Beautiful Byron Bay

From the Gold Coast I continued to move into the beaudacious and gracious areas of the Australian East coast. This time, it was a place that I've heard nothing but good things. BYRON BAY.

This little beauty is tucked away in a corner of Australia known only as its most easterly point. Skyscrapers are now traded for lush greenery and the busy city is traded for a small town.

Surfing, sand and sun...yessss I've been looking forward to this.

After my first day of walking down, Byron's one street and laying out on the beach soaking up the rays, I had planned for a jam packed day of surfing.



Luckily for me, I learned to surf in a much easier area of the globe(in case you forgot...it was Bali) Glad I learned there as the waves in Byron were much larger and a bit more difficult to manuvour. Still I was able to get some practice in...mostly on the best way to get eaten and spit out by a wave, but I loved every moment, as its something I can't do back home.



After the one day of surfing, and let me re-iterate...ahem..."ONE", I was in for a little surprise come that night. After listening to drummers on the beach and sitting around a bon fire sharing stories, I headed off back to the hostel for a little shut eye. Unfortunately while I was on the top bunk, a boozing boozer came stumbling in and thought it'd be a good joke to pull down the bunk bed...with me on it. Now don't get me wrong, I love jokes, but this one, just wasn't funny. I ended up jumping off the bunk bed and the right time and barrel rolling away from danger, or so I thought. As I go to stand I realize my right ankle is feeling a little shaky, even a bit sore. As I look again, I realize its beginning to swell.

Ohhh great, just sprained my ankle, what luck.

So the next few days were spent with me hobbling around Byron Bay, getting weird looks and numerous questions. But as you may know, I'm somewhat of a quick minded individual, so after about the forth time of someone asking what happened to my ankle, I just said it was a surfing accident. Definitely a great conversation piece.

Still no sore or swollen ankle is going to slow me down, therefore when I met some friends at the hostel and they asked if I wanted to take a walk to the lighthouse, I agreed.

Therefore I struggled my way up to the highest point in Brisbane, but boy was it ever worth it. Over looking the entire small town below, plus the far reaching corners of Byron, the small pain was definitely worth these views.



Along the way I was also able to spot a group of dolphins and a small shark.

Unfortunately after this grand walk, I needed to purchase some frozen peas and ice my ankle. This helped heal my ankle alot quicker, even though the next few days were spent on the beach and swimming in the ocean.

Slowly, but surely I started getting a little tanned, then I thought it would be a good idea to put on a lower grade of suntan lotion. Turns out, guess I wasn't tanned enough. That one day where I went down to SPF 6, I BURNED. Yipee, guess it runs in the family.

Finally, after all the beach time and sunshine, it was time to go on a little tour. Best part, I met two people at the hostel who worked at the travel agency. So they booked us all a free tour and we took off to this tiny small town in the middle of no where called Nimbin.

This town is a full on hippy town. Dreadlocks, tie die shirts and tweaky looking people are the norm. They also have a great selection of organic markets on Sunday. So we all loaded up on the bus, made friends with the hoards of people and had a great bus ride up.



Once almost there, the bus driver pulls over to the side and tells us a story about the town. One, marijuana is illegal in Australia, however for some strange reason, this town is mostly left alone when it comes to selling the stuff, secondly, don't be an idiot and you'll be ok.

My curiosity was, how can marijuana be illegal yet a town like this be able to grow and sell the stuff. The answer...they still have police who come raid and search the town, but since this place is in the middle of no where, it's pretty much left alone.

Finally there I realized it was only one street, and there were millions of posters of anything to do with marijuana. Bob Marley's face blanketed most shops. Psychedelic glass and lava lights were to be sold, also snack shops...were a plenty.



It's quite humerous just walking down the street, taking pictures and just having a look at this place. Definitely somewhere I'd never want to be...or live.

After the town, the bus driver brought us to a rain forest, where we all went on a rainforest walk. Because of the fresh rain, there were numerous leeches and many of the girls in the group were very scared. (I thought that jumping up on rocks or benches were only things you saw in the movies...guess not)

Once finished the jungle trek, it was time for the outdoor Barbeque. Here we all sat around the fire, shared stories and ate our food.



After eating as much food as possible, it was off to a waterfall, where you could swim, jump and just relax. Unfortunately, it started raining once again.

All in all, I absolutely loved Byron Bay. Quaint little town on the beach great for surfing, and I guess scuba diving as well. Next up...Coffs Harbour