The Quicky Pro and Mojo Surf

So continuing to update you on my adventures has been a little bit tough. Until last weekend I had traveled every weekend for a straight month while going to classes and getting assignments done in between... to say the least I have been a little busy. Now that things are winding down though I am planning to start reflecting more on what has happened in the last month. I have 10 days until I am home and I can not believe it is already over... Australia has been a wild ride/ emotional roller coaster, but it has changed my life. Anyways, sorry to get a little sappy here's the beginning of my month of traveling...

The weekend after Cairns the Quicksilver Pro started in Coolangata, which is a beach on the gold coast. Technically it is only about 30 minutes from school, but having to use pub transport it took us about an hour to get there. If you don't know, the Quicky Pro (what the aussies call it) is the biggest surf competition in the world... I am pretty sure haha. All the best surfers from around the world were there competing for the title that world famous surfer, Kelly Slater, has held forever. We went to see the comp on the first day it started and to say the least... it was crazy. There were people everywhere, camera crews all along the beach and obviously hot surfers everywhere. Who wouldn't be happy? We watched the competition for a couple of hours from the beach and even swam in the water getting about 10 feet away from the actual surfers. I don't know a lot about surfing, but I think one of the coolest things I have seen here was Kelly Slater's heat. I really can't describe it, but he was just amazing to watch. Anyways, here is a couple pics...

Coolangata Beach

Slater

Everyone standing on Snapper Rocks

After that weekend Jackie, Taylor, Maya and I headed to Sydney for Mardi Gras... Although I would love to include that in this post, it needs one all to itself... I took 400 pictures in Sydney, enough said. Anyways, the weekend after Sydney I continued my new love for surfing and went to Mojo surf camp with Jackie. We left on Friday night and we were under the impression we were going to get to camp around 11 so we would still have time to hang out with everyone at the camp... oh how we were wrong. The drive was 4.5 hours!! We didn't get to camp until 2 a.m.  and we had our first surf lesson at 9 so we went to bed. The camp was a little sketchy when first looking at it... we pretty much stayed in shacks that had bathrooms and aircon in them, but whatever they worked. There was a dining area outside, which was really cool... it was in the middle of NOWHERE, and I know about being in the middle of nowhere, this was the worst ever. But, it was also so cool to just be immersed in this culture. Everyone who worked at the camp was obviously all about surfing, and they basically taught 3 hours a day and then got to chill with any girl/ guy they wanted, because who wouldn't want to hang with a hot surf instructor? Anyways, our first day was pretty cool, the first lesson was basically just getting used to being on the board again (it had been about a month since I went surfing) and I started learning how to do some turns.. still in the whitewash though. The second lesson was a lot better, the waves were bigger and our instructor Mitch started bringing Jackie and I out where the waves weren't breaking.

The excitement happened on our last day and last lesson.. I was on a shorter board and going outside where the waves were breaking.. and I dropped in! Dropping in is a lot harder than it looks (dropping in is when you catch a wave and basically ride it downhill... not sure how to describe it but oh well!) and I was so pumped when I finally got it. I was so excited about it I stayed out for a couple more minutes w Mitch to catch one more wave. He ended up catching one while I wiped out... This would have been fine, but I could not get into shore for the life of me. I was stuck in the rip. So as I am struggling to get out of this rip, Mitch is signaling to me to swim out w my board. After getting pummeled about what seemed like a million times and getting my leg rope wrapped around my leg and finger (sprained it) I got back out past the break. I was sooo tired, but I had to paddle down the beach about .5 mile in order to get out. I finally made it back in...wahoo! When I told my parents my mom was concerned (for good reason), but my dad told me it was good for me! At first I was like ummm what do you want me to do, die? But now thinking about it, I know how to get out of a rip...so I guess its a good lesson. So yeah after that we caught our 4.5 hour bus ride home. Mojo and the Quicky Pro were really cool experiences, because it is a culture and a sport I have never really seen or been apart of before. I think it is awesome that I got to learn and see so much surfing and I am planning on going a couple more times while I am here!! Unfortunately I dont have any pictures of me at Mojo, but here are a couple from my first surfing experience in Byron Bay. I am not too good, so don't laugh at me, but at least I can stand!!! Until next time when you hear about Sydney...