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Week 19- Australia (Yamba) Day 3
We got up early today ready for our surf lesson. Woohoo we were so excited! Shane (the owner) got us set up with wetsuits and surf boards then gave us a lesson on how to go from laying to standing up on the board. He had us jumping up and down off to floor in the garage, it was very funny! We then headed down to the beach with the rest of the backpackers in the shuttle bus. A lot of them were amazing surfers but they literally lived in the hostel and that's all they did ;-)
The water wasn't too cold thankfully! Both Shane and Jamie were helping us out, if only it was videoed because we think it would have been hilarious. We fell off lots and didn't manage to stand up! We can tell we are going to have lots of bruises and ache tomorrow but it was definitely worth it. We spent about 2 hours in the sea but then we got exhausted so gave up! I want try again before we leave Oz, I'm determined to stand up! Afterwards we chilled watching the others, they were pretty impressive!
Once back at the hostel we had showers to warm up and got some fresh cosy clothes on! We went upstairs to have a cuppa tea and some lunch before heading out on Shane's tour. Shane set up the hostel and was a complete legend.
We sat around waiting for another person to come down for the tour with Shane and another lad which gave Shane some extra time to wind us all up. We were all feeling pretty nervous. We had to sign a piece of paper that stated that Shane did not take any responsibility for injuries or deaths......I wanted to run at this point but Shane was keeping his eye on us. He took us to the van and buckled us all in to make sure we couldn't run away. He gave us a brief run down of what's involved in the tour. Then we were on our way. He showed us around all the touristy bits first, like all the beaches there were loads, he sowed us around all the houses and the houses where the famous people live. One of the people took surfing to a new level and designed the surf boards with 3 fin instead of one. We went to the lookout in Yamba which was pretty cool, looked over several beaches. It was beautiful. We then went to our first waterfall. He had wound us up all morning about the 18 metre cliff jump that we will all be doing because if you don't jump yourself he will push you! *GULP*. I did try to run away again at this point but Shane was having none of it. On the way down to the cliffs he stopped us all as he had spotted a snake in a little cove. He gathered us all fond and made us stand back and prepare to run incase it was a deadly snake. He was in this cove for ages he got a towel and made one of the lads find him a big stick so he cold make the snake move and then he could catch it. He managed to get the snake under the towel and he made us all come closer to have a look at the snakes back. It was a black red bellied snake. He told us that it was a very poisonous snake and if it bit you that you didn't have very long to get to the hospital. He made us all gather round and bend down to film him trying to catch this snake in the towel and he would bring it out to show us. I moved round behind this lad to try and see it better and to have some sort of protection. He then threw this snake out towards Charlotte, Charlotte closed her eyes and didn't scream and neither did I. Then we realised that the snake wasn't real...... It was a rubber snake that he had been carrying around in a towel ready to prank us. I could have throttled him! He said he wanted to throw it at me but I moved just as he was about too!
After that adrenaline fix he took us down to the cliffs and told us a story about how he made a 81 year old man jump off the 18 metre. We got to the cliff and it wasn't very high at all (4 metres) the top bit was about 8 metres. He said that this cliff is the cliff that they bring their children too to get the feel for jumping. The boys and Charlotte got in and jumped. The water was far too cold for me to go in. One boy jumped and landing straight on his bum it was in agony! Ouch! He explained that he used to pretend that there was crocodiles in the water and he told the story of how he made this big body builder cry like a baby. After preparing Charlotte to jump off the 18 metre cliff and her finally saying that she will have to do it he then said that he was only joking and there wasn't a 18 metre cliff jump and that this was it. I'm sure by then charlotte could have hit him one too. One emotional roller coaster tour this was. The pool that you jump into was in front if the sea so it made a very nice picture too as you could see the sea in the background.
He then walked us round to his favourite spot. We then saw this massive tall cliff with a pool underneath.......he said well here's your 18 metre cliff jump guys in you get...... I was gripping to the bench that I was sitting on not letting go. The boys and Charlotte started getting ready to get in. He explained that you have to swim across the pool first then climb up the cliff then off you jump. Charlotte was in the middle of mentally preparing herself when Shane says "I'm only joking guys...you aren't doing it as I'm not allowed to let people jump off this cliff during my your but if you come down tomorrow you can give it a go". Charlotte was furious as she really was about to do it. After that we jumped back in the van and he took us to go and feed fish, but these were vicious fish. Shane made us promise not to put our fingers in otherwise we would loose them. He threw lots of bread in for them but unfortunately the fish didn't seem as hungry or angry as they usually are so they weren't as active. But the birds were enjoying the bread too. That came to the end of Shane's bulls*** tour (you can say why it is given that name). Little did I know he had one final stop that he knew I would really love.....not. He pulled up alongside the water and there was loads of pelicans argh! I refused to get out of the van whilst the others went and had a look. He used to feed the pelicans on the tour too but he isn't allowed to do so anymore....that's a shame!
Shane then dropped us to the watch the sunset, it was absolutely beautiful. One of the nicest sunsets we have seen while travelling and to top it off there were dolphins playing in the water. They were the first set of dolphins we have seen. A few of us sat on the rocks by the fisherman enjoying the scenery. It was such a perfect ending to one of our favourite days in Oz!
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