The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show

by Adrienne Wilson on

Returning on March
17-19, 2006, the Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show, one of the
biggest outdoors show in Europe will be held at the NEC in Birmingham. Comprised of some really awesome specialist
shows, adventure enthusiasts can find in a fit in almost every category. Climbers can check out the BMC Climb 2006 show featuring a mountain theater packed with
inspirational stories from mountaineers and climbers and beginners can test their skills in climb zone and rock cafe.
Aside from the climbers paradise other speciality shows include the Go Diving! 2006, Canoe 2006, Adventure Travel Show,
and Adventure Sports Show. While all the shows offer fascinating trip planning tips and methods to perfect your
adventure travel hobbies one that seems highly worth making the trip to Birmingham is within the Go Diving! show.

The British Underwater Image Festival will highlight
the underwater works of professional television documentary makers to first-time photographers with a fetish for
photographing great whites, schools of fish or sea coral. 50 of the best prints will be exhibited in a special area of
the Go Diving! show and six finalists from the film categories will have their work shown over the course of Friday and
Saturday. Underwater pictures are always cool to check out, especially for the non-diver like myself who may never
experience these sea worlds.

Sydney: Bondi Beachouse YHA

by Adrienne Wilson on

YHA Australia is a good source of information on the hostel scene while
planning your stay in Sydney. There are several good, cheap accommodation to choose from, but this Bondi Beach hostel
takes the cake. Why? Well Kevin
from Canada was recently noted saying, "4-Star hostel with 5-Star fun" and because it’s close to one of
Sydney’s most popular beaches. That’s why. Perfect for young and young at heart, a stay at Bondi Beach offers a great
mixture of activities besides sun and surf. Spend a day shopping at the Sunday Bondi Markets or partying the night away
at a nearby nightclub. The hostel has excellent backpackers facilities which include internet, movie room, game room,
self-catering kitchen, BBQ, rooftop balcony, and spa. Worry not about bringing a surf board as they’ve got lockers full
of boards and snorkeling gear for free use. Sounds pretty happening to me.

Bookings for the Bondi Beachouse can be made through the YHA Australia
site.

Girlie Camp Gift Certificates

by Adrienne Wilson on
I didn’t actually discover gift certificates for purchase at Girlie Camp online, however it
wouldn’t make a bad gift giving some lucky young lady out there a printed receipt or voucher of a
paid in full Girlie Camp trip. Numerous camps have opened up for surf and skate fanatics in
Morocco and Prague and for those concerned only with the immediate snow and ski season
bookings before Christmas can score you some surprise extras. The days between now and Santa’s visit to
your casa are few, so jump on it while you can and contact their booking department for any additional questions.
Girlie is a Europe based company and prices are all in Euro’s which I didn’t see any specifics, but
I’m sure they won’t take you too far into the bank. Even after the currency conversion.

 

No More Surf Blanks for You

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s a story that will appeal to the few surfers we have who check in here every once in a while (and hopefully
more). A company called Clark Foam, which bills itself as the world’s largest
supplier of polyurethane foam surfboard blanks, closed
down for good last week. Surfboard blanks are, perhaps obviously, the things they make surfboards out of.

Of course, the owner has to have a surfer dude name, and indeed he does. Yes, owner and founder Gordon “Grubby” Clark
said that it was just getting to be too much to meet all those pesky federal and state safety and environmental
regulations. I’m not gong to judge the guy, but the people of Orange County and environmental regulations have never
really gotten along. So let’s just call it a sad story for some surfers and the institution of surfing in LA, and leave
it at that. But maybe someone will do a documentary about ol’ Grubby. Who knows?

Photo of the day (12/12/2005)

by Erik Olsen on

We gotta go to a killer surfing picture today
for our POTD uploaded by one of our
favorite frequent contributors localsurfer. Despite the fact
that surfing is probably not on most people’s minds right now, this one was too good to pass up because the shape of
the wave in this photo is pure art.