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ENLARGE PHOTOS........Maybe goes to 1955 or more.....CLICK ON A 1940s SONG (Juke Box BOTTOM RIGHT) THEN CLICK 'here' The 1940s was a huge transition time for us kiwis and the beachs were infrequently visited and many were still isolated

1941 Lofty Blomfield One of Whangarei's more colourful characters who had 2 equally colourful surfing sons 'John' and 'Ross' both good surfers......but was Lofty a very big guy.........

Holy c..p....look at how much higher his shoulders were!!...ha! Lofty was the top wrestler in NZ around the 1940s.....they even gave him a big silver fern emblem...Ha!!

1945 Hilda Cooney (left) Mikes mum Even though it was still the war years...they were still pretty 'snappy' dressers ...weren't they!!!.....NZ had a very conservative attitude in the 1940s tho....and the US and Aussie surfing culture was totally unheard off by the regular kiwi.....

good ol' Waipu Cove 1940...didn't they know there was a war on!!...ha! all those classic old cars..& that shop hasn't changed much...has it!!....this was 73 yrs ago!!..even tho its a very popular surfing beach today..in 1940 it was a totally empty surf line-up..amazing eh..no such thing as anything that resembled a surfboard

1946 Langs residence Langs Bch...photo taken from the 'Langs' home Langs Beach was actually known up until the 1940s as 'The Cove' or 'Smugglers Cove', as all the illegal rum supplies used to come in here......Langs situated in the Northland Bream Bay area...now an awesome beautiful surf spot...............

1947 awesome Bream Bay....home of the Marsden power station and awesome wave set-ups... just a few houses...thats about it!....still looks pretty rural even today...beautiful part of NZ...sparkling white beaches...warm summer water...prevailing wind S/W offshore....

1949 Waipu Primary School Dave Ryan, Mike Cooney, Les Mckay...we all would have been in that classroom 3 or 4 years later..they dont look all that 'untrendy' do they for 1949!!....a typical rural school in NZ in the '40s....your stories probably similar to this......

Ruakaka 1947...interesting looking rivermouth then!! Hardly a house to be seen!!.......Ruakaka in the middle of the Bream Bay bite....home to a new surfclub in the 60s

Pataua 1949 Check how the river used to flow past frogtown!! .....and no footbridge!.....locals will appreciate this photo, as it became one of the most awesome waves of the 60' pioneering days......a 20 minute drive from Whangarei.......

Horahora 1949 Totally barren coastline...and very isolated....east coast Northland...off Whangarei....but also home to an awesome wave....

1948 Ocean Beach.....Bream Head Northland.... My dad 'Leo Cooney' soakin up the rays at Ocean Bch in 1948..imagine the road out to there in 1948!!....or to any beach around NZ for that matter....I guess this was the first visit to Ocean bch for me & my brother..Bro Phil would have been about 5yrs old

The Matapouri and Tutakaka area 1946....with Pataua way in the distance!! ....East coast Northland....awesome untapped surf potential.........

and here's the bustling township of Matapouri in 1946...Ha!! ...probably what your beaches looked like in the 1940's....

Matapouri today...2013 ....ah progress is a beautiful thing!!!!.....look at that sand build-up on the rivermouth...just waiting for a solid swell...

Sandy Bay 1946...must have been high tide!!...one of Northlands iconic surf spots... Can anyone really claim Sandy Bay to be..... their beach!!.......some say it had the 'Pullman' family heritage linked to it...........well.....lets have a look!!...cant see anyone in this photo!!!!!!

but hey...wait a minute!!....here's Mr J Pullman making concrete blocks on the beach front in 1947!! Very impressive...making his own concrete blocks...under the beach pohutukawas...amazing!!....the Pullman family have a spot in 20th century Northland folklore...........

How cool is this photo...Mr Pullman making concrete blocks right on the waterfront... with a nice little wave peeling off down by the point!! Ha!... Sandy Bay Northland xmas 1946

and here's the Pullmans cottage in 1946... just imagine if that was 2013...and this is your beach..no one to hassle you.........well....thats how it was for them!! awesome!!

this photo was taken from a spot called 'Pullmans Hill' 1946 Awesome....imagine a surfing family having a hill named after them...pretty special!!...

A crowded day at Sandy Bay 1946!! The Wells and the Jackson family with Sandy bay all to themselves...and how cool is that car!!

