Surfin' Australia...and Nimbin

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Who said surfing was easy?? Trust me it's not!

I took a 4-hour surfing lesson and wow, I think i never swallowed so much salt water in my entire life!

I was first picked up around 1pm by the two instructors with their mini bus and all the surf boards. The intructors were two sexy Australians dudes...the lesson was going to be interesting 😉

They drove us south of Byron Bay, around 25 minutes south to Flat ROck beach, where there was no one to disturb us. The rips and currents are pretty strong in Australia so we had a 15 min. talk on security and where not to go. Then, a good 20 min, explaning to us how to stand up on our board. Seems pretty easy to do, especially if you're on the beach. But for those who know me, i've never really been good in sports and, obviously, i was the only one not able to manage the stand up technique! (and I was still on the beach!)

So anyways, we jump into the water... First wave hit me and j'prends un mechant bouillon....ca commence ben! But I keep trying and trying and trying. The sexiest instructor comes to me and helps me to catch a wave. I do catch it but I'm obvisouly unable to stand up on the board.

The first hour and half in the water was just like that, catching a wave on my knees for 5-6 bouilllons in the salt water. I got frustrated pretty fast at myself...no need to mention that everyone esle was doing great and that everyone had at least once stood on their board (and that includes Phil who was able to catch almost every wave he saw and was actually able to surf like a real surfer).

We took a break from the big waves. I kept practising the technique on the beach and the instructors were wondering if there was something I wasn't getting...😞
Jumjped in the waves again for the last 50 minutes of the lesson. I was going to get up on that board!!! I tried and tried and tried again until I finally managed to stand up for a good 1.5 second! Okay, I admit, it's not super long and I fell pretty hard in the water after but at least I was able to stand up on it! I did manage to stand up a few other times like taht but never more than 2 seconds...

Ouf! the lesson was finally over, I was exhausted. Believe me, the current and waves are really strong and it takes all your energy just to go out there and try to stay still to catch a wave! But the last part of the lesson turned out to be a lot of fun. I had salt water in my nose, in my ears, in my eyes, but hey man, i did surf in Australia!!!!

Can I tell you taht my body still hurts from the whole experience!!

Nimbin

After all this intense work out, we needed a day to chill. We took the Happy Coach to Nimbin, a hippie village about 1h45 inland from Byron Bay. And trust me it was a hippie village. People were selling pot cookies on the streets!! hahaha Our visiit didn't last long, we spent most time in the bus but it was a really interesting village to visit for the "cultural" aspect :p

My return

okay, everyone is asking me when i'm coming back home. Here are the details....I wish heaps of people can make it to the airport, it would be a great ending to our documentary and you'd all be in it 😉

We'll arrive at Montreal PET airport at 19h40 on the 2nd of may which is a Tuesday....Hope to see you all there! I miss you all!!

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Comments

[Serge]

Surfing
Simplement pour te dire que ton père était le meilleur de la famille en ski sur l'eau, cependant cela est une vieille histoire. Mais, la pratique pourra donner des résultats à long terme. Bye Dad xxx

[Eva :)]

You go Girl !!!
You are pretty brave just the same. Determined too or else liking the attention from the good looking teachers :) Were you sick after all that salt? I know how waves can twirl you around, I thought I had lost my head once in the ocean, you have to be very careful of the rip tides. They are dangerous and always swim along the shoreline to get out of one. Never try to swim to shore from the rip. You have had a great time by the sound of all the journals. I like to read them even tho' I don't always comment. The pics of you are really good. Take care, hugz Phil's Grandma

[Ardelle]

Un plaisir fou!!!
Hi Maude...so we see you sure had fun in those waves. You didn`t say anything about losing your top or bottom :) well at least you tried, we can`t be good at everything! You should have asked those cutie pies for a good body massage! see you real soon xxxxx

[Mom]

Surfing
Wow! encore de fortes sensations. Déçue de ne pas voir de photos en action mais j'imagine très facilement les résultats (lol) !!Tu as été très courageuse d'essayer ça! Continue d'être très prudente pour les quelques jours qu'il reste. A très bientôt. xxxxxx