Australian author Tim Winton has won the nation’s most prestigious literary prize for a record fourth time, taking the 2009 Miles Franklin award for his novel “Breath” that is centered around his passion — surfing.

Winton, 48, a lifelong surfer and environmentalist, won his first Miles Franklin award 25 years ago for “Shallows”. He also won the annual accolade in 1992 for “Cloudstreet” and in 2002 for “Dirt Music”.

Winton, who has twice been shortlisted for the Booker prize, said the Miles Franklin award has tried to do its part to stiffen the resolve and bolster the confidence of Australian writers and their readers.

The award, which comes with prize money of $42,000, recognises novels which “present Australian life in any of its phases.”

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Killalea was officially declared as a National Surfing Reserve.  This declaration will mean The Farm and Mystics, two of the South Coast’s most popular surfing breaks, and listed in Tracks Magazines 101 Best Australian waves will become protected surfing areas.

The reserve covers 500m out to sea from the average high-tide mark at The Farm and extends southwards 3.5km to include Mystics.

find out more about Killalea at their official site http://www.killalea.org.au/

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CARLSBAD —- Workers began pouring concrete Monday for a new sea wall at Terramar beach in southern Carlsbad, to the outrage of some surfers and environmental activists who say the structure could ruin a quiet and picturesque stretch of shoreline that is favored by locals.

When finished, the sea wall will be roughly 95 feet long and vary in height from 23 to 32 feet, according to a permit for the project that states the wall will be made of textured, colored concrete to blend in with ocean bluffs. The structure is designed to buttress a section of coastal bluffs topped by two multimillion-dollar beachfront homes.

Property owner Dean A. Goetz said Monday afternoon that the $500,000 wall is necessary because the section of bluffs that the wall will protect has repeatedly dropped large amounts of sand onto the public beach below.

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