SURF'S UP!!

That's right, I finally did what I came to Australia to do... SURF!! On Friday morning me and 3 Canadians (Joannie, Andrea and Christine) hopped on a train and then a bus to Torquay - the surfing capital! Oh and I'm no longer happy with public transportation. We waited FOREVER for a bus, ran to our platform and arrived just in time to get on the train which was luckily a few minutes late. When we arrived in Torquay it was raining, but we kept our hopes up that it would be a beautiful day. It was a very random trip and we didn't book any lodging beforehand. We went to the backpackers hostel first, but they were completely full. They let us sit in their lounge and gave us a bunch of places we could call. Most of them were very expensive but we found a motel that was in our price range. It was just down the street and we were quite impressed with how cute it was. I think we were all just so excited for surfing that nothing could get us down.

The rain had stopped at this point so we went to get breakfast (Christine and I found another amazing chocolate place and had pancakes with strawberries and chocolate...mmmm) and then we wandered around all the surf shops. Then, it was off to the beach for lessons! A worker at the hotel gave us directions and we started walking. About halfway there he actually drove up in his van and said he's give us a lift. Three of us got in the back and then Andrea was left to sit shotgun. She did what she was used to and went around to the right side of the car. She climbed on up (even grabbed the steering wheel to get in) but didn't notice she was now sitting in the driver's seat. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen and the driver absolutely loved it. Apparently we were entertaining enough that he offered to come back and get us after surfing!

The people at the surf shop were super helpful as well. We got there right in time to get down to the beach for the next lesson. However, the beach we were going to was a 5 minute drive and too far to walk. So the wonderful people called us a taxi to pick us up. We were in a lesson with 6 other people but the beach was completely empty besides us. I would not say I'm a natural surfer, but I did get up a few times! The waves were tiny, but perfect for beginners. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be, that's for sure. It is addicting, and I want to get really good. It's tiring though! My arms ache like crazy from paddling.

After our lesson we went back to the hotel, showered and got all dressed up because it was a Friday night and we felt like looking cute. We were all wearing dresses, had our hair and make up perfect and then we went to eat a greasy, greasy, fish and chips shop! We were craving some good old fried food and it was delicious. We had seen one of the workers at the hostel that morning and in talking to him found out that he was from Montreal as well. He invited us to go hang out with all the backpackers and we took him up on that offer after we changed into more comfortable clothes. We just sat around talking with the boy from Montreal, 3 Swedes, an English bloke, a Californian and a man and woman from Holland. I love meeting people from all over the world...except for when all the Canadians started to speak French and the Swedes were speaking Swedish and I sat there not knowing any other language. I feel so boring only knowing English.

Man, I've written a lot so I'll wrap it up. We woke up on Saturday and it was cloudy so we went shopping for a bit. There is a whole row of surfing/skater shops like Rip Curl, Billabong, Roxy, etc. Rip Curl and Billabong actually originated right there in Torquay. We then returned to the beach to give it another shop on our own. The beach we learned at was called Point Addis and had small waves as I said. Torquay is a world famous beach so we were a little nervous to go there on Saturday. However it was a "no surf" day meaning the waves were small and perfect for us. But, the beach was really busy which made it difficult to surf. The waves were much bigger than what we learned on and I got up a few times but I kept hitting little kids swimming or people body boarding. It was so frustrating. They need to separate everyone or there could be major injuries! Despite the irritating people around me, I still had fun and definitely want to go back. It only takes about an hour and a half to get to this beach and with wetsuits, you can go year round. So I will definitely be back!

The blogger server will not let me post pictures right now and I need to get some from Andrea because we used her camera most of the time so no pics for now, but soon!