G'day Mate!

So, our two days of travelling down to Sydney were about to begin and as we boarded Disco's bus we realised it would be a good couple of days. Not too far down the coast we came to Lennox Head, a lookout over Byron Bay with stunning views, while we were there Disco's mate, Jesus, drove past and pulled over to tell us that there were lots of dolphins at the next lookout. We swiftly got back on the bus and five minutes down the road we came to Sharpes Beach where we were treated to a pack of wild dolphins jumping through the waves alongside the surfers. It was truly amazing and Sophie was like a kid at Christmas! They looked like they were having so much fun jumping up and down, and through the waves - it was almost as if they were surfing too! Unfortunately we were unable to get any photographs but it is probably one of the best things we've witnessed on our travels.

After a couple of food and toilet stops we arrived at the secretive 'Spot X' - so called because the surf here is supposed to be brilliant and when surfers find a good spot they like to keep it quiet so as not to overcrowd the waves! We didn't know where exactly we were on the coast, just that we were at Arrawarra Beach! After being shown around the camp, we dumped our things off in our room and headed for a quick lunch before making our way to the free surf lesson - courtesy of Oz Experience. We were given a short talk by Jai, a cool surfer dude who was to be our instructor for the day and, after dishing us out our surfboards, we headed to the beach!

The time had come to enter the water and attempt to stand on our surfboards for some photographs - simple? No. It was hard to master all the steps while speeding along the waves but we both managed to stand up on our boards, if not only for a short while! Sophie managed to stay in the water for just over an hour and a half before admitting defeat, shattered and battered by the waves! Kie lasted for the whole three hour lesson, with a short drink break in the middle! We both really enjoyed ourselves and wished we had thought ahead and perhaps stayed another night or two, to perfect our new found art!

We were all exhausted and showered before eating a substantial dinner and chilling in front of a campfire with our fellow surf campers and drinks. Disco had told us about the bio-luminous plankton, which you can kick in the sea and they light up like hundreds of little fireworks. It was amazing.

We were also gobsmacked by the stars because there are so many here in Australia, you can even see the Milky Way as the sky is so clear. There are thousands of stars, far more than we get to see in England. Brilliant. We stayed up chatting and finally went to bed at about 1am, having just six hours before we had to leave for Sydney!

We will fill you in on our Sydney experience very shortly!

Lots of love, Sophie and Kie xx