The Rutherfords Abroad: Come on surfin' now, everybody's learning how.

Here is the sum total of my surf experience to date:

First attempt: September 29th. Point Leo with Rob

The ocean is still quite cold in Frankston so I wore a full wetsuit and booties and didn't feel a thing – beautiful. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, in order to get out to where the surf is, you need to lie on the board and windmill your arms through the waves while maintaining a monkey toe death grip with your feet in order not to get swept off every time a wave crashes into you.

Which is often.

Rob gave me a few pointers, pointed me in the right direction and encouraged me to follow him. If by “encourage” you mean charging ahead and occasionally yelling “sweep harder with your arms!” over his shoulder.

Once I had struggled out to Rob, he set me up to ride my first wave with the instruction to paddle hard as soon as he pushed me. The first time, he shot the board right out from under me and the second time, I paddled myself off the front end. The third time, my board and I shot out together, up until the point where I put too much pressure on the front end, nosedived into the foam and got barrel rolled over and over until I wasn’t sure which way was up. I clambered back up onto the board and recovered by bobbing around peacefully while Rob rode the waves.

I like the bobbing part.

Luckily… I mean unfortunately… Rob broke the leash on his board so we had to call it a day and head to shore about an hour after getting in the water. Even that short stint in the surf had me dripping seawater from my nasal passages for the entire afternoon.

Second Attempt: Emerald Bay

We have just returned from a three weeks in NSW and Queensland. Rob and Isabelle have already done a fair bit of surfing at home in Frankston but they are made of much sterner stuff than Sophie and I. We need warmer water. Up on the East Coast, the weather is warm and sunny and the beaches are spectacular.

Now that I had a better idea of what to expect, I thought my next attempt might be more successful. All four of us suited up and hit the water at Emerald Bay, just north of Sydney.

As I waded out to where the waves were breaking, I noticed several dark shapes below the surface and chanted “please be seaweed, please be seaweed…” until I could jump onto the surfboard and tuck my feet up. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the right wave.

And waiting.

When you see one you like, you turn around (while trying not to bury the tip in the water and fall off), stroke frantically with your arms and flail with your legs until the wave picks you up. Or drops you like bag of rocks.

If it picks you up, you shoot forward in front of the wave and hold on for dear life.

I never achieved the standing up part. I gave up trying to surf properly and just had fun choosing the right wave to ride while I knelt on the board. That was a blast - I spent the whole time giggling like a school girl.

More pictures of our East coast surfing adventures:

Sophie spent most of her time doing handstands, bodyboarding and frolicking in the waves. She is obviously having no fun at all.

This is after a kayaking trip to go snorkeling and see dolphins. You can barely see it, but there's a pelican on the lightpost behind us. Word to the wise: do not park your car under a pelican.