Blog

Surf Camp was amazing. Probably in my top 3 highlights for my five week trip to Aus and NZ.

The atmosphere was like summer camp but for grown ups… despite the fact that we stayed in shipping containers… no, really. Metal shipping containers. It was great food (taco salad and apple crisp!) and laid back people. Plus, we got to learn how to surf… but – I’m probably one of the least athletic people you’ll ever meet. I was always picked last in gym class and never excelled at any type of sport. I was completely mentally prepared to suck at surfing. I thought to myself, “don’t get upset if you can’t stand up, you’ve only got a 2 hour lesson including learning how to do it on the sand. Don’t get your hopes up.”

Got my wetsuit, got my board, did the lesson with my group on the sand, and set out to the water with the rest of my tour-mates. I managed to figure out which waves weren’t worth going for pretty quickly and with the help of one of the instructors – who told me NOT to go to my knees first, to just jump up to standing right away – I managed to stand up and ride the waves a bunch of times! I got one wave so well it took me all the way back to shore. The instructor said “Wow Mate, you really ripped that one!” which is the best sports-related compliment I could (and probably will ever) receive.

Pictures courtesy of Mojo Surf Camp photographers:

Byron Bay has such a beautiful lighthouse, it was a clear sunny day and we got an incredible view from it!
It’s got the most easterly point of Australia’s mainland (which we of course all took turns standing on, beside the sign). We also saw a wild goat and a pod of wild dolphins!

Surfer’s Paradise was awesome, it was loud and fun and full of energy, a perfect mix of night life and beach time during the day. “Schoolies” was on which made it even louder! Schoolies is a week long vacation for all the kids that are just finished high school, so all the bars/clubs turn all-ages. Yes, I got hit on by a 17 year old… yes, I know I look about 20. My tour mates thought it was hilarious since I’m totally a “toolie” (a non-high-school-recent-graduate)… considering I graduated 10 years ago… yeah. I’d say I’m a toolie.

Loved these street names on the sidewalks:

They’re big on stuffing toads and making them hold tiny bottles of liquor to sell to tourists. They also make them into change purses with the arms still attached. It was too creepy to photograph though. If you google “cane toad coin purse” and look at the images, you’ll see what I mean. Creepy. Oh, and while you’re at it, you might as well google “kangaroo arm scratcher”, which was probably the grossest.

Fraser Island was one of the many World Heritage Sites we saw along our tour. It’s also the world’s largest sand island in the world with multicoloured sand all over the island from red to brown to almost black. The entire resort on the island is surrounded by dingo gates. You can go through the gates and walk along the beach, but small children need to be supervised at all times, as dingos will attack them. Crazy! I didn’t see any dingoes but a couple of others did. There are tons of poisonous snakes and spiders on the island too, surprise surprise, this seems to be a theme in Australia!

The Whitsundays are the most stunning islands/beaches I’ve ever seen. The sand is so fine, you can polish your jewellery in it. It is 99.89% pure silica. Whitehaven beach is so beautiful it feels surreal.

Our group took an Ocean Rafting boat out to the islands – where only the boats with special eco permits are allowed to dock. It was a wild ride as our hyper-energized tour guides pulled 360s and drove straight for cliffs and then turned at the last second. It was scary since a storm was coming in and the waves were so huge, but a really great time.

We managed to get some photos taken just before it poured rain. We ate our lunch on the sand and then put on stinger-suits to go in the water (as protection from jellyfish) and played with a football in the pouring rain.

After a while we were taken to a few other islands and went snorkeling. Saw a tuna, maori wrasse and dozens of smaller fish. Admittedly the tuna kinda freaked me out. It’s big. And quick.

As a tribute to the winter weather back in Canada, I made Sandy the Sandman, who wore a tie and carried a surfboard!

Daydream Island was one of my favourite places that we stayed in Australia. It was this incredible resort with it’s own Living Reef! We got to see a feeding of all the fish, I got to hold a baby shark, some starfish, a sea cucumber (yuck) and pet and feed some sting rays (Pancake & Pikelet). One of the other things I got to do was feed a barramundi, which was a really neat experience! I didn’t get it on video, but check out this video to see what it was like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPmOP0JheA4, scary and fast and so unique!

Daydream island is so beautiful, it had a unique view from every side of the island. There was “Lover’s cove” and the coral beach, a HUGE screen that made an outdoor theatre, and nice big rooms with balconies that overlook the living reef. It’s also got a bunch of wallabies and kangaroos that live on the island as well as various birds and reptiles, like a monitor I saw building its nest on the beach.

We had lots of great food, including this amazing honey straight from the comb! After breakfast we laid on chairs on the coral beach and went kayaking through the water. Around dusk you could spot sea turtles just off the beach swimming around.

I think it was the most relaxing time we spent on our tour, I loved every minute of it.

Probably the biggest highlight from my entire trip was snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. I love documentaries about it and watch National Geographic Channel all the time. This was like a cross between being in National Geographic Channel and Finding Nemo. It blew my mind. I managed to get 3-4 hours of snorkeling in between the tour in Cairns and the Whitsundays tour. It’s an experience I’ll never forget.

This is Wally, he’s Reef Magic’s own mascot… he sure did love his rubs!

Wally… you’re in my shot. I know you just want some attention… but this is ridiculous…

Not Wally, another maori wrasse – this photo taken in the Whitsundays

On one of my free days, two of the girls and I decided to go to the Cairns Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately it absolutely poured halfway through our walk, and all the way home, but it was still a beautiful place to visit. We even saw a kookaburra!

Saw this ugly bird… not sure what it was, but it liked this flower….

We went to see an aboriginal dance show, saw them throw spears and got the chance to throw a boomerang ourselves! Mine went straight in front of me and then hit the ground. I don’t think this is the type of thing were you can throw it once and think it will do anything much, but then again that’s what I thought about learning to surf and that actually went astoundingly well (that story to come).

One of my biggest fears is heights. I got it in my head years ago that I wanted to go ziplining. Why? I don’t know, challenge the fear maybe? I think mostly I wanted to see the rainforest from a really unique perspective. I was pretty freaked out before we went for obvious reasons, the height, spiders falling on me as I flew through the rainforest… you know, the usual. I did conquer my fear and despite them forcing me to go first (never admit you’re nervous, just sit there and look like you can’t wait to do it. Trust me.), I did try “Jungle Surfing” as they call it in Australia. They tell you to go ahead and just “scoot off the platform”, yeah, right. Just scoot off, 19m above the rainforest floor… try not to think about the enormous Golden Orb Weaver spiders you know live here, because one lives at the Jungle Surfing Headquarters… Overall it was great, a beautiful view, a personal life event checkmark, and I’m so glad I did it!

“Scooting” off the edge.

This was the size of a dinner plate. A DINNER PLATE!!!