My wife and I have never surfed before and we thought wile we were in Australia we would give it a try. We had so much fun. We were both able to stand up a bit by the end, but even if we didn't get there we still had fun. Instructors gave us lots of attention. It was a bigger group than I expected (about 15-20) but the instructor to student ratio was still 1:5 max.
Some tips to make the most of it...
- listen to the instructors - they give lots of helpful tips about all aspects including how to carry your board out into the water. People who didn't follow instructions struggled a lot and didn't seem to have as much fun
- instruction was given in English only. People who speak English as a second or third language might find it more challenging
- the instructors stand waist deep in the water and you need to go to them. If you are shy and want an instructor to come to you, I would suggest a private lesson instead. But if you are comfortable approaching them and asking questions they will work with you and give very helpful instruction
- they will take pictures of the whole group and a USB stick of all the pictures is available for purchase at the end of the lesson for $25
- the beach they use is also a dog beach and random dogs will come up to you. If you are afraid of dogs this might not be ideal. The beach was very clean and we did not see any dog poop anywhere.