Adventuresinparadisenz.com

ENLARGE PHOTOS........Click on 1972 song (Juke Box) then click here We.......and many others were off overseas to find new exotic surf locations.....

Cornwall..south/west England....just some of the awesome waves we were getting in '72 yes...we were doing a 4 yr round the world surf safari at this point...bumped into Mal Eggington in London...Nick Matich in Morocco...Brian 'Gina' Kane in Zambia...Anna Brown and Eddie Aickin in Capetown...awesome times!!

Xmas '72...Anna Brown at our flat in Capetown..South Africa... ..was so nice to see a familiar face...Anna was travelling by herself thru Africa...very cool!!....as was typical of our hippie ways then...all the furniture was home made including pictures..ha!

Mike & Paula Cooney about to leave Whangarei on our 4 yr trip! It was gonna be a surf trip...but by the time we got back we had 2 kids...Ha!....maybe yours is a similar story!!!!!!

Arrived in London...and naturally bought a Kombi to live in..Ha! as you can see....1972 was very much 'hippiesville'...took 2 boards with me!!!

Mike and Ian the crazy 'spun out' scotsman.... great guy... but loved his dope...Ha!!...well....dope ..yes well ah ...yes ..well !!!!

Barnstaple...South west England...summer of '72 ( June ) Myself ..Ian the Scotsman and friend....lets just sit down on the street pavement...middle of town..."right on..peace brother".......ha!

well i wasn't the only 'soul surfer' travelling then......... As you can see we all had long hair and beards (well...a lot of us!!!)...the hippie thing was totally world wide...and a very cool time in history!!!

and there were some surfie-hippie-bikies too...Ha! Jan Aickin about to burn some rubber...ah yes..the Aickin girls were very much part of the local surf scene!!...as was their brother Eddie!!....is that a pair of Dave Boyds sandals she has on!!!! Bumped into Eddie again in Capetown, South Africa......many Kiwis went abroud at that time....many to South Africa...courtesy of 'The Endless Summer'

and flairs were totally 'in' now with the surf-scene!! i mean like 'far out man'...can you dig those flairs..man..right on..right on..out o sight man......and we talked like this all the time ..Ha!

Mr Dave Boyd getting all smoothed up in his flairs.... Ha! actually he was at Dick Robinsons wedding here....

even the Northern Advocate photographers were getting into some 'spacey' photography ...Ha! Langs Bch ..summer of '72......check the 'afro' ..Ha!!

and 'far out man' ...the greenie thing was fully kicking into gear! living off the land ...communes...leather things ha!...it was all happening!!

somewhere in the US.... this was typical of the commune style living that was pretty prevalent around that time.....i mean...even if you listen to the music of that time...most had the hippie message...awesome times!!!

and who could forget the adorable Geoff & Sandra Smith Geoff in his flairs..made from an American flag..naturally..wouldn't expect anything less from our outlandish Geoffrey..also check out his 'out there' stories in the Tatahi mags..we all luved those 2.."can u dig it"..ha!.....also at Dick Robinsons wedding

and Geoff had a sister...20yr old Coralie Miss Onerahi Yacht club

Northlands own Exotic Dave Boyd...Ha!!! typical lifestyle of the 1970's hippie surfer.....start your own little business..make surfboards..leather stuff..stereo's..clothes...you name it...as long as we could still surf when it was pumping...Ha!!!

Mary Gough (Ralph) ....in South Africa 1970....making leather shoes or something.. maybe clothes!!!!....but definitely doing some staining of some sort!!!!

Capetown..1975 Our good friends John and Sue Sutton (and lovely Tasha & bub) about to fulfill their dream after spending 3 years building a 35ft Bruce Roberts yaught....last i heard (1985)..they were chartering their boat around the Caribbean...awesome!!!

and here they are ...having a ball in the Caribbean...1985 The surfing community of the 60s...just wanted to be independent and just enjoy life!!!!!

Mike & Paula in their Kombi van in London.... We would just park out in front of '10 Downing St' for a few days and live in the van....bacon & egg smell wafting out the windows in the morning as the politicians walked past..Ha! ...fun times!

