Learning to surf in Australia

Australia is the world's smallest continent but sixth largest country. People don't realize how big the country really is. After living in Sydney for a month, I soon realized that it is an amazing city, but Australia has a whole lot more to offer. \nLast week, I took a trip up north to Surfers Paradise on Queens Island. Surfers Paradise is like the Miami of Australia. The beach is beautiful, and surfing is the official way of life. I took a day-long surfing lesson at the beach on the Gold Coast. We got our surfboards and wetsuits, split into groups and headed into the ocean. Then we were taught how to come in on the board in the shallow waters. \nNext we learned how to turn right and left while lying down on the board. I didn't realize how much we had to learn before actually getting up on the board. After trying out our new skills, we came back onto the sand for a short lesson about what to do when a wave is coming. You are supposed to hold your board on the side of you, give the board a push and jump on it. You have to keep your hands at your chest, and your toes should be touching the back of the board. There is a lot of technique to surfing and it takes a long time before being able to stand up. \nAfter spending two days in Surfers Paradise, we took a two-hour bus ride to Nimbin. My friends and I went on a guided tour called "Crazy Jim's Alternative Tours." Marijuana is still illegal there but you wouldn't know it. \nPaul Recher, a native of Roslyn, Long Island, moved to Nimbin, Australia after he visited and fell in love with it. After exotic fruit tasting, a tour of the marijuana museum and the hemp embassy, Jim's tour went to Recher's 88-acre jungle that he grew by himself. Nimbin was definitely an interestingly bizarre experience. \nThe next two days were spent in Seal Rocks, a small town about an hour and a half away by bus. Seal Rocks is a small beach town where surfing is again the major pastime. The rocks around the ocean are tall, shiny and beautiful. We surfed for three hours each morning and three hours in the afternoon. We stayed in cabins located 20 minutes from the beach while some friends stayed in teepees near us. While we were at the Seal Rocks I finally got to see something I have been longing to see since I got to Australia: kangaroos. We also saw wallabies, echidnas and big lizards. Some people in the surfing group saw dolphins as well. The kangaroos were definitely the coolest animal sighting, because we got to watch two kangaroos have a boxing match. \nAfter my outback adventure, I finally returned to Sydney and started class. Each class is only one day a week here and, as one Australian professor said is "more laid back" than school in the States. One difference I noticed was that teachers, who are called "tutors," always ask for students to call them by their first name.\n Academics are certainly not the only aspect of Australian living that's laid back. Everything in Australia is low key and life in general is just looked at a little bit less seriously. I'm looking forward to another few months living the Australian way in beautiful and sunny Sydney.