Adventuresinparadisenz.com

ENLARGE PHOTOS........Click on a 1960s song ('Juke box' bottom right) then click here........ these were the very early pioneer days for Northland...and it was probably the same all over NZ

if your lookin' at these photos.... ya gotta be a baby-boomer..ready for the groovy twilight years..'amen brother'!!!

1960 Don Edge Waipu Cove Tui Wordley and the Edge brothers were known as the forerunners of Northland modern day surfing...'Terry Knew' (another Northland pioneer) got his inspiration from them!! he was surfing with them this particular day!

Ross on a coolish summer day at Waipu Cove ...January 1960 Ross carrying Dons unfinished board after trying it out (without any wax)....How good is the shape of that board for a 1960 model...impressive!!...

Ross trying out Dons board without any wax.... .they didn't even know that you were supposed to use wax...Ha!!....note Ross wearing a woollen jersey...thats all we used in those days.....

Terry Knews Austin Waipu Cove 1960....They rocked up in their 'woody' ....a 1955 Austin A50....im'e pretty sure Brett Knight had one of these cars as well!....great little cars....column gear change if i remember rightly!....surfers all over NZ were about to bring alive some of these old classic surf wagons.......

'why's this board so dam slippery'....... maybe i need to wear shoes or something!!!............believe it or not....we had never heard of wax then....and when we did, we couldn't buy any, so we used Bees-wax or candles!!!!...

Terry Knew summer 1960 surfing with the Edge brothers at Waipu Cove...summer of 1960

1960 Black & white TV In 1960 my dad bought the first black and white TV in the north. The reason being,...that there was no transmitter yet,and because we lived on top of the brynderwyns, we could get a signal direct from Auckland..people came from far and wide to see that TV

1960 Terrys and Harolds boards they built Harold Watson was Terrys best surfing mate who at 19 tragically went to a dentist complaining of tooth ache and never returned ( fatal absess). Northland lost one of its great surfing pioneers...His fiance Betty Harvey next to him!

1960 Boardmaking pioneers Harold and terry decided in 1960 to build a couple of surfboards complete with Mickey mouse and Donald duck labels ...trying to copy the Edge Bros board because there was nothing else to copy then!! (see Terrys interview)

1960 Terry Knew Terry a very capable surfer back then with that nice smooth goofy-foot style

classic shot of Terry and Harold...empty waves ..summer of 1960 man..they did a great job on those boards ..didn't they! (for novices that is!!!!).......and no wax on the boards yet..Ha!!!

it was a rare occasion to have one over the Auckland mob..... We were called 'North Auckland' then and the Ranfurly Shield was the number one prize....remember!!!...

1960 Waipu cove Harold Watson Harold also with that smooth goofy-foot style...by the way, they made their fins out of plywood ( with fibreglass over it)...we thought we were really being innovative at Supersession in 1970 when we started to make ply fins Ha!!!!!

1960 Terry Knew skylarking Terry also trying to be innovative with his surfing...he had never seen anyone do this!!!...just decided it might be a fun thing to do!!

Terry skylarking Waipu Cove...Bream Bay Northland ..1960 I'de have to say that this borders on the impressive...don't you think!!! 1960........my whole 55 year surfing career...iv'e never been able to do that...have you?.... (your probably thinking 'why would i want to'!...Ha!)

yep..thats Waipu cove (unmistakable headland)... Remember this was the summer of 1960...just a couple of months before it was still the 1950s....man..those early days looked like a lot of fun!!...didn't they!!

Waipu Cove 1960 Terry and Don sharing a wave..summer of 1960!There was no such thing like 'dropping in' then..i remember it was always fun sharing a wave with someone else..in fact it often was more fun than just yourself on a wave! we would laugh and hoot at one another

1959-60 board design!!!! Top one made by Terry Knew and Harold Watson 1960 ....bottom one made by Don and Ross Edge 1959...i mean how similar does that shape look!!!!

Thru the passage of time!!! My daughter Tam at Sandy Bay trying to copy one of Harolds moves!..........30 years later HA!!!!

This is a great photo Dosen't this shot look all so virginal and innocent...really captures well the freedom and simple-ness of life back in the late 50s early 60s!!......there was noooo rush....you could have any wave you wanted.......

Terry Knew and Harold Watson..all concentration..Waipu ..summer of 1960.... classic photo...probably one of the first Northland surfing photos of two goofys on a wave together...awesome!...

"Farewell Harold".... you had the best of it Brother!!!!

