During a drunken conversation with Justin (the Yamba hostel manager) we agreed to go wake boarding with his friend the next morning. After about 4 hours sleep we got up (easier said than done) with some of the other backpackers and went to give it a go. His friend lives in a beautiful house at a great spot on the banks of the Clarence River just out of Yamba.
When we turned up they wanted us to try “Bare Footing” which is basically water skiing with no skis! We had not seen this before so we let Justin go first. The boat disappeared around the corner while they were doing it so we didn’t get to see but as the boat was approaching we did hear Justin shouting “Slow down!” just before he fell off on to his bum and skidded down the river.
When it came to our turn we still hadn’t seen anyone so weren’t sure what to do but we wanted to give it a try. I went first as I had water skied once before. I swam out to the end of the pole sticking out of the side of the boat and followed my instructions. The idea was to lift yourself out of the water until you are going fast enough for the water tension to be able to hold you up when you drop your feet and stand up. If you let go and hit the water, it hurts. I managed to get up and it was great fun. I slipped a couple times but held on and got back up. Then, I’m not sure what happened, I face planted into the water which really hurt and I lost a contact lens! Next was Jo’s turn. He got up then lost his grip. The boys tried to make him start a harder way than me and then thought it’d be fun to drag him up the river for a bit. Jo saw the funny side but was exhausted and limping afterwards.
Jo chilling on the boat
After a break we tried wake boarding. Some of the people we were with were awesome and doing flips and jumps. I took about 8 attempts to get up and then finally managed it for about 30 seconds. Jo was too tired to give a fair go and couldn’t get up but kept trying until his leg cramped up. After this we spent time chilling on the boat and watching the others. It was very relaxing being on the boat and cruising up and down. There were mangroves either side of the river and it was a typical sunny Australian winter’s day with ospreys over head.
Just before we got off the boat the driver miss-timed a wake wave when we turned around and the bow went into the wave spilling water over the front, up the windscreen and into the main compartment. Everyone in the main compartment got wet. Unfortunately for us we were sat in front of the windscreen on the bow wearing our warm, dry clothes. We were completely soaked but it was very funny!
The next day, everyone was in agony. It was hilarious watching everone struggle to do anything and moan every time they moved.
