What board?

[somethingsdont]

I'm moving to Australia and will be living in a place called Geraldton. I want to start surfing as soon as I get settled and because I'm impatient, haha, I wanted to ask what board should I get?
I'm a girl, aged 16, and I'm 5 foot 5. I weigh 94 pounds but despite being underweight I'm perfectly healthy and able and I have no previous experience surfing.
Please help! Thanks

[jaffa1949]

There are some good surf spots down that way.
My advice however is; don't buy a board yet, find a surf school down there and have few lessons , get to know a few people and know a little about the surf. Western Australian surf is quite powerful and so generates more rips and dangers than elsewhere.
As for boards a shorter long board?minimal or go down to a fun board , but seriously go to a school first and also hang around a few surf shops and see what is available. Australia has a good program call Girls day out where top female surfers and learners get together for a fun day of surfing sisterhood, could be some help there too.
Here are two surf schools in that area http://www.yallingupsurfschool.com/ and http://surf2skool.com/ see how you go

[somethingsdont]

Ohhhh, care to tell me them for future references?
I'll talk to the parents and see what they say about surfing lessons. Hopefully they'll let me because how else am I going to learn? I can't remember what beach it is but I think it's about 40km away from Geraldton and it's supposed to have huge (and very dangerous) waves in the winter months.
The program sounds awesome! Hopefully I'll be part of it at some point
Thank you

[jaffa1949]

I don't know the exact beaches but the surf schools wll know. Australia has surfing as a high school sport in most states, it requires the students to achieve a basic firstaid and surf safety certificate that includes understanding the dynamics of a beach (rips etc.) and how to deal with them.
If the surf schools are half way decent they too will beagle to point you to the safe beaches.

Please take the school and lessons route as without knowledge of the beach you are at some risk.
Scary but true advice.
have the fun type of learning, in the mean time get you swimming stronger.

[somethingsdont]

That's something you definitely wouldn't get over here...surfing as a sport :L
I'll see what happens when I get out there. Thanks for the advice

[surf patrol]

Some schools here in the UK have surfing lessons somethingsdont, if you're from the UK you've just been going to the wrong schools

[somethingsdont]

I'm not living there anymore, just recently moved haha I was in northern ireland though, so maybe its just the mainland? :S because i've never heard of schools that do surfing there

[surf patrol]

Maybe it is. They never did it when I was at school though.