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ENLARGE PHOTOS........click on 1969 song (Juke Box) then click here!! A few of us were a bit nervous about the Vietnam draft in Aussie & the authorities did come knocking on our doors..Dave scarpered back to NZ in a hurry when they knocked on his door.."oh far out man..we just wanted 2 go surfing..can u dig it..right on! ha

and remember these....well they had just disappeared ...phased out for good!! Remember the 'florin'...'10 bob'.....'1 crown'...'5 shillings'.....'3 pence'...'6 pence'....'penny'....'half penny'....'10 quid'....ah!..those were the days!!..ha!

and Wayne Parkes was ripping the place apart Wayne just wins his 4th straight NZ title..although there were lots of good surfers around at that time,Wayne was just that cut above the rest..in fact in 2013 still surfs great..amazing!..maybe Colin Lowe was our closest challenge2that Auckland dominance

or maybe Mark Wheeler on his self-made Tracker..Ha!...Pakiri..summer of '69 'Forestry'...'Pakiri'....'Te Ari'.......all the spots south of Mangawhai (Northland) were now becoming hugely popular....and no wonder...we had some magnificent waves down there...awesome place!!

150 attend farewell party!!...Ian Simelhay..Jim Leslie..& Mike Easterbrook head off overseas... i recognise Clare Marinkovich & Terry Lupton..i wonder if you were one of the 150 people that night..The 'Top Hat' facility..farewells like this seemed common place around '68..any excuse for a Party..Jen Keller, Dave Greer, Julie McBeth, Hank, Liz & Lex

Josie Armitage and Paula Haywood take a trip around the South Island At Benmore ...summer of '69...look at those beautiful South Island skies!....Josie..Northlands no.1 girl surfer in '67...

Pauline Cameron..summer of '69 About to head off to Aussie shortly

and theres that Alach girl again....ha!

Delia Conaghan...representing the Whangarei cruising club summer of '69

reclaimed swampland...Whangarei Do you remember in '67...this was just swampland..amazing!..the mid to late 60s bought a big migration from rural to the cities and there was plenty of money to go around...Marsden Oil Refinery & Power Station were just 2 of the local massive developments

and this is what Tutukaka looked like in '69

and Oakura (Northland)...summer of '69 ...sure looks like a sleepy little beachside village dosen't it!!....was so laid-back...i loved surfing there!!

and one of our regular hangouts in the late 60s...beautiful Taupo Bay summer of '69

and of course ...Waipu Cove I took this photo of Wayne Parkes this day because i rocked up at the Cove and all these beautiful waves were coming thru....and no-one else out....you kidding me!!!!

That good lookin Legend 'Clyde' family from Takahiwai....well... if thats not Graeme Kelly (top right) then im'e a monkeys uncle...or maybe its Murray Wright..Ha!..great family..went to school with all of them..Yvonne & Lena were highly sort-after by the boys..Ha!.Jenny was a bit younger seen here with Pauline Cameron.

Bruce Frazer...soon to get into the leather business.....& Mark Wheeler ..Mark...still making boards up here in the north!!....in fact if you listen to Pauline Pullmans interview...she talks about her first surfboard being resurrected by Bruce and Mark!!....man thats some 'fatboy' their holding there...looks about 2ft wide!!!

Ken Beehre also made the headlines in '69 ...and wished he hadn't!!!! well...if you take a sicky and u aint sick....you might just get caught and get your name in the paper!!....they would have to put friggin' Tuesday in the caption didn't they!!!...Ha!!!

and Mr Smooth...Dicky Robinson does his Europe surf trip.... (this photo taken a few years earlier).....but he did travel a lot more classy looking than most of us...even tho he often never had any money....Ha!!

Dick gets his taste of big waves in the south of France.... Guethary...an offshore reef with a hell of a long swim in if you lost your board....i surfed it at 10-12ft..breaks a lot like Sunset Beach in hawaii (shifting peak).....scares the crap out of ya!!!

Nat Young at Guethary the same day as Dick was there..... Didn't i tell you it was a heavy place...broken boards..a regular thing at Guethary........Dick was the only one hangin' with these guys as they made the movie 'Evolution'

Nat surfing Guethary for the movie 'Evolution'...same day Dick was there.....

and of course ..the Beatles had gone from 'Love love me do".... to Ravi Shanknar and eastern mysticism....in 1969

meanwhile ...our Honorary Northlanders (Aussie's...) 'Legs' (top right) and Bob Hagner (bottom left) Head off to surf the majical J Bay in South Africa on the ship 'Flota Laura'....(i was to meet them in Capetown but i only got as far as Perth)......."Legs"..."is that a girls legs i see sitting on your bunk...shame on you....Ha!"

