Hang Ten!

Hey folks,

It has been way too long! partly my fault.....okay all my fault but hey, you are going to have to deal with it! To pick up where I left off on my last post seems like I am delving into the annals of history to retell these stories, but alas lets give it a shot. If my memory serves me correctly, I was hurriedly packing my stuff for a weekend trip to Phillip Island with S@LT (Surfing at La Trobe) to get "wet and salty" with a whole gang of people. Piled into two busses and towing a trailer stacked full of boards, we headed for the coast partying the whole way down and belting out all the classics from Backstreet to Beyonce. It was a helluva time staying in cabins essentially on the cliffs above the beach. Waking up early, pulling on our wetties and hitting the beach. I can honestly say I LOVE SURFING. I am not the best at it yet but that feeling when you catch your first wave gives you this incredible, fist-pumping feeling. We surfed for two days while the waves were good and I am proud to say that on day two I was first in the water and last out. While riding a wave feels great, the feeling af getting crushed by one deserves some attention. Its a disturbing situation you find yourself in when getting tossed around under water, flipping head over heels, not knowing which way is up, not knowing when the crush will release you from its relentless grip until your head comes popping up out of the water gasping for air. At this point, you pull your board towards you using the leash attached to your ankle. While reeling it in you unsuspectingly get mowed over by the next wave curling over your head. But man, it's all worth it when you finally get out there, find your sea legs and catch a wave. I highly recommend it!

After that, it was back to school for another week of classes, uni bar nights, and college festivities leading up to the Easter Holidays. We had quite a while off which gave me an opportunity to get some travelling done. On the first weekend I headed to Torquay and the world famous Bells Beach for the Ripcurl Pro World Tour a surfing competition. I went with a few friends Tim, Manny, Hubert (who earned the name Spewbert after a night riding the porcelain schoolbus on the S@LT trip) and Gabriela. So, our team of Canada, USA, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Sweden set out with two tents and a change of clothes, not knowing where we were staying that night. I love that feeling. We trained and bussed and shuttled and walked until we arrived at the beach and caught a few of the heats. It was cool to see all the fans out and kids watching their favourite pro surfers including the famous Kelly Slater. Pro surfing is unique in the fact that these professional athletes walk out onto the beach and are standing feet away from you. There are no throngs of people or masses of security guards surrounding them before their heat. The fans respect that they are getting in the zone and have the eye on the prize. You don't get in their way as they run round the cove to avoid paddling against the waves and you just give them shouts of encourage as they coast by. The other thing I loved about surfing was the fact that you didn't have to pay to ride. The waves are at your disposal whenever you want. I get the same feeling surfing as I do when I snowboard but I don't have to pay $100 for a lift pass.

Eventually we had seen enough and decided to address the situation of where we would be laying our heads for the night. We went back to the spot where the shuttle bus would pick us up to carry us back into town from the competition. We were joined soon thereafter by about 30 people. Now, this wasn't the largest of shuttle buses so there was some jostling for positions as the bus pulled up. We all managed to squeeze in with no room to spare and a need to avoid all speed bumps on the way back. I sneakily managed to climb up to ride shotgun and took the opportunity to ask the driver if he could tell me of any places we could pitch a tent. He obliged and agreed to even drop us off. So we got to the campgrounds in the town of Torquay only to be greeted by the no vacancy sign. Shit. The competition brings a lot of tourists in and I guess they weren't all as spontaneous as us. Either that or not as stupid. Anyway, we went in to try our luck and play the poor traveler card and it payed off. The lady and man said they always kept a couple of spots aside for "bloody, stupid internationals". Very nice of them.

So we took the spot, pitched our tent, walked to the grocery store and bought food for a BBQ feast. It reminded me a lot of being in the campgrounds of Italy when I was younger with all 6 of the Fegans sleeping in the trailer tent. There were people that brought what seemed like their entire living room with them camping with couches and patio furniture and projector Tv's and volleyball nets all set up. Nothing like the great outdoors.

The next morning after a night on the town, we headed back to Melbourne. It was Easter Sunday so I stayed in the city by myself and went to mass at the Basilica. It was a good time to look back on my experience thus far and be thankful for all of the opportunities. After that I wandered around the city and caught a few street acts and free shows for the Melbourne Comedy Festival. It was a good end to the weekend.

The next few days I spent planning and getting ready for my trip to Tasmania....but that deserves a whole post to itself. Stay tuned for that one and check out some of my pictures on Facebook.

Hope everyone is well. To my uni friends, good luck in exams and have a safe summer. If anyone reading this feels like renting my room in Ottawa for the summer let me know! I am moving back in with Brock and James and the gang will be reunited with a few great additions in Gabe and Matt. Fourth year proves to be a good one....but that seems like a lifetime away.

Love,
D