Lost Track Part 3, Victoria: A Poler Stuff/SurfStitch Joint
Torren Martyn is well off the beaten track… Currently somewhere between South Australia and Perth, searching Australia for pockets of hidden treasure. Reliving childhood memories and forging a new path. Lost Track is about escaping the local break, rediscovering your love for surfing and finding solace in the open road. Surfstitch caught up with Torren who gave them some updates on the trip so far.
Hi Torren thanks for talking to us, tell us a bit about how this idea came about?
Basically I’ve been spending the last few years over in Indo, Mexico and a bunch of different places, so coming home to Australia the inspiration really came from doing a 2 year trip around Australia with my parents when I was a grom. I was thinking about that trip and the fact that a lot of us don’t really get to explore Australia too deeply so it seemed really fitting.
Why ‘Lost Track’?
That was just a name Ishka and I came up with sitting in my garage, every story has a name and it seemed to suit ours.
Are you stumbling across waves and setups you’ve never seen or heard of before?
Yeah for sure the furthers south I’ve been is Ulladulla, so it’s all been pretty new to me. We’ve been lucky to know and link up with a few different people who have given us some direction on where to surf. If you don’t know you can waste a lot of time driving in circles.
You’re doing the trip in another red defender, was this a way of paying homage to your childhood adventures?
Yeah for sure, I think it’s pretty classic how it all worked out, It was my step dads car and we all referred to it as the ‘red rattler’ it was a 1987 Red Defender it was such a beast! With no aircon, mals strapped to the roof and dragging around a fold out camper trailer. Mum took me out of school on that trip and I was home schooled doing assignments and stuff along the way. I’ve been reminiscing on those days.
Are you guys camping or staying with friends… what’s the setup?
Yeah we have more stuff then we even no how to use on that defender,. We’ve been on the road for just over a month now and only slept under a roof for about 2 of those nights. We just refer to it as ‘upstairs’ and sleep in the rooftop tent. It’s pretty classic.
I see your travelling with your best mate and filmer Ishka Folkwell? You must be stoked he could hop on board. Tell us about him…
Yeah Ishka is a good mate of mine and someone who I have done a bit of travelling with over the past few years. He’s super into his photography and filming and really easy to hang out with which works hand and hand, pretty lucky for it to happen.
How long is the trip planned to last?
3 months in total and we’ve been gone for a month. You could be gone forever… when your out of reception and camping it’s weird how you lose track of how long you’ve been gone. Then you get back to civilization and want to bail straight away. Its healthy living.
Besides yourself were there any other driving forces in making this whole idea happen?
Yeah I mean the whole thing wouldn’t have come together without SurfStitch, it’s just snowballed from an idea, one thing led to another and it couldn’t have worked out any better, it’s been unreal!
Australia has plenty of good spots to wet a line, it looks like you guys have been doing some fishing in between waves?
We’ve been having a good time, we haven’t been having much luck though. The first cast we threw both our lines just de-spooled and line went everywhere, we got all tangled up and just lost it haha. We Caught 1 fish but it jumped off before the rocks and didn’t make it to the dinner plate. Two fisherman felt sorry for us and gave us this big snapper and we met some local divers who gave us some abalone. So we have been eating heaps of seafood (just not caught by us).
Surfing some of the more isolated waves, like South Aus. for example it can get a bit eerie out there do those thoughts cross your mind?
Yeah it’s funny in part of my head I don’t really mind surfing in big crowds, which I think comes from growing up in Byron Bay. But on the South Coast surfing with no one around has been so refreshing. I’ve sort of had that thing in my head because there have been so many sharks at home lately, the last few months I’ve just been paddling around with my fingertips in the water, with that eerie feeling. Funnily South Coast didn’t really feel threatening at all. I’m definitely looking forward to getting to South Aus. and surfing those waves but yeah the fish get a whole lot bigger down there… haha. It will be good to have a mate in the water.
Are there any particular favourite breaks or towns you look forward to visiting?
Yesterday was the best session so far at Bells Beach, but there was little wave just south of here which was a slabby ledge break. I’d been told a few stories about surfing and filming down there so I was a bit concerned I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. There are some pretty gnarly stories of photographers getting bashed and camera gear getting smashed.
Did you have any run in’s with locals?
Yeah a local guy approached me in the carpark and sort of interrogated me about being with a photographer. Ishka had already walked down with all his camera gear and I was just getting into my suit. He said “look there is no one around here for a reason, I’m not going to do anything but there plenty of people around who will” He just put a heavy word on me it was pretty crazy.
Do you think it’s important to explore the less publicized waves in Australia?
Every surfer you speak to wants to find waves to themselves, it’s just something that we enjoy doing. I’m sure everyone who surfs can relate.
