From Bondi, I left catching the 6 pm Premier bus in Sydney central to Arrawarra Heads Spot X surf camp. This was my first experience of a coach trip in Australia, What can I say really, we stopped late at night in the middle of nowhere at some dodgy-looking services, went to the toilet waiting for my first experience of a huntsman to jump on me, luckily for me I saw nothing. The highlight of the coach ride definitely was getting dropped off at 4 am to then be up at 7 am for an intro to surfing…. not.

Just going to briefly do an overview of the camp before actually talking about the photos. The Atmosphere had an awesome vibe, everyone seemed pretty friendly. The accommodation was better than expected, bunk beds in air-conditioned containers, better than a tent. But sand got literally everywhere in no time. You were stuck basically on the camp; there was only a shuttle bus to the bottle shop once a night to get your booze. My tickle at the time was Little Fat Lamb Strawberry and Lime 8% Brew, Basically cider. And $8 a bottle you can’t go wrong. You were fed three times a day, Usual breakfast food, cereal or toast. Lunch was always a ham salad wrap, with the dinner changing from night tonight. Internet on camp was awful, having to sit near the reception to get a snail’s pace dial-up speed to just check up on email. I gave up trying to send photos across pretty quickly. But let’s be honest, I didn’t go there to be on my laptop, or sleep in comfort. I went to spot X to learn to surf. Each day you would get a 2-hour lesson in the morning and then an activity like football on the beach or sea kayaking and then expression session in the evening, which is basically you going out doing what you want on the board while a coach is nearby, I would definitely recommend doing them for the extra experience on a board. Some of my favourite memories of surf camp was catching my first wave and then wiping out hard, drinking and playing games with my roommates and then partying it up in the Sweatbox, a concrete room to keep the sound in after a certain time to keep the party going, and going down to the beach at night playing music, messing about on the guitar, and chilling out under the stars. The funniest moment must have been Craig trying to dance with Rachel and then going for a classic dirty dancing style lift and dropping her on her head. Alcohol and doing lifts don’t go together.

With being at surf camp to learn to surf, I didn’t have my camera around a lot of the time. In the 4 days I was there I think I only got my camera out twice. The first set of photos I went down the camps private beach and snapped a few shots. The first image is possibly one of my favourite shots all trip. The leading lines from the bridge and the water leading to the water on the horizon.

The second time I took my camera out it was an afternoon activity where a guide walks you down the beach and through a camping grounds. Now it was a little odd, walking around and then out of nowhere seeing 20 odd kangaroos hopping about. Apparently kangaroos like golf courses.

So surf camp was successful, I could stand up and ride a wave, made a few good friends and learnt a few more drinking games. Next stop on my trip was Byron Bay.

- Charlie Bluck