Hey dudes

So we left for our first trip planned in Australia which was mojo surf camp. We got up at 5.30am as we had to be at Central for 7.00 pickup for our greyhound. It was a quite a long trip I think we arrived in arrawarra around 5 pm. It rained non stop the whole journey so we were happy in a way we weren't missing out on the sun. We got checked in and our lovely tour guide robin took us around the camp showing us where stuff was.

We did get told we were staying in a dorm room of 8 but we actually were put into a massive tipee of 4 of us. It was actually quite cool and once we come to terms with it we loved it . We stayed with two Danish girls who were really friendly which helped. Robin our tour guide let us get settled in and have showers and chill out before dinner. We were really hungry and didn't know what the hell we were having for dinner.

After refreshing up we went down to dinner and it was like being back at school. Everyone was in a line queuing up you had to laugh. Lauren didn't think much of it at first but once she found out we were having steak she soon settled back down. It was really good we had steak with chips vegetables and a small French baguette with loads of gravy. you could also have as much salad as wanted which was great. We both eat as much as we could as we knew we were going to need our energy over the weekend. The Rest of the night we chilled out and got an early night . On our way back to the tent we were greeted by a large spider right above my bed. The girls were going crazy to say the least. I have to admit it was probably one of the bigger ones I've seen. Within ten minutes of messing around with a cup and some paper to get it out we were all fine and ready to hit the sack for the night.

We were up nice and early for our first lesson which was at 8.30am. We got up for breakie at 7 which was the usual kind of stuff you get Toast and cereal. After stuffing ourselves we walked over to a place in the camp called "surf camp". This is the area where they keep all the boards the wetsuits and the place you get briefed about what your lesson will be involving and what your be doing in the sea. The instructors were such cool dudes they all just want to have a laugh and make sure everyone is enjoying themselves while there surfing. We had half hour hazards talk about how dangerous the ocean is and what you need to look out for being a surfer. Also most importantly the actual waves themselves and what there doing .......so for example if the sea is a low tide or high . What way the wind is blowing offshore/onshore and where abouts the RIP is in the sea. These are just afew there was about 16 but I don't want to bore everyone. The RIP is one of the biggest killers in the sea and where a lot of people drown. It's where the sea is pushing against the waves that are trying to land and causing huge ripples and it gets really messy. If you do get pulled into a RIP as long as you don't fight it and let it take you , you just have to swim to the side and get out of it. Sounds a lot worse than it actually Is. Lucky for us we have really good instructors that knew the water better than the dolphins.

After all the boring but most important stuff was out the way it was time to get down to the beach to hit some waves yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwww !! Before we got into the water we all got in a massive circle and performed a demo of what actions we would have to take to get up onto our boards. After our demo we were split into groups of 8 with an instructor each. We were really lucky we had Reece who was the best surfer out of the lot of them. To start with we were just catching the waves after they had broken so we could practise on our technique of standing on the board ! So when the wave broke as soon as it touched your back of your feet you put in 4 hard paddles to generate the speed. Once the speed was in place you were riding the wave and time to get to your feet. As me and Lauren were both in the same group we got to watch eachother it was bundles of laughter. Lauren went before me and got up on her first go and rode it right to the shore line. I couldn't believe it she did so well I think she even surprised herself. My first time weren't the best I reckon I was standing on my board for about 0.1 of a second before I catapulted over the top of the board. As you can image as I come up from the water the first person I could see was Lauren laughing her head off. We did this for an hour and a half in the water over and over getting our techniques right. It was really tiring but at the same time so much fun.

After our lesson had finished the skies opened up and it was throwing it down we had about an hour to kill before lunchtime. We catched up with robin who was looking after us she is also a surf instructor and as Lauren was loving the surfing so much we went back out for another hour with her. It was like a private lesson for free , she was really helpful and gave us some great tips.

