We reported at 815am to Stoked and a full bus of 18 beginner
surfers with 4 New Zealand surf dudes at the helm set off towards the beach.
The guys were very enthusiastic, but especially about throwing ‘Shakkas’, the surf
version of the ‘rock’ hand sign. We were definitely the oldest couple on the
bus, but not my much, and that didn’t stop us getting fully involved and
keeping up with the ‘shakkas’. We drove
about 30-minutes outside Byron to a much quieter but beautiful and sandy Lennox
beach.
 |
| Lennox Beach |
Upon arrival we all donned
rash vests and doubled up to carry all the boards down to the appropriate
section of beach. It was a long walk when
you’re carrying boards! The lesson on the beach was brief, about positions on
the board and when to transfer your weight to catch the wave. Before long, it was time to head into the
waves. The conditions were perfect for
beginners, nice sized waves coming in regularly and a totally sandy bottom for
when we inevitably wiped-out!
I got frustrated, finding it tricky at first just catching a
wave at the right time, let alone trying to stand up! But the surf dudes were great, sharing their
time amongst us all, not just focussing on the hot Argentinian chicks as you
might expect!
I stayed in the water for the whole session, despite
starting to feel achy and tired. I was
not giving up. I didn’t even realise
that I was scraping the skin off both my knees each time I went to stand on the
board, I was so determined. As I gained
confidence I took the opportunity to sit on my board with my legs dangling over
each side. It is not as easy as Keanu
Reeves makes it look in ‘Point Break’ but I have always wanted to do that! In total I managed to stand three times, the
best one was the last time when most of the group had returned to the beach and
I just wanted to catch ‘one more wave’.
One of the instructors was as determined as I was to see me off with a
good wave, so I was ‘stoked’ when I finally managed to catch one and stand on
it almost all the way in, giving it double shakkas to the others on the beach. What a shame I had left the GoPro back on the
van so no one could capture my glorious moment!
Totally radical man….. Simon managed
to stand a couple of times as well, so we were both pleased with our efforts
whilst also agreeing that we are not natural surf dudes and dudettes!
We were transferred back to Byron for noon and once the
adrenalin had worn off we felt exhausted and my knees started to sting. After eating lunch Simon passed out, so I
went to the pool for a couple of hours before getting changed to go and take
advantage of happy hour beer prices. We
had been given a free food voucher by the Stoked guys for a bar called ‘Cheeky
Monkeys’ as long as you ordered before 8pm.
What we didn’t know was that they didn’t open until 7pm! This meant that we HAD to spend 2 hours
drinking cheap $5 beers in the bar just down the road until they opened. Having had an early morning, fresh air and
lots of exercise followed by four beers each, we were pretty tipsy by
then.
 |
| Queue full of hungry backpackers.... beware! |
 |
| A cheeky monkey outside Cheeky Monkey's |
We joined the queue with the masses of backpackers also
hoping to get free food! We were lucky
we’d started queueing when we’d seen people start to gather. We managed to get in, get a booth AND get our
food and drinks ordered before the 8pm deadline and it only cost $14 for both
of us to have a meal and a beer AND Simon got to have a steak for the first time
in months. Our hands had been stamped to
enable us to get VIP benefits until 11pm which meant more cheap beers if we
stayed at Cheeky’s. But, after the
amount of beer we’d already drunk and a satisfying meal we agreed we’d call it
a good night out and draw the line there.
After all, we’d moved from our shack to an unpowered site to save some
money, so we still had to work out how to make our bed up, with some privacy,
to sleep in our car for the first time!
No comments:
Post a Comment