1960-62 Ruakaka ..Bream Bay..Northland... Lookin pretty exposed...makes you wonder why we even bothered starting a surf club here...Waipu Cove looked far more appealing..didn't it!!!! But there was a little SLSC hut down there somewhere!!....surf clubbing was alive and well in NZ in 1960!!!....

1960-62 Ruakaka camping ground.... you wil notice that there was only one access road down to the beach then...but there's that shop on the right that is still there today 50+ years later....

1960 Sandy Bay... Northland... Empty beach...empty waves...anyone know when or who surfed here first?.....soon to become one of our most surfed local beaches!!...

Piha 1960.....Piha (and the Auckland crew) ...were maybe..just a couple of years ahead of us ....Americans Rick Stoner & Bing Copeland introduced Piha to modern boardriding in 1958 (see 'Bings' interview 'Overseas' )...........and surprisingly (to us!! ).... Christchurch was one of the for-runners of modern day NZ surfing ( thru Dennis Quane)....

Ruakaka was a fairly busy beach in 1960...i guess that's why they started a surfclub... However, even though there can be a good wave here sometimes...the general oppinion of Ruakaka is that it tends to be sloppy more often than not and was never a major boardriding beach...

click on 1961 song ('Juke Box' bottom right) then click here........ The surfing craze was slowly starting to make momentum about now with...mostly 'clubbies' showing an interest

Ross's 1961 Quiver....it was all basic stuff in '61.. just a big learning curve...shapes and lengths was all just guess-work then!!!....

Ross Edge Waipu Cove (Northland)......This is a great photo of those early days Ross was a very smooth surfer! Notice how early he managed to catch the wave...and who could forget those trademark shorts...looks like quite a thin board too..sharpish rails!.....one of our earliest Northland surfing pioneers!!

Ross and Tui Waipu Cove '61 (Ross Edge & Tui Wordley...couple of Northlands surfing fathers)... this is one of those rare times when Tui was outshone by someone else. Im'e pretty sure Ross was saying something like: "whats the matter Wordley..do you want me to show you how to surf..ha!!"To be fair though..Tui had only been surfing a couple of months

Not sure what Roddy Finlayson is trying to do here!!....Waipu 1962 maybe he thought he was doing a Quasimoto or something.....well, unfortunately he didn't quite get it right whatever it was...Ha!!!

Waipu Cove summer of '61 How beautiful does that look...hot day ..offshore winds...warm water ..nice little swell..remember those days!!! awesome!! beach looks quite steep, dosen't it!..couple of surfboards in the middle and about 6 surf reels out..interesting!!

Mike Cooney top of the Bryderwyns '61 13 yr old mike who has been going to the beach now for 2 years...surfing on a surfski..check the James Dean hair which was still the rage in '61

The Hutton boys...summer of '61...(sadly all 3 no longer with us) Best mates...Surfer Wayne...Brian..and Terry...watermen and Ruakaka SLSClub boys...Brian goes on to be involved with Surf Life Saving well into the 21st century ...awesome!!

up and coming Ruakaka (camping) surf locals.... Wendy, Paul, John, and Dennis Knight....of the famed Knight family....

The Lane mob...1961 ...baby brother Brett... Dad Harry...mum Vera...Sue and Dave Lane (Dave looking every bit how we remember him...)

Bank Street Whangarei 1961... still a lot of classic cars around in '61..most us were driving pre or post-war cars then ...i had a 1948 hillman..the Huttons had a 1931 Model A....awesome days.....

Ha!!!!....

click on a 1962 song ('Juke box' bottom right) and then click here....... Dennis Quane (photo) from the south Island was emerging as one of the dominant NZ boardmakers,...which was a bit of a surprise to me...i had no idea the South Island was so advanced in surfing at that time!

Xmas of '62 Waipu cove Northland What a classic photo...tells a whole story dosen't it! Its amazing how boards started off so streamlined then radically changed into 6 stringer 'logs'!!!!!! ..photo taken in front of the old Waipu Cove surfclub....

anybody recognize anyone except Tui!!!! ....(Tui on the right with hat on) ....the so-called 'winterless north' on a hot summers day in '62

Travelling to beaches was still a big chore in '62 Beach rd Onerahi (circles around the whangarei airport) still looked like this in '62...imagine the road to Pataua, Ocean beach or Whananaki!!!! (or your local beach in '62)... and no! ...thats not Greg Alach!!

