Surf Wax Australia - Spot X & Surfers Paradise

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Panoramic View: Surfers Paradise

Bus Journey From Sydney To Spot X

The excitement was building now that we had actually boarded the bus. We sat down and didn't mess about; it was an overnight journey (we were to arrive at Woolgoolga at 5:30am) and we needed the sleep. Unfortunately, this particular Greyhound bus was pretty uncomfortable, both in terms of leg room and the chairs themselves. Tiredness won though, and we were soon drifting off to the sounds of the film Flushed Away which was playing. It was fine until an alarm clock in the film went off and one of the characters screamed "WAKE UP!", but we slept most of the way none the less.

We arrived at Woolgoolga expecting a pre-arranged pick up from our surf camp, but after 20 minutes waiting in the cold, it obviously wasn't to be. We eventually had to get a taxi who took us to the camp at Spot X (Arrawarra Beach) and had to wait about another hour or so for the place to open. Not a great start, but first impressions of the camp itself was good. Seemed very quiet and the beach was literally a stone throw away.

After the place opened, a laid back surfer from the camp told us we could start surfing as early as 7am! Since it was 5 minutes to 7, we felt that would be a bit of a stretch so we agreed to start at 1pm and were shown to our "container" (basically a portacabin) which housed our bunk beds. We fell straight onto the convenient double bunk bed and slept the morning away.

"Then everybody'd be surfin', Like Californi-a"

Getting up later, we started to get excited about our impending surf experience. The day was now hot without a cloud in the sky. We made our way to the meeting point and were soon pulling on some uber-tight wetsuits and being thrown a large surf board. The magic was about to happen!

Our surf guide skipped the health and safety parts and we were soon on the beach being shown some surf tricks. Because Emma and myself had never surfed before, this wasn't much use and we were told to wait for the starter group to come down as they were being shown the safety things. It wasn't long before we were amongst that group, which consisted of 4 Germans and an Israeli (that was a bit awkward...) who were all really nice. We got shown how to jump up and down onto our boards and how to ride it, as well as doing some vital warm up stretches.

Then it was the water itself! It was warm and we were soon trying our hand at the actual surfing. Body boarding proved too easy and fun as it was just a case of balancing on the board with your body and the waves took you straight to the shore. It was a bit tiresome constantly fighting the current and carrying your board back out, but that's just part of the surfing experience. Our initial attempts to stand were comical and I found it very difficult to bring my body up to standing from the water. Let's just say my agility and flexibility aren't the greatest and I found my long legs to be an extreme hindrance. Emma on the other hand fared better; after a few shaky starts, she managed to stand a few times and do the proper stance. She was loving it! It was a few hours later and our instructor shouted that it was last waves so I determinedly paddled out, waited for a big wave, and off I went... Success! It had been a good wave and I somehow pulled myself up, stayed on the board for a few seconds and down I fell into the water. Yeah, it wasn't a long one, but it felt great.

After showering and drying ourselves off, we had our dinner (breakfast, lunch and dinner were included in our booking) and the camp did a beer run into town. I was on that bus and soon coming back with a crate of Tooheys stubbies. Our group and a few others at the camp sat around the campfire and talked the night away in the warmth. We were introduced to 3 Canadian girls who had been put in our room too for their surf n' stay deal that they were doing too.

6am the next morning and we were woken up in our room saying that we had another 4 hour lesson at 7am! It was cold when we got up but we had breakfast and several cups of tea which warmed us up. Soon enough, we were down at the beach and in the water raring to go for another lesson. Our arms, shoulders, backs and chests were a wee bit stiff as it's actually tiring work but this hadn't dampened our enthusiasm. The waves weren't as regular this morning as the previous day but we still had a lot of fun. Emma mastered her surf board standing and was able to do it practically every time. I wasn't so lucky. I still had problems pulling my feet up to their appropriate positioning consistently, although I did manage to stand another couple of times. It was a bit frustrating as most people seemed to be doing it with ease and our camera person never managed to get pictures of me standing on the board. Ah well, it was all still really fun and we were a bit disappointed when we got called back in from the water.

After lunch, it was more surfing! We were under the impression we would only get two 4 hour lessons, but they were telling us we had an afternoon lesson too. We headed back down, although at this point we were starting to feel pretty exhausted. This next surf session proved to be the hardest; the waves that we had were known as dumpers which meant they broke really quickly and turned to white water and simmered away. These are trickier to surf because they have a tendency to make your board nose dive in the water which resulted in quite spectacular wipeouts. I spent most of the time trying to stop this happening by arching my back but by the time the board was stable, the wave had gone. So I never mastered the art as I had hoped to do during this lesson. Emma managed to surf properly a good few times at this point as she was really getting the hang of it. Most of the group were a bit more lethargic this time though as everyone was feeling very tired and sore.

After leaving the water for the last time, we got ready for the party that was happening that night. The camp's numbers tripled with the arrival of both a northbound and southbound Oz Experience bus, who do surf lessons at the same camp. We once again sat around the camp fire for a bit before ending up with two of the Canadian girls and some of the workers at the camp at a table doing drinking games. It was starting to get messy but we soon got a phonecall from Megan & Stew who had just arrived in the camp having finally got their campervan going. After speaking to them for a bit, we decided to call it a night as we had to get up at 4:30am to catch our bus.

Surfers Paradise

The early start was not welcome but it wasn't long before we were in another Greyhound bus and trying to sleep again in a seated position. Around 6 hours after leaving, we pulled up in Surfers Paradise, where we had decided to spend the afternoon before heading to Brisbane in the evening.

After dumping our bags in left luggage lockers, we walked about the "town" and up and down the beach. It is the epitome of the Gold Coast's excesses, and has been designed for the tourist and resort market. Huge residential holiday appartment buildings line the beach (one apparantly is the tallest residential tower in the world) and the water itself was lined with surfers. The beach was pretty amazing and is part of the 35Km of beachline that lines the Gold Coast. After having a fish n chips lunch (Emma had quiche) we lay on the beach for a few hours, soaking in the sun and relaxing for the first time in ages! We were tempted to hire a board and surf as the waves looked spectacular, but our bodies were in agony due to the excesses of the past few days. We grabbed dinner and looked at some overpriced tourist shops before heading to the bus for the trip to Brisbane. It was nice to break the travelling up with a stop like this and Surfers Paradise was very idyllic and relaxing, although it was more or less a town for lazing on the beach in the sun for a holiday. Very popular place for Aussies to come on their holidays and the nightlife is supposed to be pretty legendary too.

The bus we got on for Brisbane had seats that were far more comfortable than our previous Greyhounds so it seemed a shame that it was just an hour and a half to Brisbane. As we drove out of Surfers, we witnessed a brilliant, orange sunset which really capped the day off and reminds you that there is a very good reason that this place is a tourist hot spot.

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Photos

Gary
Heroic fall!!

Gary looking for a wave
Look at all the fish!!

Emma
Riding the Waves!!

....After
What happened to Gary??

Our Accommodation!!
It was actually ok inside!!