Timo - Day 12 (17.3.)

It’s 17^th March; this day we’ve finished our trip to the Great Ocean Road. 

The day began at half past seven in the morning. We stayed in a hostel (Beach Backpackers Warrnambool) which was just 5 minutes away from the beach. We had our breakfast at eight o’clock. To my surprise the hostel offered us pumpernickel (brown bread) and – of course the Australians most favourite kind of bread ;) - toast. (Edit by Mrs Otten: Actually I bought the bread because some students were just fed up with toast!) We had ham, cheese, three sorts of jam and peanut butter to eat the bread with. I really enjoyed this variety of food during our trip.

After leaving the hostel, we went by bus to the beach with the intention of learning how to surf. 

All of us were very excited as none of us had ever surfed before. Each of us were given a wet-suit and a surfboard.

We ran along the beach to warm up and then stretched ourselves to avoid injuries. We were taught the names of some of the parts on the surfboard, a lot of new terms for me. First of all there was the nose of the board. The nose is the tip of the board which should be directed towards the waves. At the end of each board there is a fin. It helps you to get balanced at your board. It looks like a fin of a shark or a dolphin. 

We then learnt the basics of surfing. It will take a long time to explain them step by step but I’ll shorten it. Basically you should lie on the board. When you ‘feel’ the wave at your feet, you have to paddle for a few seconds, then get up quickly and clear. Try to ride the wave, but do it carefully, you need the balance otherwise you’ll fall off. Easy isn’t it? ; )

So we had our lesson for about half an hour. When we finished the lesson, we were allowed to go into the ocean to try surfing. We had best conditions possible, good waves, not too small, not too big, sunshine and about thirty degrees. It was awesome! All of us had difficulties in the beginning, of course, but everytime we tried we improved. Initially I underrated the power of the waves, they pushed me underwater and I tasted a bit of the salty Southern Ocean. This was not the best experience, but I improved my skills gradually. Bradley, one of the surf instructors gave me some advice. I used these tips when I was in the Ocean. After half an hour we found out where the best waves were. These ones were so big. About one or two metres high so if you were a good surfer, you had the opportunity to ride 10 meters away from shore. I was really happy as I got up the first time, just for a few seconds, but not bad for a beginner. 

Unfortunately, the time came to an end very quickly. We had to leave the water after one and a half hour. We took our boards back and had a very nice and cold shower. 

Then we ate our well-earned lunch. Surfing can be really exhausting which is the reason why we were all looking forward to getting some rest. 

At noon, we went to a city. It was a rather small city compared to Melbourne and we were allowed to go shop there for some souvenirs. We were given an opportunity to eat a meal and just hang out with friends. We spent about one hour in Warrnambool. I bought some souvenirs there and a birthday card for my exchange student’s little brother Jai. Jai had his eighth birthday on the 16^th of March 2016. After that my friends Bjarne and Jannis and me decided to go to an ice-cream shop, because of the heat. The ice cream was very delicious and cool of course. I bought two scoops of ice cream. I didn’t know the meaning of the word scoop before purchased the ice-cream. A scoop is like a ball. If you’re thinking about a ball like a football or a handball, don’t worry we didn’t eat such a big ice-cream. However, if you’re thinking about a tennis ball, you are correct. ;)

I hope you enjoyed this short summary of our last day at the Great Ocean Road.

If you’re interested in our next school day, read the following blog. ; )