National Park Activities - the Sunshine Coast Region

20-03-2016

Just finished an excellent week of surf lessons with the team from XL Surf Academy. Big shout out to Andy and Byron for all their help this week. Byron tirelessly swam our younger three girls out on their boards everyday and all three of them were up and surfing by mid-week. Andy helped me, my wife and son all week. What really impressed me about the XL team was their willingness to help out and go the extra mile to ensure a great week of fun and that everyone was up and surfing by the end of the week. This was particularly important to us as my son wears a prosthetic leg below his knee on his right side. The XL team (Andy, Rob and Carlene) all meet and discussed the best strategy for my son to get up and surf with his prosthetic. First thing Tuesday morning - due to their strategy and his effort - he was up and standing. Extremely friendly team and we couldn't be happier with our week of surf lessons from XL Surf Academy.

20-03-2016

Our 15 year old has never surfed but was really keen to in the warm Sunshine Coast climate. We phoned, word of mouth recommendation, the XL Surfing Academy and had great service right from the start. A private lesson was quickly and efficiently organised and we arrived at Alex beach at 8am the next morning to meet Andrew, The Coach. He started with the basics on land/ beach then before too long our son was up 'catching a wave' ! Andrew did confidence/ skill building the first session and we decided to do another so by day they were out at the back of the waves with loads of tips and strategies to work on and a 15 year old wanting to get out and surf by himself ! We were impressed with Andrew's knowledge, no-nonsense approach and his manner and rapport. Well worth the money and we would thoroughly recommend XL Surf Academy.

20-03-2016

SO VERY DELIGHTED.It took some convincing and a bit of blackmail to begin with to get three boys out of bed at 5.30am to go surfing at Alex 6.30am, but I only had to do it once, on the first day. LOOK at the smiles of joy on the faces of my boys and their friend Wilsen, simply priceless, this week we fell in LOVE with surfing, even me, Mum surfed her first wave in her life....another miracle...Woo Hoo... So THIS WEEK has been very very SPECIAL to me...possibly even one of my greatest lifetime achievements.....seeing three smiling boys surfing their first waves.....even managing to get three boys out into the OCEAN.......to experience the beauty of the quiet in early MORNINGs, to experience NATURE and to feel energised and alive, this is so special and I am so very grateful! We have the most beautiful beaches on our doorstep here on the Sunshine Coast, we are gifted the worlds most awesome ocean and surf, we are granted so many opportunities to experience and enjoy the beauty of the great outdoor's right here everyday......but so many of us and so often we take all of this beauty and opportunity for granted....and sometimes we even allow our children to disappear into the artificial world of Cyperspace and simulated gaming simply because it is an easy option to us as parents.......In my eyes this is a tragedy. Life and living is all about balance and WE as parents have a duty of care to give our kids opportunites to get out there and LIVE real life experiences...ones that build resilience and bring a deep connection to ourselves and to Nature. I thank Robbie and Carlene Sherwell at XL Surf Academy for providing such wonderful opportunity to all people of all ages to learn to surf.....for running such an awesome Surf School with passionate enthusiastic instructors...We've locked in for the term I encourage you, as a family..to come on down and join in the fun...Get out there and get a life!! Namaste People