Oct 2014 - March 2015
This is a sum-up over my last six months in Australia. I spent it at Mojosurf Spot X Surf Camp where I at this time worked in the photoshack taking photos of the surf lessons, uploading them and showing them to the clients. I had just finished a three months instructor course but failed the surf exam.
I think you had to be there. Anyways:
OCTOBER
We had a dress up-surf for Kat's last day. Before that we played a fun game with two balls but no rules. It got intense. I hurt my toe and Ben got a black eye. Best. Game. Ever.
And then all the horror movie nights in the academy house started. That was so cosy! Fatima screamed. Puck scared everyone and Nose-Dave wasn't a fan of the fan. But he liked singing Let It Go with Elsa. The babies came and it got harder to find space for the movies. One night we were in Puck, Joe and Nadia's room. All we could hear was Ryan talking outside and sometimes Hana and Rekha laughed a bit. But mostly just Ryan talking. ;) And Fatima's occasionally screams, ofc.
We went to the rock pool
Nadia did NOT like when Emil dropped in on her! But she made nice beanies for all of us. I think so yes. We went to Amble Inn, the pub in Corindi. We danced to the live band and saved Rachel from her stalker. Canada-Adam had some moves! And we all went night swimming. Puck woke up with a scary sight when a local dude was sitting in the sofa staring.
And the three of us passed our second surf test! I got to wear the red rashie instead of the orange.
That was cool.
Then the FESTIVAL finally came!! It's tradition, one to start the season before summer, and one to end the season before winter. (Aussie time here, summer is winter, remember?). Hundreds of people were there. Slip'n'slide, volleyball, BBQ and sofas on the field of dreams. And all the live bands! The theme was NAUTICAL and in the evening we dressed up. Anne, me and Jules were waves and Tim was Poseidon. That day and night was one of the best!!
I got to choose Emil's outfit
Sunni was the jellyfish on stage ^^
Mojo-Nat stage dived but no one caught him. Pepper didn't feel too well. Eirik didn't either. And John found someone that Kirsty had to put to bed. And Adam cleaned vomits. We danced on the roof of that cool bus!
The night before was pretty sick too. We danced to Abba on the empty stage in the dark with some 50+ Aussies.
NOVEMBER
As a thanks for the hard work at the festival, we got a staff BBQ at red rock. We jumped from the rope swing. Anne landed funny. And I saved Sunni from the strong current.
Me, Nat, Lucca and Glen had a fun weekend in Cresco. We listened to Nat's impressions the whole night and laughed our asses off.
Matt, Sam and the other farmers organised a cross dress party. It was Arthur's first party night so we had to make him pretty (prettier). And John got some hilarious photos that I can't show anyone, unfortunately. Just trust me, they're funny.
The soccer games England-Germany that we had sometimes got intense. Dennis loved it.
My dear friend Frida that I worked with in EBS Thailand came to visit for a few days!:)
I started instructing more frequently. Me and Bryn drove to Byron 4 am for one lesson. Then I started guiding and instructing. Guiding means bringing a group from Sydney to Spot X and be their babysitter for the next five days. Just hold their hands if something gets scary. Then bring them partying in Byron before getting a new group from Sydney.
Me and Anne had a fun pre-party by ourselves at the porch to GHQ before the shit shirt-party. We played beer pong. And went to the beach in the end. It was fun.
The next Saturday we had a Glow-Party. We all dressed in bright neon!
Lucca made a sushi night for us where we made our own sushi. Delicious!!
Me and Olly went to Anna Bay for a week. Surf lessons and lifesaving for 16 year-old Melbourne girls. We ate cakes every day. And made a Ripple Cake that mysteriously got eaten in the fridge.
We thought someone got bitten by a crocodile. And played spoons and cricket. In Newcastle, me and Olly had pizza and a litre of chocolate ice cream. We like eating.
DECEMBER
The peak season started. The academy house was full. The clients went from 1-20 in the winter to 80-150 in the summer. The staff started to fill up. More Scandinavians came. It got busier, which was fun in another way. I loved the calm winter but this was actually fun too!
