Surfers Paradise!

11 Mar 05 (Friday)

Riding the wave @ Surfers Paradise...

I did not go for classes today... =) I promise it will just be today that I will skip the lessons.=) We woke up early in the morning and headed for Surfers Paradise to learn how to surf. Hong Ee and Jolene had attended the first lesson before and they led us to the surfing school at Cavill Park at Surfers Paradise. The weather was pretty hot but got used to the scorching temperature after a while...

Upon changing into our wet suits, all of us were led to the beach to do our warm-up exercises. Before long we were in the water attempting to surf while lying on the surf board. One will treasure the moment when u are going to be swept by the current to the shore as dragging a surf board against the big waves is not easy. Many a times, I was swept a few steps back... I couldn't agree more with the saying that beginning is always the most difficult... There were moments when the waves came and topple the surf board (together with me) into the waters... For that few seconds, you will be drinking water with extremely high sodium chloride content while engulfed in the salty Pacific Ocean waves. In addition, there were also slight abrasions when my knees brushed against the sand under the water after falling off the board... We were asked by the coached to shift to the right as the safety flags shifted with the tide directions and strength. We obeyed obediently; lives are at stake here and no one knows better than the life guards there... The life guards in Australia are all volunteers and I do not want to make their work any busier... The story of the Singaporean guy who was drowned in Surfers Paradise about 3 weeks back when trapped in a rip current still rings in my head...

After some coaching by the Surf coach, Hiro, things turned better when I could balance myself for a few seconds before falling flat into the water... After 2 hours of surfing, I would say I was extremely tired and hungry...Food beakoned!... =)

Here's a video link to Daniel's surfing experience:

Daniel's surfing experience

Hint: His encounter in the waves is similar to mine...