Surfing Up The Coast and Byron Bay

Monday the 6th of October

After only 4 hours sleep and a crazy weekend in Sydney I got up to catch the bus for the surfari, a surfing safari up the coast to Byron bay. I met the group and driver/surfing instructor at 7.45am. There were a group of seven people, Erich from switzerland, Rachael from Adelaide, Marusa from Slovenia, Thomas from Germany, Faith from Belfast and George her boyfriend from Scotland. I got on the bus after getting everyones name and then basically slept most of the 5 hour driver up to the surfing camp. They must have thought I was a bit unfriendly, but a man needs his sleep.

We got to the surfing camp about 1 and were shown around. I had thought we would be setting up tents in different places every night, but instead there was a base camp which was like hostel accommodation with a pool, a beach volley ball court, table tennis and a decent TV room. After being shown around, Kyle the instructor loaded up the surf boards on the roof of a 4 by 4 and off we headed to the beach. We started off with a lesson in a lagoon where we were shown how to paddle. Then we were brought out into the ocean to try and catch our first wave.

Surprisingly, by the end of that day everyone had managed to stand up on the board. But my problem was catching the wave. The paddling is difficult even despite the incredible superhuman strength of my guns. Well Ok, maybe its the fact that im week as piss, but i couldn't manage it and the only way i could catch a wave was when Kyle pushed me onto one. But that first time of standing up on the wave did feel pretty good. That evening we got back and a really good chicken noodle dinner was waiting for us. I ate and went to bed.


Tuesday the 7th to Thursday the 9th

We started early in the mornings, getting up at about 7.30, grabbing brekkie and heading off in the 4 by 4 searching, as kyle put it, "the ultimate ride". The search continues. Bob marley played as we hit the road with "get up stand up, standup for your right" becoming a bit of a theme tune for the week. We tried a number of different sun drenched beaches and surfed the week away on the south pacific. The day consisted of maybe 2 hours surfing in the morning, then stop and relax for a few hours on the beach in the sun, eat some fresh meat and salad sandwiches for lunch, relax a bit more, maybe change beach and then about 3pm head in for another few hours surfing. Most of the week the conditions were pretty calm so its was good for beginners. On thursdsay the last day the waves were a bit higher and this was when I had the most fun. We already had the basics, could manage to catch the waves by ourselves and stand up (about 30 percent of the time). Its Definately something I could get into, but it would take a long time to get to a decent level. After a week I can stand up on a surf board but I wouldnt exactly say that I can surf.

The evenings with the gang were great. After a day surfing we would come back to the camp, play some beach volleyball tournaments, table tenis tournaments and drink a few beers. Since we were a pretty small group we got to know each other pretty well with many interesting facts emerging and lots of laughs. Faith was an actor from belfast and now teaches theatre and Marusa is an Astro Physicist. Thomas and Erich had serious difficulty understanding Scottish George but by the end of the week were using Irish and scottish phrases.

On wednesday night there was a band came out to practice at the base camp and provide us with a little bit of entertainment. It was a bit crazy, maybe even disturbing, seeing these drunk fifty somethings rockin. And then the lead singer went to hit the base player because of some remark. I dont know boys, your not twenty anymore, give it up. But good entertainment none the less albeit in a very strange way.

Thursdsay night we celebrated swiss Erichs 26th birthday. We bought a cake and some tequila. One of the owners had a guitar and played us some songs as we sipped and later gulped on our margaritas. Everyone sang, we played drinking games and went to bed not feeling any pain.

Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th

Got up dying and went surfing again. It was hell on earth. Every wave knocked me off the board, and i wanted to get sick. So I gave up without catching even one wave. Everyone was in the same boat. Bloody margaritas.

After lunch we packed up our stuff and headed north for byron bay, getting there five hours later after many a game of eye spy. We said our goodbyes to Marusa, Faith and George who were heading further afield, and then myself Thomas Erich and rachel got ourselves booked into a cool hostel in Byron Bay.

The live music in Byron Bay was incredible. Both friday and saturday we went to the railway bar which had an early live band 8 till 9.30 and then moved onto the beach hotel which had a band from 10 till 11.30. I saw a bluegrass band who played a bluegrass version of walk like an egyptian, a rap/ hip hop band, an irish band - irish music but australian people, and a drums band. Saturday was a bit of a write off during the day cause it was raining so really all we did was eat drink and watch live music. Quality.

Saturday night myself and swiss erich ended up in this club called Cheeky Monkeys. Everyone was dancing on the tables, not someplace i would frequent but good fun to try once.

Sunday the 12th

Rachel headed away sunday morning and myself Thomas, Erich and Danielle an Irish girl we met in the hostel, decided to take this trip out to a town called Nimbin. I thought i was just a trip into the country side but soon I realised this was far from the truth. Nimbin is a hippie town. Everyone sells marijuana there. The driver told us to be careful with the cookies as they were pretty strong. How crazy was this day trip i was going on. We got to Nimbin and everyone did try to sell us drugs. There was a museum which contained things people created when they were stoned and just walking around here made me feel like i had taken drugs it was that crazy. One of the shops was called Bringabong. After visiting the town the bus took us first to a waterfall and then to a market in the countryside. The market was pretty hippie too and there was loads of good food for sale. I got some great falafel as i was at this stage very hungry. Got back to town and grabbed some thai food and an early night sleep.

Monday the 13th

Got up at 5.20 to go see the sunrise over the pacific. The clouds got in the way so it wasnt areally worth it, but we did get to go to the lighthouse at the most easterly point of australia. Myself and Erich left this morning for Surfers Paradise. As it turns out we have a similar schedule for the next two weeks up to cairns, pretty cool, again im not traveling on my own.

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