Learning to Surf in Surfer's Paradise

Sat Apr. 12th - Day 5
Surfer’s Paradise lives up to its name. The beach is beautiful, but there are about nine billion high rises, because everyone and their grandmother want a ‘beach view’ apartment. Of course half of them are blocked from seeing the beach by the other half.
My hostel is cool. I’m in a room with four other people. So far I’ve only met two. One is actually my bunk mate (in bunk beds, no less and I’m on top) and her name is Sophie. She’s from the UK. I actually didn’t catch the other lady’s name, but she seemed nice.
I spent the whole day shopping and at the beach. I bought some gifts for the little people stuck at home. Also, I bought a towel. I realized that my sandy towel from the beach is not going to dry me off very well after my shower. So now I have 2 towels.
I have a surf lesson scheduled for tomorrow. I’m so excited. But really, other than the surfing, there’s not much to do here. It’s just like The Bend, only nicer and with surfing. There is this one cool section that’s a pedestrian mall and it goes right down to the beach. That was where I shopped today.
I’m out of here and heading to Byron Bay on Monday. I plan to spend a little longer there. Apparently there’s tons to do, so we’ll see.

Sun Apr 13th - Day 6
Surfing is awesome. And hard. Really, really hard. It’s kinda like tobogganing where the hardest part is getting to where you can do the fun stuff. Let me tell you, walking in waist deep water against the current while trying to direct a 7' long, floating object is not the easiest thing to do.
However, all difficulties aside, I did manage to catch some waves on my own and I got up on the board. There is even photographic evidence to prove it. It was great, cuz there were only 3 people in my class and the two other guys (from Denmark) both had class yesterday, so they were catching their own waves from the beginning. So the instructor could help me a lot and I needed it.
I am so sore. I have bruises on top of bruises and all of my muscles ache. And my legs are in bad shape. I had some time to kill before my lesson this morning, so I went out to chill by the pool. I slathered myself with sunscreen and thought I was fine. But I forgot to do my legs. Then I went surfing, where the fronts of my legs were constantly hitting the board, which was covered in sand and salt water. Imagine rug burn, but with salt, on top of a sunburn. That’s how my legs feel right now.
My tan is getting nice, though. And I’m getting buff from carting around my luggage constantly. I cringe to think about how sore I’d be if I hadn’t been building up muscles this past week. Surfboards look light, and sure, they float, but they are long and awkward and difficult to maneuver.
I think I’ll try surfing again in Byron’s Bay. My instructor gave me the name of a really good school down there to try. I’m finding, though, that I’m doing my trip backwards. Everyone I meet has gone Sydney to Brisbane and I’m going Brisbane to Sydney. It makes it really difficult to make friends, when I’m only in each place for a night or 2 and no one is traveling in the same direction as me.