Hello everyone, sorry it's been so long since I have updated my blog, but I've been on the move quite a bit and been a busy bee. So here is what I have been up to for the last week or so. My last few days in Sydney I spent enjoying the sun and walking around the city. They have some beautiful Botanical Gardens right near the Opera House, so I spent quite a bit of time walking through them and then sunbathed under a tree with my Ipod, ah a backpackers life is so hard! lol.

On leaving Sydney it was back on the Oz bus for a very long drive to Surf Camp. It was an early start at 06:30 and I can only say that oh my god did I pick the wrong place to sit. As soon as I sat down I had a hand shoot over the seat and a person say 'Hey how you doing, my names Chris, where have you been, what have you been up to, where are you travelling to!!' Anyone that knows me will know that I'm not the best person in the mornings, especially when it's that early. All I could muster was a hello, because I was so tired, due to someone in my hostel thinking it would be funny to punch the fire alarm at 3am! I had told the guys in my room that I had to get up early, so my alarm would be going off. When the fire alarm woke us everyone was very confused and thought it was my alarm! It was quite funny as where we were all still half asleep they were asking 'Hayley what kind of alarm do you have' and we were staggering around the room trying to find out where this awful noise was coming from. We soon realised what it was and had to get dressed and make our way outside. After standing in the cold for about 15 mins we were told that is was a false alarm and was safe to go back in. When walking back in we noticed that the security guard was talking to a guy with blood all over his fist. Lets just say that he got a few harsh words when we walked past him. I really don't understand why men have to punch things when they are drunk! This was not the end of it though, as the reception staff couldn't figure out how to turn the damn alarm off, so it went on ringing for another hour! It took me ages to get back to sleep and then it was time to get up for the bus. Needless to say, I was not a happy bunny when I got on it, and just wanted to get some more sleep. However, I soon realised that this was not going to be an option, as every 5 minutes the person infront of me would turn around and ask a question and would not take just a single word answer. After about 3 hours of driving I couldn't try to be nice anymore and had to get out my Ipod and pretend to go to sleep. I'm sure he was just trying to be nice, but at that hour in the morning it is not possible, especially when you have about an 8 hour bus ride ahead of you.

Anyway, we finally arrived at Surf Camp at about 5pm and it was great. The rooms were like small huts scattered around and they had a camp fire in the centre near the dining area. We put our bags in and made our way to dinner. It was quite nice, as the tables were big park benches, so you got to talk to everyone that was on the bus. After dinner we all sat around the camp fire with our drinks and had a great time. There was even someone playing their guitar. I spoke mostly to two Danish girls (Cecil and Stine) who are lovely and we got on really well. After a bit too much Goon again, I decided it was time for bed, as had to be up at 6am for breakfast and then have our Surf lessons at 7am. It was so cold though and there were no locks on the doors, so I didn't sleep very well and after a few hours of tossing and turning the Goon hangover was starting to set in!

Getting up the next morning in the cold and with a hangover was not good and my back was killing me, due to having the worst mattress ever! But after having a good helping of eggs and bacon I felt ready to try and surf. The first part of our lesson we all sat around a table and listened to the instructor go over the basics of surfing. The basics were really only to explain to us how to look cool whilst surfing! It was very amusing! We then had to get in the wetsuits, which was so hard and then make our way down to the beach with the boards and they were so heavy, but somehow I managed it. When we got down to the beach the instructor took us through a warm up, how to stand up on the board and went over some safety rules. I was a bit nervous whilst walking down to the sea and still felt rough, but as soon as I got in I got hit by a massive wave and the hangover was gone.

After I got hit by the first couple of waves and swallowed a bit of water I wasn't nervous about going under the water without holding my nose, you don't get much choice anyway. It was quite hard trying to get out deep enough, as everytime I got close I would get hit by a massive wave and it would knock me back quite far. The instructor saw that I was struggling and helped me. This was great because I was able to lay on the board whilst he pulled me out. He got me into position and started pushing when the wave came, he then said 'stand up doll!' I really did try but I couldn't get my balance right and as soon as I got up I fell straight back down! I tried over and over again to get up on the board, and I managed to for about a few seconds, but I don't think I was made for surfing. The 2 hours surfing just flew by and I had so much fun, but was totally worn out by this time and trying to carry the board back was a mission in itself.

After showering it was time to look at the photos that had been taken of us. I'm sad to say though that I don't think there are any of me, as I spent most of the time falling off! It was such a great experience though and I had the best time. Maybe after a few more attempts I will be able to do it. We then had to get back on the bus and head on to Byron Bay, which I'm very looking forward to.