Surfing the big swells

Ok, so we are now more flexible then we have ever been before!  Two days at surf camp has lead us into more laughter then at any other point during this trip.  I couldn't help but almost cry laughing when I saw our new friends get sent (bags packed) up the beach hair everywhere, board 6 feet away and sand in places that no one really likes.

The trip started on a small 20 person bus half packed with eager adventurers seeking the solice of sun and waves.  3 1/2 hours and two ceaser wraps later we arrived 3 1/2 hours late to a 40 person surfers party complete with a pool for only the brave and dancers who have obviously tapped the keg.

Josh showed everyone that he was the surfer he saw in his dreams!

We decided to hit the high road and journey to our cabin where we went to sleep at midnight anticipating the coming day.  I woke up at 5:30 to odd sounding birds and cows mooing like I have never heard before.  As I layed there staring at the bottom of Josh's bunk mattress waiting for any signs of life I coudn't get myself to fall back asleep, so I decided to put on my thai fisherman's pants and grab my camara to see what it looks like outside.  To my waking eyes, the sun wasn't fully up yet, but the wildlife definately was.  Right outside our cabin door was a Kangeroo and it's baby, I couldn't get too close to them before they propped up on their hind legs to quietly and effortlessly hop away (fortunately I got this one on video).  I walked around a bit and took some photos of the 20 acres of ranch land that we were sleeping on, this was country side paradise.  After some walking I decided to take a nap, you see that is the luxury of waking up early, you get to catch the wildlife and still take a nap before anyone else wakes up:)

At 7:30am we were all awaken by our driver, Hannah, also our instructor on the trip, she pretty much said, "Ok, get up, sorry I am telling you to wake up, but wake up, you have 20 minutes and we are leaving, get breaky, I'll get the bus to come pick you up, breaky time."  I thought to myself, as everyone else tried to go back to sleep in confusion, "What the hell did she just say?"  That was pretty much the feeling of the whole trip, I am actually surprised I came home alive or at least on the right bus.

So eventually we figured out what was happening only to arrive at breaky, (breakfast) where all the other 40 some party people were already awake and full on all the breakfast, so we ended up having some bread with peanut butter and bits of other unknown food.  Not full we headed around the corner to pick out our soggy, sandy and worn out wet suits that would supposidly keep us warm in the freezing water.  Then we headed back to the bus with the other 10 people in our group and 2 surf instructors for a 20 minute ride to seal rocks, a local best surf spot.  As we filed off the bus we walked over to the white trailer where Scotty was handing out surf boards and Hannah gave you and your board nicknames for the 2 days of camp.  She didn't give Josh or I a nickname, I suppose it was because we patiently waited until the rushing, enthusiastic, small crowd pushed there way to the front to get a board and a name, so I decided I would call Josh "white lightning" because his board was furious and white, and he called me "the yellow submarine" because my board was yellow, large and in charge:)  Hannah over heard our names and laughed outloud and decided those were the best names she's heard.  So with White Lightening and the Yellow Submarine balancing on our heads we headed to the beach where we lowered our boards to the beach in a semi circle surrounding Hannah and Scotty as they gave us directions on how to stand up on our boards.

After a small demonstration, it was our turn to lay on our beached boards and practice paddeling and standing.  As we paddled we dug up and flung the many inch long beatles across the sand and closer to our neighbors, it turned out that a week ago they had an infestation of these "christmas beetles" she said that a week ago they had to do a camp where the water was blanketed by these semi flying creatures! Yikes, I am glad we only had to fling them at eachother on the beach.

So the time finally came, it was time to brave the waves and hop on the board.  It was easy for me to stand up and I did so right away, the waves came often and the tide was high, it was really fun.  Josh was getting up but not as consistantly as he had hoped.  The waves started to get bigger and pummel us with more force, after a few good white washes and sand burns on our knees and faces we decided to beach ourselves and watch the others get their initiation as first time surfers.  Not long after Josh and I frozen and ready for more headed out for sea, as soon as we marched our way down Hannah came up to Josh and showed him that he had only one fin on his surf board which didn't offer as much stability as he would have liked.  So she fixed white lightening and his confidence and Josh showed everyone that he was the surfer he saw in his dreams!  He ROCKED!  Slowly he started choosing not the nice easy white wash that everyone else was taking but instead the huge broken swells that crashed into itself with a force louder than thunder.  I couldn't help but watch in total love and take as many pictures as I could.  That day was amazing and totally exhausting, but the thing is we barely remember the stormy weather that loomed up above, it was only the laughter we can't get over.

That night they cooked us an amazing dinner with baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken, roast beef and sangria we relived the days surf, the crashed and talking about our lives beyond the one we currently shared together.  Everyone was very nice, we met people from Germany, Australia, Canada, England and Malaysia.  That night we slept like babies and didn't wake the next morning until Scotty came in with a quiet voice and tell us it was again time for breaky.  Josh and I knew the system now, we packed our bags and were ready for the surf in less then 5 minutes, we headed down for breakfast where we got there in plenty of time to be first in line for egg omlets and toast.

The second day of surfing came with an abundent amount of sunshine, Hannah taught us first that we need to put on plenty of sunscreen and zinc to shelter ourselves from the UV dense sunrays.  So if you see pictures of all of us with a mask as white as a Geisha, it's the zinc.  The surf today was amazingly powerful and didn't let up for anyone.  Josh quickly ran out to the breaking swells and pushed through them like a huge linebacker trying to win the game and he did!  He was so darn cute I could barely get myself to put down the camara and go in the water.  Josh took some good diggers and I let out some loud laughing yelps that got everyone on the beach to stop and watch Josh ride white lightning like it was a shark.  I have attached some photos but they don't give much justice to the actual size of the waves.  Finally I made it out to open ocean where everyone else sat on there boards with there feet out of the water hiding from a curious 5 foot black tip reef shark.  After the scare was gone and Hannah felt comfortable again we played a game we called "the Aussie Walk" they lined up all the boards and held them close together as one person hurled themselves on top and try to run across them and jump into the water on the other side.  It was pretty fun and we have a video of myself flipping off the end plungind underwater, visit it on YouTube and search for lind1030.

Finally it was lunch time and we made ourselves sandwiches where the fixens were served on a surf board.  After lunch they took us to a nude beach, with plenty of pld nudes, but we didn't care the beach was beautiful with huge waves perfect for taking pictures.  It wasn't until after we left the nudi beach that I thought to myself it probably wasn't a very comforting feeling for the beach goers that I had my camara:)

The time finally came for us to leave so we piled on the bus for our journey back to city reality.  On our way we saw plenty of Kangeroos on the country side.  It was so relaxing.

The next day was another perfect sunny day, so we took Leon and headed to Mona Vale beach, we took the opprotunity to brave some more massive waves that made for excellent pictures.  Enjoy