Byron bay

Yo narley surfer dudes (surf talk),

After a reasonably long trip from Sydney we arrived in the quality town of Byron bay. We had heard so much good stuff said about the place that we couldn't miss it out on our travels. We arrived around mid day and met this top bloke that would take us to the accommodation in his funky minibus. The accommodation was so cool. You could either stay in a dorm room, a tent in the woods, a big hippy bus, a teepee or just in a hammock. We choose the tent just because we already had a tent and the woods looked really inviting. Anywhere you stayed had full cooking facilities and loads going on every night. The hostel (the Arts factory) has a lot of history actually and is a very well known spot for music. They have their own cinema, restaurant, pool, lake, beach volleyball area etc, like its own little village. They have had top bands to name but a few; New Order, Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones. After checking in, the top bloke I’ve already talked about convinced us to join in with the sunrise tour up at the lighthouse on cape Byron (first in OZ to see the sunrise due to it being the most easterly point). We told him that it was Simone’s B-day that day and he said ‘Ok guys, for that I’ll throw in a free bottle of champers, howz about that’ (in a funny ozzie accent). So obviously we agreed as it was only 2quid each for the tour anyway. BARGAIN!! After sorting ourselves out we went down to check out the beach. It was a really nice beach with huge surf, but it was so windy sand was just blowing everywhere. All the same we had a really nice time playing around in the sand and the sea. Later that afternoon on Simmy’s B-Day we decided to go to Woolies and buy some really nice food for lunch and for dinner rather than forking out for an expensive restaurant. So we bought a huge steak, peppercorn sauce, chicken and fajita ingredients. Yum yum yum…. It was really nice; Simone had a very nice B-Day but did miss the family part of it all.

Every evening we spent in Byron we socialised with loads of new and interesting people. Also there were so many good musicians/singers that we would all have a really good jam every night. It was just the best social time in our travelling, easy!

The next morning we had to wake up at .. wait for it .. 445am to see the sunrise. EEEK… It was ok though we thought it was worth it for the bottle of champers. We took the funky minibus to the top of the cape to watch the sunrise. Got there and… watched the clouds block the beautiful sunrise that would rise behind them. Oh well still had a nice trip up to the lighthouse and enjoyed our bubbly. On arriving back to the hostel we decided probably best to have a quick nap as we had a surfing lesson at 11am. Napped it until about 1030 then got up fresh and alert for our first surfing lesson.

After kitting up in surf gear (well surf T-shirt and surf board) we had a quick briefing as to how to surf and safety points about surfing in general. Heading out into the surf we were both well excited. When we got out there we realised it was a bit different to snowboarding but it had some similar characteristics. After a few failed attempts at getting up on the board we both were surfing waves in no time, well Simone a few more :D. But all the same both of us were surfers by the end of the 3 hour lesson. The instructors start of by helping you a lot by pushing the board from behind to help you on to the wave. The next step in surfing is to catch the wave by your self without help, by paddling your self away from the wave till it breaks just behind you. The perfect opportunity arose for me to try it by myself and I owned the wave, rode it all the way into the bay, without help. The instructors afterwards said that they were well impressed with my performance, particularly on that wave. I was more impressed with Simone she was totally riding the waves down by the end of the lesson. I knew she would be up on the board by the end but not owning waves left, right and centre. Quality session. It was really quite tiring actually; everybody in the lesson was knacked afterwards, especially Simone and I as we had got up so bloody early that morning.

The day after surfing we were still feeling pretty tired so we decided to just chill out for the day. We spent some time speaking to others around the campsite. The rest of the time we went for a walk around Byron bay checking out some shops and stuff, see if we could find any bargains. Chillaxing…

The next morning we woke up around 10 ish to go on another tour. This time it was to go see Nimbin (an old hippy haven) on Jim’s alternative tours. It was one of my favorite days in OZ for sure. The tour was just so well mapped out with everything linking in so well. Jim, the guy who conducted the tours had mapped out the music so perfectly to meet all what you would see all the way along. Also the music was one of the best sets of music I’ve ever heard; The rolling stones, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Primal Scream, The red hot chili peppers etc the list just goes on (so good). We saw loads of cool stuff on the way through the tour, with amazing knowledge of everything we saw. At the end of the tour just before we headed back Jim took us to his friends’ house out in the country. Here we got to eat macadamia nuts and water melon, both picked from the guys’ farm. Then we got to have a swim in the guys’ pond in his back garden, hmmm very relaxing. Again we got back from the tour in the evening and had an excellent time in the woods while camping, singing and just enjoying ourselves.

The next day we sadly left this amazing town they call Byron bay. Again this town goes well recommended for any one wishing to visit Australia. Infact a must see.

PS – anyone reading this please email me with what you are upto, haven’t received too many emails from people at home. I just tell everyone what we are upto. Okie dokie!!

PPS – make sure to always check back in the blogs, as we have just been so busy in Oz that is pretty difficult to write blogs all the time. Also the tinternet over here is overpriced so we limit our use on it.

Speak soon my dearest family, friends, acquaintances & randomers that may read this too!!

Peace out Bo) xx