This morning we got up early to start our epic drive to Byron Bay. It's a good thing we have an FM transmitter for the iPods. Otherwise these drives would be extremely painful rather than just painful (actually, they're not so bad--Adam has to drive the entire time). We finally made it to Byron Bay around 5 pm. Byron Bay is basically a beach town. We stayed at the house of a guy named Troy, who was a friend of one of the other PC group leaders. Troy's a 37 year old guy who has been a surfer all his life. His house is definitely a beach house, and it was great to have access to a kitchen and bathroom while I slept in a tent in his backyard. That night we all went out to dinner at a place called The Rails, which had live music. Then we walked by the beach, hung out, and went to bed. Here's a picture of Troy's house.
On our second day in Byron Bay, I had to do some things for my SCUBA certification. First I had to go to a local doctor's office to get a physical. Later in the afternoon Philip and I had a pool session with Adam at the local dive shop. It's nice that our group leader is also a scuba instructor. Basically Adam just showed us how all the gear worked and how to set it up, and then we got into the pool and did some skills.
The following day we had a "learn to surf" class with the surf school that Troy works for. Basically we got picked up in a van and taken to the beach, and a few guys gave us a surfing lesson. First they instructed us using the boards on the beach, and then we went out in the water and practiced. It was really basic. We were riding these massive soft longboards that were basically boats, and the instructors did all the work catching waves for us. I was a little bit annoyed that I couldn't just go off on my own since I already kind of knew how to do it, but I got over it quick and had a good time. Here are some pictures that Troy took.
After the surfing I walked around the town for a while. We have this thing at the end of the trip called "Secret Kiwi," which is basically the same as Secret Santa. I was looking for ideas for my gift. I also saw this license plate. Apparently Florida isn't the only Sunshine State.
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