A slice of bucolic heaven.

The Western Australian surf great Taj Burrow is one of the few high-profile shredders from the nineties who didn’t invest his formidable bankroll in hookers, Balinese bars and coke.

Instead, Burrow, who will turn forty-three in June, has squandered his fortune building a property portfolio that includes a Tuscan-inspired villa overlooking Mackenzies Bay in Tamarama, Sydney, bought for 2.3 mill and valued six years later at four-mill and, now, eleven acres of bucolic loveliness fifteen minutes from Yallingup’s white-sand beaches and unforgiving reefs.

The property, bought in November for a million dollars, was marketed as the “perfect blank canvas for your new dream home.” 

Right now, the joint has a shed that’s been converted to a house as well as a small dam. 

Burrow’s principal residence is the award-winning “nautilus shell” house in Wardanup Crescent, Yalls, aka “millionaire’s row” by architect Dane Richardson. The property was bought for two-milll in 2004 and the new place was built in 2011, winning the overall Design Excellence Award at the 2012 Building Designers Australia WA.

“I pushed through with many questions but the owner travels most of the year and was young without family so it was hard to pin down exactly what was required. The brief then developed to include a small pool, a lot of storage space, small home office, games room large enough for pool table and a large open fire place for ambiance,” Richardson told Architect and Design.  “The master bathtub was positioned to have a commanding view of the clients favourite surf break. This was managed by loading our 3D model into Google Earth and tweaking the alignment of this particular window to the surf break. Another nice touch was to include a roof top deck; this is a small space sitting high on the concrete roof deck, fully exposed but an incredibly dramatic space for the old glass of wine.”

Neighbours still recall, fondly, the demolition of the old place.

“He had a pretty nice place before, but he knocked that one down. He had a demolition party and everyone came around with sledgehammers and knocked the walls down,” neighbour Candice McKiernan said. 

"I just remember feeling weightless and it taking a really long time to come down."

The Californian surf photographer Ryan Moss is recovering at the Queens Trauma Center in Honolulu after snapping his spine during one of the most filmed, and commented, moments in recent surf history.

Moss was shooting the thirty-foot swell on the back of a ski piloted by pro surfer Cam Richards from South Carolina when they, along with a flotilla of other water bikes, watched the horizon turn black.

Hit the vid below, drag slider to two minutes.

Note: The white ski ain’t Moss and Richards.

In an excellent interview with Magic Seaweed, Moss describes being caught inside and the aftermath of the impact.

“I just remember feeling weightless and it taking a really long time to come down. I didn’t know or realise how fast Cam sent us over the lip of that thing.

“There was no handle on the ski, so I couldn’t stand up and hold on and hoped my legs would have absorbed some of the impact. So I was just sitting on the back with a death grip on the leather seat. Next thing I know I heard a loud thud and it felt like the ski buckled in half.

“Along with that my back sent a shooting pain and tingling feeling from my waist down to my feet. I remember saying “fuck, fuck, fuck”, I’m paralysed. I legitimately thought I was.

Cam Richards, meanwhile, got sucked over the falls with another ski.

“Cam if you’re reading this, I hope you’re all good and in good health,” Moss said from his hospital bed.