Save the Ethos
Saturday, September 15th, 2007
There is something different about being here on the remote sheep stations of the Ningaloo coast. For instance, most people leave their entire quiver of surfboards on the rocks near the entry point, way out in the open, completely exposed. There they lie, some hundreds of meters from from the nearest camping site, day and night. Apart from when their owners take them into the water for a surf, of course. Most of them are good new boards too, each worth many hundreds of dollars. There are also some older boards that look like they have lain there for years, completely untouched. Not only that, people leave their wetsuits and towels there too, often weighted down with rocks to stop them blowing away.
There is a lot of unspoken trust and hidden understanding. It would take a while to understand the whole ethos. But it is latent in everything around here.
A young surfer visiting from down south mentioned his partner worked for DEC, the Department of Environment and Conservation in WA. He said he had divided loyalties of course, but thought that DEC coming in and laying boardwalks around etc would kill the atmosphere of the place.
One couldn’t agree more!