Hello, or Yeeeeeewwwww!

Oh dear, surf talk.

So i am now in Sydney, after a gruelling week at surf camp. We got to byron bay and realised that we would have to go on the camp the very next day, so we didnt really get to see any of byron bay. up very early the next morning and on the bus for a 3hour jounrey to Spot X, Arrawarra beach, where we stayed until tuesday. we had a really good group, there were just 8 of us all together, 2 canadians, 2 swedes, 1 dutch, 1 german and lee and myself. generally we got on really well as a group, although by the end of the week we were glad to say goodbye to a couple of people (namely a very loud drunken sex session in the dorm between one of the girls and a instructor, kind of annoying when it goes on ALL NIGHT LONG, and then they proceed to snore louder than is humanly possible and you have to be up at 6am), anyway we all got on really well and we sat around the camp fire drinking in the evening and watching movies. At first i thought i might have a slight advantage to some of the other people in the group as i had surfed before, where as most hadn't, but it turned out i was far worse than everyone else! Got standing up quite a bit on the first lesson though so wasnt too bad. the waves were really disgusting and brown for the first couple of days (see foam fight pictures) as there had been big storms, but later in the week when the sun came out and all the debris had gone it was much nicer to surf in! each lesson you really felt that you were improving quite a bit and the instructors were really great. Ended up with some nasty injuries, an extrememly huge bruise covering quite a bit of my right thigh as i got smacked by my own surf board fins, and blisters on each one of my finger tips and palms (hence why i look like i am about to partake in an s&m session in some of the pics as i had to tape up my hands with duck tape, and also why i am wearing woollen gloves in the water!) it was very tiring, we generally had two lessons a day (we actually ended up getting an extra one for free), up at 6am, to put on a cold and wet bikini and wetsut, in the waves, breakfast (spometimes the other way round) back shower, lunch, surfing, shower, dinner, bed. We left spot X on tuesday and went on a 3 hours trip to crescent head, which was just beautiful. both of the beaches we were on were completely empty and are only used by the surfing schools so it was really nice. We left crescent head on thursday for our 6 hour drive down to sydney. the company we did the camp with was holding a party so we went to that in the evening with the other people in our group and had a really good night. the theme was white and wooly so someone ingeniously went dressed as a tampon. nice. It was sad to say goodbye to the poeple in the group, and we had become particulalry friendly with a few of them. Since then we have been generally trying to recover from the week, and going out and seeing a bit of sydney. yesterday we went to darling harbour and went to the Lindt chocolate cafe (yes, thats right) and had the worlds most amazing hot chocolate (could say nothing else but 'oh my god' for a few minutes), then went to the cinema in the evening and watched the new transformers film (if you are thinking about going to see it, i wouldnt bother, too much CGI and not enough storyline, plus it is very cheesy in places and generally not as good as the last one). Today we walked to The Rocks, a market, watched some street performances, walked along harbour bridge and went to the opera house. we are staying in Chinatown in a really big and modern hostel, which i am enjoying as it makes me feels as if i am back in asia again. I have booked some internal flights now, sydney to melbourne and then melbourne to perth. Lee is trying to change his flights so he can go to NZ earlier, although STA keep telling him there isnt any availablitly, so not sure if we are going to keep travelling together after syndey or not at the moment, but what ever happens i will be on a flight to melbourne on the 2nd. After perth i am not sure what to do, travel in a tour up the west coast (expensive), or fly straight to darwin (cheaper, but should i miss out the west coast?) and perhaps go to uluru from there on a trip? anyone got any advice? need to get booking next round of flights soon.
Think thats it! sorry that was a complete ramble of the last 7 days! internet access was pretty non existant at camp. hope some of it made sense!!!