This is a German couple we also met on the same ship!!! Danny & Vera..hippie Germans..amazing ...just travelling the world like us....hippiedom was a world wide movement!!....by the way... the ship that us guys were on ..the 'Kotu Singapora' was arrested when it berthed in Singapore...Ha!

'Groovin'...(inside our Kombi)...south west England summer of '72 All the mod-cons...very comfortable........it's funny how songs remind you of times and places isn't it!.....Crocodile rock' by Elton John reminds me of this place and time....awesome!!...

the hippie crowd was everywhere!!... (on left)Karen Steele..(soon to become Karen Boyd)..Gail Whitehead (tall girl)..Colin Lowe (green jumper)...Kees Dubleman (brown jacket).....

and of course the muso's were leading the way... Local Whangarei boy Johnny Calder (on left) looking very much like a hippiesville 'flower power' boy...ha!....Keith Murch and Brian Ferguson....

& of course ...there were plenty still tying the knot!... Billy Player & Pauline Cameron get hitched ....somewhere around now!!.........

Who are these guys trying to kid...suits!!!!!!!!...and bow ties!!! Dave Boyd and Ken Beehre reliquishing their board-shorts for 24 hours....good boys!!!!....Pauline whispering to Billy...Did you invite those 2 guys Billy!!!....with Paulines sister Brenda & Yolande Eggington...

John Eilering marries Dianne Lupton...also getting married around early 70s too!! brother and sister of the couple..... Hank Eilering & Terrie Lupton scrubbed up pretty good to!!!

and back to Africa...Auckland boy Malcolm .....and Deidri....... Cape Town ..South Africa....had some great surfs with Malcolm in South Africa....another Kombi man....outside our rented house!!...Capetown

and another Kombi........ Here we are camped with our good South African surfing friends Rob, Hanz and Hazel...at a place called 'Long Beach' in Cape Town.....you will see this spot in the 'Endless summer' movie...awesome place!

London.....South African surfer John Plasow..& Rhodesian girl Di Huxom...in our van! Di lived near Pru Gates (Colin Lowes sister in law) in Rhodesia ....they had real hassles getting visa's on South African passports...it was John parents bach we stayed at..at Jeffries Bay...very cool time....6-8ft Jeffries for 10 days!

Mike and Paula with number one....'Bree' I had a little garage then that i use to make a few bucks building stereo systems and speaker cabinets....oh ...the hippie life...we were all into something....here we are at a place called 'Newlands' (where the super 15 rugby is played)...Capetown

Man ...that Kombi sure was comfortable... Biarritz in France....heading down the coast to Portugal...awesome trip....Dick Robinson was here 4 years before us...and my brother 5 years before...awesome!

someone rushing to go for a surf in their VW..... Well....actually this was Graham Allens VW...remember it!!!....kinda had a bummed out surf trip that day...ha!.......somewhere in NZ!!

meanwhile....ho hum......Colin justs keeps ripping...ho hum!! Looks like another real nice day at Pataua....was such awesome banks in those days....i had my honeymoon here would you believe....some of us were such dipsticks then...ha!...all that mattered was that we had a good surf each day...oh boy!!!!!!!

and Mr 'hippie flower power' guru himself...the one and only....Dick Bob-Dylan Robinson As you can see...1972 was bit of an amazing time in history.....

1972..Langs Beach....another Advocate shot! I dont whether Kevin Hill is doing the most radical bottom turn in history and defying gravity.......or falling off.Ha!!

Pru Gates neighbour...Rhodesian girl again Di Huxam Di and those dreaded cigars....in our Kombi..south west England...summer of '72....how amazing was the hippie dress culture...beads..rings..flowery clothes...awesome!!

Woolacombe..south west England where we spent the summer of '72 My brother Phil was living here at Woolacombe as well when we were here, and he had a nice little apartment in the distance on the beach front......look how far the tide went out.!!!

and this was the wave that was directly out in front of my brother Phils flat!! a couple of local guys calling it a day about 11.30pm at night.....i would work in a fish and chip shop until 10pm then go for a surf til about 11.30pm...awesome English twilight!!

