Spot the huntsman

With one tent for the food and two hammocks It took a while to get over the freak out of something trying to climb in with you when you were asleep

Indijup Point

There was absolutely no access and we walked slowly for four days from Indinjup point to get there

Bloody Occa’s

Richard Bodle – Second place

We spent two months living in the Leuween National Park, Western OZ, looking for waves. Fark it’s littered with them and a lot have dirt roads and tracks to them. The waves in the photos, there was no access by car at all (we did find out later the last photo was Injinup Point – we were just so lost we didn’t see any tracks). The other break we don’t know where it is and if it even has a name ,there was absolutely no access and we walked slowly for four days from Injinup point to get there.

When we needed food we would make sure our gear was hidden at a break with a road to it. After finding out where we were we’d hitch to either Margaret River, Gracetown or Busseltown which could take anywhere from 45 mins to seven hours. Seven hours was the longest return trip and depended on how long it took two rough looking dudes to get lifts to and from town. And of course not everyone that picks you up is a local (some were just as lost as us, and others even worse) so sometimes we ended up going way further than was needed – luckily we had all day. If it was too late to get back to our spot (too late was when it was dark, as we needed to see our way) we would wait around till late, in what ever town we were in and sneak into the backpackers and sleep on the couches and leave early as to get back to our gear.

We had one tent for the food and 2 hammocks as you can see in the photos. It took a while to get over the freak out of something trying to climb in with you when you were asleep. Cause as everyone knows in OZ if it breathes it can bite or sting you and if it doesn’t breathe it will be sharp and you will kick your toe on it (we have it so good here). We had only one encounter with a bite – me mate stated screaming like a banchee when we had just got into our hammocks for a siesta and came running over with 2 big fang marks on his forearm. It brings a big smile to my face every time I think about it now, but fuck that was freaky, we didn’t know what to do. He laid down and tried to relax while I went looking for something – we still don’t know what. I went looking but didn’t find it and returned about an hour later no better off.

It was a freaky arvo and night but all was still good in the morning and we headed down the coast after about three hours walking and found another break and people surfing it. Quickly sorting advice on what to do with the bite, we were told “faaaark mate you need to get some bracken fern and rub it over it quick”. So off we went like madmen, found some in about 10min only to come back to the Occas rolling around in laughter screaming “it’s only a huntsman they’re not even poisonous”. Yeah too funny dickheads! Anyhow we will give that to them, well done! We reckon we walked about 300km those two months, ate about a 1/4 of the recommended food intake over that time, still scrubbing dirt out of our pores (seven years later), surfed a hell of a lot of waves and are probably a little schizo but I wouldn’t change a thing, it was unreal. Oh yes I would change two things – I would definitely take booties and a bigger bag of pot!

Peace,
Richard Bodle