Especially since I didn't have to take photos anymore. That would've been stressful. And the academy promo video was done as well, the one that me and Anne were pulling our hair for more than a few times. Thanks to Martin it turned out pretty good. Although I missed my funny clips in it. ;)
I took some days off and spent a long weekend in Sydney in a nice hotel. It was great, having my own room. Just being naked and go to the toilet with an open door, luxury! Hadn't done that since Thailand.
I met BBC (BrokeBackChris). Then I co-judged the EBS Cocktail comp where they dressed up as reindeers, bananas and made the Titanic scene. It was hilarioous - but the cocktails were pretty shit. Me and Pia had ice cream at Anita's, of course. To make JD Steel jealous. Then we went to Ikea and had Swedish Christmas food.
I also went to a Swedish Christmas Market and watched a Lucia train. And had a meatball sandwich, obviously. Arthur and Calum were in Sydney too. We had beers. Went to Manly. And watched the fireworks in Darling Harbour. And we watched Interstellar at imax.
Since I was a guide, I brought my first own group up to camp from Sydney after that weekend. Five days later, I brought them to Byron for a party night. They didn't want to party, but the academy guys that went up for the weekend, they did! I came to their hostel and the we went to Woodys. It was fun!
As soon as I was back at camp, I jumped in the troopy to Red Rock. Staff party was on!! I was first out from the car and the boys attacked me and carried me upside down to the goon punch to drink with my feet in the air. Later I did a front flip in the water (it was more shallow than I thought) and hurt my neck and back. Stupido. Olly cut his foot on oysters. Then everyone tried to wrestle Bear. Sausages and sauces were flying!
The food fight continued at camp. So did the party. Me and Fatima were laughing at the whole situation.
Then CHRISTMAS came! I surfed in my Santa costume. It broke. But Joe found my hat, thank god. I played Christmas songs all day. We had lussekatter that we made the day before.
We made a sandman. Ate cake. And the Swedes/Norwegians got meatballs. We danced around my mini Christmas tree. And went to the crowded pub where we owned the dance floor.
Obviosly I had to decorate my tent that I moved in to a couple of weeks before
Then my beloved Issy came back! She lived with me in my tent. (Yes, it's a tent. Yes, we had beds and electricity (after a few weeks). Yes, I loved it.) Unfortunately Nat moved with Jordo to Tassie before that, so the Swede reunion didn't happen. But it will. At some point. :)
Then the cadets moved in to the two cool buses.
NEW YEARS! We had a dress up surf comp. Olly and Ryan with their cut up feet were judges. Me, Joe and Ross were Team Awesome, a bit spontaneusly. We tried surfing together. At least we had the most fun. Sven. Noah, Matt and Felix were the hottest of them all.
Fun New Years party with karaoke (Mamma Mia, what else?), scavenger hunt and other games. Watched a few fireworks at the beach at midnight. Me, Julie and Olly were hungry so Chris was kind and gave us chocolate. The pizza place wasn't open, actually.
JANUARY
I started in-house guiding with Matt so I didn't have to do the trips anymore. I met people that came off the bus and showed them around. That was nice. I did that because the front flip I tried at the Christmas party gave me more and more problems with my back, so the bus trips to Sydney (10 hrs one way) were horrible. For a week I didn't surf or instruct. It was depressing. I wasn't even allowed to swim in the ocean, the doctor said. So I did nothing. I read a book. And ate a lot.
Then I got better! The waves were awesome and I loooove surfing. :D Anyways, in January it was pretty calm. I didn't drink much alcohol and just had nice movie nights and stuff. Although we did have a fun beach party!
In the end of January, Rob the head coach sent me to Mojo Byron to help the new team of guides/photographers. Everything works a bit different there since they don't have a camp at the beach. The clients either live in the Mojo Tipi Village by the hostel Arts Factory or they just go to a surf lesson and live wherever. We lived in the same tipis that I did when I was there half a year earlier. It was heaps warmer which was nice. I got to play boss and make a new checklist for their tasks plus I had to find a new team leader.