Legs and Bob (middle) en-route to Africa the long white socks were sort-of still in then..ha!!

Bob doing a Benny Hill look-a-like....and legs looking as smooth as ever.... Classy lookin' dinner for a couple of beach bums.......funny how we rarely flew in the 60s....we nearly always took a ship!!!.....and some even had free rides so legend tells us..Ha!!

and as was typical of most of us who travelled far abroad then...we would get jobs as lifeguards.... Lifeguard 'Legs' (top left)....i didn't even know Legs could swim...Ha!....my brother Phil was forever getting jobs as a Lifeguard where-ever he went....a great back-up for travelling surfers.....

big barrel chested Bob (Hagner) beating those South Africans into submission..... ...."learn to swim...learn to swim you South African peasant"....Ha!

Mary Gough...Sponge Bay Gisborne....1968 Mary started surfing at Foxton Beach Palmerston North..a short stint in Gisborne..then off on the hippie trail to Europe....

Mary & wellington girl Sylvia doing a surf trip around Europe ....1969 Pretty early days for girls to be doing the hippie surf trip...very cool....they made it to South Africa in 1970....

but of course Morocco had to be on the list... heading thru the Atlas Mountains on the way to Marrakesh...every self-respecting hippie surfer had to make it to Marrakesh in those days!!..& of course try on a jelava(hooded gown)...Mary Gough..next step CapeTown South Africa....& eventually Northland NZ

Sandy Bay legend Malcolm Pullman writes an article about the surfing breed..... We travel locally and all around the world.... just to find that perfect wave....surfing is...as Malcolm says...a way of life!!

in fact ..since 1969...we've been known as the 'Golden' Breed..... A generally nomadic attitude to life...."just gotta get in that water and feel the sun on my back"...........there's nothing like a 'sweet' session in the ocean.......

Jim Carney at 'The Mount'....only a surfer knows the feeling......

even knee-boarders..Ha!!....unknown... Pataua..winter of '69 ...high tide on the bar

when i saw this shot of Wayne Lynch at 'La Barre' in the movie Evolution..... i thought....man i have got to surf that place.....well...i did in '72 ...one of the most awesome setups i have seen....unfortunately no longer exists due to 'progress' (reshaped harbour entrance)......oh boy!!!!!!.....sheeesh what a bummer!!...

the classic left hander at La Barre..France..was a harbour entrance.. but in '77 they wrecked it with a groin..photo taken by Herman Ducrot.in '74...stood on a big fishhook here..went deep into my big toe..went to French hospital..they grabbed my toe..sliced it with a scalpel to the bone..no anaesthetic..aaaahhh!!! butchers

in fact the 'La Barre' stuff-up reminds me of this place....... Ti Point...Omaha Bch...not far from Wellsford...just down the road a bit from Mangawhai......check what the wave used to be like in the next photo!!!!......

now thats a pretty dam nice set-up...isn't it!!..... Just a short trip up the road from Auckland.....beeeee-utiful...but whats it like now?

build the odd breakwater....dredge a bit of sand out....oh boy!!!! another one bits the dust.................

whooohoo....how to kill a good surf break..Ha!! Omaha ..2013

Guy Franks heads off on a surf trip in '69.... Holdens...another classic surf car of the 60s...

and if its a try-hard Holden look-a-like...... Burn the bugger!!......Raglan ..summer of '70.......i dunno..surfies..such a bad bunch...Ha!!

and some guys treat their cars like babies..... Piha....Fiat Bambina (Bambino) feeling all loved....so precious...Ha!...Laurie doing a trip to Piha in '69............not Laurie's car..he just took a photo of it!!

Lauries trip takes him to Twilight Bch ..Spirits Bay..1969.... interesting story here....Twilight Bch, named after a ship from South Africa that was wrecked here, built & Captained by the Meiklejohn family..... Dianne (Laurie's wife) has Meiklejohn heritage...'wow'..seems we all some sort of connection with the sea!!

The unmistakable profile of 'Huck'.....1969 'Huck' (Les Hutchins) went down to Auckland in the late 60s to work for Atlas Woods..a real likable guy was Huck who hung around with Julie Bryan for a while..he made a board for Julie at Atlas Woods....now Huck had the hair..& a bit of the 'Parkesy look!