Anyone remember where this is?.....yes.. its the 'Winter show' in Whangarei...those crappy old 'ghost train' and 'feriss wheel' and 'put the ping pong ball in the clowns mouth' attractions...oh boy!!!!...& we thought it was awesome then!!!.....you probably remember the same thing in your town!!!

Mike Cooney ..Brynderwyn tearooms 1962 15 yr old Mike about to leave home and move to Whangarei to the Huttons place...to get a job at wisemans and go surfing every weekend...less than 18 months later i was surfing & hitch-hiking around Aussie..at 16...oh boy!!! we sure had the bug didn't we!!

Matapouri 1962 That bar just waiting to be surfed

Whangaruru (Northland) summer of '62...Bland Bay Have had some real nice waves around the Bland Bay area...particularly north...just over the hill a Elliotts bay!!!....looks like nice little clean lines coming in this day...i wonder where Tui and Ross were surfing this day!!!!!

Whananaki (Northland)1962...you can just image little lefty peelers coming off the bar......we first surfed it in '65...another magic Northland surf spot....in fact..60 yr old Aucklander Tony Reid ('Ant') still makes the pilgrimage up to Whananaki regularly..very impressive 'Ant' !!

Marsden Point area 1962..still looking pretty isolated... one of my relations owned a few hundred acres on the top right of the Marsden area and i would come and stay and play on the farm in the mid 50s...they sold it shortly after...bummer!!

Waipu summer of '62...Remember...there was no bypass then.... the main road went right thru Waipu township...we would head off down thru Waipu in dads cool old '56 Chev on the the way to Ruakaka SLSC..surfy clubbies we were then!!...in fact most surfers in NZ in '62 were 'surfy-clubbies' too(belonged to a surf club)

Whananaki up to Mareeces (Northland) 1962 I mean...how inviting does that coastline look ....unspoilt surf...unspoilt coastline...probably hadn't been surfed yet!!!

'doctors hill'... on the old road that went up around the hills from Ruakaka to Waipu!! They hadn't built the bypass yet....'Gibbo' Gibson...Chris Frazerhurst...Rex Whiteman.....Norm baker...and Tui....the classic photo of the innocence of NZ surfing in the early '60s (im'e not sure how innocent those guys were tho...Ha!)

Tui or Mike Cooney playing with a nice little wave in the corner at Waipu ...Xmas '1962 how unspoilt does that look....awesome days...

Tui...only been surfing 18 months...doin' ok!...Xmas '62

Taipa (Northland) 1962....Taipa has a very similar setup like Pataua it was around '65 when we first surfed Taipa...and had some awesome waves there!!.....seemed like such fun pioneering times at that time...didn't it!!

meanwhile in whangarei there was plenty of jobs available in 1962 you could get a job at the glassworks.....of course asbesos..or fibreglass or fine glass dust was no problem then...we didn't even bother with masks....oh boy!!!!!!!...Okara Shopping Center their now!!..the old cricket pitch in the distance on Port road!!

or you could work at the Portland cement works...like i did... cement dust everywhere...its a wonder our lungs didn't turn into concrete.....Ha!!....1962

Wilsons NZ Portland Cement Co.....1962 we'd pump all the sludge into the harbour....

yay...and catching a steam train in the 50s....we'd arrive home with black hair.... and when we blew our nose....well.. you can imagine the colour on the hanky...Ha!!....yes....those were the days...when men were men!!...Ha!!....sheeeesh!!

but the ocean was still beautiful and clean.... Tui doing his little trick in the autumn of '62.....looks like he's wearing a t-shirt and short sleeved something-or-other.......Waipu Cove

and sun-bleached blonde hair was happening all around us.... We just noticed everyones hair (who surfed) was going white.....and when we got our first surf mag from overseas (Don Edge is holding) we noticed most all surfers had blonde hair...amazing!!.......Don with that classic early 60s California look!!..awesome

number 2 brother Ross (Edge) doing a Tui...... summer of '62...Waipu Cove.....looks like a nice little Waipu Cove inside re-form for Ross.....sweeeet!!...

and number 3 brother Terry Edge...lookin pretty stoked..... or should i rather say......'cowbunga'....which we always said in those days....Ha!!...fun days......'Hot diggitey dog'...'Geronimo'...Ha!!

one of our most popular surf spots...Waipu Cove...1962 and hardly a surfboard to be seen!!........

