Byron Bay!

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I have uploaded photos on facebook.

I have spent the last week at the beach - Byron Bay! Planned to leave tuesday and am making myself leave thursday - only 3 weeks left now! I love it here, beautiful white sand blue sea beaches, quirky town, friendly people and lots of FUN!

I am staying at a hostel (by Tom's reccomendation) that is literally on the beach! I arrived last wednesday morning (came on the overnight bus from Sydney), I booked on some surf lessons lying on the beach reading my book yessssss!! Although no one brought me any cocktails which was slightly disappointing 😉. In the evening we had a BBQ at the hostel (I am definately in Australia), but I didn'y have a wild night, very tired after the bus the night before, so I checked my bed for spiders and went to sleep.

Thursday was my first surf lesson, they took us to Flat Rock which is just on from Lennox Head (apparently Jack Johnson lives there). It was interesting - the weather was terrible - wet and windy! but still good fun and I managed to stand up (once). In the evening I went with Fairlie and Jess (from Melbourne) to the Byron Bay Brewery to try some local brews - I drink Beer now, who knew!

Friday my second surf lesson, beautiful sunshine, got in the water and after about 10 minutes, a massive shark came along and tried to eat my surf board! I was fending it off when a huge wave came and took the surf board (which I was still holding) bending my thumb right back - ouch!! (Ok so that story is true except for the shark bit, but it does sound more exciting and there were actually wales far far out). Thankfully for me, one of the other learners was a physio so he had a look and said it was just a sprain, so the instructor strapped it up and I got back in the water! It was great I was standing up left, right and centre and some times staying up - mostly on the centre! But the pain became to much to bear so I had to go and sit on the beach and watch the others. The kind physio man strapped my thumb up properly after the lesson and told me to give it a days rest. Feeling very sorry for myself (and unable to cook) I went to the beach hotel with Fairlie and Jess for dinner and we watched a band , was fun.

Saturday, was my day of rest, it was pouring down with rain, but by lunch time it cleared enough for me to walk to the lighthouse with Jordan and Chrissie. It was a gorgeous walk along the beach, so beautiful, with dolphins in the sea. The view from the light house was amazing. However, my thumb had swollen up loads and my hand had begun to go a purply-blue colour hmmmmm. I decided it would probably be best to get it checked out, so off I went to the hospital, thinking what a hassle it was going to be with insurance etc the nurse decided I needed an X-ray and because I'm from England it was FREE!!!! Amazing! Very happy about that and thumb not broken so good all round! That evening I had my first taste of Goon (cheap boxed wine) and my first visit to Cheeky Monkeys - Byron Bays infamous night club. When we got there, 10 guys were on the stage taking off their clothes in a bid to win votes!! Yes, this is the kind of thing that goes on at cheeky monkeys! After that the musics came on, so we all got up on the tables to dance - being a seasoned Dartmoorer this came quite naturally to me, so all was good. Quick stop at the 23hr bakery on the way home (that pie made me feel quite ill in the morning).

Sunday I was able to surf again, yay! and my thumb didn't really hurt. Before we got in the water we saw Dolphins where the waves were braking! Today was great I caught lots of waves, small, broken ones, but still was great fun. Early night!

Monday, surfing again - even better than yesterday whoop! Even caught a couple of green waves lol. Experienced Cheeky Monkeys again in the evening, always funny it seems.

Tuesday, last day surfing and actually not as good today 😞, it was fairly brutal though trying to get out to the waves, at the end of the day I felt like I'd been beaten up, but still good fun, I do love the sea. Ended the the day with a nice game of Scattergories, very tame.

I am writing this on Wednesday, no surfing today. I have been exploring Byron Bay town, in the rain, never mind. Its such a great place, I will be very sorry to leave. But exciting times to be had, am meeting Lauren (my Canadian friend I met in New Zealand) at the weekend so am really looking forward to that. Tonight I must confess the plan is Goon and Cheeky Monkeys for the third and final time (its the food though Mum, alway the food). Apologies now for the phone calls/messages (you know you love it really
) . . .

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