Sunday 13th of March

Today was the third and last day of surf school. Hilariously fun, and now I'm getting good at it!

I managed to catch about half of the waves I tried!

Here is how it works: (Photographer: Maureen Dandy)

First wait for the wave, get up to speed, and when the wave hits the board, 3-4 more crawl strokes...

then hold on to the board, get up...

Getting up even further, still holding my hands on the sides of the board...

and standing up!! I am now riding the wave!!

all the way to the shore!

Tired but happy, after 2 hours of surfing!

Thanks a million times, Maureen, for taking these photos! I truely appreciate it!

Saturday 12th of March

Second day of surf school! Still amazing!
Today I managed to surf all the way in to the beach, twice! I love this!
Lots of sun today, so I gut sunburned in my face. But it was definitely worth it!

Friday 11th of March

Just got back from surf school! And what an experience it was!
We were 4 students. We got our wetsuits, our surfingboards (9 feet 6 inches long), and 15 minutes of instruction. Then out into the waves!
The beach is made of lovely sand, gradually getting deeper, so I can walk up to 100 meters out. The waves here are MUCH greater than at home, some were 2 meters high!
I did what the teacher said. Lay on the board, crawl to increase the speed, wait until you feel the wave, crawl 3-4 more times, sit on the board, one leg up, and splash! Fell down into the water!
Try again. Repeat the same, one leg up, stand up, and I am surfing! For 10 seconds! On 2nd attempt!
This was every bit of fun I had hoped it to be!
It is more exhausting than I had imagined, so after an hour I had to take a short break.
Then back into the waves again!
I noticed there usually comes one small wave, followed by two or three bigger. I wait for the small one, crawl to increase speed, wait until the big one comes, and up! And I am surfing!
My record for the day was 30 seconds, standing on the board!

Tomorrow morning at 10 starts my 2nd lesson. Can't wait for it. Even if my muscles are very tired right now!

I'm so happy I tried this! I have now ticked off two items on my bucket list.

Thursday 10th of March

Now I am back on the mainland again!
Flew back from Launceston to Melbourne yesterday, then took a train to Geelong, and from there a bus to Lorne.
And guess why I am here? Do you know what's great in Lorne?

SURFING!

I have never-ever tried this. But I got so fascinated by this poster with a guy on a surfingboard, and a huge wave behind him. And I always wanted to do this!

Starting tomorrow, I will learn how to surf! I will learn to ride the waves!
Which is really the name of the surfing school here, http://www.gorideawave.com.au/ .

I expect to get plenty of water down my lungs :-), but I will definitely master surfing!
I have booked three lessons, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. No turning back now! And that's the way I want it.

Today was relaxation. Continued reading my booked, and met a few of my neighbours. It seems Australians like to have vacation in Tasmania.
I also added pictures, as I had promised. (I finally found a good Internet cafe in Launceston.)

Sunday 6th of March

Today  was sunny too! It felt so good to just sleep until I woke up, without any alarm clock. I decided to just stay at the cabin today, read a book, stroll around the resort, and just relax.
I have a table with 2 chairs just outside the cabin. A bag of peanuts, a glass of orange juice (OJ is the official abbreviation here), my book, and sunny weather. Could it be any better?

Saturday 5th of March

Today I took a long trip (about 180 km east of here) to see the St Columba Falls, Tasmania's highest (93m).
Lovely roads with fantastic views. I stopped frequently to take photos. Every now and then there was a viewpoint. Made aquaintence with a couple, and learned from them that this was an unusually cold summer. It was about 20 degrees, even if sunny, so I had to wear my summer jacket.
After about 2 hours I came to an unsoiled road (without asfalt, only soil).  I had been warned that my car insurance would not cover driving on these roads. Well, having driven for 2 hours, I decided to go anyway. There was a 10 km drive on bad roads.
Finally I arrived at the Ralph Falls, which is not as high, but while being here I might just as well see both.
There was a 15 minute walk through rain forest, before reaching the falls. The weird thing was that I was completely alone here. Did not meet one single person. I felt privileged to have exclusive access to watching the falls, standing on a platform at about the level of the top of the falls. (The picture is looking down the waterfall).

On the way back I noticed a trail, leading to the falls. Suddenly I found myself 2 meters from the falls! Wow, what a view! I filmed it, with the camera pointed vertically, with the falls roaring next to me.
If this wasn't enough, I spotted two wild cangaroos on my way back, and managed to film one of them. There was a slamming sound as it was jumping.

It was getting late now, and probably 1-2 hours until sunset. So I was in a little bit of a hurry. Couldn't find any road signs to St Columba Falls. Had to follow the map and my intuition. Which led me wrong at first, but finally got there.

This is a majestic fall! 93 meters high, and 42000 litres per minute! There was a 10 minute walk to the falls, and with the sun setting, I had to hurry. But when I got there, it was worth everything! I was at the base of the falls, and a enormously roaring sound. It made me feel really small. It felt absolutely fantastic to be there! And I was alone this time too! This is the way sightseeings should be!