The Wells and Jackson family...stressed out ...fighting off the crowds...summer of '46....Ha!!!! I wonder if some of us might know those little guys today..they'd be in their late 60's.......let me know!!!.....how many beaches around NZ would have looked empty like this in the 1940's...amazing!!..

Found this really interesting story in this book about the 'Sandy Bay' Pullman family..... .....there's probably other surfing families around NZ with similar stories...let me know!!..

Sandy Bay was originally called McPhee Bay around 1900 Later called Pullman Bay and finally Sandy Bay........

now....what about the rest of the country...1949 Auckland ferry terminal As a family we would catch the ferry across to Devonport (Takapuna) for a day out (no harbour bridge)..This reminds me a little like the Sydneys ferry service still looks like today!! Heaps of surfers catch the Manly ferry to go over for a surf to Manly!!

Ahipara 1910 Back in the early 1900s....this was where they loaded all the Kauri gum...and there's a paddle-steamer(or similar!) behind them, like the one that sunk and gave it the name 'shippies'...or shipwreck bay!!

1910..classic photo of a 'clean' shippies breaking over 100 years ago and the guys have no idea whats going to happen in 50 years time...the first surfboard on those classic waves....cowabunga!!!..

A barge...laden with gum......'shippies' west coast Northland.... about to to pulled out through those waves by the steamer in the distance

Ahipara 'shippies' 1917 imagine rowing this little narrow boat out through the surf at Ahipara ...fully laden with gum...wouldn't want a sneaker set to come thru..would you!!!!

Ahipara 1920 Can't see any shipwreck there...can you!!!.......no, this place was still called Ahipara in 1920....but the wrecks there somewhere!!

Ahipara 'shippies' 1922 it intrigues me why they would take a flock of sheep down to the beach...a swim maybe!!!!...Ha!!......

and here's 'shippies' in all its glory 1925 Waves peeling down the point ...1925....awesome.......as a bullock team makes its way around the rocks....how cool!!!

ever wondered where Greg Alach got his muscles from!!! ....Greg...a local Northland surf boy who had the classic surfie ..build..tan..and blonde hair look of the '60s....you may have known someone like that!!!....well, they have that lucky DNA..as you can see above....Uncle Alach!!!

well now you know where they get their build from..... 1940s NZ premier physical culturist.....good old uncle Mat!!....maybe you've got heritage like this too..lucky b......r Ha!!

Paula, Carol and Rod Haywoods dad (Paul)...in his spitfire..1942 England... some of our parents had a pretty amazing background..'Buddy' was Rods mums nickname..Paul was in combat in Britain'..awesome..the Haywoods were quite a significant family in Northland in recent times..son 'Rod' still has his '62 Atlas woods

Paul a few years later with son Rod.... at our wedding 1971....Rod sure ain't gonna go bald...with all those wavy golden lockes...Ha!!

the 1940s also had a few unusual twists in it.... Like the forming and major promotion of the NZ communist party...when we heard about these people called communists as little kids..it scared the crap out of us....even tho we didn't even know what a communist was..we were just told to stay away from them

and guess where the best wave was in the 1930-40s...Waipu rivermouth....why? Because the Waipu river was an estuary...a harbour if you like, and they would have heavily dredged out the river entrance....hence awesome banks....thats the Waipu bridge on the right!!....sadly..shipping ended early 50s.....Waipu..Bream Bay Northland

Thats the Waipu bridge in the background... Remember....the bridge was the main road to Auckland until the bypass came in around the late 70s....the bridge was our swimming hole..we would jump off it every weekend in the 1950s!

Some of these ships would have quite deep drafts... Im'e sure they would have dredged the river mouth at least 20ft deep....imagine the waves!!!......sadly another lost awesome wave to progress ..(lost...just like Omaha Bch off Wellsford!!)

Whangarei Harbour ...Onetree Point 1949 of course Whangarei and Marsden Point became the local shipping stop-over!!...

Can you believe this...Waipu Cove 1947 'Alaia' surfboards were big in NZ in the 1940s and 50s.....interestingly..... Lala is a word found in the Hawaiian dictionary meaning ‘the controlled slide in the curl when surfing on a board.'

now who's this little 18mth old surfer (to be!!).... cute little Don edge ...1940.....one of the surfing legend 'Edge' brothers..

Mike Cooney 1948....and has no idea what was in the future...like all of us!!!! I was keen on rugby tho...because my old man played...probably yours did too...
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