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Kate's Travels
The bus for surf camp picked us up at 7.15pm and we drove the 3 and half hours up north to Seal Rocks for our weekend away. Was a really fun journey with everyone in a good mood and ready for a fab weekend away. I was on a coach with a stagt weekend and a seperate hen weekend, so me and the only other person not on the stag and hens, Katherine, a fab Bristol girl, teamed up and stuck together for the weekend!
We got to bed at around 2am by the time we arrived and sorted out beds, which would have been fine except we were woken at 7am for breakfast the next morning! We had breakfast outside and it was surprisingly hot for the time of day, i put on tonnes of factor 30 in prep for the sun!
We drove to treaturous beach (reassuring!) and had our first lesson where we were taught to body board. I was terrible at first!! But soon got the hang of it. Then we were taught how to stand up and I managed it a couple of times which was awesome, i can surf!! hehe. Its really tiring as you use your arms so much to paddle out and push yourslef up on the board - you essentially do a press up (which i have never been able to do!) on the board while the wave is pushing you along, but invariably this doesnt work and you get wiped out and under you go!
It can be a bit scary when you're under as you get so disorientated - the waves are really strong and there is so much water going everywhere that you get thrown about. Then by the time you've worked out where the surface is another wave is on top of you. Added to this you have the board flying about somewhere, usually above your head! So it feels like forever before you get to surface. By this time you've also drunk about a gallon of pacific sea water, yuk! And then you find your board and paddle out to try it all again. The few times i managed to get up make it worth it though.
After lunch we paddled out to behind where to waves break which was great fun once you get passed being pushed under on your way out! You have more control of which waves you want to try, but everyone was quite tired by this point as we had been out a while and the sun was really hot. We still managed a few successful attempts though!
We packed up and went back to the accommodation, and that night there was a big party for everyone. There was a bbq and a bar and kind of an ad hoc open mic night as people got up and played music, was a great atmosphere. The resort is in 100 acres of bush land so it was just us by the pool and the kangaroos!!
Then next morning came far too early and we were back at the beach for 9am. Once we were in the sea we all felt better though. It was a bit overcast today so easier to handle than the hot sun. I ached so much from yesterday, my arms didnt want to move! And the waves were more frequent and felt stronger than yesterday, so it was really tiring, but I had a few gos and stood up, so i hadnt forgotten everything id been taught yesterday!
We packed up and left the resort for Sydney at around 4pm. Was a really fun journey with lots of music and singing and everyone in a good mood after the fab weekend. We stopped for tea and were about an hour and a half away from sydney when disaster struck - the clutch burnt out! So we were stranded on the highway for nearly 2 hours while someone in nother bus drove from bondi to come and pick us up. Wasnt too bad though, we sat in the bus and on the barrier at the side of the road and had beer! There always seems to be a supply of beer when aussies are involved! hehe. There wasnt anything we could do about it so we just chatted and waited. The bus eventually came at about 9pm just as the rain started, and we all piled on, glad to finally be on our way home!
We were all so tired by this point that we were pretty quite on the last leg of the journey! It wasnt that bad, the breakdown kind of added to the journey and made it a bit more interesting and memorable if nothing else! I eventually got back at around 10.30pm, absolutely shattered, and only just managed to stay awake to pack all my sandy clothes back into my rucksack and shower all the sand and sea salt out of my hair before falling asleep. Awesome weekend!!
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