Surfing 50 States

Billy from Philly

stefan_and_jonno — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:53:00 GMT

“Yeah, I drove my Jeep Wrangler down all those stairs one night”, claimed ‘Billy from Philly’. We had just told him how we had slid down the Philadelphia Arts Centre stairs on surfboards wearing grey track suits emulating Rocky Balboa. He continued to tell us how he had been a pro BMX rider in the 80s, was friends with the Jackass crew, and had once slid three full 360s in the rain in his car on a freeway, and then drove out of it unscathed! 2 hours earlier we had rolled into Battleboro, VT at dusk and made the third call to another ‘friend of a friend’ who said he could hook us up with accommodation. A few calls back down the line and we had the address of the restaurant Allan was working that night, which was the reason he wasn’t answering his phone. We were surprised the huge African-American bloke sporting crisp dreadlocks down to his buttocks answered “I’m Allan” when we enquired there. Allan was the friend of our metal-head Vermont contact who we had also never met. The bar tender was from Boston and when he found out we were Aussies and didn’t drink, he mixed us up some amazing mocktails of his “own creation”. We dropped the “still not sure where were staying tonight” line, and Allan lamented about his tiny apartment, but said he “knew a guy…” 5 minutes later we were escorted to another bar in the small alpine village reminiscent of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, and we were meeting ‘Billy from Philly’ who was “stoked to have a couple of Aussies stay at my place”. Billy was celebrating some over indulgent story on a Tuesday night and his offer for a shout was met with our well rehearsed line of “Nah, we don’t drink - I know, were very weird for Aussies”. He then claimed he “hardly ever drank either”, and a few of his friends at the bar nearly choked on their drink. Billy laughed heartily. It was about then we knew he probably fibbed a little bit. “Don’t worry we’ll get an early start to the snow tomorrow boys”. Midday rolled around and Billy had still not emerged from his room after last night’s random booty call, just after swearing his undying love of his Morman girl who had recently moved back to Utah. We packed up the car and headed up to Mount Snow laughing at Billy’s unbelievable stories. The highlight being, “Yeah, I was married once, we had the honeymoon in Jamaica, but then I decided it wasn’t for me!” While trying to persuade the management at the resort to let us ‘surf’ the snow, we were denied outright until we mentioned we were filming for Fuel TV (very un-confirmed at the time). Within a few minutes we had waiver forms under our nose to sign away responsibility for any injuries from ‘surfing related activities’. Then we had a private change room to slip into our wetsuits, booties and gloves and we were out on the snow. We had most the staff and ski-patrol watching, filming and joining in as we pointed the surfboard (minus fins) down the beginners run for as long as balance would allow. Billy was hooting and laughing while sporting one of our extra wetties, and after a few speedy runs shouted, “this is the most fun I’ve had”, then he saw our surprised looks, he quickly added “…In a few weeks”.

Wiggedy Wak!

stefan_and_jonno — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:44:00 GMT

“Yo, are you filmin’ for Mtv or somthin? Coz I’m a rapper”, whined ‘J’ into the camera. J actually was very buzzed, and having a fun night in Vegas. “We from St. Louis. We got big stacks in St. Louis”, ‘C’ chimed in as he pulled a large handful of scrunched up $20 bills from his pocket and proceeded to drop them from his hand to the ground, all the while flashing his shiny gold grills into the camera. Then as the wind started to blow his ‘big stacks’ away he shuffled around the ground collecting the bills. “Don’t show this bit, just show the bit of me dropping it on the ground”, he slurred. It’s amazing who you will meet when you have a semi-professional video camera on Las Vegas Boulevard at night. But these two topped them all. ‘J’ and ‘C’ proceeded to explain that they own a Hip Hop clothing store aptly named ‘The Shop’ in St. Louis, MO, and that we have to come and visit them when we come through. After we told them that we were travelling all 50 states and attempting to surf in each of them they felt obliged to narrate to the camera in drawling street slang that, “Jonno and Stefan are surfing the 50 states, they’re surfing from East to West, North Meridian to South Meridian, it don’t matter if there’s aint no waves or water, they gonna surf anyway.” “Yeah and when we come to St. Louis were gunna surf with you”, announced Stefan, who had become a bit too excited at encountering these over the top white boy gangsters. And even after explaining to the camera our quest was to surf anything possible, C replied, “You can’t surf in St. Louis!” We exchanged business cards and went our separate ways on The Strip, taking with us over 30 minutes of gold footage of white boy Hip Hop at it’s finest. We tried to call J & C on the number provided on their card a few times over the trip but they never answered or called back. After being lost in the ghetto of Nth St. Louis for over an hour we pulled our Ice Cream Truck up in the parking space directly in front of The Shop. We looked into the wire mesh covered windows and saw the bemused faces of C and J staring back at us and then exchanging confused conversation. “Ay, dint we meet you boys in Vegas?”, twanged J as we entered the store. “Yeah mate, do you remember you gave us your card, so we found your shop to take you surfing”, Stefan replied nervously. “Wooooooooooo, we must have been toasted!”, cackled C as slight comprehension came to him. The next hour consisted of us trying on ghetto clothes way too big for us, burning some Aussie Hip Hop cds for the boys, and ever-flowing priceless home-boy pearls of wisdom. We talked C & J into closing up the shop. “Yeah, we the bosses, we can do what we want”. Posting a closed sign on the door. ‘Gone Surfing, back later’. Then escorting us through peak hour traffic to the banks of the Mississippi River, under the Welcome Arch in the city. We got out our trashiest boards and all took turns sliding down the stairs and the cobblestones under the Arch and laughing like little girls (we found out after that they had smoked a bit on the drive in). There were some big stacks of the falling-over kind and some big quotes, “Ay, we aint just people off the street, we got money!”, C kept yelling into the camera. Whenever we left anyone we tried to remember to ask them all the same question, “If you could pass on one piece of advice to the kids of today, what would you say?”. “Don’t look at anyone on the TV, or in the streets or at school and try and copy them, just be yowself”, answered J ironically. “Also”, C added, “when your parents tell you to start saving for a car when yow young, you do that, coz when you are in high school you can afford a pimp car, then you get ALLLL the girls”. The moral of this story – you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, these were the nicest boys, but just by looking at them on the street we would have crossed over the other side to avoid them I rekon!

