card.

WBB pays for the shopping

Wendy even got to sit on good Santa’s knee and tell him what she wanted for christmas.

Wendy and Santa

Wendy eventally got back out in the paddock with all her friends especially Scooby the horse, but now Wendy has a very unique Chicken Strut .

WBB back in the paddock

10/12/11 The surf was solid and choppy but this Redhead Body boarder finds a gem amongst the trying conditions.

Redhead bodyboarder 10-12-11

Rique Smith at Redhead with a selection of his dad Col Smith’s channel boards. Photo with thanks from David and Brendan.

Rique Smith with Col Smith channel boards

The shop is full of new boards, some second hand ones and a lot of surf gear.

Pacific Dreams 1

One of the features in the shop is a huge skylight highlighting 4  large surf photos. This one I took around 1975 of Roy lee and Martin Littlewood working together in a lantana covered chook shed at Redhead.

Pacific Dreams 2

PD owners Roy and Jan join the boys Ronnie and Bidsar in celebrating some hard work getting it all together.

Pacific Dreams 3

Roy enjoys a beer with Ronnie Rudder and board maker Peter McCabe.

Check out Grubby’s boards on web site www.petermccabesurfboards.com.au

Pacific Dreams 4

The girls in front of the huge amount of surf gear on offer.

Pacific Dreams 5

The PD boys enjoying a few beers.

Pacific Dreams 6

Chris and Megan Totterman with Roy in front of the wall of photos Chris worked hard in creating.

Pacific Dreams 7

Shane and Ronnie maybe trying to tell me there is something up on the roof.

Pacific Dreams 8

A rare trip in front of the camera Roy and Crow. We went to school together and started surfing together around 1964.

Pacific Dreams 9

Roy has a couple of beers literally, just remember Roy you got to get up early and get this shop up and running.

Pacific Dreams 10

An unlucky swimmer gets washed into some rough water at the Bogey Hole.

surf rescue1

Lucky he keeps a cool head and Newcastle Lifesaver Mick Body comes up on the Quad and makes his way down to the rock ledge. Mick signals to the guy to go further out.

surf rescue2

Mick dives in with the torpedo tube just in time to cop a set coming.

surf rescue3

Mick makes his way out through some heavy going.

surf rescue4

Mick gets close when the heaviest wave comes.

Surf Rescue5

No more images available. Mick got to the swimmer, the Jet Ski launched out from Nobby’s arrived soon after and takes them back to Newcastle Beach. A well coordinated rescue which showed some strength and courage and lucky the guy was a strong swimmer and kept his cool.

Black Ned’s Bay entrance from Swansea Channel

Black Neds Bay entrance 27-10-11

Pelicans on a sand spit at Black Ned’s Bay

Black Neds Bay Pelicans on sandspit 27-10-11

Boats moored at the entrance

Black Neds Bay Boats 27-10-11

There are lots of islands to explore

Black Neds Bay Islands 27-10-11

The mangrove trees reflect into the glassy water

Black Neds Bay Mangrove reflections 27-10-11

A Ski paddler comes the other way, a smile and a wave is common place

Black Neds Bay Ski Paddler 27-10-11

There are lots of pelicans here as the bottom is shallow and they can see their dinner

Black Neds Bay Pelican 27-10-11

The shallow water has some sharp oyster clusters to beware of. I suggest you don’t jump in, maybe wear booties in case

Black Neds Bay the sharp things on the bottom 27-10-11

Another spreading Mangrove tree with its reflection in the water

Black Neds Bay Big Mangrove 27-10-11

I took a  run under the Swansea Bridge and I noticed a bloke looking over with interest. I recognised it was Kevin Harman – the Lake Macquarie areas master of all things to do on water and a great bloke, I stopped for a chat. Kevin is an icon in our area having built and ridden surfboards in the 60′s, windsurfed in the 80′s then became the World Champ Masters ski paddler as well as winning Aussie State and Branch titles.

Kevin Harman at Swansea Bridge 27-10-11

Redhead Surfer 18/8/11

Redhead surfer 18-08-11 1

Redhead surfer 18/8/11

Redhead surfer 18-08-11 8

Redhead surfers 18/8/11

Redhead surfers 18-08-11 5

Redhead Bluff with the late arvo sun showing out its colour.

Redhead Bluff 18-08-11

But it went pearshaped Friday arvo 19/8/11 a strong front hit wiping the surf out for the weekend.

Storm coming 19/8/11

Redhead beach storm 19-08-11

Bad moon rising 19/8/11 Storm clouds on the way

Redhead stormy sky 19-09-11

Boys at the Barby  for TR’s 21st Crows Garage 1980

Crows Garage party 1977

Sidewinder cranking at the Mawson 1978 – Great Band!!

Sidewinder Mawson 1978

Chambers of Horror Newcastle Show 1979

Newcastle Show Chambers of Horror 1979

Peaceful Byron Bay early morning 1979

Bryon Bay 1980

Martin Littlewood and Roy Lee making boards in the old Chicken Shed down along the Redhead Road around 1976. Both are now established respected board makers. Martin as Delta Designs in Margaret River and Roy as Pacific Dreams in Newcastle.

Windsurfing was big in the 70’s and Jim Wiley was one of the best shown here at Blacksmiths.

This was a big day at Redhead in 2001, the waves were huge and some of the local guys were ripping. Unknown surfer.

Unknown surfer Redhead Beach July 2001

A classic line up at Byron Bay in the late 70’s

Bells Beach Surfing Competion in 1977. The surf was good and big for the finals. Sorry I can’t remember who it was.

Another good line up – Newcastle Cowrie Hole in 1978.

Out of control storm in June 2007 making a mess of Redhead beach. The storm grounded the Pascha Bulker at Nobby’s the day before.

Cold Chisel first came up to Newcastle in the late 1970’s and played at the local southern pubs and clubs the Orana, Belmont Sporties, Mawson, Swansea Workers and went on to bigger things quick. They always played their guts out and got a big Newcastle following. great guys too. Ian Moss wowed us with guitar, Jimmy Barnes revved the crowds, Don Walker’s songs made us listen and the beat was held by Phil and Steve.

Cold Chisel Group Shot Belmont Sporties 1980

 

Another hard working band, The Angels always kept the crowd on their feet hooting, with Doc bouncing around and the guitars riffing.

Jimmy and the boys were outrageous and played great stuff. Ignatious was a showman and always up to mischief to say the least. Rumours were he left a lot of gigs in the roadies gear boxes. Here at he Belmont Sporties  I had no idea what he was going to do next.

Cold Chisel toured Newcastle constantly making Newcastle a Chisel stronghold. The music suited our town’s working class fans and were always great shows.

After another great gig at the Mawson, Don Walker gets to sit down and relax and takes the jar going around. Don was always thinking… and well, just  maybe he comes up with inspiration and the first words for a new song (Cheap Wine).

Cold Chisel Sydney Stadium around 1978