How any of us managed to get visas in the hippie days..still amazes me!!! Visa photos...1972

Heading across the straights of Gibraltor...September '72 Morrocco in the distance...had great waves in France...surfed 'La Barre' 6-8ft (made famous by the movie 'Evolution' and Wayne Lynch)...surfed Spain and Portugal....awesome!

Morocco had some fabulous waves...

we get our first taste of the real Sahara... we were bogged in the sand here for about 2 hours….finally let our tyres down to 10 psi…..then had very little trouble from then on…..the 'sort-of' road just carried on over these sandhills for about 100miles then flattened out again...

The 'Siafu' Expedition army truck we began to travel with...southern Sahara Paula cooking something in the embers...nearly everything we ate now was in a packet or a tin!!! ....getting really low on water and fuel now....expect a waterhole about 200 kms further south....

continued to head south and found a spectacular water fall as the bushland continued to thicken... It actually about 100m drop right in front of me...the noise was overpowering!!...you could see that in several days we would be in thick tropical jungle...a very exciting prospect!! ....'Central African Republic'...dysentery & bad water commonplace now..

as we moved closer to the tropics...Found a Catholic mission.... The language was all french in these countries, so it was nice to find someone who could speak English...Belgium nuns who spoke broken english........and.....our first cold shower in 2 months....

Main road thru the jungle of 'Central African Republic 1 shower of rain and you ain't goin nowhere for days..it did rain 1 day and we did 5kms in 8hrs...constantly towing one another out of the bog!...'Lee' in brown t-shirt travelling with us...a recent traumatized Aussie vietnam vet..hiking thru the Congo!!!

Paula sitting under the equator sign in the country of Rwanda... We could see the mountain in the distance where the Silverback Gorillas lived ('gorillas in the mist'...remember that story)...5 years later mass genocide here..500,000 people killed...

Travelling by ourselves again now...driving thru the Serengeti Mt Kilimanjaro off to our left..we got close up to nearly every wild animal you could think of..in fact there were Leopard tracks all around the van one morning...i also sat on the roof while Paula drove..and took a few close-up photos!.nearly out of film

lying on the roof taking photos...getting excited Ngorongoro Crater in the distance.... getting to the top may be a problem with our gutless 1200cc motor...& it was!!...in fact 'Malibu' Mal Eggington also visited the Ngorongoro Crater around about now too..told us of his exploits when we met him at Earls Court (Kiwi hangout) in london in '72

Having lunch...the van would be surrounded by inquisitive animals..... Serengeti ...1972

in fact this photo of a Hyena was taken by 'Mal' in the Ngorongoro crater ...1971 We were an adventurous lot weren't we!!...bumped into Whangarei people everywhere.....walking down a street in Lusaka, Zambia (1972)....& who should be walking up the street towards us ....Whangarei boy 'Gina' (Brian) Caine...amazing!!

Mal Eggington gets brave and up and close with the hippo's...Ngorongoro crater... The Serengeti ....Maasai warrior country...1972

"where are you Malcolm"?....."ït's dangerous in Africa"!!!!! Mals mum and sister.....1972

how amazing is this..the most prominent road on the map thru the Central African jungle... We had now traveled about 19,000kms from England...been driving 8- 10 hours every day for nearly 3 months...lost many days bogged either in Sahara sand or Jungle mud...7,000kms to go..Tanzania..Zambia..Rhodesia & finally South Africa...yahoo!

Paula..Capetown South Africa...and the cold Atlantic ocean Well well well....we found out Paula is 5 month pregnant.......and i guess Jeffries Bay is going to have to wait now...oh well...we got there a year later...and with an extra awesome bonus..a little girl!!

looks like our galavanting days are over.... i think this photo, pretty well sums up most of the surf crowd that i grew up with...by the mid 70's most of us still had a surfboard....but also kids as well....priorities suddenly changed...we now had to be responsible..ha!!

But i did manage to get some awesome waves....Lundudno on the Atlantic side of the Cape... Mike on a sweet little peak...1972

J Bay summer of '73...waiting for the swell to pick up Mike and 1st born Bree playing in the rock pools...so nice to finally get to Jeffries Bay.....been hangin out to get here since seeing Cape St Francis in the Endless Summer...in fact the whole reason we drove 26,000kms originally!!