Surfing 50 States on OZ TV

stefan_and_jonno — Tue, 3 Apr 2007 16:01:00 GMT

Check out Sports Tonight (Channel 10) TONIGHT, Sunrise tomorrow morning on 7 at 7.30am, and the Channel 7 news that night for appearances of the Surfing 50 States crew!! Proudly displaying Worldnomads.com on our surfboard! Also did Triple J, ABC National Radio - mX newspaper, Geelong Addy, Manly Daily, The Echo, and STAB MAG coming soon! Plus many more we hope! Thanks for your assistance with our trip! It helped us get through a tight spot there! Cheers mate again! JONNO and STEFAN www.surfing50states.com +61 403 396 081 P.S. Check the website for some new movies or check out youtube.com and type Surfing 50 States in the search bar!! Check ya!

FINAL CHAPTER!!

stefan_and_jonno — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:54:00 GMT

SURFING 50 STATES IS COMPLETE - Watch the Hawaiian News on You Tube!! After a day of fun on the east coast of Oahu snorkeling and hiking, we felt it was time to hit the North Shore - The mecca of Surfing. We’d heard the surf was small knee to shoulder high so we drove up to check afew breaks, finally ending up at Banzai Pipeline, the most well known break in the world. We paddled out, just like any other surf, except today marked the completion of our adventure of Surfing 50 States. Jonno pulled into a wave, then I scored one 5 minutes later. I let out a massive hoot, which made no sense to anyone as Im sure I kooked out the wave, but nevertheless I was stoked on life. I paddled back out to Jonno, both of us laughing and realizing what we’d just accomplished... We Surfed every state of the USA!!! We thanked God for the blessed trip, and the opportunity to meet every unique & motivating individual that we did along this crazy journey. 7 months earlier when we left Sydney airport I couldn’t even think of Surfing Hawaii (let alone uncrowded pipe) and especially after 6 weeks of the trip, having only surfed in 3 states Im sure people were doubting us a little, thinking we might not make it. The truth is, we would not have if it wasn’t for ‘the people’. I’d love to name every single person that I met on this trip right now, but they all know who they are. Without the generosity that was displayed toward us we would have ran out of money, frozen to death in our ice cream truck, and given up due to boredom, but the thought of meeting new faces everywhere we went kept us stoked, and the actual surfing was just a bit of extra fun, like it should be. Over the next few months I will be working with Jonno to create our movie / DVD ‘Surfing 50 States’ which we are planning on screening around the USA and Australia. Editing 75 hours down to the best 1 hour will be a challenge, but one we are looking forward to. Around August / September we are expecting it to be ready to premiere, and although you are all busy we ask you to keep in touch with the website frequently, to watch teasers from our film, and ofcourse to find out when ‘Surfing 50 States’ the movie is coming near your local cinema. Once again thank you EVERYONE for believing in us, and helping Jonno and I reach our dream. Remember nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it. Find what it is you truly love and chase it. Life is to short to sit around in the one place, go travel the world with an open mind and live every minute of every day, cuz ya never know when it’ll end. God Bless, STEFAN & JONNO PS - Just incase y’all forgot how we surfed in every state, check out our Recap. www.surfing50states.com

Surfing Arizona Dessert

stefan_and_jonno — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:59:00 GMT

Checked out Grand Canyon at 7am this morning for a pretty amazing sunrise! Then hoofed it to a few other top secret spots for other views as the sun crept into the Canyon - it was cold too!! Snow in the Canyon - never expected that! Cruised up to Page, AZ to try and find a boat to tow us in the Lake Powell - we asked around, and around, but no luck so we cruised back into town and had an awesome sandwich at The Sandwich Place - met the owner and before we knew it, one of Page’s first citizens and a true Arizonan cowboy, Jesse was driving us around town to find a boat. We ended up at Al’s place and he suggested a silky smooth sand dune with red rock sandstone background - we were onto it (and Al also offered a place to stay...and some awesome sausage!). We cruised 20 miles out of town and grabbed a couple of boards to see Randy and Claire (an earlier potential boat owner and his daughter from South Dakota) rock up to watch us surf the desert. We get a few fun runs in and Randy has a shot, but Claire just poses for a photo on the board. Pack up and cruise back to Al’s for some lessons in how to make sausage - elk, beef, chicken, teriyaki, habanero, etc etc. they make it, smoke it, store it, pack it and it is gooood! Jesse came around with some Mountain Lion meat (yes that’s correct - we ATE COUGAR!). 49 states surfed - redoing NEVADA (Vegas) and CALI (OC, and Ventura), then Hawai’i is our LAST STATE - Who would have thought we’d actually look like completing this Surfing 50 States thing!! Arizona Desert Warriors, JONONONONONO and STFEFEFEFEFEFAN P.S. Stefan gave himself a 5 minute haircut with $3.17 scissors he bough from a gas station - It is TERRIBLE - hahahaha - actually it’s pretty good for the time and cost - very original!

