surfin USA in Austrailia

I had my first taste of the "surf" today, two hours later and I am still coughing up seawater salt. Not to fall into cliches but it was everything I expected big waves , clear blue water and clear blue sky. When I was out a bit the waves didn't seem so bad however I made the mistake of turning towards the shore my back to the incoming waves at that moment I happened to hear some punter shout "Oh Christ !!" when I looked back I honestly thought my eyes were deceiving me .. It was like being in one of thoes Old Spice ads I honestly could see nothing but this wave. Naturally I did exactly what your not supposed to do . I stood up and took the full force of it instead of diving into it. I was practically blown back onto the beach. I did get a bit of a fright, I can only Imagine what thoes poor lads who were hit by the tsunami felt like.