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| Getting some instruction before we head out on the water |
During the time we've been in Australia, I've admired the surfers and paddle boarders and wished I had the nerve to take a lesson. I finally decided to push past the "I don't think I can" and just go for it. I bought a Groupon for a paddle board lesson . . . and then called to book it. Of course, the guy was 'busy' and couldn't fit me in until after we were leaving - grrr!. So I decided to go pay full price elsewhere, and took a private lesson at the Currumbin estuary near Surfers Paradise. I checked with the instructor about sharks, and he said none had been seen in the estuary in the 8 years he's been working there, and he reassured me regarding the waterway and various reasons why they wouldn't be there. Lots of people were swimming, so I figured it was ok.
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| Currumbin River Estuary - lots of people in swimming. No sharks! |
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| Away we go! |
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| We've been out for about 45 minutes and I haven't fallen off yet! |
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| Getting ready to dump myself. |
It was quite easy and a lot of fun! My instructor Paul was so impressed with how quickly I picked it up that he moved me up to a less stable board, and taught me some 'advanced' paddle strokes! He probably uses that line on everyone, but I fell for it hook, line and sinker and felt quite pleased with myself. He made me fall off deliberately so that I could learn to get on the board in deep water if I fall when I'm out on my own. We went all over the estuary and into the river together, and he gave little suggestions on where to place my feet on the board, and small adjustments to where I had my hands on the paddle. He made sure I was comfortable turning, and gave some tips with regards to wind and tides. It was a really fun and informative afternoon.
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| I make a fairly large splash! |
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| Quick out of the water . . . just in case! |
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| Back on board - now to stand up again. |
The next morning, I got a call from Groupon guy, and he said he could fit me in with another group in the afternoon, so I thought why not and went down to the Nerang River, a main river in the middle of town in Surfers Paradise. I checked with him about sharks - he said they were there, but only at dawn and dusk! Yikes. I stayed very close to shore, but a few times I didn't turn fast enough and found myself out in the middle of the river. This guy was a bit off as an instructor - he gave us a 5-minute rundown on how he needed referrals, showed us how to get on the board, and then said we should just go out and 'get a feel for it'.
Part of his advertising was that he gives a Tai Chi warmup before the lesson. That consisted of a couple of ankle turns, a figure 8 with our hips, and pretending we were being pulled upwards by a piece of string through our bodies. Took about a minute and a half!
Fortunately I had had my lesson the previous day, and I wound up teaching the other 4 people how to turn and how to stand up. The instructor went to the picnic table and had something to eat. He never called out suggestions, or tips. He did come out at the end of the hour to take pictures for his Facebook page?!? Some lesson! Seriously, we all could have rented a board and done it ourselves. Oh wait, that's what we did. Glad I only paid $19 for the groupon - I suspect that lovely New Zealand family paid full price for their lesson, and got a rental board value.
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So I can balance really well on my knees. And there might be
a shark down there. Shall I stand or not??? |
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This is where I got a little too far out into the middle of the river.
The two young girls behind me were part of my group. |
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The instructor finally came out at the end of the hour to
take photographs of us for his Facebook page. No suggestions or
teaching happened! |
As I was finishing up, he told me he'd like me to help take the board and paddle to his truck as it was the last lesson of the day. He then had the nerve to ask me for a good rating on TripAdvisor. Anyhow, paddle boarding is fun, great exercise and actually kind of relaxing. I'll definitely do it again. Now I want to learn to surf!
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| Looking down the river from our paddling site |
A follow up to all this - we went out the next day on a canal/river cruise which was mostly on the same Nerang River. Part of the commentary by the hostess was that the river was home to bull sharks, and officials had been monitoring a 3.5 meter bull shark for the past few days, which was why we wouldn't see any swimmers in the river. As she was telling us this, we were literally passing right by the spot where I had the lesson the day before. EEEEEP!
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| This is fun! |
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