Yeehaaaaaaa!! Texas!

stefan_and_jonno — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:15:00 GMT

Incase you haven’t noticed, we like to experience the stereotypical ‘corny’ features that the region/state is known for. Since I was a kid, when i heard of Texas, I thought cowboy. Although this was like saying all Aussies are croc wrestlers, you cant fight the desire to get ya corny on. So today Jonno and I became Cowboys, wearin our hats, boots, buckles and all. Our host Erik had done his research and found a cattle run going down that morning, so we headed off to Fort Worth, Texas - Known as "Cowtown" for its roots as a cattle drive terminus, Fort Worth bills itself as "Where the West begins" and still celebrates its colorful Western and Southern heritage. I stole that from Wikipedia, pretty smart ay! Anyway we checked out the local knife store, gandered thru the boot store where we found some nice alligator cowboy boots for only $5000, then grabbed some texan BBQ lunch. After stopping off at Billy Bobs worlds largest Honky Tonk - A honky tonk is a type of bar with musical entertainment common in the Southwestern and Southern United States, also called honkatonks, honkey-tonks, tonks or tunks. Yeh Wikipedia is goin off today! So from Fort Worth we cruised back to Erik’s place in Denton where we met Matt, Eriks work associate. After downing some warm drinks (yeh it was cold today people!) we cruised out to a local ranch where we met Texas cowboy Rich, who was excited about getting involved in our lil project. After throwing around ideas we suggested getting towed behind a horse on a surfboard, and without hesitation Rich was getting the saddle ready. Erik, Matt, Jonno & Myself all surfed behind Moola (Rich’s horse) but with howling winds and cold weather we froze quickly and only had acupla rides each. The Puddle in the middle of the paddack was an awesome addition to the session, resulting in some hilarious stacks and bodies covered in mud, water and other brown material you don’t wanna think about to much. Anyway it was an awesome afternoon much thanks to our texas cowboy mates. Oil Tankers and Cowboy Surfing in Texas, definitely a state to remember. The Cowboy Kids www.surfing50states.com

New Orleans

stefan_and_jonno — Wed, 7 Feb 2007 18:34:00 GMT

Throughout America we’d been warned about New Orleans, that when we go there to be very careful as crime has become a means of survival since hurricane Katrina. Luckily enough our mate Chad from Alabama was Louisiana born and bred, and offered to drive 3 hours west to show us around on his day off. He made the journey with Cory, another Alabama surfer we were lucky enough to meet when we scored waves there 5 days earlier. Whilst the French Quarter, Mississippi River and above ground coffins in Cemeteries were all fun to check out, it was equally amazing to see the devastation caused by Katrina. The levies that failed caused flooding throughout many neighborhoods in the suburbs, wiping out houses and forcing people to leave town. The past week of the trip has been a real humbling experience, entering neighborhoods that were washed away, or even exist no more, you cant help but empathize with the local communities and remind yourself how lucky you are. Later in the afternoon Chad, Cory, Jonno and myself headed south to Lafitte, Louisiana to chickity check out the bayou’s and try our best at convincing someone to tow us behind an airboat on our surfboards. Unfortunately we couldnt find anyone stupid enough to do it, and after hearing the dangers of airboating it was probably better off we didn’t. Altho we were real keen to try it, we scrapped that idea, and as the afternoon was getting on headed to a scenic swampland trail where we saw these overweight, gigantic dirty rats known as nutria’s. The closest description is like combining a rat, wombat & otter and hoping for the best. Anywhoozie from Lafitte, we headed back to New Orleans, picked up Chad’s mum and headed into town for some Po-Boys and Jambalaya at Mothers restaurant. After scoffing down some local cuisine, we headed out to the airport (via home) to pick up my sister, who had flown in after spending some time in Florida & Georgia. We dropped her bags home, had some King Cake (Mardi Gras tradition) and headed into Bourbon Street. Checked out quite afew places, collected as many Mardi Gras beads as possible, and partied the night away. We got back home late that night, giving Chad & Cory 3 hours sleep and an early rise to drive to Alabama! Krazy Southern Kids! Surfin Louisiana somewhere, somehow, sometime... tomorrow. New Orleans Krew!

