Welcome to Surf Camp Australia!– where surfing is hard, and resisting the infinite cookie jar is even harder.

You’ve heard the stereotype: all Australians are these tanned, blonde, and totally ripped surfer dudes.

post 155 image 1

While not all Australians look like the dude above, it’s easy to see where the stereotype comes from. Australia, as a land of beautiful weather and even more beautiful beaches, is home to a very strong surfer culture. Not everyone is a surfer, true– but I have to say, whenever I go to the beaches around Sydney, there are bronzed fit dudes abound.

Well... ok, I got this picture from the internet, but people really do seem to work out all the time by the coast!

Well… ok, I got this picture from the internet, but people really do seem to work out all the time at the beach!

But I digress. As an exchange student, I was determined to get the full Australian experience. And the Australian experience, it seems, includes surfing. I signed myself up for Surf Camp Australia, where I’d leave Sydney for a weekend to learn how to surf.

TOTALLY!!

TOTALLY!!

So, last Friday, I hopped on a bus to Seven Mile Beach, a creatively named seven-mile-long beach in Gerroa, New South Wales. The surf camp was located here for a few reasons. One, the waves there are long, even, and consistent, perfect for a beginning surfer. Secondly, the waves are not too big, so all us newbies could actually handle it. Thirdly, the seven miles of the beach gave us a lot of space to surf around without hitting innocent swimmers.

After a two-hour drive south of Sydney, we arrived at the camp…

post 155 image 4

…which included food…

post 155 image 5

…beach cabin accommodation…

post 155 image 6

…and most importantly, a cookie jar.

post 155 image 12

Which was nice and all (really, it was actually very good) but we had really come for one thing: to learn how to surf.

On Saturday, then, we woke up at the crack of dawn and was led out to the beach by our instructors.

post 155 image 13

And the lesson began.

post 155 image 14

I’ve boogie boarded before (so cool, I know) so I was at least familiar with how to catch waves. My goal for the weekend, then, was to stand up on my board. We spent the rest of the morning attempting to do just that.

post 155 image 15

As it turns out, there’s a bit of a learning curve for surfing. So I tried…

post 155 image 16

…and tried…

post 155 image 17

…and tumbled, twisted, and turned over in the waves. Basically, I did everything but stand.

Nose-diving into a wave.

Nose-diving into yet another wave. I look soooooo cooooool

No way! I wasn’t letting it end like this! I fought the waves over, and over, and over again, until at the very end of our morning session…

post 155 image 18

I stood. I STOOD! I stood on my surfboard! Granted, I had a huge beginner’s surfboard, and the waves were made for beginners, but I did it. I jubilantly returned to camp for lunch.

post 155 image 19

And then came our afternoon lesson.

post 155 image 20

The waves were stronger and messier that afternoon. Soon, a lot of us beginner surfers found ourselves thrown into frustration.

post 155 image 21

Just getting out into the ocean was a battle. By the end, I was improving a bit– I had managed to stand on my board for a little longer–

post 155 image 22

–but I left that day with the bitter taste of “needs improvement.” 

post 155 image 23

I was really surprised at how exhausting surfing was. I consider myself in alright shape, but by the end, I was tired. My shoulders were sore. I can see why surfers get so jacked. I definitely slept well that night.

post 155 image 24

And I might as well have, since we had our last lesson early the next morning.

Our instructor gave us a motivational talk before we headed into the water.

post 155 image 26

He thought I wasn’t motivated?! Hey! I was insulted. As a result, I started the day a little irritated. And it showed, as everyone else around me succeeded and I just…

post 155 image 27

Seriously, I haven’t been that frustrated since girl’s tennis in high school. One of my friends noticed how angry I was.

post 155 image 28

I breathed. I took a moment. I talked to an instructor, tried to figure out what I was doing wrong. And soon, lo and behold…

post 155 image 9

Suddenly, it clicked. I wasn’t just standing on the board, but I was standing on the board for longer periods of time. I was catching waves more consistently. Soon enough, I was catching “party” waves– when multiple people ride on the same wave– with my friends.

post 155 image 10

post 155 image 8

post 155 image 11

Don’t believe me? Eat this: one of the instructors caught me on camera. Skip ahead in the below video to 1:51 to see my awkward attempts to wave to the camera!

Surfing was difficult. It was exhausting. It was frustrating. And it was totally, completely, exquisitely awesome. It’s easy to see how people get hooked to surfing– it’s just so fun. 

And now, just like all the college kids in Boston, I have yet another reason to want to move to California. Boston, I love you, but I have to admit– surfing in the sun beats freezing in the cold any day.

9 thoughts on “Welcome to Surf Camp Australia!– where surfing is hard, and resisting the infinite cookie jar is even harder.

  1. I’ve surfed in Australia and Hawaii (once a piece, but you know… it counts.) I found it easier in Hawaii — most likely because the board heaps bigger. But in Hawaii, they also made you try to maneuver your board, which was very hard! But I stood up! Not everyone did that! And the rest of the lesson, I basically spent trying to get back down after the wave ended instead of fall off.

    My lesson in Australia was a bit different. I spent all lesson actually trying to get up onto the board. At the end, I came close! But the instructor kept telling me it was because I kept looking down instead at the shore ahead.

    I’ve been really wanting to get into surfing ever since I came up here to the Sunshine Coast. Maybe if they had one of those surf programs up here or something…

    • They gave me the same advice! One of the boards I was using literally had the words “LOOK UP” scratched into the nose end. It helped for sure– otherwise I would have been looking at my feet, and falling, the entire time.

      Australia seems to be a surfing country! There’s gotta be something around the Sunshine Coast, I’m sure. 😀

Leave a Reply to Rolf Bosse Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s