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Karen & Byron Bay Beach
Karen on the beach (the Lighthouse is in the background on the Cape). .....Well, we didn't actually sleep very well on the coach at all - 12 1/2 hours overnight from Newcastle to Byron Bay - so we arrived in Byron at 8.30am really VERY tired!!! (Wednesday 17th May).
We had booked into the YHA so, despite it only being a 5-10 minute walk, they picked us up from the coach drop-off (better than walking with our rucksacks!) We were given a loft room which was quite cool so, even though we were still in a dorm, we had the loft space to ourselves.
We spent the next couple of days exploring Byron Bay - walking along the lovely beach etc. It was a great place - one of favourites in Oz so far. It was really cool and chilled out.
Even though we had the loft room we were rudely reminded that we were still in a dorm by two people who came in at 4am shouting and talking really loud. They did the same on the 2nd night so Jamie told them to "shut-up....please!" and then I think they hated us!!! Luckily they left the next day!
On the Friday (19th May) we went on a day-trip to
Nimbin with 'Jim's Alternative Tours'. The whole day was hilarious from start to finish. The tour is on a small bus that was full of intrigued tourists (like us!) Jim did a commentary on the way to Nimbin and the whole thing was set to music - great music at that - and it all fitted perfectly with the particular story he was telling/place that we were driving through at the time!
Nimbin is a 'hippy hangout'. Its a really small town that started years ago by having a music festival and drugs flowed freely, now it is known as the 'Stoner' capital of Australia. All the buildings were decorated in true hippy style and, much to our amusement, even the Chemist was. There is a Nimbin Museum (which is tiny but full of stoner info) and a Hemp Embassy!!!
We had a couple of hours to wander around the town and take it all in! We visited the Museum and a few of the shops. People are literally approaching you every minute that you are walking down the street offering you their 'stuff'!!! Old ladies were selling cookies which was funny (they bake them themselves!!!) There were
Karen & Jamie Nimbin Museum
Aboriginal Creation picture in the background. some 'wacky' characters about.
After Nimbin, the tour took us to Paul's place. He's an eccentric New Yorker who moved out to Australia about 30 years ago and settled in the middle of nowhere. He brought some land and now owns miles of it. He planted loads and loads of trees and now has his own rainforest and hundreds of varieties of trees. He lives in a glorified hut by the lake on his grounds. We were all able to 'hang out' there and taste the local fruit and Macadamia Nuts. He did take people on a guided walk around his land for a while but we weren't brave enough to go! We knew we had made the right decision when we heard most of the group screaming because of the leeches!!! People came back with a few leeches 'sucking' on them - nice!!! What amazed us was how tiny they were and hard to spot at first. We have only ever seen them on the movies and assumed that they are that fat to begin with (a.k.a Stand By Me!!!)
After the weird world of Paul, Jim took us back a different way to Byron and stopped
Hemp Embassy
Karen outside the Hemp Embassy, Nimbin. at a beautiful waterfall to admire the view.
We spent the next couple of days in Byron relaxing etc. It was raining at some point each day so we would walk on the beach, or sunbathe, in between showers!!! On the Saturday evening we started to walk to the Lighthouse at Cape Byron to watch the sunset. It was further than we thought though so we didn't make it and, instead, watched the stunning sunset from the far-end of the beach. On the Sunday we dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am and walked up to the Lighthouse. This time we made it and sat up on the cliffside (freezing!) watching the most amazing sunrise ever!!! It was fabulous and we are so glad that we did it. We had Jamie's MP3 player so, fittingly, we played "Here Comes the Sun" by George Harrison as the Sun came up proper. We were there for about 1 hour in total. On the way back to the town we walked down the cliff way to the beach (instead of the road way we had walked there). We were at the most eastern point of the Australian mainland!!! The walk down had
Eccentric Paul's "Art"!!!
There were various 'art' displays like this one on Paul's property!!! some great views. Then we walked across the beach and it was still only 7.30am so we felt very proud of ourselves!!!
On the Monday (22nd May) we got the coach from Byron to Surfers Paradise. It only took a couple of hours this time! We were picked up from the bus station by our hostel in a stretched limo!!! (It was a very old one!) The hostel was good as it was small and set out like proper holiday apartments are (it made a nice change). Again, we spent the first day exploring the place and looking round the shops (which is pretty much what Surfers Paradise was all about - shopping and eating out). Its not very good for backpackers on a budget! We were feeling a little glum so we cheered ourselves up with a steak at the Hard Rock Cafe!!! (Such a treat!!!)
On the Tuesday we went to one of the theme parks that Surfers' is also good for - Movieworld. We had a great day - proper 'cheesefest'. Its Warner Bros. so its like Disneyworld etc but just movies. There was a fantastic Superman rollercoaster that launched you from 0 - 100
Sunset at Byron Bay
Sunset from the beach (didn't make it upto the Lighthouse!!!) MPH in about 2 seconds. VERY scary - Karen laughed the whole way round while, I (Jamie) wasn't so sure - I'm getting scared of rollercoasters in my old age!!! We went on it 4 times in a row!!! We went on most of the other rides. They had a Shrek 4D show which was fab! We basically spent the whole day like big kids!!! We watched the Movie Parade in the afternoon and saw all the stars in real life too (including Bugs Bunny!!!) We spent the evening drinking with some very funny German guys - Max & Rudi - who were in our 'apartment' - very nice chaps!!!
On the Wednesday we got the coach to Brisbane. We were staying in another YHA so we settled in and explored the city centre (becoming a habit!!!) On the Thursday we wnet to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It was really good - we wandered round looking at all the different animals. There was an Olive Python on display which we stopped to stroke! Then we saw koalas, snakes, crocs, emus, kangaroos. The kangaroos were great because you got to go in the field with them so you could
Byron Bay Lighthouse
Great for watching the Sunrise from!!! go right up close to them. You could actually feed them but we were stingey and didn't buy any food!!! On our way out of the Sanctuary we were really lucky and got to see the first koala to be born at the Sanctuary (it's still a new-born baby) come out of its mothers' pouch - it was so cute!!!
The rest of our time in Brisbane was spent walking round the city - we really liked it, especially walking by the river at night-time.
On Saturday we left Brisbane and went to Noosa. It was a really nice small town (similiar to Byron Bay) but not quite as 'hippy' (it had a more upmarket feel!) We stayed at the YHA there again and it was lovely - it was a lodge (Halse Lodge) so it was really 'cosy'!
We enjoyed our time in Noosa. We walked to the National Park and did the coastal walk. At the end of the coast line (on the headland) there were amazing views - we could even see Surfers Paradise in the far distance! Jamie saw a dolphin in the sea (just past Dolphin Point on the walk) but I
Glorious Sunrise!!!
Beautiful sunrise from the Lighthouse. didn't manage to spot it! We saw a Koala in one of the trees too.
We left Noosa on the Monday afternoon (29th May) and caught the coach to Hervey Bay (the length of the journeys has slowly been creeping back up!) This time it was 5 hours!
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