Sweet Home Alabama

stefan_and_jonno — Thu, 1 Feb 2007 18:03:00 GMT

Today we surfed in Alabama! Thats right people, Alabama! I figured that there may be some small waves as it is in the gulf but NOeeee, we scored head hight super fun waves, and even offshore winds in the arvo! Surfed with alotta local fellas, who were killing it out there! So from the surf we headed home, showered up, chucked some warm dry threads on and headed over to Chad’s house. He’s a Louisiana boy thru & thru, and if all works out he’s gonna meet us in New Orleans and give us a tour with all his mates! So Chad and his lovely wife cooked up heaps of crawfish (yabbies) and king shrimp (prawns) for everyone (Chuck, Dave, Johnie, John, Corry and the rest of em) to enjoy. After chilling out there for a while we thought what better Alabama experience is there than going to the local pub, ‘mudbugs’ to see Dave’s friend Billy play the gee-tar! Well within 2 minutes of walking thru the door Jonno and myself were up on stage singing along to Sweet Home Alabama, definitely one of the funniest experiences of the trip! Billy didn’t think that was enough for us tho, so he started playing ‘Land Down Under’ for Jonno and I to rock it out to! Then steps up one of the bartenders and sings/dances ‘These boots are made for walking’ which was “dedicated to the Australian surfers”. Great day with Awesome people! Gotta love Sweet Home Alabama! Hoorroo Cockatoo! Steefaan & Jownow We surfed the next day as the swell hung around which was AMAZING - and the MOBILE NEWS came out to film! Check it out here http://www.wkrg.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WKRG/MGArticle/KRG_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192996971 http://web.mac.com/surfing50states/iWeb/Surfing%2050%20States/Blog/742507AD-78A2-48E7-BBF8-9ECAF7015850_files/shapeimage_1.png

42 Down - 8 to go!

stefan_and_jonno — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:27:00 GMT

CHILLIN' IN MIAMI! So we have surfed 42 states out of our 50 and we can't believe it! It seems like yesterday we had only surfed 4 states and we were 1 and a half months into the trip saying, "Can we actually do this or are we in too deep?" Now we want it to slow down - we only have to head along the southern states back to California then we fly to Hawaii for our 50th and final state!! So we got down to Orlando a few days ago to pick up Courtney, Stefan's sister...we were very late of course and the nect day we celebrated her 21st birthday by shouting her DISNEY WORLD!! Actually we knew someone who worked for the mouse so we got hooked up! AMAZING day - full of wonders and MAGIC! And all our dreams came true, except for a few really weird one Stefan has!! Our highlight was in the Epcot Park which we also scammed for free by making a reservation at a Teppanyaki restaurant in Japan (Epcot has "The World", which is a series of around 10 themed areas from different countries! Very Cool! No Australia though - dissapointing! The next day our host Russ took us out to his buddy Chad's house on a private lake for some private wakebaording/wakesurfing lessons on his beautiful Malibu boat. We spent all day on the lake and finally got the wake right for some surfing without holding onto the rope! FUUUUUN! They told us afterwards they have spotted a few large alligators sliding into the lake...this was AFTER they let me paddle by surfboard half of the lake back to the jetty for some excercise. The weather was sooo nice and warm after spending so many months in the Northern States through winter!! Drove the next day down to Miami and have been chilling down here and eating Cuban Food for a few nights with Lou from Wateryeye Images who is going to take water shots of us surfing (when we get some waves!) and snorkelling down in the Florida Keys - YEWWWWW! Pumped! Planning on spending a week in FL as we are running a free learn to surf day in Cocoa Beach on Saturday with Hurley and NEX GENERATION Surf School! Can't Wait! Should be huge! Then back up through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona (Back to Nevada - VEGAS, and Cali), then fly to Hawaii to finish!! The dream is becoming a reality, just wish it would slow down a bit!! Living the Dream, Jonty and Steve!

Best East Coast Waves

stefan_and_jonno — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 11:23:00 GMT

Crackin East Coast Surf! Charlston, South Carolina. We’d heard the stories, seen the pictures, watched the video’s and been told “You should have been here last week” but were yet to score good surf. Well today the East Coast finally lived up to its name. We arrived at Folly beach around 1:30pm to find only one surfer out and knarley barrels rolling thru. We chucked on the wetties, our awesome friend Emily volunteered to film and we paddled out. Thanks to txt messaging within 30 minutes there was probably 30 guys out and more arriving so we drifted down the beach a little and pulled into fun shoulder height closeouts. My fin system on my board was buggered so I had to surf with only one fin, making me appreciate usually having 3 of em. Earlier that day we had been informed that our interview on ESPN was airing 10:55 so we waited, and waited, and waited. Got the call later that it had been changed to 1:30 so we chilled out, had lunch at Jacks and got a call at 1:20pm to say it had been delayed until next Wednesday as they had breaking news. It was all good cuz now we could go surfing. So after our shandangles Jonno, myself & Emily left the beach and headed back to Charleston where we met Courtney who had been busy in art class drawing dead fish. We showered, scrubbed up, looked nice and headed out for a southern meal at Boulevard Diner. We drank sweat tea, ate Shrimp & Gritz, colligreens, okra's, Cajun Meatloaf, Sweet potato and crab cakes topped off by a slice of hummingbird cake and coconut cake. Dinner at the Diner was an awesome experience to remember, but the night was far from over. We headed into town, to a local bar that offers Salsa dancing to anyone and everyone. Jonno and I were still stoked from the waves that we thought ‘what the heck lets show what Australia is made of on the dance floor’ so we hit it up but were defeated by the moves of the ‘salsa people’. We accepted they knew what they were doing and like any good person embrace this south american culture. Without dance partners Courtney & Emily we would’ve been all over the shop, and altho we may have brought down their level heaps of fun was had! We invented some of the most mind boggling moves into the early hours of the morning, giving us something to be excited about and the pro’s something to laugh at. Back to home for a comfy sleep with the lingering thought we were going for an early surf that morning. Charleston, South Carolina. Good food. Great dancing. Amazing people. Tango & Bango. http://web.mac.com/surfing50states/iWeb/Surfing%2050%20States/Blog/7AC9CE1B-36E0-4E1D-A0E0-6E1E37C12FDD_files/P1190019.jpg

