Journal no. 3

 on the hottest day of the year, A and i went for a surfing lesson booked through schoolofsurfingwa.com. $40 for a one-off 90 minute lesson.
and it was worth it. so much fun! and i didn't get injured!

 our lesson was at Trigg beach.

 that's the hut where the school operates from.
we stored our belongings there and got our board and wetsuit and sunscreen.

one of the instructors (B.rad Pitt?) was very laid back and humorous - exactly like one of those philosophical surfer dudes you see in the media. he called people "italian" or "muscles" because he didn't remember their names.

but our instructor was like a small military guy with sunscreen on his lips, making them white. he was quite the opposite of B.rad Pitt.
he taught us the crucial basics of popping up on the board, and his method is a lot easier to follow than the one i saw from the internet.
basically, hands below shoulders, toes at edge of board, push up, put back leg up with knee against elbow, then jump other leg to front whilst getting go to stand up. and of course your body must be in the center of the board.

for us beginners, he had us wait in the zone where the wave had crashed and was rolling toward the shore. you position your self, laying on the board to let the white water push you forwards.
my difficulties involved not aligning my body in the center, so i lost my balance, and being too far in front of the board. also, there were too many people in the water - it was almost shoulder to shoulder!
but, when i was balanced, i could actually pop up and i even managed to stand for a few seconds. it was amazing - like walking on water.
A was very determined, and didn't care about crashing into people, so she caught the wave about 5 times more than me. she gave me some useful tips, which was to hold the board in the right position before sliding up onto the board before the wave came. and also to catch the right wave, and avoid the rip current.

we ended the lesson at 10.30 am and A had many photographs taken with the board.
the sand was scorching hot and we hung out at the nearby fancy mall for 5 hours to avoid the 44 degree heat.
but first was lunch at KFC - this was my aussie burger - dry chicken, small slice of beetroot, disappointing, especially after watching their great tv ad (red stain on shirt turns out to be the juice from the beetroot, which the burger eaters proudly display) for it. *** oops - the great ad was for the McOz, the Macdonalds burger, not KFC. memorable ad, but i didn't associate it with Macs, just beetroots.

then we went to her house and watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (meh) and About Time (cliche but cute and touching).