Unfortunately a couple of my favourite pubs no longer exist. There was an awesome pub overlooking contacio's South Scarborough when I was a grom & heaps of pinball parlours along the beach. I used to visit the old man on weekends, collect cool drink bottles & do odd jobs for the local residents. My old man was the caretaker of a block on Andrew st, few mins walk down manning to the beach on a skateboard with the most hardcore skateboard st in Scabs (Edgehill) practically next door. Thank fark there were no water restrictions in the early 80's or my abort mission attemps at this hill would have hurt more.
Unfortunately the Lynn st shops down the road from where I grew up on Charles Riley rd are also gone today. North Beach was an awesome skateboarding place through the 80's with so many locations to skate. I rarely rode a bike after 12, choosing to skate everywhere instead.
The Castle hotel down on Flora Terrace North Beach was an obvious progression after a regular ritual of skating down that way enjoying the Local Primary School & hills in between. Although since I was only 15 & my friends also all under 18. We used to visit the castle hotel during the week. My friends were all older than me & would buy the jugs & we'd enjoy a free pool table down the back corner out of view. We preffered these times, coz Friday nights we'd be kicked out for not having ID & didn't have free reign over the free pool table.
By the time I was 17 though we were pretty much locals & spent a lot of time down there. We really got into our pool playing.
A couple of good friends & I headed North on a surf trip after work. Had some fun waves at The Spot & Nails on a Friday arvo, then headed up to the Lano pub. Pub was fairly busy & we layed down a challenge for a pool table. We ended up dominating the table for the rest of the night for as long as I remember before having to crash in my mates car. That was the last thing I remembered.
Next thing I know I'm woken by a cleaner at the Lano pub. I'm laying down ocean side using the doormat as a pillow & have no idea why the fark I'm there. I walked around the carpark to see if my friends were there & then walked all the way down the beach & found my friends crashed on the beach on the South side of town. Apparently they'd dragged me out of the car in my sleeping bag onto the camping spot. But then I'd walked off..they thought I was going for a piss, but I never came back...crazy thing is I'd felt fine & just went out & surfed a fun day at Eddie's with a small crew.
Thats the crazy thing when your young you can drink shooters & scull drinks, come home for a few hours sleep but still somehow surf in the morning.
I moved to Margs in the early 90's for about 4 years. Although we'd already been visiting regularly. The settlers tavern before the pub was enlarged & the riverside shopping centre was built was so good. There used to be a great beer garden...but after the extension, they had some amazing bands through the 90's. Big name acts selling lots of albums in a small intimate setting. Typically on a Thursday night before they continued there tour in Perth for Fr/Sat gigs. Most of the big Ozzy Indi bands played there back then, it was such an awesome time.
After one cold winter & breaking up with some chick I decided it was time to bail. A friend of mine from Albany who had grown up in SW Vic had been talking about the great waves over there & was keen to return. We headed off within a few days. I was so free to travel at the drop of a hat back then, I didn't need much & petrol was a lot cheaper.
Skip ahead I downed 5 balls off the break on the first pool game at Bordertown South Oz. I can't remember what balls they were but I'd never downed more than 4 before off a break...I think it was coz I was just so hyped to have made the border. I remember we had pies for dinner & the beers tasted great...it was so cool to be out on the Nullabor on this epic journey. We drove about an hour East after we left & were surprised at how close we had camped to the great Australian Bight when the sun come up the next day. It was literally only about 20m away & was awesome.
Drove a day & then arrived at Penong after a few hours. A few hours feeling like nothing after the previous duration's of time we'd spent in the car & the place looked magic. Not big, not small, about head height, sunny & no wind. So remote, but attracting like minded people from all over the world. We were there for just under 2 months. Surfing, fishing, smoking, playing guitar beside the campfire. My friend & I made some good friends with some girls from Tassie for a week.
We also did quite a few trips into town, stopping for a beer at the cosy Penong hotel. Living on baked been & bolgne toasties for weeksnweeks. A Pub pie was always epic...but one day we experienced one of the coolest events. Firstly let me say I'm not really interested in any kind of football, but I can enjoy the game given the right circumstances & plenty of beer. We were at the Penong to see the St Kilda vs The Crows game in the later 90's when the crows won & it was an awesome game. Like nice & close thoughout, keeping everyone enthralled. I love to see an underdog win, like most people & it was aweome.
We made some great friends with local people that day & we had some great parties over the next few weeks before we set off for other epic locations to the East. Definitely the most awesome trip I've been on, I love a good road trip. Missus & I really enjoyed driving through Germany, but you can't beat a coastline hey. I'm hoping to do NZ, Tassie or Sydney to Goldy soonish
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