Joel Parkinson

BELLS… EVERYWHERE BUT !!

Parko Bells Beach WCT Part 1 from Billabong on Vimeo.

Here’s what’s been happening down here the last week or so.

CHASING YA TAIL

PARKOS WEEK AFTER QUIK PRO from Billabong on Vimeo.

Up at 4am, three hours down the coast with Louie and Laurie only to turn around, come home and surf D-Bah. Then the day after we got epic waves only for my dog to go missing for two hours and the car to get a flat tyre on the way home. The week after the Snapper contest was eventful to say the least.

HOME SWEET HOME

HOME SWEET HOME from Billabong on Vimeo.

Been back home for over a month now. The surfs been pretty flat all through out January but that’s standard for that time of year.

The last few days though the waves have been really fun, it feels good to be back !!

BASQUING IN IT

Mundaka today on the high tide... the bank is there, we just need some swell.

Drove down this morning from Hossegor and have just arrived in Mundaka. Sunday afternoon here and the bars down on the harbour were pretty well packed with local crew. I always love coming back to Mundaka… it’s such a pretty little place with all the cobblestone streets and bars.

Louie and I actually drove down during the week and had a little surf on the bank. Sagey gave us a call and told us there were waves so we decided to jump in the car and have a surf on the bank. It was only a couple of foot, but the bank here is about as good as I’ve ever seen it. The sand is unbelievable, so if we get any swell for the contest it’s going to be epic.

The waves this morning at Hossegor were the flattest I think I’ve ever seen it. There wasn’t even a little surge on the shorey, and it was pretty much the same when we got down to Mundaka. They’re calling for a little pulse of swell tomorrow so there’s a good chance we’re gonna run tomorrow, but we might be on the beachies instead of the rivermouth.

I’m feeling pretty psyched to get a result here. I’ve done all right here in the past and always feel comfortable here. I lost the final to CJ in the last 10 seconds last year, so I’d love to finally win this one. We’re starting to get into the home straight with the season so it’s getting interesting.

THE RED DIRT

Scoping out the world's best straighthander. //Frank

Just got back from chasing a swell up into The Desert. We scored. Drove up with Louie and Andy, and Occ flew in the day after we got there. It was so good to do that trip with a bunch of good mates, get away before the tour kicks off again.

I’ve been up there once before for four days with Jack shooting for Free As A Dog, stayed with George and Tracy Simpson up there. It’s not for every surfer on the planet, that trip. It’s for the surfer who wants to challenge themselves in the elements with no one around, big waves, just a few of the boys camping. I went five days without touching fresh water and just loved it. Just that style of roughing it, stinking of campfire smoke the whole time.

I love it that crew head up there for a month or six weeks and just live there between swells. I could see myself doing a month there easy. You know, you appreciate the little things when you’re up there camping. You surf two long sessions all day, and it’s not like you can go and sit down and have a pub meal and a schooner for dinner. I was that excited to sit down and have a cold beer from the esky as the sun went down because you realise how hard it is to lug everything there, bring the ice and pack the esky. You’ve got to earn everything up there. No free rides. You realise the value of things.

Eating is a huge part of life up there. I pride myself on good campfire eating and I tell you what, my campfire recipes were all time. The first night I cooked fish, steak, sausages, vegies and salad. Second night the same, then third night I did a tuna pasta with vegies and salad.

The right looked evil when we checked it. Ten foot closeouts. Andy was so keen to just throw himself into anything, and if he was going out there was no way that I wasn’t. And it was Occ’s birthday, so of course we went out and put on a show for him.

On the way home in the car just sitting in the back seat, Occ and Louie were in the front. I was just sitting there thinking as a kid how often I’d dreamed of doing a surf trip with those guys, my heroes, and here I was 10 years later sitting in the back seat with the two guys I’d watched on movies a thousand times. Like, how cool is this. We shot some epic footage on the trip, which is all going into Still Filthy. It’s kind of like the last footage they shot for it so it’s going to be a sick way to wrap it up.

The drive up there was long, but the drive home was longer. We did 12 hours in one hit. Punched it. I drove the whole way up there and drove the whole time we were up there. I did the first two hours coming back and I said, “I need out of this drivers’ seat.” I jumped in the back of Louie’s car, fell asleep, and I woke up 10 hours later outside the airport.

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