Surfing Washington D.C.

stefan_and_jonno — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 11:20:00 GMT

Surfing DC After waking to a call from Paul (Our Washington DC contact who was super keen to show us a good time) we hit the road and headed south to the nations capitol. We had truck troubles (surprise!) and met Paul at a mechanic in Fairfax, Virginia, just outside DC. Abe our friendly mechanic said he would take car of our truck and get us on the road ASAP. From there we headed to the train station and picked up Russ, the boating expert. He had taken the day off work to surf in Washington, something you don’t do everyday! So he revved the little dinghy, we grabbed rope, surfboards and wetsuits and cruised out on the Potomac River, where rumor has it the male fish actually lay eggs as a result of pollution or something along those lines. We thought that was funny, and the locals thought we were funny for thinking that was funny. So we cruised around in the Potomac’s frigid waters, directly outside the Abraham Lincoln Memorial. It was a great time and we even convinced Russ to hop in and surf for a while! Paul was feeling a little crook so we let him rest up, but he still had a massive smile over his face! From surfing we headed out to dinner at a fancy restaurant and Paul’s native cuisine, Indian. The food was delishamous and we sat around sharing stories and cracking jokes! When the waiter offered the desert menues we gave him one look and he instantly knew none of us could fit in another bite. From there we cruised back to Russ’s house... which is on water. He lives in the harbour in a knarley yacht, and has done so for 3 years. He’s a water guy, and loves anything to do with surfing, boating and the ocean in general. We chilled out for a while then the eyelids started getting heavy so we cruised back to Paul’s shantey. Headed off to bed, knowing full well that the alarm was set for 6:30am! Big day tomorrow! Washington Surfers, S & J

Surfing Times Square & Meeting Mum

stefan_and_jonno — Sat, 6 Jan 2007 11:17:00 GMT

http://web.mac.com/surfing50states/iWeb/Surfing%2050%20States/Blog/0F797A99-5143-4280-92D2-A10847E18577_files/P1070043.jpg Meeting Mum & Surfing Times Square! Howdy Folks, Jonno here comin to ya straight outta New York! So today we met my Mum and Stepdad Stephen at the Guggenheim Museum. We were supposed to be there at 11.30am, but we were late! We were also supposed to get up at 6am to go for a surf down the coast but we had a late night and noone set an alarm so we woke up a lot later! I skated ahead and caught the subway and the others caught a cab later on. Jen (our marvellous hostess) used to work at ‘The Goog’ so she hooked up up with tix! It was an excellent exhibition of Spanish painters over different periods so there were Picasso’s and Dali’s. The building is amazing also with the spiraling rotunda! Jen went home to help Brooke (our other marvelous hostess) cook dinner and the rest of us walked through Central Park on a beautiful summer feeling winter’s day. Went to Strawberry Fields and saw the IMAGINE mosaic and we had a drink at the Cafe where John Lennon used to have a cuppa! We then went to Harry’s Burrito’s for some hearty mexican food which Mum and Stephen hadn’t yet experienced! Goodbye to the folks for the day as we made to subway journey back to Brooklyn to help Jen and Brook finish dinner before the guests arrived! Max, Garry, Becca, August, Willow, Amy, Jeff, Mike, Mike and others joined us 5 for an excellent dinner party with fantastic food and a killer game of pictionary. Aussie words are quite hard to draw and guess it turns out! So at 1am, the decision was made it was finally time to surf NYC! We loaded up the Ice-Cream Truck with about 10 guests and drove into Times Sqaure. We found a dodgy carpark, strapped a skateboard to the surfboard, dressed up as Dazza from Dubbo (Stefan), Johan from Sweden (Jonno), and Santa....from Germany (Max the German). We rolled down to middle Times Square and proceeded to film us surfing in New York in Times Square at 2am! At this time of night we definitely met some crazies and we had a WHOLE LOT of people join us in ‘giving surfing a go!’ All the 10 crew from the Brooklyn dinner party, a few local kids from Harlem, and 2 Jewish brothers who proceeded to execute 2 backflips on the ground and land on a guy surfing who had a pretty big wipe-out. FUNNY! Santa (max) was a HUGE hit with everyone (even thought Christmas was 10 days ago! Everyone loves Santa and the highlight of the night was a group of people who thought we were from M-tv chanting “We Love Dubbo” over and over again! HILARIOUS! Load up the truck and drive back to Brooklyn for bed at 3.30am! SURFING NYC, Johan and Dazza....and lots of friends!

