The Greenough Experience

Life goes by peacefully in Byron Shire. I'm still planning to do some internship with local nurseries, but since we are in the middle of an unusual heat-wave I've decided to postpone for a few weeks. Air temperatures went up to 100 F. with 70% humidity. Yesterday I decided to go to the beach and do some readings. The task, apparently easy, became quite an ordeal! I found a sturdy table under a big tree. I thought the setting was just perfect but I didn't consider Mother Nature in full display! First I had to battle an army of fuzzy caterpillars in migration mode! The table was right on their path and there was nothing I could do to stop them; hundreds started crawling all over me; they were kind of funny and I didn't mind for a while, but soon I realized I was in the middle of a food chain; suddenly I was surrounded by all kind of tropical birds, ready to feed on those fatty suckers! Finally, after a wild turkey strolled by, an iguana decided to show up! That was the sign to get the hell out of there! It is really hard to concentrate on your books when you have an iguana, as big as a tennis racket, staring at you with dull eyes and an empty face! Yep, this is life at the beach around here.
The surf has been very small for the past week but I don't mind paddling out every morning in warm and clean waters. The other day was kind of surreal. I was parked at Broken Head. I was reading a book about the life of Rabbit Bartholomew under the shade of the thick vegetation when I felt the urge of tackling the tiny waves breaking at the Point; lo and behold! George Greenough suits up right in front of my car! We ended up surfing the rock ledge at Broken Head, just the 2 of us, talking about life and sharing waves! He is truly an amazing character, grumpy and eccentric as I expected. His ragged inflatable mat was still taking him in the deepest pocket of the wave. Today I met Michael Birch, another cat with a lot of surfing history on his shoulders. He was one of the few living here when they shot "Morning of the Earth"; I enjoyed listening to the stories of that era; in those days he surfed with M. Peterson, P. Drouyn and P Townend. He still remembers the first time Owl Chapman and Reno Abellira showed up in Byron Bay, surfed The Pass, ended up playing pool and smoking weed!