Two Beers and a Pretzel

I finished the surf school this morning and we all got back on the bus to get to Byron Bay.  I booked a skydive from 14,000 ft for Saturday at 11:30 AM.  I can’t wait!   I’m getting the full photo/video package, so expect to see it here.  I’m in an internet cafe now and can’t upload pics, so possibly tomorrow I’ll add surf and skydive pics and videos.  (EDIT – skydiving canceled due to high wind).

Any single guys reading this back in America… you should seriously consider surf school in Australia.  The average age is 22 (including me and a “must be about 70″ guy), the average sex is female, and the average nationality is a tie between Dutch and Norwegian…  If that was too confusing, try this:  I’m surrounded by hot, young women from Northern Europe.  A whole cabin of girls was not at the bus photo, so here’s a few of my favorites…

For the lady readers, our bus driver / head suf instructor was a crazy Aussie named “Ant” who looked like Steve McQueen.

The last 3 days of surfing were brilliant:  We arrived at Spot X on Tuesday evening after surfing the chop at Crescent Head in the morning.

Wednesday was 6:30 AM surf lesson, kayaking before lunch, and another lesson at 3:30 PM with a storm off in the distance and a massive double rainbow over the ocean during sunset.

It was getting easier to catch a wave and get up on the board, and direct the board where you want to go.

Thursday was a partly cloudy with a good offshore Southerly breeze and some of the best waves we’ve had yet.  We all starting to get a feel for catching a wave, if not fully riding it.

I actually stood up and rode that wave to the beach, but even with my weightloss, you don’t want to see me in a wetsuit…

Friday was hot sun, great waves, and fun surfing.  Today I rarely missed a wave, often surfed until the board bottomed on beach, and actually took a video of myself while catching a wave – but lost it trying to turn the camera to see myself…

The best part of surfing lessons is that it’s 2 hours twice a day of wading thru waves and currents, catching waves, jumping up on the board, and carying a board over wet sand.  That 2 hours is so much fun that it barely seems like a workout… until about 2 hours later when you start to feel it.  Luckilly there’s a campfire top relax around every night.

The only bad thing is that as you learn the correct moves for paddling, catching, and jumping up, you rub a lot of parts raw:  palms, fingertips, knees, toes, forearms, etc…  My toes have been bleeding for 3 days, and my fingerprints look like I got in a fight with a blender.  …but it was totally worth it.

We’re all getting loose tonight at the Cheeky Monkey bar in Byron Bay!!  (edit next day … Where apparantly the waitresses were topless with body paint)

On Monday we boarded the Mojo Surf Bus…

and made it to a surf camp…

with some signs of civilization…

After dinner we played JENGA to see who did the dishes (me).

Then the drinking games began…

It’s been rainy with 4.5 METER swells, so we found a semi-isolated cove to start learning.  No surf pics yet, but I have already gotten up standing on a board and ridden a wave.