NYE in NYC

stefan_and_jonno — Mon, 1 Jan 2007 11:15:00 GMT

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Two thousand and seven, apparently the year of the wild pig. I was talking to a Japanese house Removalist who told me this insightful information, explaining that 07 is the year to go for it, or as he said ‘charge’. Pretty much just like a wild pig in the outback.... Although every local from Brooklyn told us NOT to do Times Square our ‘Tourist Alter-Ego’ took over and at midnight we watched the ball drop with over 1 million people squished like sardines going CRAZY! The atmosphere was rad, the energy even knarlier! Just like anywhere in the world, New Years celebrations are a time to become complete strangers best friends. Walking the streets of New York wishing everyone a ‘Happy New Year’ and dancing in the street with people we will probably never see again. Taking pictures (like the one above) and having random people jump in, and its because they can, everyone is family. The party went on until early morning until we could no longer keep our eyelids open. (So we found these terrible touristy ‘2007 glasses’ on the ground and wore them to cover up the tiredness). Everyone was exhausted and 5AM we hit the hay. An Amazing night of smiles, stupidity and stoke. Once again HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone around the world. Make 2007 the neatest year everrr. Party Kat & Farty Rat

Waterfall Surfing Massettusetts

stefan_and_jonno — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 11:08:00 GMT

http://web.mac.com/surfing50states/iWeb/Surfing%2050%20States/Blog/002DBEB2-6428-4874-A38B-A56DA1F51672_files/PC210099.jpg More Mass Surfing! We met Kevin and Greg last night at the Greenburgs - they are local Massastusetts surfers and will surf right thru the winter! We had spyed a little waterfall over a dam in the upper Charles River just near the Greenburgs and we were discussing the possibilities of surfing the drop-off to the waterfall, they have always wanted to drop over the falls....today, was their time (the last line needs to be said in an action movie trailer voiceover). We drove down to the river and scoped out the falls - looked pretty crazy - Most people said NO, but I said LET’S DO IT (but before that I said...let’s check it out by walking around under the waterfall and making sure it’s not rocky, and not too strong currents, and that it’s safe, and then I was all GO!). Plus our wetsuits were literally frozen as we hadn’t dried them from New Hampshire Surfing. So we thawed them in the sun a bit. Then we borrowed some lifejackets, and strapped on bright pink elbow and knee pads...we were ready to go! So I took the first drop on a bodyboard, and went head first over the falls and came up ok down the bottom so it was time to try the surfboard! And man o man was the water COLD! I paddled to the top of the falls and as I was dropping down the vertical face of water, I jumped up to my feet and ‘surfed’ down the waterfall, then hit the bottom and ‘came-a-cropper’ (fell off) - no injuries - lots of loud cheering (loudest from me!) - Let’s go surfing! The other boys suited up and before we knew it, Stefan, Kevin, Greg and I were all surfing down the falls on surfboards, bodyboards, and plain bodies at the same time, while Caroline and Jenna filmed and took photos - Hilarious, exhilarating...and FREEZING. In fact, just 20 feet up the river, the river bend had frozen over so I went for a paddle through the ICE! I had to smash it with my fists as I paddled to break through the ice to get right across the ice section. Fun! We packed up, said goodbye to the boys (who had just named the waterfall break “Aussies” as we were the first ones to surf it!), then prepared to make the drive to Rhode Island. Thanks Greenburgs (Mama and Papa Green, Jed, Max, Jenna), Andjew Freid, Kevin, Greg, and of course Kazza for making our stay in Boston so AWESOME! Drive to Providence, Rhode Island and get lost down town, check out the Mall, then meet Liz Giles (who you met earlier in Kennybunk, Maine), and out for dinner, then early night, bed! Your favourite Boston waterfall surfers, JONNO “Cowabunga” DURRANT and STEFAN “Totally Bodacious” HUNT

Surfing the Snow, Vermont

stefan_and_jonno — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 11:05:00 GMT

Surfing Mount Snow, Vermont So after a massive sleep we chilled out with Billy our crazy host, got ready slowly and headed up to Mount Snow, Vermont. After talking to Public Relations and Marketing we convinced them that we would not put anyone else in danger and they gave the go ahead... that was after signing forms that had been modified to ‘any injury from surfing’. So we chucked on the wetsuits, grabbed our boards and took the chair lift to the top. There wasn’t very much powder around which made it a little harder, but nevertheless we did the best we could. After afew attempts we realised it was a matter of point and shoot surfing, just hoping to stay on the board than even think about turning. Billy, Luke, Jello, JJ, Connie and alot of the crew were laughin and giving this surfing thing a go. Lots of stacks were witnessed but all in all it was a rad day. Check out this knarley little video that Luke from Mount Snow hooked up for us! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI6CvuuSUn0 Yewww! Cheers Luke and all the crew at Mount Snow for hookin us up, you guys are dope! SH & JD

Surfing the Rocky Steps

stefan_and_jonno — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 11:01:00 GMT

ROCKYsurf. After 3 hours of sleep we rise and shine at 4:45am! Take our time to pack our stuff, say goodbye to Steph, thank her for looking after us and leave the ‘601’ house (We love 601). So we head into the city, get lost but finally find the Art museum around 6:30am. Dress up in our grey tracksuits, stretch, and head to the top of the stairs at Philadelphia Art Museum, where the famous scene from Rocky was filmed. As we reach the top we throw our arms high above our heads, run in circles and punch the air like there are million of invisible ninjas around us! Jonno dragged the foamie Surfboard up the stairs, all the way to the top, placed the board at the edge of the stairs and got his Ozzie Knarr on! There were only 10 stairs per set, then big flat spots so as hard as we tried we could not get a double set crankin, nevertheless it was rad an fun times were had. Endless cars were beeping at us as they went on their way to work, wondering what these wacky kids were doin. After building up a massive sweat just like Rocky, we were on our way north to Vermont. We Left Pennsylvania (sadly), entered and departed New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and after 6 hours we arrived in Brattleboro, Vermont. We tried calling our ‘friend of a friend of a friend’ contact Allan but no answer, so we had no idea where we were going to sleep. Called around and finally found out where Allan was working, tracked the place down, introduced ourself and went and got some dinner whilst Allan worked. We headed back there later, and Allan had the good news he had found us a place to stay. So we headed to another joint were we met a crazy character named ‘Billy from Philly’. We hung out for a while, I was struggling to keep my eyes open, and the thought of bed was so appealing, so eventually we headed off to Billy’s place. He hooked up a bed and couch, and we conked out for some shut eye. Looks like there is a chance of surfing on the mountains tomorrow... Hooroo ya Cockatoo! Stefan & Jonno