& finally it started to pump..such an amazing wave...a more recent photo of Johnny (Ratfink) Paarman .....one of the Cape Province team that i was with at J Bay.....we had it like this for 10 days....awesome!.....Johnny.....in my opinion.....the greatest 'hell man' big wave rider ever....Capetown boy!....one of 4 surfing brothers

younger brother..Marky Paarman! these 4 Capetown boys ...reminded me a lot of the 4 Whangarei Kings Brothers...who surfed and were all a similar age to them.......2 families with similar heritage but on opposite sides of the globe...how amazing is our surfing tribe!!!!

Donald Paarman.....early '60s All the brothers surfed great....and here is Donald surfing 'Long Beach' Capetown (of 'Endless Summer fame).....summer day...water about 14c or colder Brrrrrrr!!!

& here's a recent shot of another brother..Roger Paarman!..(Parmaan brothers..nephews of the great 'John Whitmore' of 'Endless Summer fame...uncle John suggested to Bruce Brown "lets check out that point called Cape St Francis..the rest is history) Roger sent me these photos recently & told me what they were up to these days..check out the next photo!.

Johnny Paarman doing an interview for the Paarman Bros Boat building enterprise!! Marky Paarman-Founder of Nexus Catamarans...Roger Paarman-Man/Director...Johnny Paarman-project manager....& because they still surf...where would they be based.....non other than Cape St Francis/Jeffries Bay of course...where else....how cool is that!!!

Classic Jeffries in the 70s.....was just a freight train ride but check this out...not one person to be seen on those perfect waves....Cape St Francis ..of Endless Summer fame is just a bit further around the headland....photographer..(Northland) Paradise Bay girl...Mary Ralph

actually i didnt know whether J Bay was a white...black or coloured beach...sheeeeesh!!!............ the police came down to a deserted beach that i was surfing at around Capetown...and said to me "what are you doeng here Mineer..this is a Kaffer beach mun..better leave now or ill arrrrest you"......oh boy..and there were great waves there too!!!!!!!

Meanwhile back in Whangarei...Tich Williams has become part of the folklore of Northland surfing.... looks like a fancy lookin Supersession board Tich is holding...in '72 we were trying everything...concaves..fish tails..wings..channels..trifins..twinfins..pinnose-pintail..fatboys..you name it!!..Remember 'Tracer'surfboards?..Tich and mate Phils creation

Auckland boy..Mike Tinkler taking board design one step further... ...Tinkler adjustable flex tail...Vancouver Island Canada 1972

These next 3 photos..are advocate photos with no information...just called 'the Bay 1972' anyone recognize who this is?

and this young man? I certainly remember him but names escape me these days!....maybe Gary Henderson!!!!!

and who is this? Possibly Dave Powell!!!

'SURFER WEDS' Around about now Tim Frazerhurst and Jacky Adams also take the big plunge!....

now aren't they a lovely couple....Tim and Jacky Frazerhurst.

'SURFER WEDS' & while they were having 'Surfers' weddings in Whangarei......... we were going to 'Surfers' weddings in Capetown..Good friend & great Capetown surfer Tich Paul marrys Jenny(in picture)..while mr classy(in tie)best man...hot local 'Piers Pittard' looks on.....man, how global is our surf tribe.(Mike & daughter Bree)

in fact…this is interesting... this board 'Tich paul' was at the 2014 'Fishfry' at Waipu Cove…..a 1970s Capetown ..South Africa board that Tich made rocking up in whangarei…..2014….amazing!!

recent...Tich Paul..J Bay, SAfrica

and that 'Maungy' boy Jim Nash ties the knot around now too!!

and also Julie Bryans proud dad gives her away ... Kincumber..Austraila...1972

Julie on her honeymoon...guess where???

and meanwhile surf grom....former Auckland boy Mark Wheeler makes the headlines!..

The boys hit Horahora ....summer of '72...and it will be empty waves..yahoo!!... Keith (Walsh's) Holden and Warren Dalburts van...bit of a trek to the bar...but it would be worth it!!!...

the beautiful Horahora set-up... Pataua bar a few K's further down the coast....Horahora had a little bit of the 'unknown' factor about it...until you actually made the walk.....was a nice surprise sometimes...

