SUBSCRIBER ISLAND
FULL CIRCLE
By Marianna Campbell | St Lucia QLD
Subscriber since issue 30
As long as I can remember our family holidays have been surf trips. We definitely favour tropical island destinations over trips requiring steamers.
In the early ’80s my parents took six months to backpack through Southeast-Asia with me (age five) my three-year-old brother, a double pram, a surfboard and a single backpack. Our final destination was Hawaii, where we lived on Oahu for two years. My brother found a 12-foot mal in an op-shop, and talked Mum (the original surfer in our family) into buying it. I still remember him standing on the front of the board in his yellow arm floaties, catching waves at Waikiki with Dad. Dad would phone the surf report phone line and drive to the North Shore in the dark before work if the swell was up.
Later Dad would introduce us to the breaks on the Bukit in Bali, when the roads were still made of white rock and there wasn’t a resort in sight. He and Mum told us stories of hiking into Uluwatu in the ’70s. There were days that I was too scared to go out, and I’d sit in a warung eating peanut butter and banana jaffles. Other days I’d paddle out and barely catch a wave, but dad was always supportive.
Now that I have my own daughters I appreciate the fine line between encouraging them to surf with us, and worrying that too much pressure will mean they stop surfing for good. I am forever grateful that my parents succeeded in finding that balance and recently, our tropical family surfing holidays came full circle.
And now? We’ve come full circle. Back in Hawaii. From our veranda at Sunset Beach, we can watch all the action. My
