Bryon Bay -- Learning to surf!
Trip Start
Sep 20, 2004
1
72
89
Trip End
Mar 30, 2005
Byron Bay,
Australia
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
We stayed at a place called the Arts Factory. Where I started the search for my inner hippy. I must admit that Lisa took to it like a fish to water. But I didn't do too badly myself! It's a 5 acre hostel/commune with accommodation ranging from Cubes (simple rooms that open onto a cool pool), through to Tents on Stilts overlooking a lake, and including Teepees, Penatgons, and even a converted double decker bus!
http://www.artsfactory.com.au
It was quite the place! There was beach Volleyball (thought of Mary). Tried our hand at Ping Pong (in case anyone cares, I beat Lisa 22 games in a row). Took a bush walk (where you eat most of the flowers that we pass and get to throw a spear) with a crazy fella who had huge Cockatoo on his shoulder and who later had a show playing 5 instruments at once.
We also took Didgeridoo lessons. The Didgeridoo is that small tree trunk instrument that has been hollowed out by termites and makes a very distinctive WaaaWaaah sound. I was very impressed with myself because the teacher (I think his name was Leaf) was very impressed with my playing. He asked if I had done it before.
Art Factory
I could see Lisa was impressed as well. Mom -- forcing me to play that damn French Horn has finally paid off. I am considering my options before the recording contracts come in.After one of our breakfasts, Lisa brought a banana back to the Island Tent that we were in. The tent was the one that was up on stilts with a balcony overlooking the Tea-Tree lake. She left the banana on the balcony on the table and went in the tent to do some general faffing about and, of course, before you know it a giant Bush Turkey had jumped up and started munching on it! Lisa mostly wanted her banana back...after the bird got tired and after having knocked on the shore, a giant lizardy think came up and had a bite of it too. Luckily we got pictures of the attack. Good lesson to learn about not leaving banannas about!
For two days about 3-4 hours a day we took Surfing lessons. How much fun! The guys we went with (Style Surf http://www.stylesurfingbyronbay.com/whystyle.htm) were great! We were up right away and rode loads and loads of waves. Really glad we did it and had that nice I am exhausted feeling after doing it. My favorite picture has to be Lisa performing the famous 'face plant' trick, which of course must be practiced over and over (see 'Lisa WIPEOUT' picture)!
We also managed to meet up with Wayne, Lisa's cousin for two nights. What a nice fella! We had a great time having a few beers and sampling the local Mexcian food. It was good to have a local around to show us a few of the good spots! And nice for Lisa to meet her cousin!
I must admit that I have been trying to convince Lisa that we need to buy a used Campervan for a song and cruise around for a few more months... Especially now that we can surf...!
-B