Memphis Surfing with Elvis

stefan_and_jonno — Mon, 4 Dec 2006 10:54:00 GMT

Memphis Surfing with Elvis! So we woke early, showered, and got our groove on back to Forest City, Arkansas. After heading in the wrong direction we finally made it, where Mr.Mechanic and the gang where waiting. So 9-am they start to work on the motor, fixing n fiddling, replacing and repairing. Hooked us up with our 2nd alternator for the trip, and continued to work on our rig. Forest City isn’t famous for its tourism, and we could see why. Our entertainment was watching the different characters of all different nationalities walk in and fire up conversations about anything from marriage at the age of 13 to tornadoes that rolled thru in 1974. Around 4:30-pm Mr.Mechanic was finished, so we paid him a little more for some new parts and we were on our way. Back to Memphis, Tennessee to try and surf then head to Nashville, Tennessee if we had the time... which we didn’t. So we rolled into Beale St, the most famous street in all of Memphis. After 5pm part of the road is barricaded but we’d been hooked up with permission thru Darren, JJ’s (our rad host) good mate. So we pulled in just before 6-pm, scoped it out and went searching for an elvis costume. No such luck, only plastic wigs n glasses. So we grabbed one of them, called up JJ to come down and surf with us and in the meantime Jonno got a shoeshine from Ernest, the local polisher. We grabbed some BBQ sandwiches from BB Kings joint, scoffed em down and started to spread the word that Beale St was about to be surfed. JJ and Liz rock up and we get this show on the road. Scrounge around the truck for random clothes from thrift stores, trying our best to look like Elvis. Strap two skateboards to the bottom of a surfboard, whip the camera out and we’re good to rock n’ roll! Whilst the ‘surfing’ was not extreme in any way, it was great to see Elvis cruising around his home town on a surfboard, and more importantly the people who we met on the street. The response was great, and at least 10 people surfed with us in Beale St Memphis, which we thought must have been some type of record. There were smiles from ear to ear on everyone that gave it a go, and especially the onlookers walking up and down the street. Our mission in Tennessee was complete, to surf, share the experience, and have some fun times. The party was not over in Memphis for the night. We headed back to JJ’s where him & Jimmy were throwin’ an ‘FMM’ (First Monday of the Month) partaaay! Probably 80 people rocked up for some good times in JJ’s shanty. DJ Tree was spinning the vinyl, or if you’re a true B boy then the decks of respect. Not really, I heard that in a movie once. But times were knarley and we met some crazy kids! JJ, Jimmy, Twitch, Clay, Aaron (DJ A.Boss), Rahul, Biggers, Alex, Alex, Anna, Brianna, etc etc etc all rocked it out, and Clay even performed a rad song on guitar for the camera that you just may see in the movie. He’s a talented guy, and got some great stories. Alex offered us to stay at his apartment, overlooking the Mississippi river. We were trashed, so we headed home knowing it was another early 7-am start, heading to Nashville, Tennessee. Cheers to the great Memphis hospitality, and shout outs to JJ for looking after us like a tiger would look after its cubs. 23 states down, 27 to go... or 29 for the Aussies who thought there were 52 states. BB Hunt & Elvis Durrant

THANKSGIVING & FOOTY - Thats America

stefan_and_jonno — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 09:21:00 GMT

WEDNESDAY

Thanksgiving is a traditional day when family & friends comes together to give thanks for the blessings and one another...and eat a LOT! We were lucky enough to experience our first Thanksgiving with the Fletchers, and friends. The pic above is three generations of Fletchers - Billi, Steel and Blake plus Anderson. Plus honorary guests Jonno and Stefan

Betty cooked up an amazing meal which included Turkey, Ham, Sweet Potato, Greens, Pineapple crumble, Dressing, Fruit Salad jelly, Rolls, Gravy, and my personal favourite - Sweet Potato with Marshmallows! I was surprised, it was really YUM!

Before dinner we all held hands and said a prayed of thanks for the blessings of the year and for family and friends - AMEN!

Stefan and I both ate two huge plate fulls of amazing food in the Fletcher’s beautiful house and answers lots of questions about Australia, while we asked lots about Arkansas!

Desert was a treat of Ice-cream cake, pumpkin pie and rum cake (no alcohol)!

Then we were treated to an awesome rendition of the Arkansas Razorbacks themesong with Betty leading the chorus and Anderson beating it out on his mini drum kit! Great!

We said bye to everyone and Steel and Blake took us round to Jamie Anderson’s to check out his Turkey he just fried, then drove us back to Little Rock!

Thanks Fletcher’s for welcoming us into your home and for an amazing first thanksgiving...and some awesome food!

THURSDAY

For our real Thanksgiving Day we were invited to Yate’s girlfriend’s family’s home. So Laura, Stefan and I picked Yates up at the outontherock.com house and headed over and met the family. We had some awesome food, football and family which is what we’ve come to understand thanksgiving is all about! Thanks Jessica and family, we had a great day!