We had defiantly built up an appetite so we showered off and headed to lunch where it was the standard school line . It was energy food to say the least. We had wraps with any meat you liked . There was also as much pasta as you wanted and potato salad for you to fill yourself up with. Once lunch was over it was time to gear up for our second lesson of the day which was at 2pm. The afternoon sessions are abit more of a freestyle lesson . They like to call them "expression lessons". Basically you practise everything they teach you and they watch you and tell your where you went wrong and why you fell off. A bit like an analysis. But before they let us into the water we had to stretch out our muscles. Reece our leader was so flexible it was unreal. He could bend his whole body in half it was kind of a yoga session. I hated it , it was so so hard I don't know how people say it's relaxing I was sweating and so uncomfortable. We had another 2 hours in the sea and by the end of that me and Lauren's were shattered. We were aching all over especially Lauren . My favourite quote over the weekend from her was " I've used body parts i never knew I had " brilliant.

We thought we were done for the day ......but Lauren informed me in another hour we were going back into the water to do water rafting into the waves. So before I could dry off I was putting on a crash hat and a massive life jacket to be smashed around in the waves. The boat held 8 of us 5 girls and me . And we had two instructors in there to help us aswell As we needed to get some power from somewhere. One of the instructors josh was running it and he was so funny making everyone laugh and whinding them up. The other lad Tom was there purely for a laugh and to take the piss out of everyone for not rowing correctly. Straight away Tom was on to Lauren because she took about half an hour to put her hat on as she couldn't find what way it went on.

Once everyone was in their gear we went out and everyone got put into positions smallest at the front and biggest at the back . I was at the back with one of the instructors and Lauren was right at the front .The really emphasised that as soon as we start hitting some of the waves everyone has to paddle as hard as they could . To get out of the tumble area. It weren't long before we were getting hit real hard with the crashing waves. All I could hear was paddle harder and faster. We were getting absolutely nowhere. The waves were non-stop before you could open your eyes you were already getting hit by another. Tom and josh were moaning at the girls for not putting enough effort In, I couldn't stop laughing. Eventually we were though the waves and out the back. We took a breather and then it was back to paddling hard before we got caught again the tumble area. The girls were nackered and eventually they all stopped. Josh and Tom were whinding them up so much especially Lauren as she was at the front. The people at the front dictate the speed for the others so if there slow everyone else is slow. Tom said Lauren couldn't row properly and she needed to get out of the boat it was so funny. Josh swapped the two girls at the front with me and Tom to generate some speed to catch some waves.

Now we were all shuffled around we started paddling back towards the shore. It weren't long before we had a large one chasing our tail of the the boat. That's when we all had to go as fast as possible. Me and tom we're going like the clappers and we assumed everyone behind us was too . We were flying along with the noise from Josh screaming PADDLE!!! Then all of a sudden we were so so high we we're right on top of the wave it was a great feeling . But like anything whatever goes up has to come down and the boat flipped out and we were all sent flying in each and every direction into the sea. It was a hard impact even with the life jacket on but everyone was alright. Lauren and a few of the other girls had enough and didn't want to go in it again so we all went back and took showers in some actual warm water.

It was a great first day to our camp and we couldn't wait to get back out there again the next morning. We had another great dinner one of our favourites bangers and mash with gravy. After dinner everyone went down to the beach to have some ciders and chillout for the evening. We all slept really well that night because we were all so so tired.

