Surf camp :)
After being in Sydney for a week our group decided to go on surf camp for a week from Mon 21st Jan to Fri 25th Jan. One of the big plus points of surf camp was that our accommodation and food was included. We recieved accommodation in the form of a surf camp hut and the food was very healthy, with lots of choice. All the camp huts encircled the main area where people gathered to socialise and eat their tea.
Everyday was a strict routine- breakfast at 7am, wetsuits on and ready To go surfing at 8am. We would finish our morning session of surfing at 11:30, then time for a quick shower and lunch at 12pm. We then had a couple of hours to relax before the afternoon session of surfing started at 2pm till 5:30pm.
We were split into surf groups of 10 people to a surf dude instructor (who used a lot of typical surf language - 'totally rad' ) who first taught us how to get up on the board in the sand, then we basically had to keep trying it in the water trying to gauge when to paddle when a wave was about to break so we could 'catch the wave'. I was one of the lucky few who managed to stand on my board on the first day!!
A lot of my friends found it slightly harder but I suppose I had a knack for it and was determined :). As each day passed with more lessons we were taught how to speed up, slow down, turn, and even try to catch a 'green wave' (catching a wave before it breaks so you generate more speed!).
Some of my friends didn't go to all of the lessons because they didn't feel like it was for them ( it was very sandy and tiring) but I really loved it!!
In the evenings we were allowed to play card games and have the odd drink or two, discusing what waves we had caught that day. One if the instructors took videos abd photos of everyone surfing, including a lot of the time people falling off their boards!! The camp also had its own resident pet, Sam the Possum (A nocturnal Aussie animal which looked like a cross between a cat/rat and lemur which lived in the rafters of the camp roof, coming down occasionally if someone offered it some apple or cucumber!).
After the week of surfing fun was over the instructors told us where to go in Australia for the best beginner beaches which at some point in my travels I will definitely check out :) I can definitely see why surfing is a way of life as well as a sport, many of the instructors absolutely loved their job and in the 10weeks where the surf season was over they would fly to Bali or Hawaii chasing the waves, which sounds idealic to me!!

Here is the surf camp video, I am the second person, standing up then surfing!!- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxWi6feUY-0&sns=em