Yesterday we attended the Legendary Pacific Coast Pro Surfest at Merryweather Beach Newcastle. We were invited to attend by the Legendary Pacific Coast Drive in order to tweet and write about it on our travel blog.

We were delighted that Kalyra was allowed to come with us. Kalyra was more excited than us to be coming. Since watching her favourite Mermaid Princess Barbie show she has loved surfing. The Barbie Mermaid in the movie is a surfer. She received a Dora surfboard for Christmas and loves riding around on it in the white wash.

She fell asleep in the pram upon arrival and so missed the beginning of the contest. But as soon as those eyes opened she popped out of the pram and wailed “I wanna see the surfer girls.”

We were allowed in the VIP viewing area from the surf club deck so we took her up there where she could easily see the surfer girls ride the waves. She was really excited when they walked past and tried to wave to them from above.

“Would you like to be a surfer girl one day?”

“Yes. I wanna be a surfer girl”

Coco Ho from Hawaii won the event, and Kalyra kept her eyes glued to her during the whole presentation. As Coco finished her interviews and slipped out the back, we also slipped out with her special passes to try and grab a photo.

Kalyra was really nervous, but I encouraged her to have her photo with Coco and told her I would stand with her.

“She’s a real surfer girl mummy?”

“Yes.  A real surfer girl. Let’s get our picture together with her.”

Even though she was very shy in the picture, she was elated to have her photo and a little cuddle with a real surfer girl fresh from the surf.

How wonderful to be in the position to encourage my daughter to chase her dreams and meet idols in the process.