So I haven’t posted in a few days because I’ve just been really busy…and still am but felt I had to write something before leaving for
Thursday I met with my marine group at a coffee shop where we could sit outside to plan our field work. It took us 2 hours but we completely planned what we are testing and the methods/statistics we will use so it’s should all be pretty easy from here. After that I came home to grab lunch and went to the library for the rest of the day to study for my midterms that are (too) soon! I came home, had dinner, and then packed for my Friday excursion.
Friday I woke up at 5:50am (yay!) to catch the ferry to the train to the bus to surfers paradise again for my second and third lessons. It was a gorgeous day, not a cloud in sight the whole day, so the beach was pretty crowded. I didn’t mind though--especially because I spent minimal time on the beach. My first lesson, from 10-12, built on my first one. The first wave I took when we all went in to warm up I caught all the way in which made me feel pretty good! I felt myself getting more used to the balance and everything and even was able to do some turning which is what our lesson was on. I was tired after the 2 hours so I went to lie out on the beach and eat the sandwich I had made for the occasion.
Around 1:30 I went walking around a bit and then headed back over to the surf school for my 2-4 lesson. That lesson was amazing. My muscles were fatigued from the start, but I didn’t care. Also, there were only 4 of us on the third lesson which was fun. We warmed up like we always do, but then our instructor called us out and told us it was time to paddle out in the rip current! Just as he tells us this, by the way, the lifeguard siren goes off and they rescue a surfer from the rip. That was the third or fourth rescue I had seen that day! He told us how to get over the big waves and stuff, and then off we went! I was secretly really nervous, but once we got in and I got over a few waves and felt a little better. Then I got completely wiped out and was able to really feel the pull of the rip and realized that it felt the same as rips I had felt when in the outer banks, just stronger. I was no longer nervous at all and I paddled hard out to where my instructor was. I got roughed up on the way out, but I eventually made it to the sweet spot for catching the best waves. When I got on my first wave, I was caught by surprise at how big and fast the wave was and didn’t stand up fully. But I got back out (which takes about 5 seconds when you’re in the rip) and when I took my next wave I got up and rode it. It was so exhilarating because when you take the big waves, it’s like, “wow, I’m really surfing,” …if that makes any sense at all, which I think it does if you surf and remember how it felt when you started. I only caught a few waves really successfully, I think partly because I was probably getting really tired. Also I kept sliding too far up my board and nearly nose-diving. I actually did nose-dive on one wave—it was actually really fun and I ended up doing several somersaults underwater. I love that feeling. Oh, BUT one of them I took from all the way out in the rip right to the shore!!! I actually just stepped off onto the shore! I was so exhausted and had been in the sun for over 7 hours so I headed to the bus stop right after the lesson. I didn’t get home until about 7:30 so I had missed dinner. I knew I would so I had bought a can of tuna and some crackers earlier in the week. After I ate I showered and fell asleep right away.
I woke up early this morning—I had gone to bed at 9pm! I did my laundry, went to breakfast, discussed plans for travel tomorrow with Charlene, called my mom, the talked to mike, started packing, went to lunch, and packed for the rest of the afternoon. I will go to dinner in about 10 minutes, then finish packing and head to Charlene’s apartment in Toowong which is about 10 minutes from campus. Her friend is picking me up because the buses stopped running early today. Tomorrow we will wake up at about 4am to get the 5am train to the airport. Our flight doesn’t take off until 9:05am but the next train would get us there at 7:35am which we both agreed is way too late for an international flight. So we’ll get there early and just get breakfast or something. Even though the flight is only 3.5 hours, by the time we catch the bus from the airport in Nadi to our hostel it will be 6:45pm Fiji time—(3:45pm Brisbane time). So it will be a LONG day. I’m so happy to be going with Charlene though—she is the so much fun and we are very much alike in our travel style. Ok I have an hour before I get picked up and I have to go down to eat and I’m not even fully packed!
I’ll be back on Friday night!
Oh and one more thing—I think it’s going to be raining the whole time we’re in
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