Leaving Australia

Well I left the ship over a week ago and it has been great since I left. I walked off the ship and felt a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I gazed upon the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge and was amazed that I had made it. I made the long trip to my hostel and checked in. I then spent the next several hours exploring the city. I ended up buying a ticket to a play called The Grenade at the Opera House. It was an amazing play. The next days I spent cruising around the city and enjoying everything Sydney had to offer.

I then went to Surf Camp. I got up early and went to where we were supposed to get picked up. We were greeted by an obvious surfer who told us there was a problem with one of the buses and 4 of us had to take the train. I volunteered and so did 3 other guys and we also got an extra free t shirt. I have to say the train ride was probably better than sitting in the bus for 2 hours cramped with a bunch of other people. We arrived at the camp at 7 mile beach in Gerroa. We dropped our stuff off in the room and suited up to go to the beach. We received a lesson and were off in the water. I have to say it took me a bit to get the hang of it. After the morning lesson we went back to camp for lunch and the returned later. It started to rain, but we kept surfing. Then thunder and lightning, which got closer and closer and we all bolted out of the water and into the bush. We waited for the storm to pass and watched as amazing bolts of purple lightning struck down. We eventually hid in a tunnel that was nearby until we made our way back to camp. The rest of our lessons were a little longer due to this cancellation.

Over the next couple of days we surfed twice a day and had a real good time. We surfed with the whales jumping out of the water way in the distance and dolphins just swimming by. I hiked out to this lookout point and saw some amazing views of the beach. Upon leaving the camp the same thing happened again and we had to take the train yet again. We all met up at Scubar in Sydney and had some free beer and pizza before some of us boarded a bus to continue our trip. After a 12 hour bus ride, which was god awful, we arrived in Byron Bay.

Byron Bay is an amazing place. A nice beach town with amazing waves. 5 of us traveled here and then surfed for little while, until we realized that the conditions were not in our favor. The winds were blowing on shore and the current was very strong pulling us way down the beach in a matter of minutes. We retreated to the hostel and hung out for a bit. And now I await the long trip home to San Diego.

Once I return home I will post pictures from my Australian adventure!