Our last day on the camp and with 5 hours under our belts of surf lessons it was time to gear up and take it to a next level. After a nights sleep we both woke up stiff as an ironing board , my ribs were in bits and Lauren's arms were killing her. So on our third lesson we were going to be catching the green waves this is what they like to call them. It's where you catch the wave before it tumbles so you are sliding down the wave with it crashing in behind you . Our instructor we had for this was a bloke called Ben he was an Australian and he was a really good teacher and explained it really well to us so we all understood what we had to do. We had again a half hour yoga class before entering the water which was really painful and there was a lot of groaning haha. Now this was out the way it was time to give it ago ourselves. The hardest part of this was actually getting out past the waves with your board. The girls found this extremely hard because you have to do so so much paddling with your arms to get through the waves. Ben gave us afew techniques to help us get though the waves so we didn't get pushed back to far but it was really hard work and nonstop paddling. Me and a couple of the boys finally got out the back after nearly ten minutes hard craft and sat on our boards to catch our breathe. We were shattered and didn't want to move. The amount of water that hits you is unbelievable. Ben helped the girls get through the waves to get them with us lot where it was a lot more calmer. To put surfing into perspective he told us you do 90% paddling 5% watching the waves and the other 5% actually riding the wave if your lucky that is.

So with our awesome instructor positioning us In the right place he would help us watch the waves and dictate what waves would be a good wave to catch. Me and one of the other lads spotted a bomb as they like to call it , it's a wave thats brewing about 20 meters away from where you are that looks like it good be a good one . Ben agreed and said get on your board and start paddling. We started paddling at a reasonable speed to get us going . Then we heard him shouting the big one that's 4 big pumps from your arms to generate as much speed as you can to hit that wave ! Both of us hit the wave at what felt like a 100 mph. The board was going like a rocket I tried my hardest to get up but only managed to a crouch position before I got wipeout ! It took a hell of a lot of energy out of me and felt as if I was under the water for a lifetime. So it was back to the same routine PADDLING. I don't want to hear that word for at least three days from now . I had another 2-3 goes and had the same kind of outcome. Once I got out the back again Lauren was being coached by Ben on what to do when he tells her to go. I sat on my board in the ocean and watched her as the waves were brewing. She was so nervous after seeing me being sent flying. Anyways Ben gave her the nod to go and I was cheering her on to give her some support and she hit it so so so good. The timing was brilliant She was up onto her feet for ages and the waves were just crashing in behind her. She done really well and was the only girl to get to her feet in our group on top of a mountain.

There was no way I was leaving this lesson and not hitting a Mount Everest especially with josh whinding me up after Lauren had got up. So I really put everything I had in to my last one and I finally hit a gooden . I was riding down the waves perfect it's such a great feeling and made all the practise pay off. We were both so chuffed with ourselves !

That lesson was the hardest of the lot of them by a mile. Once we had finished we were so so tired and exhausted. We grabbed loads of food for lunch to try and restore some of our energy before our last lesson of the weekend. After a couple of hours rest it was back down to the ocean with our boards. Unfortunately the weather was really bad for surfing the waves were really dumpy. This meant the waves were crashing to close to the shoreline and you could hurt yourselves quite badly. Ben took us out deeper to try and catch some but the water was really rough and everyone was nose diving and getting wiped out every single time. He brought us all back in as he felt it was too unsafe on the boards. We were gutted but also slightly abit happy as we were in bits anyway.

We had to get all our stuff packed and have showers as we only had an hour before our greyhound picked us up to take us to byron bay. It was manic when the bus arrived everyone was trying to get seats as there was already people on there. Lauren dumped her bags with me and managed to get the last two together which was good. Unfortunately for the last guy to get on there wasn't enough space for him and the driver said your have to sit on the floor. He decided he would sit in the toilet for three hours till we arrive in byron we couldn't believe it. Every half hour or so he would come out as someone would need the toilet before going back in there crazy !!

We arrived in Byron at 9 pm to be greeted by ash who we plan to stay with for a week. We're looking forward to actually staying somewhere for abit of time and can actually unpack afew things and watch some tele as we've missed it abit.

I'll upload the pictures I took of where we were staying at spot x. I'm afraid there's no actions shots yet as it weren't possible to take the camera out with us while surfing. The people at spot x have their own photographers and took plenty of photos of us in action they won't be uploaded for a couple of weeks to their website so once they are we will retrieve them and add them to our album for you all to laugh at.

Update you all soon guys
Much love xxx