Surf’s up! And I want a koala…

Yesterday I went to Lancelin (above), about an hour and a half north of Perth, and learned to surf (for the second time). This time around was a lot more successful than my last lesson in Ocean City.

We started off learning about surf safety (sunscreen, protect your head after a wipe-out, watch out for rip currents, etc.). We learned the 4 steps to stand up:

1.) Put your arms under your armpits, straighten your arms and arch your back up.
2.) Bend your right leg and grip the board with your right foot. (aka the “dog peeing”)
3.) Quickly bring your left leg through so you’re standing with it in front.
4.) Turn so you’re facing the side of the board.
And voila! Surfing!

I actually was able to do this with a great deal of success yesterday. Part of this had to do with the beach, which was perfect for beginners. The waves broke really far away from shore, but it was still shallow where they broke. So, we could stand waist deep and just jump on the board when the wave came instead of having to paddle out and then float while we waited for a wave. The waves were also really frequent, and big but not too big. So, about 5 or 6 times, I was actually able to ride a wave all the way to the shore (about 25 yards I would estimate, based on the length of a swimming pool). It was awesome.

In the middle of our lesson, my heart stopped momentarily when I saw a fin in the water. It turned out that it was just two dolphins that came to show us how they surf the waves. They were jumping through the swells right in front of us, which led me to ask the instructors (see one above) if they had ever seen sharks on that beach. They said they had, but much further out (sharks like deep water). That freaked me out for a few minutes, but there were too many waves to stay scared for long.

Yesterday was an incredible day. Tiring, but absolutely amazing. I felt like a little kid in a candy shop the whole time. I can’t wait until I get to go again (though I may be waiting until I’m home this summer). :-D

Today was a much more relaxed day. Led by our tour guide Ron, I went all over the Swan River Valley (like 20 minutes north of Perth) with 4 Walkabout-ers and a retired couple from Florida.

First, we went to the Caversham Wildlife Park, which was awesome. We got to pet and feed wallabies and kangaroos. The wallabies are small kangas basically (see above). We even saw a mama kanga with her joey (above)! Then we got to hold wombats, which are these pig/bear/marsupial things that are probably the most awkward animal alive (above). We saw Tasmanian Devils in their little igloos (yes, they exist beyond the Looney Tunes character). The highlight (for me at least) was the koalas. Holy crap, they are so fuzzy and adorable. I want one. (My birthday’s in 4 months, so get on that people).

Then we had a few short stops other places. We went to an Aboriginal Art center, where I learned to throw a boomerang (or at least attempted to). Then we went to a winery (this area’s pretty good for wine) where we had a wine tasting. I should point out that the drinking age is 18 here, so this was fully legal. I wasn’t crazy about any of the wines, sadly. I couldn’t taste any of the asparagus, grapefruit, cherry, etc. flavors that I was supposed to be able to taste. I guess my palate isn’t sophisticated enough. However, one did taste like my mom’s chicken marsala, but it definitely was not marsala wine.

Then we stopped at the Margaret River chocolate factory (yum) and a pottery place. Finally, Ron the tour guide took us back to his beautiful house for an authentic homemade “barbie.” Imagine this happening in America. Not so likely. But it was cool. All in all it was a good day, and good to see another region around Perth.