SURFING. Before Australia, I’d only attempted it once before in Tiree, whilst on a girls holiday. Even over 10 days, it was knackering and difficult to get the hang of. But MY GOD was it fun! Even before Tiree, I grew up watching Rocket Power on Nickelodeon (anyone else remember that?!), just dreaming of the day I’d live by a sandy beach, with some hot weather and surfer hair, and hit the waves. 4 years on from Tiree, and I still tell everyone about how much I love surfing, even though I have a complete lack of experience. Hence, it was top of my list of things to do in Oz!
We hit the beach several times while in Perth, and I always figured I’d just rent a board or buy some lessons if and when we saw a surf shop or school. But interestingly, they weren’t dotted around the beaches quite as numerously as I thought they would have been. Typical tourist assumption in Australia I guess!
So it wasn’t until the last week of our 3.5 week holiday that we finally managed to get it sorted! I was in Fremantle with the family for a day out, and we stopped at a cafe-bar for some grub, and I noticed the staff were all young and looked like they spent a lot of time at the beach, so I decided to ask for some insider knowledge considering I hadn’t come across any surf opportunities as of yet. They pointed me straight to Scarborough beach, and the next day, that’s where we went.
Scarborough beach is one of the more popular and well-known beaches in Perth, for tourists and locals alike. Full of twenty-somethings and families, and plenty of surfers (even the lifeguards have surf boards for rescue missions). We asked a passing lifeguard where to hire a couple of boards, and were pointed to the RipCurl store. Decent prices and decent folk working there, I recommend it. There is another hiring store near the Rendezvous Hotel, that we didn’t check out, simply because RipCurl was closer so we headed there first, but it’s worthwhile knowing for those thinking of venturing here.
The surfing itself? AMAZING. So incredibly difficult, even more difficult than I remember it being in Tiree! But totally worth it, and a great laugh. Arms and abs were hurting the next day, but in a good way! No wonder the surfer guys and girls around the beach were so damn fit! I didn’t manage to stand up in the two hours we hired the boards for (wish we’d gone for the whole day), but got to my knees and that was still something! Even my brother and boyfriend, both of whom are petrified of the ocean, had a blast surfing, and didn’t even realise how deep they were going!
It was a fantastic day out for all, and even my Dad had a shot! Let me know if anyone has been or is going to Perth and taking on some waves! Also drop a comment if you’re a surfer in Scotland, I’d love to get in to it properly!
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