Day 175 (Monday 7th) - Sorting Everything Out
Right, after a good 12 hours sleep I went down around 10ish to see if I could stay one more night - to my dismay the answer was no, they were fully booked, so I hefted my backpack and set off to find a new place to stay. Due to a mapreading mistake I ended up going to the Billabong Backpacker's Resort instead of the YHA - luckily, they had a room (and also a giant kitchen, pool, cafe bit, nice rooms and a generally cool vibe) and I booked myself in. I then set off on a boring day of missions, the main one being to sort out my UK phone. I went to the 3 shop, then the 3 service centre where they said they problem was my phone software and they couldn't fix it outside the UK, so I went to try and find a phone which would take my sim card. This failed, and I ended up buying a new phone, as I can't find my other one, thereby wasting A$50 or so. This took most of the day, so I popped into a backpacker's travel centre and looking into stuff to fill this week - after a few false starts and a lack of availability, I booked myself into a 2 day surf camp in Lancelin and a 3 day tour of the south west. I headed down to Cottesloe beach for a pint at sunset, and ended up paying A$8.50 for a pint in a pub which was being used as a venue for a costumed party celebrating the end of some surf lifesaving competition. This meant there were loads of fit, tanned, attractive and drunk Asutralians in skimpy fluoro attire milling about the streets, which made me feel very inadequate indeed.
Pint over, I headed back into town and wandered to The Deen bar, supposedly the site of all sorts of student & backpacker shenanigans, and a free BBQ. This turned out to be one sausage, and a free beer, but I bumped into Andy again and we had a good chat, mostly about Neighbours. For some reason I entered a pool competition where I lost (just) to a very serious looking Irishman, after which I returned, merrily drunk, to the Billabong around 1ish.
Day 176 (Tuesday 8th) - Surf Camp Day 1
I awoke at half past 5, and shuffled out of my room as quietly as I could, then walked down to the Wellington Street bus stop. This was a long was in the pre-dawn drizzle, and was not a pleasant journey to make when one is not fully awake and the first symptoms of a hangover are beginning to show. The other would-be surfers arrived in dribs and drabs, and we finally got underway at 7 - I slept in the back of the bus the whole way there. "There" is an amazing beach house in Lancelin, two storeys, spotlessly clean, with room for 20 people, pool table, plasma TV, massive stock of DVDs, nice kitchen, and hammocks on the balcony that runs round three sides of the house. Before too long we were equipped with wetsuits etc, and sent off down to the beach. Because of my previous experience I was given a skinny Rip Curl softboard to try on. The coach, a Kiwi called Howie, was really good - even though there were about ten of us he still managed to watch us all and give tips when needed. By the end of the day (about half two, although it felt like later - we had been in since 9) I was pretty knackered and a little burnt, but I had aught some awesome waves, and even managed a little bit of turning as well, of which I was particularly proud. We walked back to the beachhouse and spent the afternoon watching The Village and generally chilling out, until an awesome dinner of spag bol, cooked by Sam, the live in cleaner/cook/everything. I saw a bit of Neighbours just before dinner, it was like seeing into the future - I didn't recognise loads of people, things were discussed that I had no knowledge of, but it was all generally enjoyable. Once I get to Sydney I'll get back into watching it on a more regular basis, and I'm sure it'll all make a lot more sense.
After dinner, on Sam's recommendation, we settled down to the best that Aussie TV has to offer - this turned out to be The Moment Of Truth (US show involving personal questions, potentially ruined relationships, a polygraph and cash prizes), Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US, and Ladette to Lady (a show that was on in the UK a year or two ago - mainly chosen because Sam really fancies one of the girls on it, Louise the boozy scouser). Sam and I were last to bed, outlasting David (English guy, day two at the camp), Dave (Canadon who did Sam's job before him) , and Jeannine (Swiss girl, day 4 at the camp).
Day 177 (Wednesday 9th) - Day 2 at Surf Camp
We were up before 7 today for breakfast, and out on the water by 8:30 - our coach asked David and Jeaninne how they thought I did yesterday, to which they replied pretty positively - apparently I was the only person they really noticed, so I was given a red rash vest - this is usually only allowed got those on day 3 or 4 of the course, so I effectively skipped a day, which is pretty awesome. Today's coaches were Rob and Matty - Rob is a mildly grizzled fellow from Queensland, a pretty cool guy who is obviously really passionate about surfing, whereas Matty is a 15 year old local surf wunderkind, doing his work experience with the surf school. Rob taught us in a really relaxed way, but encouraged us to push ourselves as hard as we could as well. I was put onto a 7'10" NSP board today, one step below the fibreglass boards, and supposedly indestructable. We had the beach almost to ourselves for a couple of hours before the arrival of the corporate event - 15 or so guys from a mining company on a work day out. This time was put to good use, we were all catching loads of waves, the conditions were perfect, it was pretty easy really. Things changed a little after the miners turned up. They were mostly not a bother, except that we were moved down the beach into loads of seaweed to make room for them, and on more than one occasion nearly got themselves run over. If someone is surfing directly at you, chances are they'll try to avoid hitting you but it remains your responsibility to get out of their way. What happened instead was that as David and Jeaninne were speeding towards them, the miners just gazed blankly at them or just looked terrified while remaining in the same place, forcing David and Jeaninne to try and surf round them (hard when you've only just learnt turns), or to bail and lose the wave, which is really frustrating.
At one point Rob asked if David and I were ready to go out back and catch some big green waves. We said yes, and then began a gruelling paddle out, through smashing waves and against annoying currents. I screwed up and fell off/got worked/got a lungful of water a few times, and barely had the energy to sit on my board when we got out there. It was all worth it though, as the prefect wave came and I paddled with all my might (and a little boost from Rob), caught it perfectly, got up flawlessly, and managed a 45 degree right turn too, before riding the wave all the way into the beach. David said it looked awesome, and that I looked entirely relaxed - what actually happened was that I was concentrating so hard on doing it right that I didn't rush and screw it up like I usually do. I can't really elucidate on the rest of the day, other than to say that it carried on in much the same vein, but by the time Rob asked me at the end of the day if I wanted to go out back again, I had to say that it wasn't possible, as I could barely hold myself up as I got up on the beard, let alone paddle against the waves for ages. It was a really good day, marred only slightly by the miners taking ages ton get ready to leave, as they were somewhat preoccupied with getting drunk on the balcony while we waited downstairs for over an hour. They made a big fuss on the way back about stopping for a piss, much ton the driver's annoyance, although as I got out in Perth one of them gave me a six-pack of beer by way of an apology, followed by a box of 10 cans too, as they couldn't drink them on the bus and they were going back to the office. I have been giving these away in the hostel, much to everyone's joy.
I attempted to go and find somewhere cheap to eat and ended up wandering round Northbridge for ages - it has a lot of Asian places, including Han's where I had some awesome noodles, albeit for A$8.95 - bargain food simply isn't an option here, it seems. I came back and chatted to a Mancunian/Aussie bloke called Dean, who was saying how much he loved Koh Samui, mentioned Pattaya, and repeatedly referred to Indonesia and Thailand as third-world countries - I'm not sure of the precise definition of the term but I'm pretty sure he used it incorrectly every time. Now it's 10pm and I'm absolutely exhuasted, my muscles are starting to ache and I have another 6 am start tomorrow. So goodnight.
No comments:
Post a Comment