PNG Rubio and Welcome Back

Image: Mentawais, Let’s Go.

Hi All,

    So its here! 2011 has arrived dripping wet and leaving soggy foot prints on the carpet of the new decade. The surf world is a buzz with changing loyalties, Kelly’s big ten in the shadow of Andy’s untimely departure and the supernatural ability for the surf to turn on the day you have to g back to work.

Amidst the ever-changing world of surfing surf travel represents a familiar and comforting staple. The unerring comfort found in the seasons and the predictability of swell magnets living up to their representations is as reassuring and warm as a hug from a fat aunty.  World Surfaris are glad you are here with us for 2011 planning a trip and getting set to catch the remaining north swells or smugly waiting, patiently for the south swells to arrive in the next few months before heading to West Indo and the Maldives.

Anywhere that 2011 takes you we are stoked to be part of the journey…. “Live long and propser” and all that jazz. W e just hope you get some sweet surf stoke this year and we’ll keep you updated with all the latest

PS- Hope you all enjoyed your Holidays and the time off gave you some time out.

Latest in From Rubio PNG

This was sitting prettily in my inbox waiting for me this morning and since I haven’t blogged since starting back on Tuesday it’s about time. Some of the pictures are from Shane Clark who dutifully sends the images by driving up to the top of the hill in his 4WD and drops in and out of reception, the rest were kindly passed on by recent Rubio returnee Peter Skinner who gave us the report. All in all it looks like PNG is having a ripper of a season this year ……Read on for full details.

Season’s Greetings and hope Santa found you and that 2011 is going to be a great year for all of us—if it ever stops raining.

Just a quick PNG surf report from our trip. I know you’ve already seen or read some of this but I figured I’d inflict it on you again, just in case there was anything you hadn’t seen. Have also been getting some pix from Shane in the last few days and it looks like they’ve been getting some excellent surf.

Overall things went very well and we surfed every day (two or three times a day usually) and having a break right in front of the lodge was a real plus. We surfed that break almost every day—along with road trips to a  variety of other places. No boat trips because we didn’t need to and the SE winds made boating problematic anyway. The five in our group, plus our surf guide(s) were the only ones in the water and often it was just two or three of us. It was overhead at times but most of the time a bit smaller. We did not have epic waves in the true sense but some of the reef breaks were pretty critical on take off etc and barrels were on offer. Onshore and cross shore winds made conditions a bit bumpy at times but thanks to Shane Clark—the lodge owner— who really goes out of his way to find waves and keep everyone happy, we were able to surf protected spots when necessary. Shane, originally from Hawaii, is an excellent surfer and guide—and all-round host.

The reefs were relatively benign, i.e. not sharp, because of numerous cold freshwater streams flowing into the sea along that coastline, but you still had to be careful. I didn’t do any damage but Col, one of our group, got a bit of a graze on his shin which got infected—needed antibiotics when he got home—and one of the girls cut the top of her foot. The weather ranged from blue skies to tropical downpours, water was very, very warm, humidity was high.

Accommodations were thatched roof huts with natural air conditioning (i.e. leave doors and windows open and rely on mossie nets) and quite comfortable. Very quiet at night so sleeping was easy. Food and general hospitality, service etc were excellent. Surprisingly, there were few mossies and other bugs but I did manage to get bitten by unknown critters.

The drive from Kavieng, where the airport is, to Rubio is about 220km and it’s got to be one of the best coastal drives anywhere—through plantations, overlooking sweeping vistas, and beside villages etc. The highway is sealed most of the way and is an excellent road—quite surprising. Originally built by the Germans  but I’ve forgotten who (Bulinksy? Wilinsky?—some German administrator or governor.)

On the way back to Kavieng (on the way home) we stopped at Kapso village where two blokes had speared a huge yellow fin tuna during our trip in 2007. I had printed a bunch of photos for them—just in case I was able to find them. After a couple of stops and showing the pix to various people we found them! The main spearer was there (the other one was his brother, who is still in the area but wasn’t in the village that day). They were most excited to get the photos and I think I am now an honorary member of the tribe!

I’ll attach a few pix with this—some of yours truly and a couple that Shane sent me in the last couple of days. I think the winds have abated and the swell has cleaned up a lot. Winds are not usually a problem and I think we were a tad unlucky in that regard. On the other hand, we had swell all the time—which is to be expected from October-April—and the winds didn’t ruin our fun at all.

Hope to see you soon—in the surf or near it. Not sure when I’ll get the all-clear to go for a wave but I am definitely getting cabin fever.

Cheers,

Peter