Features - LUCKY COUNTRY BY LEO HILLARY: Features

LUCKY COUNTRY BY LEO HILLARY [26.01.2010]Other

LUCKY COUNTRY
by Leo Hillary

Clichés and stereotypes. Australia has plenty of them. Some of them even have a solid basis in truth.

‘The Lucky Country’ has been used to describe Australia since Donald Horne’s book of the same name came out in 1964. Whilst he was using the phrase with a fair degree of irony, it has stuck and no wonder.

The location and isolation has provided a natural uniqueness and beauty in the geography, flora and fauna. Mining some of that natural wonder and selling it has provided economic prosperity.

The First Australians have known how special it is for tens of thousands of years and today a multi-racial melting pot call it home.

In surfing terms we are fortunate indeed.

Groms growing up in Australia may dream of Indo trips or the proving grounds of Hawaii but it is easy to forget the dreams of those growing up elsewhere. Kirra, Bells, The Pass, Margaret River… Hell, lots even dream of surfing Bondi.

Reefs, Beachies, Points and Bombies. The variety is there whether you are looking for cruisy walls, vertical drops or ten turns on a wave.

The varying swells, winds and conditions mean you have to be ready for anything. Grovel in the mush and then revel in perfection when it comes. What better training ground is there?

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It is no wonder that the 2010 ASP World Tour will kick off with Australia providing just under half of the men and women’s competitors including both reigning world champions and both triple-crown winners.

Away from the professional side, just look at the quality of surfing going down at your local, even if it is just the dolphins.

And Australia has a surf culture. A history filled with characters and legends that have shaped the present and defined the past. World-leading shapers, designers and visionaries dot the nation. You can paddle out with people from all walks of life and from all over the world. Australian surfers are also out in the world making a difference and putting something back.

The world is going to keep turning and we can’t know what the future holds but the waves keep coming.

So the next time you’re sat out back in onshore, mushy 2ft slop with questionable banks and a serious crowd, just think how lucky you are…

Don’t you love it?

Happy Australia Day.

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