Surf Camp: Shaka Brah

I got back on a Thursday afternoon from Darwin and left for surf camp on Friday at 530pm. A bus picked up about 30 exchange students, including myself, and made our way to the South Coast. We stopped at a town about half-way there to grab dinner (which we paid for ourselves). The drive to the south coast is about 3 hours, so we arrived around 9 ish. Surf Camp was in a small town called Gerroa, 2 hours south of Sydney; and is home to Seven Mile Beach, which is, you guessed it, seven miles long. Its known for having good waves for beginning surfers and being sparsely populated. However, it was Easter weekend when we went, so there were some visitors from Sydney. Our camp was located in the middle of a caravan park and was pretty secluded. In the middle, there is an open center with tables and even two hammocks. Surrounding it in a square shape were rooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. From our camp, it was about a 5 minute walk to the beach. After our arrival, they gave us a brief orientation and put us into housing. They then took us to check out the beach, where we stayed for about half an hour and then went to bed.


shaka brah

We woke up at 9 am the next morning for breakfast. The night before they split us up into two groups. We were group 2 so we got to sleep in for 2 extra hours. After breakfast, they gave us wetsuits and went to the beach for our first lesson. During our lesson, they split us into another 2 groups (ours was called the Venezuelan Mooseknuckles). They then taught us the basics (whats what on the surfboard, how to enter the water, how to stand up.) After about an hour or so, we got in to practice. Surfing is fucking hard. First, getting on the board is extremely difficult (or rather, staying on). Then, standing up is 90% of the battle. Almost no one stood up on the first lesson. But riding the wave in any form is exhilarating. After our lesson, we went back, had lunch, and played games like Jenga or cards. I was able to nap in one of the hammocks. Our second lesson was closer to the evening so we had a nice sunset surf. Our lesson covered speeding up and slowing down and assessing surf conditions. This surf was a little better and I was even able to stand up for a second. After the lesson, we came back for dinner, and then at 9, we went to the town pub. The pub was an old person pub and “was only what we made it.” It was fun though, we had a few drinks, danced, and even had a limbo contest. Eventually, I got tired of it and headed back to the camp, which was only a 10-minute walk. After a long day of surfing, my sliced toe was starting to hurt. I had it bandaged the entire trip and kept it clean. I think the saltwater really helped with the healing. It was good to get some rest though because we had to be up early the next day.

The next day we were up at 7am for breakfast and were soon in the water surfing, This lesson taught us how to turn, but people (including myself) were still struggling to stand up. It was a good surf session. When we got back, we had lunch and hung out at the beach. We left the camp around 2:30. Overall, it was a fun weekend and the instructors were real chill and friendly. However, I was hoping we would have more time surfing, as it was definitely not worth the price. Thank god for IFSA, they were the ones that paid for this trip and not me.

Darwin | Brisbane