I’m battered and bruised, scraped, and sore. My fingers and palms literally look as if I’ve run them over a cheese grater (probably due to my death grip on the foam board), and my leg is one big blotchy mess. But it’s all good cause now I CAN SURF! Ok, I can only get up on the smallish waves; I tried a few big ones at the back and managed a few, but overall, they still scare the bejesus out of me. I’ll definitely keep it up though, cause it’s a fantastic workout and it also looks pretty cool.
So to recap, after getting back from NZ, I spent last weekend in Sydney catching up with a few people I met there, and headed for the surf camp bus bright and early on Monday morning. It was rather painful getting up at 5am and knowing I was gonna have to surf that day; given that that weekend was St. Patrick’s day and there was no peace and quiet to be found within a 100 mile radius. I arrived at the bus and cringed…it was 95% girls. My first thought was that there was going to be a LOT of drama, as large groups of girls tend to get that way. But as the week went on, I was pleasantly surprised that not only did the group gel extremely well, but I also made a few great girlfriends out of the deal.
Our days went like something this: Wake up at 7, hike the 45 minute walk to the absolutely stunning beach, surf for 3 hours, eat a huge lunch, take siesta, surf for another 3 hours, eat dinner, then party on the beach. It’s a rough life for the employees I’m sure. We surfed at two different beaches over the course of 5 days. The first was totally isolated, pristine, and intimate and our group had all of it to ourselves.
The second place, called Spot X, was more commercial… lots of different tour groups and a bigger, more populated camp. I got along really well with the employees of that camp and they offered me a job there if I wanted it. I’m seriously considering going down to work at the camp for a month or so to help out with surf photography. The deal is, you work for 4 hours a day and all your accommodation and food is covered. Any extra hours you want to work are paid (only $10/hour, but you don’t need any money there anyway cause it’s pretty far from the nearest town). Why not right? It would be prefect way to practice my photography, a great way to learn to surf, and a damn good time.
So on the last day, we divided up into teams and had a surf competition. The rules were that you had to catch two waves and do a trick on the board to score extra points. Looking retarded also scored extra points, as did stripping off one’s clothes. Well, we were wearing wetsuits, so we won no points for nudity, but our team spirit carried us though and we tied for first place with the boy’s team. To break the tie, we had to stand in a line and each of us had to down a raw egg, relay race style. It was truly disgusting. Our team would have won if one of the girls hadn’t chickened out (sorry, pun intended). She just couldn’t stomach it. I felt like a frat boy. I have some pretty funny pictures of this, but I lost my scan card and can't get my pics off my camera. :(
We all arrived in Byron Bay on Friday night and unbeknownst to us, the bars all shut down at 10pm for good Friday. I was a bit disappointed as that was the last night the whole group would be together, but I was so beat down from the week that it was probably a blessing in disguise. I tried to get some sleep, but there were literally 15 people staying in the room that night and from 6am till 10am, people would not stop moving around, packing, talking, etc. Sweet. It was extra frustrating given that a few of us were going to the blues festival the next day and I really wanted to be physically prepared for being on my feet all day. Oh well…
Tomorrow I’ll be updating with Blues Fest pics. I’d have done it today, but we have one more night to go so I’ll wait on it. For now, let’s just say it was a perfect end to a perfect week. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post!
1 comment:
i serioulsy hate you...i am so jealous of ur life right now...when i see u..u r going down
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