Home from the Surf Trip! And man, am I sore. We just got a 3 day workout.
On Friday morning 14 kids from my program and I got up at 6am and met across the street to take the 6 hour bus ride up the coast to Crescent Head (about half way from Sydney to Byron Bay). It didn’t seem so long since we all slept or talked, and we took quite a few breaks for food and bathroom. A surfboard fell on my head on the way there and I have a nice scratch on my cheek from the fin (not the best way to start a surf weekend). We got to the surf camp around 2 and quickly ran to our rooms. Six girls in my room, boys in another and a few more girls in a third. Bathrooms outside and around the corner, screened in porch for meals. No cell service and one computer for internet. We all needed a weekend away, and it was great to really be out in the wilderness. We were about 10 minutes by car from the nearest grocery store, but we only made stops there on the way back from the beach. As soon as we had set out stuff down and gotten on swimsuits, we headed out again. We had a few surf instructors, our main one was Plenko, and awesome (although very inappropriate man) who just liked to drink beer and surf. There was also a younger guy, Kyle, and a gromit (apprentice) named Jai. We all piled into a van with boards for everyone and drove to a nearby lake, Tea Tree Lake. The water was brown and warm because it was filled with tea tree oil, needless to say, we all had nice skin for the weekend. Everyone proceeded to stretch and learn the rules of surfing. Next think I know, we’re in the lake practicing paddling on the board and learning to how pop up (stand up on the board). Once we all could stand up and be pushed along, we paddled across the lake and to the beach. A big and deserted beach with large scary waves. No one was ready for this (except for the boys who could already surf). “In ya go mates”, Plenko said, pushing us all into the water.
We did our best, but...most of us ate it. Actually all of us ate it. Over and over again. Knees and faces ground into the sand (my knees are bright red and purple right now), lungs full of salt water. My board hit me in the mouth once, it really gets tossed around in the waves. After a few hours we had had enough. We collapsed on the beach and couldn’t move. Surfing is hard. Unfortunately we still had to paddle back across the lake and to van.
We got back to camp and everyone ran for the showers. Dinner was burritos and everyone chowed down. We had all intended to drink beers around the campfire all night, but by 10:30 we were all in bed. It was a long day.
Up at 8am on Saturday, banana pancakes for breakfast and into the van for a full day at the beach. About a half an hour drive to Point Plomer, a campsite with a huge beach and some shady spots with trees. We unloaded and hit the water. The waves were much smaller and regular this time (Plenko said he purposely gave us big waves the first day to prepare us for what was ahead. Really though, he just liked to watch us go down). Pretty much everyone got up at least a few times, I did about 4 or 5, but no one could really ride a whole wave in. We took breaks for lunch and laying the sun, then back our or more surfing. A professional photographer came to take pictures of all of us surfing, a few of us, myself included, bought a CD from her of about 200 pictures. See the link below!
The waves got a bit bigger in the afternoon and we all gave it a go, but right after I got out there, my leg was suddenly on fire. I turned to Kyle, an instructor, and said “Hey Kyle, I think I got stung.” (Jellyfish stings are pretty common). “Stop being a fucking princess and ride this fucking wave”. Oh...ok. So I did, and then went in and ran fresh water on it. Gone ten minutes later, not so bad really.
We headed home later that evening, showered and had such a perfect dinner waiting for us. Steaks, sausages, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy and salad. We all washed it down with beer and then sat around the camp fire all night. Some of the staff at the camp jammed on guitars and bongos and we made make-shift smores (No graham crackers or normal marshmallows here). In bed by midnight, up by 7 the next morning.
A few more hours of surfing at a different beach Sunday morning, but most of us were too tired and sore to go out for the whole time. Drove in to town in the early afternoon and made a stop for the best meat pies ever. Meat pies are really big here, all bakeries have them, and if you get a good one, there’s nothing better. Today I had beef, bacon and cheese; cover it with a little tomato sauce (ketchup) and yum!
Back to camp, shower, pack and hit the road. We were all back to the Parklands by 8:30 where I unpacked my stuff and am now writing this. I will upload some pictures into an album before I go to bed, but I will be asleep before midnight. I am so sore and so tired, but it was such a good weekend. Class tomorrow and some plans for the week, Easter is coming!
Hope everyone is well, hope to here from you!
Link to new album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2287887&l=2e857&id=824622
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