Had the best day yesterday! Booked in for a surf lesson and it was amazing. They told us we would be standing by end of the lesson, which I did not believe but did it on second go. Was so much fun. Toyah even caught her own wave. I would have done if it wasn't for this girl who came from behind the wave where me and the instructor couldn't see so I just screamed and went straight over the top of her. She said she was ok though! Half way through the lesson someone shouted 'shark,!' We looked around trying to see it for a bit before we zoomed back to shore after we realised that we were actually still in the water with the shark! We waited around a bit until Instructor came and said there was a man with a kayak chasing it off so should be ok. He said we didn't have to get back in water if we didn't want but he was happy to carry on. We asked if it was a killer shark as a joke and he said to remember that sharks ruled the ocean and we needed to be vigilant and keep close. We thought it wasn't that dangerous at first but as all surfers were arriving they were all talking about it so it must of been pretty impressive cos these people are out there all day every day. Can't believe I got back in the water with sharks around. And then just to add to the shark drama Toyah went and gashed her foot open on a rock. This wasn't a little cut, the blood was pouring out all over the beach about 20minutes after she had done it. Before she was in the sea with it bleeding o if the shark was looking for a snack Toyah would have been first picks! She also got a huge bruise on her leg from when everyone was panicing about the shark and trying to get back to shore - a wave caught someone else's board and it bashed against Toyah's leg. Now the sensible thing to do would have been to get back to shore before I ran over and asked if she was ok but I didn't. Instead we examined her leg in the sea and another wave came along and sent her board flying onto my foot so then I was in pain too. Toyah also twisted her knee on her first attempt on the board but this didn't swell up unitl after the lesson. My toe was ok until I had to bend them back on surf board to get up and this was painful. So by the end of the lesson Toyah's blood was pouring out all over the beach and a swollen knee and bruised leg and I couldn't walk cos pain had travelled up all my foot into leg. No one else got any injuries (except maybe the girl I zoomed over when on my surf board), but we also like to think we were two of the best there so we didn't mind the pain! We felt like idiots later on though when we both hoppled to the bar and asked for ice to take down some of swelling. Toyah's injuries definetly won in terms of amount and dramatic effect, leaving her blood all over the sand but think mine won in terms of ongoing pain because couldn't really walk by the night. Feeling much better today though until I went down to get something out my bag and just fell on the floor in the middle of the internet shop because foot couldn't hold me haha! Toyah also won the surf off we had, she got further than me although I think my falling off the surfboard that time deserves some credit, very graceful!! Even without all the drama though the surfing was so cool. Bought some photos too which are on facebook to prove how good we were!
Can't remember what we have even done the last week or so because of the excitement of yesterday. In Byron Bay at moment which is such a cool place - lots of nice shops and gorgeous beach and amazing hostel. Although something terrible happened the other day - someone stole our chocolate. We bought a big bar of it and put it in the fridge and when we came to eat it someone had taken it out of the cardboard and took the foil with the chocolate wrapped in. We were gutted and all the cake shops had closed. Just as we were about to give up hope we found a restaurant that sold hot chocolate and marshmallows so we survived. Also went to a place called Nimbin on a day trip, which is a little village where they pretty much just smoke pot and sign petitions to legalize it. Had some good shops and cafes too. Walked up to lighthouse in Byron too which was really nice walk.
We were in Surfers Paradise for a night, pretty much just for a night out. Was good from what we remember!! Too much goon before we went out.
Brisbane was really cool. Heard mixed things about it and thought it would be quite tacky but just a really cool city with loads of quirky bars and cafes and restaurants everywhere. We pretty much walked the whole city in the first 2 days seeing the sights and the shops then on the last day did some bush walking to see the view over the city. Ended up walking further than we should of done through the bush walks because we kept missing signs. Once was our own fault because we were engrossed in a conversation about what bikini I should throw out to make room for the new one I had bought and the other times the signs were really badly placed. Made the picnic we had made taste even sweeter though.
Could write so much more but getting bored and want to go shopping. Catching a bus to Sydney tonight. So excited for that although not impressed by all the rain that is going off down there. We saw our first rain in Australia the other day, sunny again now though. xxxxxxx