We watched out little segment on the Channel 7 news and it was hilarious! The Aussie accents shined through very strong and there were some shots of Jamie and Yates and us surfing the Minnow Pond!! Our names were pronounced as Jonathan and Stephen too!

Later that night Yates, Jean, Josh and Caleb took us around to Efram and Kevin’s house where we hung out with some cool people such as Roberto (on Air Force exchange from Spain), Jack (rich, redneck, playboy and awesome C-Rapper (Country Rapper)), and many more! All in all, a great day!

FRIDAY

Today was a huge game in College Football - The number 5 rated Arkansas Razorbacks Vs the number 8 rated Louisiana State University Fighting Tigers. These tickets were the hottest ticket in town with scalpers asking over $300 for $35 tix! Kick off was at 1.30pm and when we arrived to tailgate at about 11am, we were greeted with an amazing sight! An ocean of camper-vans, trailers, SUVs, barbecues, beanbag boards, and red and white. We joined the ‘Redneck Tailgaters’ with Jamie and friends right in front of the stadium (once we found them), and got some awesome bbq, conversations and tips for the game. We didn’t have tickets, so we hung out and watched one of the many televisions set up in the parking lot. Then Yates got a call from Efram who had a much bigger TV over the other side of the stadium (A whole golf course full of vehicles and tailgaters). We found them and watched some football and played some beanbag-throwing-into-the-hole-on-a-board-at-the-other-side game. I’m sure that’s no the official name, but I never found it out and that kinda explains it! We played two games of Australia vs USA (Stefan and I vs 2 seppos), we won both - the second game was a nail biter!

Back to Jamie’s tailgate at half time where there were 3 tickets waiting for us from his friends who had decided to spend the second half outside, so we waltzed in and roamed the stadium looking for spare seats - no go. So we stood right on the boundary line and watched an awesome game unfold. We were obviously going for THE HOGS (Arkansas), and they were always just a few points behind. Then Heisman Trophy potential (apparently a big deal over here) Darren McFadden ran through everyone to score. Then LSU returned the kick right through the the end zone - BOO! Then Hogs scored one more, but couldn’t get the last score to win. Close game, great atmosphere, great fun!

We cooked turkey queisadillas for Laura, then took her to see the new Tenacious D movie as she was tired after a stressful 12 hours at the hospital. Funny movie - just what we all needed!

GO HOGS!

Jonathan and Stephen

BROKEN DOWN...

stefan_and_jonno — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 09:11:00 GMT

So our 1987 GMC Ice Cream Truck has broken down, once again, in Arkansas.

Story goes like this...

Friday 17th November - We are Driving from St.Louis, Missouri, (where we surfed down the staircase infront of 'The Arch') to Little Rock, Arkansas (home of some guy named Bill Clinton?). Late at night the truck starts to make weird sounds, we keep driving. Its getting bad, we stop and check it out. Water is OK and we put some more oil in. Keep driving, it gets louder and sounds as if something is going to fall off any minute now. We pull over, 70 miles out of Little Rock and call AAA to get towed. After our little engine blow up in canada we figure this is the smarter thing to do.

SATURDAY - Midnight strikes and we’re still waiting. AAA call back 30 minutes later and explain that we are not covered to get our ice cream truck towed, as it is not considered a regular family car. We need to get towed anyway so we agree to pay and we wait, wait, wait. About 1:20AM our man Kevin arrives, does his thing and we’re on our way... in the wrong direction. He’s based out of Forest City, which is heading East, and we want to go to Little Rock, which is West. He explains the extra cost involved to get dropped off closer to Little Rock, and we ask him how much we’re up for already. $215 US dollars, just to get our truck to a mechanic. There’s nothing we can do, so we just accept it and continue on our journey East.

Soon after 2AM we arrive at the place where a mechanic will be at 9AM, pay Kevin his cash, and get to bed in the back of our truck. I wake at 9AM to a deflated air mattress, walk over to the mechanic and ask him when he’s available to check it out. A mixture of my tiredness and the mechanic’s thick southern accent make it hard for me to understand him, but I figure he said “be witch you boys shortly” so i wander back to the van and sit down. 40 minutes later he rocks over, we jump-start the truck, and his immediate reaction of ‘thats nasty’ can not be good. He jambles off talking some southern jibberish, saying its the engine and that he can’t start till Monday at the earliest. We have a feeling that it is still under warranty with Canada Engines so we try calling them (10 times) but no answer. Anyway fact of the matter is we need to get it fixed, and although we didn’t thoroughly understand Mr.Mechanic, we were pretty positive he was saying a new engine or something serious like that.

So we call Laura, our friend in Little Rock to tell her whats going down. She offers to come pick us up, but wont be there for a while, so we amuse ourself. We play soccer with a footy (pretty dang hard) and play trick for trick on the skateboards. Around 4pm Laura arrives, we pack our stuff, farewell our truck and we drive to Little Rock.

Tuesday 21st November we end up surfing in a Rice Paddy and Minnow Pond, behind one of the farmers utes. It was out near Lonoke, Arkansas, and the locals out there were super friendly. We even convinced afew to give surfing a go. It was a great day, and all the fellas had fun. Still no news on the Ice Cream truck.

Gallery: Some Pics

stefan_and_jonno — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 04:37:00 GMT

LIFE CHANGING PHOTOS