Author(s): Tim Baker

Travel Writing

All surfers dream of shedding responsibilities and answering the siren song of the ocean swells. For most, it is an ideal that recedes as age advances - as family, career and provider commitments overwhelm the wanderlust of youth. But what if you could defy the slow march of age? Shelve all your worldly pressures, pack up the family and a few trusty surfboards and hit the open road for the Great Australian surfing road trip? Tim Baker is doing just that. Inspired by the dreams of his youth, and in the face of looming middle-age, Baker is embarking on the Big Lap, with his wife Kirsten and two children, Vivi, 8, and Alex, 4. Starting in late January 2011, the family will set out from their home in Currumbin, Queensland, heading south down the east coast. Over the next six to eight months, they will circumnavigate the country, as Baker documents the state of surf culture and our coastline, and the array of colourful characters encountered along the way. Surfari will evoke all the magic and charm, the challenges and perils of the Australian coastline and the curious variety of human sub-species who inhabit it. The result will be a lively, colourful handbook on how to trade your life for another variety, the delights and dangers that lay in wait for those who dare to chase their dreams.