PLEASURE AND PAIN
“If we didn’t come back in when we did … my brother could have been dead,” says Shaun Harrington—one half of the Hazza twins—and our minds race back to the beginning … were there vital signs we missed?
Borders are closed, flights are grounded, people are in isolation, and there won’t be on a surf charter anytime soon. These were sentiments we disagreed with, and we weren’t going to have it. Surely, there would be a way to get on a surf charter during this time. Surely, we can’t be held down this hard by the “man” or the “virus”. Surely, in this massive waverich country of ours, we’d find somewhere to escape to—surely?
We immediately jumped on the phone to our friends at World Surfaris and pleaded our case: “Surely?”
It has been a challenging period for travelling surfers, let alone travel agents. Some enjoyed their time in one place. Others, our crew included, had such a severe case of itchy feet, it spread everywhere: itchy legs, bellies, back, ears—yep, there too. We checked local maps, questioned the Pacific bubble, conceptualised NZ, thought about Tassie, asked about remote territories and inquired about surf travel possibilities in the new normal.
Where can we go? Someone had heard a whisper about a fabled set of reef passes and talked to us about warm waters teeming with fish. Did World Surfaris know about this place? Of course they did. They’d just started running charters to it. Bingo, we found our COVID saviour.
After locking in this location, who better to take on an Aussie strike mission than The Mad Hueys. If we’re talking waves and fishing, it’s a perfect fit for
