The whole group has made it down to Byron Bay for four days in a house swap. The place is nice and quite close to the downtown area, which for Australia seems pretty big. The last time I was here was only a day trip so it is nice to be here for an extended period of time.
The main attractions so far have been hiking and surfing. Everyone went out on a quick hike toward the light house. However, since Zara was scheduled for a private surf lesson later in the day she did most of the hike on my shoulders to save her energy for later. Later that evening when I went running my quads were much more tired than usual, I am not sure if there was a connection... The next day after being inspired by Zara's success on the water, Wes and I did a group surf lesson. It was really fun.
We were with a small group, maybe 5 or 6 people and after an overly long hour on the beach we got in the water to try our luck. It was surprisingly easy at first. And then I started to think about all the other variables that we didnt have to worry about. The instructors were choosing the waves for us, telling us when to paddle and in the beginning when to stand and what not. I was able to stand up for a decent amount of time on pretty much all of my rides except for one or two immediate failures. Looking back it would have been nice to been able to try some individual attempts while the instructors were still there to watch or ask questions to get feedback, but then I guess I will just have to go out myself and see if I can translate what I learned into real surfing and not the hand-holding surfing we did.
Still it was fun and I can see how people could get into it. It reminded me a lot of snow boarding, a steep initial learning curve and then the ability to progress fairly quickly and then at the extreme ends becoming ridiculously hard again. All the instructions seemed like they could easily have been translated from water to powder without any loss of meaning or different vocabulary. It would be pretty fun to get to New Zealand and surf the morning while snowboarding the afternoon. But that is a trip that will be a long way off in the planning.
Today we are headed back to Brisbane for a couple days and the for me it will be back to Hawaii. Next week I start working, or at least orientation and then real classes the following week. I havent worked in almost 7 months, even going back to 16-17 hours a week seems a little daunting. That along with taking the heaviest course load (3 classes) and trying to really getting training again to get into the ring in Hawaii, seems like a lot to be trying for without a lot of funds to support it all. And on top of all that trying to find as much time as I can to spend with Jayci around her somewhat odd and shifting schedule. Just a lot of change to get through before I can settle into some kind of routine...be nice to be able to plan beyond the week or month again.
The main attractions so far have been hiking and surfing. Everyone went out on a quick hike toward the light house. However, since Zara was scheduled for a private surf lesson later in the day she did most of the hike on my shoulders to save her energy for later. Later that evening when I went running my quads were much more tired than usual, I am not sure if there was a connection... The next day after being inspired by Zara's success on the water, Wes and I did a group surf lesson. It was really fun.
We were with a small group, maybe 5 or 6 people and after an overly long hour on the beach we got in the water to try our luck. It was surprisingly easy at first. And then I started to think about all the other variables that we didnt have to worry about. The instructors were choosing the waves for us, telling us when to paddle and in the beginning when to stand and what not. I was able to stand up for a decent amount of time on pretty much all of my rides except for one or two immediate failures. Looking back it would have been nice to been able to try some individual attempts while the instructors were still there to watch or ask questions to get feedback, but then I guess I will just have to go out myself and see if I can translate what I learned into real surfing and not the hand-holding surfing we did.
Still it was fun and I can see how people could get into it. It reminded me a lot of snow boarding, a steep initial learning curve and then the ability to progress fairly quickly and then at the extreme ends becoming ridiculously hard again. All the instructions seemed like they could easily have been translated from water to powder without any loss of meaning or different vocabulary. It would be pretty fun to get to New Zealand and surf the morning while snowboarding the afternoon. But that is a trip that will be a long way off in the planning.
Today we are headed back to Brisbane for a couple days and the for me it will be back to Hawaii. Next week I start working, or at least orientation and then real classes the following week. I havent worked in almost 7 months, even going back to 16-17 hours a week seems a little daunting. That along with taking the heaviest course load (3 classes) and trying to really getting training again to get into the ring in Hawaii, seems like a lot to be trying for without a lot of funds to support it all. And on top of all that trying to find as much time as I can to spend with Jayci around her somewhat odd and shifting schedule. Just a lot of change to get through before I can settle into some kind of routine...be nice to be able to plan beyond the week or month again.
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