We woke up at around 5am to drive three hours to our surf lessons in Byron Bay. We get there and wait to get picked up. A white van pulls up in front of us and a quintessential super surfer comes out of the driver seat and says “G’day mates” unironically. His name is David. We hop in his van with some other people here for the lessons. There were some French, some Finnish, and I think Spanish. Didn’t talk much.
He drives us to the beach, where we change into wet suits. Two by two, we grab training surf boards and bring it down to the water. Here we stretch and learn some techniques to the surf. One thing he tells us is to “look at the trees” because if we look down, we will nose dive into the water. He then proceeds to tell us in several different languages. “Regardez les arbres” “Kan ze shu” ect.
One of the important things we learn from his lesson is that riptides are not dangerous. Just go with the flow and round back onto shore. Just don’t fight it.
We grab our boards and head into the water. They push us into the wave as it comes, and we just stand up and look at the trees.
Antoine kept trying to get us onto the same wave, because he tried to video me with his gopro from infront of me, and I fell trying to avoid him. David the Australian man said I fell because of him. So we caught the same wave and David called it a “party wave”. He also used the terms “gnarly”, and “right on” and other very stereotypical Australian surfer terms. It was great. It made me happy.
At one point I say “grab shell dude” and he replied with “is that from Finding Nemo? Gnarly”.
Once the class finished, we got lunch at this sushi place where they gave us three rolls and a smoothie for £5. It was so good.
After we ate, we got some souvenirs and headed off to Brisbane for our next AirBnb.
At the next AirBnb, we met Mr. Fluffypants. A cat who’s body was shaved, not his head, or his paws, or his tail, just his body. Mr. Fluffypants.
We got dinner at the local Westfield, where we found boba and Mexican food.
When we got back to our room, we showered and attempted to go to bed, when Mr. Fluffypants sneaked into our bedroom, and would not leave. He hid under the bed, where Antoine stuck his face and half his body. Mr. Fluffypants did not attack him, sadly. We tried to get him out by playing with him using pillows, towels, and blankets, but none of it worked. Soon he got irritated and he moved to the back corner of the room, where Antoine attempted to bribe him with food, and the proceeded to pick him up like a wet noodle and put him outside.
Apprently, at one point in the night, Antoine went to use the bathroom, and on his way back through the dark, he stepped on a fluffy tail and heard some scurrying. We can only assume it was Mr. Fluffypants trying to sneak back in and not a huntsman spider.