Surf Camp
9th – 13th April - Surf Camp
We were up very early to catch the bus for our week ahead. We had booked onto a surf safari which was going to teach us to surf as we headed down the east coast from Byron Bay to Sydney. There were 11 of us on the course Rachel, Lucy, Marc, Freddie, Karin, Jamie, Nick, Alicia, Jork , myself and a French guy I can’t remember his name. Our first lesson was at a beach was just south of Byron called tweed heads the instructors (who were very typically Australia surf dudes) Dillon and Tyler took us through the first steps of how to stand up. We then spent the next 2 hours trying this and much to our surprise we actually managed to handle the surfing in the white water. I even stood up for a split second but the water was only up to my knees :-). We headed back to the bus for a very well earned lunch and then off again to another beach, we had just enough time to practice what we had learnt in the morning before the sun went down. That night we were supposed to camp but we were told that we were going to be put up in a room at a local pub, as you can imagine this was a much better option for me and actually the pub and the rooms were really nice. After a great barbie in the pub grounds we finished the evening off with more drinking and playing pool. The following four days followed the same pattern, we spent the mornings and the afternoons at different beaches trying to surf. The evenings were spent in what they called Surf Camp, which was some sort of resort in the middle of nowhere. There was a pool and a tennis court and more Mosquitoes than you ever want to see. It was a very strange place, we were told it used to be a swingers club but I’m not sure I believed this. However the place was like something out of the 70’s so it could be true. The second day we were taught how to surf unbroken waves, Rachel and I were the first to go I stood up for a split second and was so excited I fell off. I then got nailed by the following 4 waves breaking on my head. I decided I would sit the big waves out and spent the rest of my days playing in the white stuff again. Moonie (one of the instructors) did make me take another unbroken wave later that week, this one I managed to ride all the way to the beach so I was fairly happy. The week ended with a friendly surf comp and then we were all dropped off in Sydney.
