Surfing Lessons at Manly Beach

Wednesday afternoon had arrived! We all had 'surf lessons' highlighted on our calendars for the week and apparently it was the first time that the camp had done it. Score!

We had a group of 5 instructors lead our group of 20 or so out to the water and give us the safety rules for surfing. The riptides here definitely need to be respected and we all made sure that we stayed in the right spot on the beach. 

We got the low down on how to carry our boards to the water, put them towards to the waves, flip them around and then hop on.

Here's daddy practicing his pose on the surfboard.

and Saje getting up into her 'surf ninja' pose along with one of the other moms.

Monkey and daddy make sure that they stay low on the board once they're up on top.

Daddy catches a wave and gets up on top.

progresses towards his 'surf ninja'

and rides that baby on in. It was totally a highlight and definitely one of the top items to check off my 'to do' list here in Australia. It was absolutely exhilarating and we were able to stay out for just over an hour catching waves. There were several 'stacks' where I took a good tumble into the ocean, but a few successes as well - including the last wave of the afternoon where I caught a big one and then rode it right to shore. Manly beach will always be a highlight for me.

Monkey picked up the art quickly and was able to catch a good number of waves in our time on the beach.

Here he is striking his own 'surf ninja' as he stays low on the board

makes a few adjustments as he nears the middle of the wave

and then rides it in to the shore.

He absolutely loved the afternoon on the waves.

Big C was undecided at first and only wanted to come and play in the sand. Just before we were about to go out on the water, he changed his mind and committed to surfing. He caught a wave and was able to get up, but there were no photos available as we were all out on the water at the time. Saje took over camera duty and got the snaps above, so there weren't photos of her either. However, from the point of view from a spectator in the water - she rocked it! She totally had her surf ninja on and rode several waves like a pro.

She had a constant smile on her face and took in the surf experience.

Manly beach was very good to us and after some time back in Mudgee, we'll attempt to return before we leave.