Despite having stayed up as late as possible after a few really early mornings, we only managed to sleep in until 7:30am. Making the most of it, we spent some time exploring the shops in Noosa before our surfing lesson in the afternoon. Noosa is famous for its surfing.
The surfing lesson lasted about 2 and a half hours and I managed to stand up on the board a few times. I wasn't a pro like Brittney or Jay who were talented enough to actually ride full waves in every now and then, but I did my best. It was cool, but so physically exhausting to stay above the waves, some of which were overwhelming (but not the enormous kind that you see in surf movies, of course), and to maintain control of the surfboard. I got smacked in the head a few times by the big ones.
Essentially, surfing seems to consist of performing yoga in a rhythm that allows you to keep your balance while riding a wave - cobra position to downward-facing dog to warrior two pose all in a split second while fighting the urge to fall over. It was a workout.
The instructor was really patient and the guys we surfed with were nice. They were staying at the same hostel as we were and were planning to take roughly the same route down the coast as we were. They came from Scotland and Ireland - the one was from Northern Ireland and I felt like a horrible person but I could honestly not understand anything he said. Asking to repeat himself would have been futile. I don't know if it was just his accent (which is notoriously difficult anyway) or because he was mumbling, but Brittney managed to interpret what he was saying so I just nodded along.
After living in a van for 3 days, all shame was abandoned and I changed clothes in broad daylight in the parking lot (no, honestly, I was doing my best to maintain some dignity - it's just really difficult to change in a parking lot). An unsuspecting couple in the car next to us may have suffered the effects of a full moon. I didn't realize they were there. Oops!
Spending a few extra minutes stretched out was worth it, as we were headed for a 10-hour stretch in the car for the drive to Mackay, and our muscles would be very sore the next day.
Next time, I'll try this first:
Mood music:
No comments:
Post a Comment