Surfing Torquay and cleaning the estuary

Hi everyone!

It’s been such an amazing weekend here in Australia!

Sami (Australian Sam) planned a surf trip to Torquay for my 21st birthday, since I spent my real birthday in Canberra, and we did that yesterday. It wasn’t the sunniest weather, but it was still such an amazing day. We hit the outlets in the morning when we got there. There are so many places to shop: Rip Curl, Billabong, Roxy, just to name a few. After about an hour of shopping with Sami and Sam (my housemate), Mat, Stevo, Ash, Jono, and Hannah met up with us.

I also went to the Strapper Surfboard Company Factory Outlet, which is where I bought my wettie, and asked about surfboards. I ended up buying a brand new epoxy mini mal surfboard for myself, complete with wax, fins, and a leash, for a really great price. I named it Sparky, because my friends kept asking me what I was going to name it.

After we went out to lunch as a group, which was fantastic, then hit the beach. We went to Bells, but the surf there wasn’t great, and we couldn’t see any great way to get to the part of the beach we wanted, so we ended up going to another beach. The surf was choppy, but it wasn’t horrible, and I loved trying out my new board. Overall, it was a fantastic time! I surfed it up while Sam, Mat, and Stevo bodyboarded, Sami waded, and the rest sat on the rocks and watched us.

The day wrapped up with a trip to the spa in Geelong (spa here means hot tub and sauna). It was really fantastic, and we all sat and had a great time relaxing after a wonderful day of shopping and surfing.

This morning, Sami and I went to a volunteer estuary clean-up along the Hopkins Estuary in Warni. We picked up heaps of plastic along the bank, and we even got to go in a boat to various points of the river. It was a fantastic experience, and we got to network some with a fisheries officer and members of Fish Care. I would do it again if I had the opportunity!

Overall, it’s been such a great weekend, and classes have already ended. I have one assignment due this week, which is reading week, and two finals next week. And then summer holidays at last!