In six months he traversed 22 countries in total. It was an odyssey replete with hollow waves, hard lessons, dramatic revelations and occasional calamities. Much more than just a surf trip, it was a transcendent experience, which took Lachie across borders into strange lands, and carried him well beyond the fringes of his comfort zone. Saved by a Screen Saver

There’s a particular photo of Teahupo’o that has been my screen saver for as long as I can remember. Chained to a desk in a corporate role the image’s ‘hollow’ promise kept me sane. Meanwhile, many of the lifeguards I’d worked with while going through Uni are committed surfers and seasoned travellers. At the end-of-season lifeguard party I mentioned my Tahitian-themed screen saver and it inspired them to regale me with their own travel tales. This soon kindled a fire inside me and inspired a six-month trip across the world.

I booked a return flight to Teahupo’o and then a one-way flight to Istanbul. Apart from loose plans to meet with friends later in the year, I had money saved, all the time in the world and nowhere to be. By going it alone for such a major section of the trip, I had no choice but to be swallowed by the circumstances of my surroundings and survive on my wits. It was terrifying and incredible all at once. It led to some of the most innately human moments of my life.

Tahiti – Code Red Teahupo’o

Teahupo’o really is the most sacred place on earth for a goofy-footer and it’s fitting that the wave is literally at the ‘end of the road’. The landscape compliments the pristine, raw energy of the crazy wave so well. The lush green mountains dominate the skyline and their soaring majesty is only just outdonethat is much deeper than spoken words. Coming from the etiquette-circus of Eastern Sydney beaches it was refreshingly unfamiliar for me.