My first night there Hailey came up with a group so we went out for a party at Cheeky Monkeys. Fun!
So I worked a lot with planning and papers, but I also went to a couple of lessons, hung out in the small Mojo shop and watched them fix the tipis. It was fun! We went surfing at Watergos one morning, me and Ben. It was a really nice wave! Better than when I went by myself to the Pass, which was way too crowded. It was cool watching all of the awesome grooms (young surfers) who were ripping though.
Australia Day, 26th of January, was calm for me. I had a surf lesson and then I just went to the beach to chill with FroYo and fruits. I had a movie night when everyone else was partying. The big thing with 'Straya Day is Triple J Hottest 100. A radio channel that lists the top 100 tracks of the year, which people get to vote for. And of course all BBQ's.
I did yoga here one morning
One evening, it was a Talent Show at Arts
It was a good and different thing to do, but I was glad to come back home to Spot X again. Tom was back after 4-5 months away as the new night driver. Unfortunately Henke just left one day, so I guess it was good timing.
I stayed at Spot X two days and then I did my last trip to Sydney, a weekend trip with only girls. We had a surf lesson in Umina and then went to Anna Bay, the same place me and Olly went to in November. The waves in Umina were huge and the current was really strong, which was a challenge. But everything went great. We went sand boarding at the largest sand dunes in the Southern hemisphere (Stockton) where they filmed Star Wars!! How cool is that?? I even managed to stand up on the board, that was fun fun fun!
The kangaroo Josie was rescued and chose to stay at the backpacker place in Anna Bay
We went on a dolphin tour and they had a fun slide from the boat!
Baby dolphin selfie
FEBRUARY
The Swedes took over the camp! We were maybe 10 Swedes plus our guests of honour, Arnie and Dale (my two workout buddies). The Fight Club Challenge started. As fast as possible: 50 pullups, 100 pushups and 150 dips. I did half in about the same time as the boys (if I jumped for the pullups).
This was an amazing month. As all of them, actually.
I asked if I could work with acitivities instead. No one was doing that and I had some fun ideas. So that became my new job, two hours in the arvo and one hour in the evening plus planning. Usually volleyball or soccer on the beach with music. The evenings could be ping pong tournaments (always won by Charley, Guus or one of the Swiss guys), quiz nights, fires with the guitar, movie nights or parties.
One weekend there was a storm. I picked up a group for a day trip from Byron to Spot X because the beaches were closed up there. Me, Cuzza and Lois brought them in the Mojo bus. When we arrived it was 11 am and the rain was pouring down! My job was to show them around and keep them happy until lunch at 12. Haha I made them play pingpong but dude, they were not happy! At their surf lesson after lunch, we were 4 coaches for 15 peeps and the current was just pulling them sideways. Crazy.
Because of that storm, me and Issy had to abandon our tent and move in to a tipi with Dale instead.
My first assignment in my new job was the FULL MOON PARTY! We had glow paint and a fun night in the sweat box singing karaoke (Mamma Mia of course - we were a lot of swedes there, remember?.
Since Saturdays were party nights, we had Hawaii Party, Valentine's Speed Dating and Rock Night. The last one was Matt's last night and I had made a rock music quiz á la the Swedish TV-show "Så Ska Det Låta". And then we brought the music bin to the beach and had another great beach party!
We went to the rock pool again.
MARCH
The month of goodbyes. It has always been the down side of Spot X, all the goodbyes. But in the end of February and during March I had to say bye to so many amazing people. Lucca and Julie left earlier, then Matt and Arnie.
Then a bunch of these guys left at once: Casper, Herbert, Tiger, Timo, Leo, Jason, Raz, Ellen, Caroline.
Earlier that day Judith, Guus and Gloria left as well. (Hope I didn't forget anyone.)
