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Surf's Up
November 30, 2005
Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Emily and I had our first surfing lessons this week. It was lots of fun. We both got up in our first lesson - I think I got up on my second try. Even though we had bad conditions, an onshore wind at low tide, we fought through it and had a good time. We had longboards, which are the easiest to catch the waves with, and our instructors pushed us into the kiddy waves right next to the beach. Even though this might sound pathetic, it doesn't really matter where you are when you stand up for the first time.
I ended up taking 2 lessons and Emily took 3 (she is a pro now). She went on an extra lesson the day I went scuba diving. On our last lesson together, we had a slightly insane instructor named Egor. He took us "out the back" which means that we paddled out past the first set of breaking waves. From there, we caught bigger waves that hadn't broken yet, which means that it was a LOT harder. Emily had a particularly rough day including a near collision with another surfer and getting stung by a jellyfish. Luckily, this hasn't dampened her spirits and she can't wait to get out and ride some more waves.
Byron Bay
We have spent the week in Byron Bay and have loved it. This is one of my favorite places of the whole trip. Byron Bay is a small, laid-back beach town that is between Brisbane and Sydney, just south of the Gold Coast. It doesn't have all of the skyskrapers of Surfer's Paradise but rather a small town feel where everyone just seems to get along - surfers, hippies, tourists, and locals of all ages. It has lots of good restaurants but no McDonalds or any of the big chains (except Subway).
Byron Bay has several nice beaches including Byron Main Beach, Clarks Beach, Wreck Beach (which has a shipwreck sticking out of the water just off shore), and Tallows Beach (where we had our first surf lesson). It also has good scuba diving at Julian Rocks, one of the top ten dive sites in Australia. I did one dive there and saw lots of Wobbegong sharks, scorpionfish, and cool starfish. We also did a short hike up to the beautiful Byron lighthouse, which is located on the most Eastern point of the Australian mainland.
Posted by tim at November 30, 2005 09:38 PM