I couldn't spend three months in Australia without getting out on the water and trying to surf, so I spent this weekend on the Surf Coast catching some waves and trying to improve my (mad) skillls.

I did the trip through a company so I got to spend two days with a group of people and an instructor to help us through. It was great because I got lots of tips and now have a much better understanding of the nitty-gritty of surfing.

Day 1 I made the trip down from Melbourne bright and early. We all met at the shop, loaded up the van and headed down the start of the Great Ocean Road to Point Addis. The beach was beautiful, surrounded by big bluffs and had awesome surf for the morning before calming down a little in the afternoon. After getting my legs back under me and getting up consistently on the 10' soft-top board, I graduated to the 8' and started working on turning.

After getting off the water, our instructor took us for a quick tour to show us Bells Beach. It's a classic surf spot that is popular with locals and has a lot of history. Back in the day before they had a road to the beach, they used to paddle nearly 10km from Torquay to ride the waves at this beach. Now they host the longest running surf competition/festival (the RipCurl Pro) every year over Easter weekend. The area has tons of cool surf history. Both Ripcurl and Billabong started here, selling wetsuits and boardshorts (respectively). Someone told us that Ripcurl actually started selling wetsuits out of the a bakery in the downtown area - so cool.

I spent the afternoon/evening with my new Swiss friend Nick - He's actually on a surf tour across Australia from Perth to Byron Bay and I'm extremely jealous. We checked out the shops in Torquay and hit up a couple really sweet establishments (a boardrider club and microbrewery) before packing it in early.

Day 2 we met our new squad and headed back out. This time we ventured out a little but further to Urquhart Bluffs - another wicked beach - and spend lots of time on the water. We were all pretty keen to be out there so we skipped the little tour parts and maximized our time on the water. After getting a feel for the new breaks I had some solid time to practice turning and now I actually feel like I have a bit of control.

Overally it was an amazing weekend. I can't believe i waited so long and didn't get out on the water sooner. Very happy with my second last weekend in Oz. Starting to prep for the return trip and what is sure to be a bittersweet departure.

Hang loose and stay weird.