Noosa early 60s....how would it have been then!! I first went there in '64 and didn't even realize it was a top surf spot...just seemed like a nice tropical beach!!!!!!...

however in California in 1962 !!!!!!!!!!!!! NZ surfing was always about 10 years behind the US and Australia in popularity until the mid to late 60s....which was fine by us...we had a ton of uncrowded waves .....

same at places like...sleepy old Oakura..1962 probably hadn't even been surfed yet!!!

in fact it was so new to us.. we would ride 1ft shorebreaks breaking 10ft off the beach......and we thought that was awesome.....Tui about to get his ankles smacked by his board...Waipu ...summer of '62

Guess who?....... ....Tui's dad and ol' uncle Wal....chip off the old block!!...Ha!!

in fact Whangarei was a bit of a sleepy old town in '62 as well... it was still a town in '62...didn't become a city until 1964...Maunu road..top right...1st ..2nd...and 3rd ave in the middle......

Maunu road ......Kauika road immediately in front ...summer of '62

heading on up Maunu road...1962

top of Maunu hill....1962...i think somewhere where the Mansfields lived..... in fact Pompallier College hadn't even been built then...opened in 1971

remember the old Whangarei library...1962...Rust ave there was no Okara Park Rugby field in '62 ...all the top rugby matches were played at a field at the end of Rust Ave....

Opononi....1962....just about makes you fall asleep looking at it..dosen't it!!! absolutely no distractions...no iphones..no computors ..no nothing...computor and digital age was still decades away.....the hardest thing we had to do...was put a turntable arm on to a record...Ha!!

and a sleepy old summers day at Waipu...summer of '62... no rush.....the Edge brothers boards getting a good wax up...before a nice little play around on the ankle biters...

Mum (Mrs) Edge gets her Box Brownie camera out.. to take a few photos of her legendary sons...Waipu..summer of '62

Mum gets bowled by Don.. Don trying to get a close-up...nearly kills his mum in the process...Ha!!

Terry Edge after a satisfying session at Waipu ..summer of '62 The old (surfclub) clubhouse up the top with the old watertank and sandbags to stop the erosion....

not sure what Tui is trying to do here.. but he was always crouching or sitting on his board....maybe he was trying 'less resistance' to get more speed....'aerodynamic Tui'....Ha!!........awesome fun days.....

Roddy Finlayson doing a glide....Waipu 1962 Now that's how it's done Tui....

The NZ National Carrier 1947-78...remember it!!!

Remember the 'ol Vickers Viscount...1969...and glamorous looking Air Hostesses!!

Surfer Warren Patterson does a 24 hr driblathon fund raiser....great stuff mate!!

around now the Mangawhai Heads river split into 2 (for a short time)....

and Wayne Hutton and i were right into '3 Castles' and 'Camel' cigarettes...."oh boy"!!!!!

anyone remember going to the 'Regent' or Plaza' flics in '62??

'Hearing Aids' Avaliable..Ha!...i don't remember any old people at the flics then,,,did you?

Matapouri 1962....

Beautiful Harbour entrance...1962

Waipu 1962....Hotel on the left....Waipu Primary School in the middle...

Waipu ...1962

Langs beach ...1962

Langs 1962

Langs 1962.

Kaiwaka ...1962...very unfamiliar territory to us then!!..

Whangarei 1962.....glassworks in the distance..

Downtown Whangarei 1962 ...Auto Parts..(bottom right)

Town Basin ...1962

Whangarei hospital ..1962

Kamo schools...1962

Kamo 1962

1960-62 Kamo High School

Kamo High School

overview... Kamo and Kensington 1960-62

Roddy in the car...Tui...Joe...The Mount 1962

Waipu Cove...maybe late 50's..early 60's.....

Waipu Cove ..possibly late 50's...early 60's..

maybe early 60s

good ol' Plaza...early 60s

Remember having a banana split at Kendels...and playing the juke box

Haywoods

remember the ol' Dominé at the airport

anyone remember who's hotrod this was!!...parked in North st!!

Northern bus co.

remember catching the bus over there!!!

that ol' classic Catholic church...

now...how many of you sat right up the back...shocking stuff :)...Ha!!..Regent 60's

Remember watching 'The Endless Summer' there in '65...Regent..

Regent foyer...60's

Star Bar...Regent..1960s...

Star Bar

Paihia 1964

Kendells and Banana Splits...ha!!!

look at those classic cars...

those classic old milk trucks...

Waipu Cove ...early 60s...one of those old 'touch up'photos...ha!!

Bank Street

Waipu 1962......

can you believe.....Gold Coast...Surfers Paradise 1962

George Courts ...Whangarei 1960

1960

Waipu Cove 1962

Langs Bch 1962......looking from Ding Bay headland