bragging byron

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Crystal Castle - Byron Bay

*long, slow, deep breath out*

A special little world, on the top of a hill just out of Mullum, lies Crystal Castle. Buddha statues and crystals of all shapes, sizes, colours & energies create a space in which I could have spent even more hours.
Yay for Byron! with M, my first travel passenger after all this time. Dude! Pretty overwhelming for a small town! After a lot of aloneness and quiet spaces it’s a little too much anyway… let’s ease into it when things are a bit more settled in my brain…
Lost my car keys rrrgh - in the supermarket so I thought. Lucky I have a spare. LPG 65c/L here blurgh! At least it’s cheaper than petrol still eh.
Tis all networking and word of mouth here in these shires, I love it! A bigger sense of community. If I were a backpacker, the Arts Factory is THE spot for sure. Plenty of surfies and trendies but there’s a tent camping zone for less $ with hundreds of friendly internationals - it’s great! Word out for Thursday evenings is The Seventh Day Adventist church offers free dinner. And then there's Hari Krishna night too :)

November 25th
Byron Bay > Coorabel lookout
I made a little blue wren friend this morning :) For an hour he circled me as together we enjoyed the sweet soft tunes of Chamras Saewataporn. Now it rains again….on and on for the past few days since I arrived in the shire. And not one rainbow seen in the region yet …Found my car keys! And it clears :)
Full tummy of yummy breakfast and again I am reminded how it is all in the mind. I have my keys, I have my health, I have myself and I need not let stuff overwhelm me. It’s all a matter of perspective and today I choose to take the light & easy pack *relaxed sigh*

November 26th
I found Gondwana! Within the alternative scene the Byron Shire is well known for it’s alternative and sanyassin communities. They had to be somewhere but where to start in a predominantly surfie tourist town? Plenty of topless boys and bikini clad girlies about. Boring really, with too much scattered gotta-get-drunk energy.

November 27th
Bangalow Markets. The rainbow region is quite well known for their alternative markets, a travelling affair between the various localities. Drumming circle was crazy! Mackie Markets x 100! Abundant energy dances on and on despite the onset of torrential rain! Saturated on a soggy Sunday :) Beautiful connection with new girlfriend. Spontaneity is appreciated here! Yay!! Cooked dinner for new friends and lovely evening was shared.

November 28th
More relaxing. Tis great to allow myself to just be for a change. Yet I notice how difficult this is! Not much else to do when weather is as is. One could be forgiven for thinking it monsoon season here, seemingly reliable raintime in the evenings... but damn! the schoolies are here in their drones - it's unbelievable! They've taken over the supermarket! They've taken over the email! They've taken over the shops! And not to mention the gutters at 2am after nightclubs get tired... whoah.

November 29th
Wow what a blessed day. Bhajans & more, open my world again. Reminding me of India and my free spirit, my desire to be bigger than I am, to give love, to be love. It strikes me just how blessed I am and in the moment I am totally moved. A birthday party like no other to top the eve off... sweetly sung lyrical kirtans and a delicious hot tub to boot, mmm... I love these moments… what stops me from living this always? People really are different in these parts, not your average city birthday party I tell you! Conversations about sonic healing and the wonder of sound energy had me just in awe of the inspiration of these friends - all magnificent!

November 30th
A lazy day beginning with my new nudie freshen-up routine :) Communal dinner at Gondwana brings out many from the woodwork… In fact Byron’s general area is such that of a networking basis that many local church’s communal offerings are a lovely opportunity to socialise and meet new people, a real blessing. And there are several throughout the week. The Seventh Day Adventist offering is especially offered with love and they are vegetarians too! Perhaps it's the opportunity to 'educate' the young tourists whilst on holiday... or not. Either way, the community environment here in Byron is astounding and puts our sleepy ol' Adelaide to shame.

December 1st
The most Eastern point of the Australian mainland - Byron Bay Lighthouse. Just gorgeous views, even without the whales hehe (watching season over as the giant mammals have migrated south by now, but why let that spoil the tourists as the take happy snaps of the water breaking around the rocks in shallow waters hehe)

Another lazy day and another party at Gondwana.

Beginning an "awareness intensive" retreat at 'Samaya' tomorrow, a 3 day weekend set in a beautiful sanyassin farm property in the middle of a forrest (of course), really looking forward to it.

(net connection has been limited but will add some pics and more details asap)

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