G'Day Seabreeze community!!

My name is Scott, I'm a 20 (eugh, no longer a teen, sounds awful! :P) year old student studying computer science at the university of wollongong, and wait for it... Want to learn how to Kiteboard! :D

The sport looks like a load of fun, my kind of sport, but unfortunately have not found a great deal of information on where I might find lessons for a complete beginner such as myself. I don't have any equipment yet and would be looking at buying some in a few months. My questions are exactly how to get into the sport. I'm from around Sydney, but spend time holidaying at my parents holiday house in Mollymook (near Ulladulla, south coast.) Do experienced kitesurfers often decide to earn a bit of extra cash and teach someone such as myself the basics (enough to get up and practicing?) or is this something I should be really looking for a few professional lessons? Either way, some recommendations would be great thanks :).

When starting out, what sort of equipment should I be looking at getting? something nice and friendly for beginners :), or should I be renting out a board and kite to do my lessons on? I'm really not sure how this is supposed to work before I purchase my own equipment.

Do you usually go boarding in lakes or the ocean? when your in the ocean or a lake, and the wind is blowing in one direction, how do you decide to turn around and go back the other way? Just out of sheer curiosity I really don't see how it's supposed to work :P

It looks like so much fun though and I really can't wait to give it a try.

Cheers,

Scotty