Awesome place to camp...Pataua 1969 Julie Bryan...Shirley Scamptan...'Huck'....Julie Monkhouse and 'Sharpie' enjoying their Xmas holidays at one of the best spots around.......and 'Huck' with that classic stripped surf t-shirt that he always wore....Ha!!

one of those days when everyone ends up hangin' out together at dinner time...Ha! Julie Bryan, Huck (looking at camera) and friends Camping at Pataua....couldn't think of a better place to spend Xmas....

another Atlas Woods boy...Mike Tinkler...looks like putting a finish coat on!! Atlas Woods 1968!!

However...this was very much the sentiment of the surfing community of Aussie and NZ in '69... Many of us went into hiding(read Wayne Lynch's story)...'man, we didn't want to be in no dumb war...we just wanted to go surfing.Ha!!.....mind you..friends of mine that did go to Vietnam...w'ere still friends today..the word 'Indochina' freaked us out....

Guy Franks lookin like he's camping on a hot summers day on the East coast.... but no...it's 'Rags' again....pretty calm for the west coast.....but just wait til tomorrow!!!!

see....what did i tell ya.......'Rags' on a hot summers day in '69.... good ol' pumpin' West coast...rarely lets you down..swell wise!!

Craig Rice & Drew Campi...enjoying a (coke..Ha!) at the 'Cabbage Patch' pub...Coolangatta the 'cabbage Patch' hotel eventually became a surf club...did you know..in 1969..public bars were 'men only'..the ladies were required to go to the 'Ladies lounge'..in 1973 some ladies chained themselves to the Public bar in Manly...& the rest is history!

former Hikurangi boy John Ward.... Current Aussie boy(Victoria) John..was another one of the the many surfing kiwi transplants that made Aussie their home(like myself )...John...another Kamo schoolboy that hit the waves in the late 60s...his sister Brenda married current Aussie tony Kivell

In fact here's John's 19yr old sister..Brenda..runner up in the miss Ruakaka contest..summer of '71 winner on the left 17yr old Denise Walton....Brenda Ward and Joan Leith....

Julie Bryan at that other awesome beach...Whale Bay ..summer of '69

Some of the Mount guys i remember..Tony Waterhouse (sadly no longer with us) sitting on the car step Ellyott Allan (hard left)..Simon Wyatt...Ray...Tommy...Tony...Stephen Wills...Wayne Brown (not sure of others)...Stuart Erickson leaning on the front mudguard of the Chevy...and Helen? on the bumper...1969

Tony..a very stylish surfer....

2.36pm on Monday July 21st... i remember the whole world virtually stopping as everybody was glued to a TV...we were all up at Maroochydore...watching it in a pub...

Whau Valley Dam 'digs'.....summer of '69 Johnny Ayton holding one of the boards he has been making.....we turned all our rented houses and flats into board factories...Ha!!!....that might be Herman Ducrot on the right...maybe!!!..

Keith Walsh and Gary Henderson take a trip down to Mahia...summer of '69 Keith sitting in the sweet spot on a beautiful wave ...Point Annihilation...Mahia

Gary Henderson...Point Annihilation..Mahia Some real good stories began to come out of Mahia in '69 of legendary waves....

but then again..it's pretty hard to beat Pataua when it's crankin'..winter of '69...Eamon Hamilton.. Eamon realy showing some style here!!!!.....

Robbie smith and the good ol' FJ Holden..summer of '69 apparently... Robbie's cousin Tony Wakelin spotted Peter Way fanging and doin' wheelie's into Sandy Bay in this FJ after a trip down from Shippies.....wild man Peter..Ha!!

East Rider time....yea baby..late 60s

We all remember this well in '69...don't we!!!

Well looky here....the same couple from on that album cover..... still married 46 years later...awesome!!! ...2015 ....man they sure look like hippies alright....Ha!!!

Pauline Cameron....1969

a young Doug Ferguson looking on at the damage to another car .... ..on one of those dodgy Whangamata roads....poor ol' Dougs mums car (with boards on)...lookin' a bit crumpled...."sorry mum...wasn't my fault...true...i wasn't speeding...honest truth"

Ken Beehre on a nice little Ocean Beach right...summer of '69.. looks like a slight sea-breeze picking up...remember those days!!!....

Sue Rankin...Margaret Player and Raewyn Dixon...

John Ward heading off for a wave ...late 60s

and we all had mini's...including John...in the 60s

Legs and mob.....awesome 60s boat trip

Mary .....kombi surf safari, South Africa

Lorraine Cotteral

Mary Alach

Boydy in the paper....whats the world coming to

the boys? check out Ohope '69

Derek Brott, Sue knight, Carol Brott, and John Blomfield

I think this is Herman Ducrots car??and he's a mechanic