After Melbourne we stayed in Sydney for a few days. I done my RSA course and met Stacey and Oli who were also leaving for Surf Camp the next day. I met them at the bus station. They had done Ozintro the week after me and had a girl from Edinburgh with them called Holly. We met our surf instructor for the week also called Ollie and got on what had to be the coolest coach i have ever seen. The Mojo buses had state of the art reclining seats - all very posh. We all sat and got comfy as the journey to "Spot X" (next to Arrawarra, North of Coffs Harbour and South of Byron Bay) was going to take 8 hours.
Arriving at surf camp was the complete opposite of arriving at a hostel. You checked in as normal but it was sort of... Beach hut style dorms rather than rooms. Ours was called Byron Bay and the sand was everywhere already. One plug socket for the room and nowhere to lock up your valuables, we didn't know what to make of it. We had 2 girls called Rebecca and Charlotte in our room who had met travelling and had been working in Sydney.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner was served out in the common area where they had loads of big benches for everyone to sit. It meant you had to queue but the food was worth it! Lunch was wraps and/or bread and you had your pick of ham, salami, cheese, pasta, salad, toasty machines; dinner would always be a big meal - chilli or chicken, one night we had a side portion of the best vegetable spring rolls ever! Every day you checked the big board to see what time you had surf lessons. We had 2 a day, morning and afternoon. Some people would stay for a night, or 3, 5, 10 or you could do intensive courses for 1-3 months ending in you being a fully qualified surf instructor. Lessons started as early as 7am meaning you got woken up at 6.
The beach where you done your lessons was about a 5 minute walk away; your toilets and showers were in a separate area too. We quickly got used to camp life, the staff were amazing. The managers would gather everyone round before lunch and dinner to introduce staff (and to take the piss out of them) and explain what happened before and after meals. There was a fire pit area which was lit nightly, the staff always had music on or played games (sex position games which Charlotte took part in - hilarious - or random knowledge quiz!), the manager Kev, done nightly runs to the bottle shop for everyone. I was DJ sitting in the front of the mini bus every night with the ipad, collecting the goon for us girlies :)
When it came to surf lessons i was so bad. I couldn't stand up on the board and kept falling off. Useless! Surf camp for 5 days and i could barely stay on the board. Luckily Stacey and Holly weren't that into it either so we sunbathed and coastal walked instead of our lessons some days. They had the school area outside our dorm where people doing the courses learned all their important stuff about the waves, surfing lingo etc. it had big massive hammocks - so amazing to lie on!
The staffs banter was second to none. There was a surf instructor who looked the spit of Owen Wilson (with a nicer nose) and another who looked like a fit Keith Lemon! The managers were from Yorkshire and completely mental. Kev had the most random tattoo's, some mis-spelled but the best being "you're only young once but you can be immature forever" which summed him up!
The last night they threw us a beach party - so much goon, good music, all walks of life partying together under the stars! Awesome night.
Once again, didn't want to leave surf camp, had been enquiring about jobs to go back but the only way it benefits you is if you can and want to surf.... Thats me out!
The mojo bus drops you at Byron Bay so i booked Holly, Oli, Stacey and myself a hostel just outside the main centre. So weird thinking i was worrying about heading to Surf Camp the week after all my Ozintro group incase i didn't meet anyone and i ended up meeting loads of awesome people, 3 of which i was now heading up the East Coast with!