February 14th (aka, probably best Valentine's Day ever, mainly because I forgot it was Valentine's Day)
Breakfast, aka Brecky, was at 7 am. Geez.
Note: Australians really like shortening words. Chaplin joked that they just cut a word in half and then add an 'o' or a 'y' to the end of it. Example: Wetty = wetsuit, arvo = afternoon, etc.
I got up early and took a shower, which was fairly easy to do given my giant time change. We all got assigned wet suit numbers (not that it matters but I was 14) and pulled them on like a spandex corset. Ok, it wasn't that bad. Actually mine was pretty long so it wasn't a big deal. After suiting up, our group headed out to the beach. We split up when we got there and I was in Chaplin's instruction group. The weather was incredibly overcast and my favorite saying of the trip was "It's surf camp, not sun camp." The instructors were quite hilarious. Within the first 2 hour session, which consisted of learning how to sit up on all fours on the board and then progressing to standing, I actually stood up on one wave. It was a miracle. After that my "technique" slowly went downhill, but I managed to stand up several more times over that session and the next three. Don't get me wrong though, I was nicknamed "Grace" sarcastically as a child and I certainly had my share of wipe outs. It was definitely a lot of fun when things worked, but when they didn't it was quite exhausting. The weather wasn't ideal for surfing, not only because of the rain/cloudiness, but also because there was wind coming into the beach which made the waves less desirable for surfing. Like one after the other with no breaks in between. Even though I was exhausted, I kept going until the two hour session ended regardless.
Between the two sessions we got to relax on the hammocks at our huts. They felt like a giant hug.
 |
| From Surf Camp |
After we were finished surfing for the day, a group of us went up to the local pub, which kind of reminded me of an AMVETS back home. This pub was at the top of a giant hill from where we were staying but we went anyway.
Further up on the left of this hill:
 |
| From Surf Camp |
We had to sign in as temporary guests, which was mildly ridiculous, but I respect protocol most of the time so I just did it. Since the drinking age was 18, and I was about 4 days from turning 21 anyway, we had a few beers at the pub. Apparently Australians drink Tooheys and Fosters is not popular at all. Alex from the university was an incredible help to us here.
 |
| From Surf Camp |
We managed back down the hill for dinner, which I believe might have been the burger night. Might not, I really can't remember what we ate, but it was delicious. Thank you lovely Belgians. After dinner, an even larger group managed to get back up the hill to the pub yet again. This included Ben who had either a broken or a sprained little toe. That's dedication. This time there was a pretty awful live band ruining many different songs for me. Picture "Sex on Fire" (this song has been popping up all over this trip) being sung by a middle-aged woman and tell me that's not horrifying/hysterical.
 |
| From Surf Camp |
I left before most people because I strongly desired sleep (silly jet lag) and knew that our lesson the next day was bright and early. I slept like a baby...who sleeps well.
No comments:
Post a Comment