We arrived at Byron on a pretty miserable day, the weather in Sydney seemed to have followed us north. We had contemplated just moving straight on as there was not much for us to do if the sun was not going to shine. However, we thought we could surf even if it was raining so booked a lesson for the next morning.
We were picked up by the instructor who was a real character and pretty insane! He looked like a fisherman who had been out on a trawler bot for three days straight and convinced us that we should go later in the day as the surf would be better. (We think it was because there was only four of us in the morning lesson and he would have a larger group later!) So we had to wait until the afternoon. At first the weather did not look good and about midday there was a little rain but then cleared up and was nice and hot by the time we were picked up the second time.
We visited about three different beaches but at all of them the waves were to powerful or the rip was too strong and all the while he was telling us he had done this for seventeen years! You would think after that long you would no exactly where to go and when. He was also telling us the story of a recent shark spotting and it ended up being on the beach we were to have our lesson on. He kept saying that there was no way there could have been one, he has not seen one in seventeen years of working there.... and on it went. Then he said it was one of his instructors that spotted it! He was crazy and the story seemed to get more elaborate and by the end of the day we were all just laughing whenever he brought it up!
When we did get to the beach there were literally no waves and I thought it was a wind up after the trips to all these beaches saying they were unsuitable to then bring us to what looked like a river! I honestly thought the TV cameras would come out and it would be a wind up on TV. He reassured us that as the tide came in the waves would get bigger and it was perfect condition to learn in. He was right!
After a short demo on the sand and we had q quick practice of how to go from lying on the board to standing off we went. The first couple of times they pushed us so we did not have to catch the wave but I stood up on the first attempt as did most people and was really surprised! After a few goes we started paddling to catch the waves ourselves and this was much harder but still I could stand up and it all felt a bit easy. The waves we were on were tiny though and as I found out as we moved up the coast, it is in fact, bloody hard! Still we enjoyed the lesson and had a good day.
The next day we took a walk to the lighthouse starting on Byron beach. It was the most easterly point of Australia. We saw our first Wallaby when we reached the lighthouse. Byron bay is really beautiful and it seems a way of life for people there. So many people had come from work with there surfboard in their truck, everyone walks round barefoot, it is a really relaxed place and I would like to come back one day. Our next stop is Brisbane but just for one night so we can get a full day at Australia Zoo!