Horahora bar (near Pataua Northland)....and a strong nor'wester...spring of '72 Roger Crisp photo.....nice looking bank at the rivermouth......but looks like the tides ripping out a little now!!!

Johnny Ayton showing a bit of class...Pataua...summer of '72 maybe around early afternoon ...sea-breeze up but nice looking little inside bank....

Eamon (Hamilton) in one of those sweet old Kombi's...maybe Sandy Bay 1972 those good old Kombi's...legend cars!!!...

Clive (Smart) sittin pretty..on a beautiful Sandy's left...Autumn of '72 looks like in the north corner which can really jack-up!!...

Kevin Price...either watching the waves or finding a private spot...nature calls..Ha!! That happened to me once in the early days...desperately ducked away into the sandhills at Ocean bch only to have a whole busload of schoolgirls come running over the hill....and it was a week day ..no one for miles....sheesh!!!!

Keith takes a trip down to New Plymouth...1972 Weld Road hang-out....

Keith Walsh..(2nd from right) hangin out with the boys from New Plymouth... summer of '72......and it was all about long hair and beards then..Ha!!!....very cool days...in fact Doug Hislop informed me that was his house in the background...which he still lives in!!!

and this is what Keith & the boys would have been looking at... straight out in front of Dougs house...no wonder Doug left Northland and headed back to his home town....Oakura..New Plymouth

Clive (Smart) at Sandy's again...winter of '72 Clive beautifully positioned on this wave ...you could easily imagine what his next move will be.............powering off the bottom and up into the lip....beautiful!!!....

and one of those big thumping peaky days we all love... Sandy Bay 1972...on an awesome summers day...offshore wnds and a pumping swell....sweeeeet!!

Maroochydore...Alex Headlands..1972

Noosa..1972... Heaps of us NZ locals were still going to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts in the early 70s

Doug Fergusons 1952 Prefect...Ruakaka Beach 1972 i think Doug was another Ruakaka surf club boy....

Power Station..1972... Roger Halls down in that village somewhere!!!!...his dad was the Superintendent of the Power Station...

Marsden B getting close to building around now.... Marsben B was never commissioned....a multi million dollar white horse....i guess each awesome wave we had because of the construction cost the taxpayer about $5000 per wave...Ha!!

Ross Mallet...Dave Webb..Billy Philpott...Bert Johnson...Dennis McCartian..... a typical surf scene in the early 70s...even a fishing rod on the roof!!

Dennis McCartain on a beautiful Mahia wave...1972 lots o juice down that neck of the woods!!!

Greater central city area of Whangarei...1972.. Glassworks top right....

Regent area...1972

West coast..90 mile beach fishing contest...1972... they were very cool days...the 70s!!!

west coast boy Johnny Matich on a mellow Bayly's wave ...summer of '72

all my old school mates finally get hooked.... Waipu boy Ken Moreland ties the knot to Margaret Newby...with locals Dianne Pink..Brian Bench..Kathryn Newby...and Wayne Newby

The groovy Bro's........... The King boys lookin' all to dam smoothed up again!!!!....Mike lookin' pretty 'Barry Gibbish'!!!!! (BeeGees)....Ha!!

we were in the days of the Anti-fashion Fashion...Ha!!!

even the hippie influence was getting into advertising .....with flower-powery type looking words and longer hair...Ha!!....brand new Hillman Avenger $2,998...and address your Telegrams to "Haymo" ....Ha!!!!

one of Hermans photos...but he dosen't remember who it is ....Horahora 1972 he thinks it might be his best mate ...but not sure...Herman is in his 60s now you know!!...Ha!!

herman surfing up the East Coast of Aussie ...1972 Classic days....

Herman...Sydney..1972 He does remember Margaret Slater in this photo...very sedate picnic time .....lovely!!!

Herman...with Dave and Barbara Hopper....Sydney 1972

James Carney....

Nick Matich hits Morocco ....1972

Ellyat Allen...That was 1972. The middle of the Nullarbor desert I made the board before I left NZ...

Ken Rouws brother Mike....ye old kombi...jeffries bay............and west aussie Allan Booth

the boys

Manly boys.....Jack Knight best surfer around and brother Gordon....who hung out with the kiwi boys