Byron Bay (27th - 29th January 2019)

When we arrived in Byron Bay, we first took care of our surf lesson, which took place the following day. Then we went for a walk around Byron Bay. We went to the Coastal Walk, where we first arrived at the Most Easterly Point of the Australian Mainland. The view was magnificent. Just the vastness of the ocean on both sides. Then we continued to Cape Byron Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in Australia. After that, we walked back to our accommodation through a park. In the evening, we had a nice dinner and then went to bed.

The next day, we slept in. After having a small breakfast, we booked our trip to Thailand. And then it was time to hit the waves. We were with four other learners and a teacher at Wategos Beach, learning to surf. After checking out the ocean by getting in for a bit to familiarize ourselves with the water, we learned the theory on the beach. Since three of the participants had already been in the course longer, they started doing some exercises in the water. That left Ben and me and two English guys, although one of them didn't participate after the first round. So, the three of us had one teacher. After some dry exercises, we were already in the waves. The waves were smaller and easier for us beginners compared to Mooloolaba. On my second attempt, I was already standing on the board. Standing up once was actually my goal for the day. Then, we were given feedback to stand more securely. And then it happened: I got stung by a jellyfish underwater. I was wearing a wetsuit to prevent this, but the jellyfish stung exactly where it ended. It burned like hell and hurt a lot. Another person got stung as well. We all had to get out of the water. After treating the stings, two other surfers approached our teacher and told him they had seen a shark in the water. At that point, I thought, okay, I'm not going back in. Our surf teacher responded to this by saying they could either call the lifeguards and have the beach closed for half an hour, or just ignore it. I found the response quite surprising. Afterwards, he said to us that it was highly unlikely that it was a shark. Well, the surfers were sure. And after that? Yes, we got back in the water. Despite blue jellyfish (previously, we wouldn't go in the water just by seeing a small blue jellyfish) and apparently a shark that was seen. It really took a lot of courage for me to get back in the water. In the water, I kept looking around to see if there was any blue jellyfish. They were being seen more frequently at the beach during that time (they weren't there before). Then, a red helicopter was seen in the sky, circling above the beach. When I asked my surf teacher who that was, his response was: the lifeguards, they're looking for the shark, but apparently they do that every day to ensure the safety of the beach. Well, Australians, I guess. After that, we all had a few more attempts at surfing and then quickly got out of the water. It was very exciting to get a crash course in surfing. I really enjoy it and I managed to stand up on the board quite a few times. I was also glad that nothing stung me again or worse, got eaten. In the evening, we had a dinner with the surf course. We had burgers with fries, which were really delicious.

The next day, we also had breakfast provided by the surf course, which was also very good. Since it was so warm in our room at night and we couldn't sleep well because of that, Ben and I were very glad that we quickly got on the bus towards Coffs Harbour.