SPOT X!!

5th Jan - So off to Surf Camp SPOT X today. Our first day on arrival there, consisted of our surf lesson also this afternoon. This place was like a campsite, way off the beaten track, mainly for surfing but there were some families there also, in their luxury tents that resemble houses (might as well buy a bloody house down there). The SPOT X part which was for the backpacking surfers such as ourselves, had a an outdoor drinking area, full of tables and chairs, some under canopy's some not. The floor was always sand or chippings and most people just walked round in bare foot all day (i loved it!). Having not done surfing for a while i was looking forward to our surf lesson, and staying here a few days. It was such a relaxed atmosphere, where the staff were incredibly friendly and always seemed to be having fun themselves. Our surf lesson was pretty cool and involved certain rules such as 'always buddy up as in betters the odds of you getting eaten by a shark'....and 'always look cool'. The surfing itself was really good fun, i could manage to stand up after not to many attempts and i had forgotten the rush of standing up on a board in the sea, the exileration you feel, when being carried by something so natural, will have to seriously look at ways of taking up surfing again when i get back. The beach itself was pretty secluded just to ourselves and one other camp site by the looks of it, although some people we were doing it with still managed to keep getting in my bloody way, so you have to bail, to stop yourself from smacking them over the head!! Afterwards we got back showered in their lovely shower shed, which was beautiful...mainly cause there was a cue of girls in bikini's waiting to shower (4 showers, about 20 girls!), after this 2 mates from my bus arranged to work there for a bit as they enjoyed it so much, and i just booked an extra 3 nights. The night consisted of us all playing drinking games, with a group of people.....one with the most annoying laugh in annoying laugh history, it just didn't stop i'm seriously going to have nightmare's..... whilst drinking the lovely 'GOON', which is so gross but cheap, imagine the cheapest wine, then imagine how they could make it worse....thats goon, but beggars can't be choosers.

6th Jan - We got up quite late, after trying to shake the GOON hangover, which felt like i'd been slapped too many times by a great white!! I went to get breakfast and realised that i needed to move rooms, so was late for breakfast, but it was still set out so a fellow Welshy who works there, served me up a mountain of fried goodness that really hit the spot, after finding out i was Welsh she from then on just called me Welshy, i don't think either of us ever bothered asking each others names after this. After bumming around a bit more, eventually went for surf, although i didn't realise that i needed to get vouchers, so was back and for between counters and one of the girl receptionists ended up just giving me a voucher for free for being a "grand" customer! Was messy waves and overcast but did what i could, still thoroughly enjoyed it. The night then consisted of more drinking games with my two Canadian friends and whoever else wanted to get involved. That night we played 4 games of 'Ring of Fire' (for those of you who don't know what this is just ask anyone in a sports team, for those who do, you can imagine how everyone was after that many games). The game also expanded, we started with just 7 of us, by the 4th game we had 20 people playing!! AFterwards we all went down the beach had a fire, played guitar, generally chilled. Its this place its the most relaxed place i've been to so far in Oz and i love it, its been such a nice break for me, from all the hecticness, there just feels like there's no rush here, ever...great stuff.

7th Jan - To sum this up...this day was pretty much like the 6th, almost identical, except due to me being there for more than one night (which is what alot of people do), i'd started to get to know the staff now and so was hanging out with them quite a bit, as a few of them thought i worked there, because i was still hanging around, we also played more Ring of Fire this night, mainly because some people had seen us playing it last night and wanted to play it too....it is ridiculously fun but hazardous to your health!!

8th Jan - No surfing today, just had a productive day. I had to sort out the rest of my accommodation and bus journeys etc to the end of my trip (don't like saying that!) to Melbourne. So was just hanging around with friendly people there, making a butt load of phone calls, which was about as much fun as bathing in a Jacuzzi full of acid! After doing this and pulling out my hair.....my beard not my head,,ha ha.....i went for a swim to cool off for a bit. Love swimming in the ocean its so relaxing, especially looking out into the ocean/the unknown, just makes you think quite a bit about what you've done, what you want to do etc, properly chilled me out. Afterwards caught the SPOT X bus to town, which is the only bus you can get to town from there and its about a 15 minute drive and it only goes to the bottle shop, which i think is quite funny and very apt, and yes you guessed it played more Ring of Fire, again because someone asked us if we were playing it again tonight cause they saw us and thought it looked fun, this game was becoming pretty notorious (especially funny cause the place didn't really like drinking games...but oh well). It was also my last night at this awesome location so said my goodbyes to some mates seeing as my bus was at 7am the next morning. Will miss this place and recommend anyone who come to the east coast to check this place out as its off the beaten track!!

9th Jan - So was up bright an early this morning, and after stumbling into a few beds and a window, managed to get to the bus, some of the staff came to say goodbye bless 'em, and we were off to Australia's 'Big Smoke'. I wasn't sure what to expect from Sydney, i'd heard alot of things from people, some good some bad, so had my own interpretation in my head. On the way we went to a really tacky Ayr's Rock Shopping Mall for lunch, which was superb, do anything to make money aye! So we travelled for a bit more, long journey today, but thank god for the air conditioned bus, as it was a beautiful day today. We entered Sydney via the Harbour Bridge, which was pretty impressive i must say, like a giant upside down Cheshire Cat grin, don't know why i thought of that when i saw it?? Saw the Opera house etc etc, whilst going in. Was supposed to meeting a friend from home in Sydney to stay with for 5 nights today, but he was down the beach, said he'd be half an hour but true to his character back home, he was 2 hours later. I didn't mind just spent the time reading and sitting in a pub, so can't complain too much. When he did turn up, it was nice to see a face from home in all fairness. Made me think of home a bit, got mixed emotions, i miss the people but not the place necessarily, i love having the excitement of something new everyday and i absolutely love meeting new people, its not long now i suppose though, so i have to start getting used to the idea. That night we went out for a few beers and some food, which was pretty relaxed and swapped stories of our travels so far, at quite a swanky bar (it had pine furniture and everything!) before calling it a night. Got 6 days of Sydney to look forward too now, lets see what its got!!!