I hired a guide....cunningly called Manly Surfguide but that was 5 years ago. He was great, met me at the manly ferry went to a shop and got a board (switched it up from learner type board to a firewire Unibrow provided a decent wetsuit then did a guided tour of the Northern beaches and settled on the best waves, he surfed with me for about and hour then let me surf for as long as I wanted.....all for $85!!!!!

Think I found him by typing in surf guide Sydney....who woulda thought that