Yesterday morning we emerged from bed at 6.15am and headed out to the coast in The Ferrari. This time we surfed at Palm beach and I had a lot better surf. The crowd was a lot smaller and the peak was more shifty so I was able to get more waves. I have rethought the ratio of girl surfers to boy surfers though. I think there are more girls here in Australia. In New Zealand I recon it's probably a ration of 1 girl to 50 guys and in Australia probably only about 1 to 30. I was being brave and taking off on the bigger waves yesterday (Still only about 1 and a half overhead.) But on one I did a spectacular wipe out. I though I could make the drop, although it was a steep one but half way down the wave lost it and went tumbling left cheek first into the face of the wave followed closely by the rest of my body. I felt like someone had punched me in the face and rearranged my jaw. It too a while for the feeling to wear off. Steve saw it and thought it was funny.
A while later I was paddling (very strong current so you are constantly paddling to the south) an I saw a sleek dark shape slide under the water a few metres in front of me. I thought I was imagining things because in the morning before we left Steve saw an article on the surf report page about a surfer who was "Nibbled at Nobbys" by a shark the day before and Nobbys is a beach just up the coast. I shook my head to clear the delusions of lurking skulking sharks and kept paddling. Next minute I saw a sharp fin pop up out of the water just as a swell blocked the sight from view. I sat up (wanting to fold my feet up on the board too) and said to the guy behind me "Was that a shark?" He said, "Where?" I pointed towards the sharky water saying "I saw a really pointy fin." Then the dolphins both popped up for some air and we both sighed in relief. "They're just dolphins, you'll be right." He said.
Dolphins dining in the surf are much better that sharks dining in the surf! The dolphins didn't stay long, they were just having a snack of the fish swimming through the clear waves. We surfed for 2 hours before we came in for a snack and then went out for a shorter surf. I got sunburned on the back of my legs from laying on my tummy for so long.
When we got home we went and got Dad's motorbike that had been getting fixed and when we got home from that Dad took me for a ride.
I was quite scared of going on it. It was quite fun though. I held on tight to Dad. It felt funny wearing the big helmet and Dad's big boots. (I only have jandals and sandals.) I felt a bit like a cartoon character. The wind felt exhilarating but also like it might whip me off at any second. It felt quite natural to lean with the bike around corners and I screamed my head off when Dad accelerated really fast. We visited Dad's mate Allen for a bit which was cool cause I haven't seen him in years.
This morning we had a bit of a sleep in until about 6.30am. We headed straight back out to Palm beach and surfed there again. It was nice a clean when we got there. I sun-screened my legs up good and proper and then proceeded to slip and slide all over my board every time I sat on it. The water was so beautiful. You could see right to the bottom. I had a few okay waves and some lovely duck dives. The boys probably don't count that as part of a good surf but I love the feeling when everything goes smoothy and the timing is perfect. Your board slices deep under the swell and your body dives in too, arches back like an echo to the wave and glides smoothly up until the pressure of the board pulling on your arms releases you from the influence of the wave and you emerge through the back of the wave to a shows of offshore spray on your head. If you are really lucky you will get a rainbow caught in your eyelashes. (That happened at Rainbow Bay the other day.)
When we got out Steve realised he had ripped his boardies right down the ass crack and to our knowledge was flashing everyone behind him in the surf for who knows how long!
So funny. I took a picture of it but for some reason the computer has rejected it and it has come out black! (Built in censoring???)
This is Palm beach today after we got out of the surf and it had gone all crappy.
I also wanted to write a bit about the wildlife here. There are so many interesting bird calls to listen to. And some are really cool looking too. There is one that sings at Dad's house in the morning that sound like the adults voice from the cartoon Charlie Brown. It makes me smile every time I hear it. The other thing they have here which is quite freaky are termites. They operate just like they do in cartoons! They hollow out the wood of anywhere they take up residence. They build a big gross nest with all these tunnels going to it and then they eat the tree (or whatever) from the inside out. So yucky! They look like big spew colored ants and they don't like the light. Yuck. We haven't seen many spiders (thankfully cause they freak me out!) We have heard cicadas that all sing in unison. Dad has a water dragon that lives near his house. We saw her on Friday and fed her some grapes but we haven't seen her since. I'll try and get some pictures of her next time she comes cause she is so cool!
Anyway we had a mean nana nap when we got home and are going to go and have Sushi Train for tea tonight.
See ya later, love Amy.
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