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Friday, May 22, 2015

Surf's up you cricket playing hikers! (May 22nd)

*I apologize for the length of this post.  There was a lot to write about today.  Try to stick it out until the end.  Hopefully it'll be worth it.

Hello everyone around the world!

My experience so far on this trip has been nothing less than amazing!  From the first moment I met the group back in Los Angeles I knew I was going to have a great time.  I have already made some unforgettable memories while learning tons about the local sport atmosphere.  All of the locals here have been very friendly, and every meal has been excellent!  Including the family-style dinner made in our cabin tonight!  (Thanks again guys).  Matt and Carolyn have done a good job on the blog so far keeping the trip up-to-date, so I won't ramble on with previous days.  There is more than enough to talk about with what went on today!

Today was packed full of fun activities and excitement!  It started out with a sunrise hike up the edge of the city, which we had to get up at 4:30 for.  Not everyone mustered up the motivation to crawl out of bed to make the trek, but the ones that did knew it was worth it.  Being from Colorado, I have seen my fair share of gorgeous sunsets falling over the Rockies, but it's hard to compare them to the mornings here when the sun pops up over the Pacific for the first time.  On the way back down the cliff, we ran into Mr. Greg Downes, who is the man who gave us our first lecture on this trip back on Wednesday (see Matt's post).  After some of the girls stopped for a selfie with him, we ventured back into Lennox Head for breakfast at the local bakery.

Before long we were back at the cabin and began to prepare for the surf lesson to come.  We only had to walk a short ways down the beach to meet up with the instructors.  After some surfing history and info, a quick warm-up jog, some stretching, and a few entry level surfing instructions we were in the water.  The instructors made it look so easy, I thought I would be up in no time.  Soon enough, I reminded of the harsh learning curve everyone must go through.  I believe I only swallowed about five gallons of water nose diving into the ocean floor before I was able to finally stand up for a noticeable amount of time.  All of the falls and wipe-outs are worth it though the moment you are able to finally get up on two feet and ride a wave to shore.  Even if it wasn't the tsunami seen on postcards, and I'm sure it was no more than a few feet high, it sure felt like one.  I wanted to keep at it all day, but my arms were dead by the time the lesson was over.  Any more and I may not have been able to carry my board back to the van.

We didn't have time to eat lunch in town because we had a cricket lesson to get to.  Brad taught the group the basics of the game and was very patient with us.  Us Americans tried to relate everything back to our own sports, but most of the game was new territory to all of us.  We had to of asked Brad about a thousand questions about the rules, techniques, and some of the history.  He was a good sport with us and did a good job of answering them the best he could.  To close the lesson we had what I thought to be a mini scrimmage of sorts where it all came together.  Being able to play the sport myself made it much easier to understand.  However, I was lost when he began talking about how the world rankings are formulated and the differences between the tournament types.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it in the end and hopefully will be able to retain the rules of the new game we learned.

I don't think anyone was game enough to stay in town for long after all of the exercising we had done.  Plus, we had to get rested up for our early rugby lesson in the morning. To close the day, we decided to have a group dinner at our cabin.  There's nothing quite like eating ten bags of spaghetti in a foreign country with people you've only known a few days while watching Australian Family Feud.  The setting was nothing short of majestic.

As I finish this entry, I am sure there are some people beginning their routine to lay down for the night, and my family and friends in the states will be rising very soon.  I hope this post was to your liking and worth the read!  There will be more to come from others very soon!  See the pictures below to put some images to the stories.

-Trevor Schrader


The brave souls who managed to get up prior to 5am!
The sunrise view from the top of the point.
Pre-surf lesson outside the cafe
Brad giving bowling instructions
The group playing a bit of cricket

P.S. Sunscreen is most effective when taken out of the bag rather than stuffed inside and forgotten about.  Some of us had to learn that the hard way today.

1 comment:

  1. What an amazing fun filled day. The friends, culture, study and fun will be the memories of a lifetime. Side note: good to hear there were no teeth lost in rugby! Love, blessing and safe travels to all!

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