It's funny how Dunedin attracts certain types of people: it seems like a magnet for artisans, adventurers and innovators. I was shooting some sizeable surf last week at St Clair Beach and a surfer climbed out of the water on dusk and approached me:
"Are you Derek Morrison? Did you go to Puketurua School?" he asked.
Turns out that the surfer standing in front of me was a guy I went to school with in our small rural village in the Waikato: Glen Aspin. The school had about 50 kids at its peak and there were seven in my year and probably seven or eight in Glen's year (including my brother).
It had been more than 28 years since I had seen Glen, but it felt like I'd known him all the time.
His story of falling in love with surfing and then Dunedin was eerily similar to my own. Like me he was attracted by the lifestyle benefits, but he'd turned that dial right up. He works hard as a builder in town, surfs when the waves are at their best, sneaks into the mountains to rock climb, ice climb and play in the peaks and revels in the city's charms.
We both came from a farming background and we both left it behind for similar reasons – me to pursue my photography and Glen to pursue his love of surfing, climbing, snowboarding and travel. But there is a deep-rooted element of farm culture still in us and this came to the fore when Glen offered to take me fishing for blue cod (an offer nobody in their right mind should ever pass up).
We launched his IRB at Tomahawk Beach, had a dream run through the four-foot glassy peaks and proceeded to catch enough blue cod to last us into winter. We even spent half an hour bringing an eight-foot long seven gill shark to the surface before freeing it. We didn't try to land it – shark's teeth and inflatable boats are not a good combination.
It's exciting to see how other people immerse themselves in the wonders of this little city and I guess in Glen's case he's also opened my eyes to the back paddock, which is the ocean and its bounty beyond the breakers.
All I need to do now is convince my wife that a boat is a necessity ...
See you at the beach ...
Proudly supported by:
