Surfing Australia style
Byron Bay, 14 May 2006
Catherine, Danni and I hired surf boards for the afternoon whilst we were staying in Byron Bay and I have to say, it was one of my highlights of Australia. Danni had had one surf lesson in New Zealand a month previous and decided that she knew enough to teach us - super coach that she is and with a couple of excellent hand drawn diagrams in her journal, how could we fail!!
It was unfortunate that the surf was not great that day, so there was plenty of waiting around, although that was perhaps not a bad thing as we were excellent at the 'waiting for a wave' pose that is absolutely essential in surfing. There are no photos of Catherine at sea - someone had to be the photographer - but she did look good on land.
The surfing went as follows:
Catherine, Danni and I hired surf boards for the afternoon whilst we were staying in Byron Bay and I have to say, it was one of my highlights of Australia. Danni had had one surf lesson in New Zealand a month previous and decided that she knew enough to teach us - super coach that she is and with a couple of excellent hand drawn diagrams in her journal, how could we fail!!
It was unfortunate that the surf was not great that day, so there was plenty of waiting around, although that was perhaps not a bad thing as we were excellent at the 'waiting for a wave' pose that is absolutely essential in surfing. There are no photos of Catherine at sea - someone had to be the photographer - but she did look good on land.
The surfing went as follows:
No waves as yet but keeping our eyes peeled
The 'lay out of your surfboard and look like a pro' pose
In the surf in the hope of standing up at some point - don't think I managed it that time
Hooray, Danni and I finally catching a wave that felt much bigger than it looks on the photo but at least we managed to stand - just the once for me and my shrieks of delight could be heard far and wide.
Catherine had a vision of looking like a cool surfer chick but these huge beginner ironing boards were really heavy and difficult to carry, putting coolness right out of the picture - we did however look great stadning still!
The Great Barrier Reef
Cairns, 8 May 2006
The Australia travels started in Cairns and we met up with Sarah, Lisa and Danni to spend a month travelling with them down the East Coast to Melbourne. Whilst in Cairns, we went on a snorkeling trip on The Great Barrier Reef, which was excellent and they provided a lovely lunchtime buffet! We were on the boat for about 45 minutes before we reached our destination and plunged in for our first bit of snorkeling. We had a cheap underwater camera and managed to get a couple of good shots.
Lisa, Danni, Catherine and Sarah, with our boat in the background
Catherine above and below the surface
(Me) diving under to get a closer look
