Our hostel was about a 30 minute walk from the Surfers Paradise beach so we were happy to find when we checked out that there was a free shuttle bus leaving in 5 mins. When we got to the beach we stopped for breakfast and planned to go back to the school we used yesterday to rent equipment (they offered a deal of $20 per person for a 4 hour equipment rental, and were right on the beach). However during breakfast Adam got a call from a friend of his who lives in the area whom he had been trying to meet with while he was in town. His friend was surfing a few beaches south of where we were and said he would look into board rental places in the area so we could drive down to meet him. One of the suggestions was that we rent the boards where we were and drive them out to the beach he was on, although since the beginner boards are huge that was really not an option. Craig suggested that we stay and surf a couple of hours in Surfers Paradise and then drive down the coast to meet Adam's friend for a drink or something. In the end though, we ended up walking 30 mins back to the car parked at the hotel, driving 20 mins south to the rental place Adam's friend had found only to find out they only have fibreglass boards (which are much smaller and less stable and hurt when you get hit with them). Since this was only my second time surfing and I'd only stood a handful of times I wasn't comfortable on a fibreglass board and neither was Craig. We went on a wild goose chase around the beach to find a place that rented g boards (everyone had a suggestion but none of them panned out) and finally met up with Adam's friend, still no boards. He made some calls and finally found that a shop run out of his neighbour's house had the proper boards so we drove further south to the shop.
Finally, at around 2pm (we had finished breakfast and been ready to get surfing at 10am) we had boards (although this place didn't have rash guards). We headed out to the beach and started our second day of surfing. This day was much harder - I was super sore from yesterday - all my muscles were stiff and I had a few bumps and bruises. The waves were much stronger on this beach and the drop off was much steeper so my feet couldn't touch the ground once I was out a few metres. As a result I ended up trying to swim against the waves in order to get out deep enough to get on a wave. However every time I got hit with a wave it pushed me back towards the beach since I didn't have the ground to stabilize against. I ended up exhausted and frustrated, not able to get out far enough and not able to move fast enough to get up on the board if I did get a wave. By the time I was up, the wave had dissipated so my board tipped and I fell. I got hit by several large waves and did quite a few face plants in the sand, which was rough with rocks and shells on this beach. In the end I had rashes (like carpet burn) on the inside of my elbows, wrists and armpits, knees and thighs. My legs and arms were sore and stiff. And I was covered with sand - when I later went to the washroom I realized I had an inch of sand on the entire inside of my bathing suit. Overall the day of surfing was really disappointing for me because I had been really looking forward to it and wouldn't have another opportunity to try again anytime soon. Adam enjoyed himself though and Craig was slightly more successful than me (he was able to reach the ground where I couldn't so could get out farther).
We ended up at a sushi restaurant for dinner and I had some surprisingly good vegetarian tempura sushi before we dropped Adam off at the airport. Afterwards we drove back to Brisbane (stopping for freshly made local mango ice cream on the way) and found our way to my cousin's place, where we are staying until our flight home.
My cousin, Angie, and her fiance, Scott, recently purchased a home in north Brisbane. Her sister, Jenni, who until recently lived in London, moved in with them in December. So we were able to visit with all three of them (and Craig met Angie and Scott for the first time, and I met Scott) which was nice. Since we got in fairly late we only had a bit of time catching up before it was time to go to bed.
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