The next weekend was the worst goodbye I had done so far. Puck, Gee and the CARDINALS Kalle, Daniel, Jacob and Kajsa all left at the same time. It started pouring down rain and the music bin randomely played Let Her Go. Such a sad day! Puck came in September and even if she was away for a while, she'd been there a long time. She's my baby sistah :) All of them are amazing!
Sunni, Alex, Maria, Ylva, Charley, Cuzza, Jimmy.. There were so many that left during that time, I can't name everyone, it would be too long of a list.
The worst thing was of course when I had to leave. I was about to leave Sunday, then Monday but I stayed 'til Wednesday, the day before my flight to Sweden. I cried for two hours before I left and another hour on the bus. Spot X was my home and a big part of my mojo family was still there.
My soulmate Issy, obviously. My bosses Bear, Rob and Dan. And Niels, Ally, Benzy, Tanya, Dave, Ben, Michael, Pedro, Ole, Tim, Dan, Dale, Jade, Hailey, Elsa, Steffi x2, Jasmine, Emil, Olly .. oh shit I can't keep namedropping. I hated leaving each n every one! My wonderful friend Chris made me a photo slide show just before I went in the bus from my time at the camp. He's been there as long as I have.
Before all of those sad goodbyes we did have heaps of fun though! And that' will be the memories we'll bring with us :)
We went full moon surfing. The waves were shit but we had a good time!
Me and Niels went tandem surfing on a paddle board. It was sunny, but the photo didn't wanna show that.
Freaky Friday the 13th and Super Saturday the 14th was a great weekend! Big Boss Dan's friend had a bachelor party in the villa. On the Friday the facepaint from the full moon party came out again and we looked beautiful!
That Saturday was one of my favourite days! After my AM surf lessons, we had BBQ at the field of dreams. Then slip'n'slide! I managed to slide all the way, quite an achievement I must say. Volleyball and chill on the grass and the beach until dinner time. What a day!
We'll never know who's hiding behind the mask. It will forever be a mystery, that monkey.
We started the evening with beer pong outside the GHQ (or was that the weekend before?). Then the academy party was full on. After that, we went to the villa where there was a live band playing. Mojo Bluesmen, two homeless dudes who played sooo well! It was cool, they had this megaphone that they sang through. And that's where the party really started!
My last Saturday came. We made a big party for me and DJ Charley. First a few of us had dinner in the surf school. Then we went for the crazy academy party. Ben was drunk already. We danced and had an awesome time before heading to the sweatbox for more dancing. Yeeeeeew!
I stage dived. That was so much fun, haha!
The day after we went out in the water to take group shots. The waves were tiny but it was something magical with that morning. I really loved it. Almost everybody was there and we went for party waves and just laughed. The shortboarders didn't stay too long though. But I cross-stepped the shit out of my mal.
The last nights we had Harry P-marathon in the bus. And my group shot was at the bridge. We made it a few days earlier so that Issy could be in it, cause she was guiding when I was leaving. But she went surfing with Djarra and Dan. No Issy in the photo!
But I got her anyways
Me and Maddie got a ride to Sydney with the empty Loka bus. Luckily, 'cause my board's sooo long! 9'1, almost 3 meters. I stayed at WakeUp. Met Pia for a little walk and then had a beer with Matt - without the beard. The day after I met up with my former roomies Dale and Issy who both were in Sydney, whoopwhoop!
Went to Bondi. Body surfed and made a desperate try to get a tan. It was a beautiful day!
Then I caught up with Ida, who I visited in Perth a year earlier! Sick. A whole year. She was in Sydney for a few days, lucky timing! She and her friend waved me off when I got on the shuttle bus to the airport (which I got for 10 dollars instead of 24!).
A 24-hour flight later I was in Stockholm and speaking Swedish was weird. Everything was weird. I was lucky again, heaps of luggage got stuck in Dubai - so did my board. I had no idea how to get it on the train to Linköping, so that they would drive it to my door the week after felt pretty good I must say.
THANKS OZ FOR GIVING ME AN AMAZING TIME!
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