Check out the ringing on these waves

Today Rach took Alex on a surprise day out. He had absolutely no idea what was going to happen as it had all been organised by Rach in secret. So, early in the morning we got into Yvonne and headed out. Not knowing where he was going Alex was surprised to find himself being sent by Rach in the direction of the Great Ocean Road and so started to expect another excursion to one of the many activity parks along the route. However this was not to be the case, indeed it was to be something much better than this. Rach directed Alex to a place called Bells Beach, one of the most famous surfing beaches in the Australia, if not the world. She had secretly been in contact with some board hire places in the area and arranged the hire of two boards and two wetsuits. Amazing!

So we kitted up and headed off to the beach excited to hit the waves, Rach for the very first time. However before we could rush in Alex had to give Rach the basics of surfing and a little practise on the beach, an embarrassing procedure that every surfing initiate has to go through to learn the proper techniques. We ran headlong into the water upon seeing the waves rolling in and it was a good few seconds before the cold really made itself noticed. When we say cold what we really mean is ball-achingly, nipple-raisingly freezing. Still we persevered and before long Rach was kneeling up on some waves heading for the beach and Alex was out back, catching a couple and pulling some moves.

We eventually succumbed to the ache in our stomachs and took a short break for lunch before gritting out teeth and heading back into the cold. Although not before Alex donned a second suit so as to ward off the worst of the cold. We edged our way into the sea a little more tentatively this time, as though that would somehow make it a little warmer. Nope. Still just as cold as before. And to add to this Rach did really well as the waves were now incredibly powerful and she had a couple of dunkings and was washing machined on more than one occasion, but still managed to stand up. We lasted a good hour and half before admitting defeat to the cold that had by now penetrated our bones and so shivering and blue faced we ran back to the shop to get changed back into our warm clothes and head off back home with the setting sun accompanying us.

Rex’s Rules of the Road

• The cheapest and best place to hire boards in the area was Go Ride A Wave.

• Anywhere along the coast is a good place to surf although Bells Beach has the prestige factor associated with it.

• If you can, hire a winter weight wetsuit during the winter months, or generally anytime you are in the Southern waters. Don’t forget; most of the water makes its way over straight from the Antarctic.