Surfing at Sandy Bay, Tutukaka

Recently, all the international students from Whangarei Girls’ High School, had the opportunity to go surfing at Sandy Bay, Tutukaka taught by Tia from ”Tutukaka Surf”.

Our day started with a fun drive to Sandy bay with a lot of singing and laughing in the car. We all have been tired but very excited. When we got there and out of the car, we first realized how cold it actually was and honestly, I had thoughts about my decision. How stupid to go surfing in winter but all just because of the corona virus, otherwise we would have been surfing in the beginning of April.

At Sandy Bay we met Tia and her lovely dog, she was already waiting for us with wetsuits. She welcomed us and gave us our wetsuits. We put them on, got surf boards and went down to the water. First, we talked about all the basics like how to get up on your board fast and right. Then we finally went in the water and started trying to stand on our boards, which was harder than expected, but after a few tries you kind of knew the easiest way for you to get on the board.

If you’ve never been surfing before you probably can’t imagine but the moment when you are finally standing on your board, surfing a wave, feels magical. Isn’t it crazy how things work out when we work together with the nature and not against it?!

After being in the water for a few hours we had a lunch break.

Everyone was already very tired and I just felt like going to bed but we went in the water again. It was still a lot of fun but I was so tired that I couldn’t even push myself up anymore. So, I decided to go out of the water and got changed. When everyone was back, we gave Tia the surfboards and wetsuits back and made our way back to school, on the way back we stopped in Tutukaka for ice cream and coffee. When I came home I was so tired that I slept full eleven hours.

Photos of our surfing experience…

The next day we met in school and drove to Sandy Bay again. That day we didn’t sing at all everyone was way too tired. Surfing is definitely more exhausting then we thought. When we arrived, nobody wanted to get out of the car and we were just sitting there for ages. Tia arrived and we put our wetsuits back on, very wet wetsuits. So, I think that was the point where we all woke up ;). Then we took the surf boards and went to the water. Tia talked to each of us about which behaviors are good and which of them we should change, very helpful! Sadly, one of our international friends became sick but Toni Richardson, our lovely international International Student Manager, went surfing with us instead and I have to say she is a natural talent!!

We all didn’t have as much power as the day before but we still had a lot of fun and even improved our technique a bit. I think I speak for all international students when I say that it was an amazing experience and we would definitely do it again!