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Published: November 17th 2013
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Ian would have loved to have done our travels in this!
I said, where would the suitcases go! It was part of a set of vans but obviously the Alice one was special!! So leisurely start today as we were back travelling under our own steam. Plan was to visit Byron bay lighthouse and the most easterly point in Australia. According to Ian and the lonely planet guide it's only a 30 minute walk from the town so we decided to leave the car at the guesthouse and use shanks pony. First stop was the bakery. Yum, they had the cheese and vegemite rolls we had discovered in Uluru. So breakfast on the beach watching the surfers although as a party town there weren't that many there on a Saturday morning at 9.30! As I sat there you could see the lighthouse in the distance, and I mean distance....... At this point I queried my old mans reading of the book. Not a good idea. Anyway we headed off down the beach. After about 10 mins I decided to pull rank and suggested that:
A) it was a very not sticky day and it was definitely an uphill climb coming up
B) it definitely looked longer than 30 mins and we had to walk back again and finally
C) we had HIRED A BL***Y CAR!
So we walked back to
town, back to the guesthouse and picked up the car. This was my best idea as it definitely would have taken us more than 30 mins. Once you get to the lighthouse there are not many spaces to park, however the gods were shining on us, as just as we got there a camper van pulled out and so we grabbed the space.
Once you have walked around the lighthouse and the keepers cottage (there are two assistant cottages which are available for holiday lets) then there are a couple of walks - one is through the rainforest and one is around the coast. We opted for the costal walk. I have noticed that quite often they inform you how far the walk is, but they never tell you how many steps. Well on this walk we probably only made the first 3/4km but that involved around 300 steps down. And as they were not circular walks it also involved 300 steps back up!
However it was worth the sweat and puff as the scenery and the sea was really dramatic. Once we got to the easterly point I shouted to Ian - "is that big fish down
Can you even see the lighthouse!
Thirty minute walk - in whose dreams! there?" Embarrassingly it was a pod of dolphins, probably 15ish, swimming around the point. We spent ages trying to catch them on camera for you all but failed miserably (at least I did on my iPhone, think Ian got some) Very tricky you know. We carried on walking to the small wategos beach and then turned around so didn't get to captains cooks lookout. But I think by then it was flat!!
So a climb back up, quick cold drink to recover and then off to look around the wider area. We headed off to a town called Bangalow, which was recommended in the book. And as luck would have it, it was the day of the Bangalow show. So we thought, have a quick bite to eat and then check out real Australian entertainment. Unfortunately just as we finished a really nice lunch, it started to chuck it down so instead we decided to head home! Well it was the Byron Bay artisan market that night so we thought we would do that instead. Little did we know........
So back to the room and a decision to head out early for drinks, dinner and the market. As
luck would have it I was my normal late self (as well as feeling a bit sorry for myself as I had managed to burn my arm during the day) so we went to leave about 5 minutes later than planned. At this point I should point out that by the time we had got back to Byron bay, the sun was back out and Ian had been relaxing on the verandah of our room in glorious sunshine.
So we lock up and as we head out I say "oh, that's a bit of a black cloud, do you think we should give it 5 mins to see if it's going to rain" when suddenly out of nowhere we are in a storm like neither of us have ever seen before. It probably only lasted 10 mins but in that time we had hailstorms the size of golf balls, winds that were making the trees nearly horizontal and raindrops that soaked you in one. So glad we were only 10m from our door so could rush back in. Those hailstones really hurt when they hit you!
Really scary! I've taken a couple of pictures but they probably don't
paint the full impact. The hire car didn't come off too well - every panel has got dents. Looks like orange peel!
Now those people reading this blog that know us will know that we have a tendency to get unseasonal weather when we go away. Too cold in Las Vegas but too hot in San Francisco. Unbearable in Egypt when we tried to go when it would be cooler for our cultural tours of the pyramids etc..... So we did come on this trip with a view that we couldn't necessarily assume that the beach bit would be warmer and the Melbourne/NZ bit would be cool. However I think even we weren't expecting this! We obviously assumed this was normal as well until all the locals informed us that they had never seen anything like it before and it made the main headlines!!
But an hour and a half later, we braved it out through the fallen branches and flooded streets. Unfortunately many of the restaurants were closed which seemed strange for a Saturday night. Not sure if this was the storm effect or because it was schoolies week big night out. Schoolies is like the U.K.
Also self explanatory
But Ian thought you needed the mime! version of Newquay but for their end of school kids (17 year olds). So maybe that's why I'm feeling a bit too old for Byron bay. The storm certainly wasn't stopping the party! Although flip flops seem to have been replaced with bare feet...... And in some case killer heels but not sure how that worked on the sloppy streets.
We ate in a restaurant called Byron Bay Fresh. Again a really nice meal, I've been really impressed with the quality of the food we have had during our trip. Interestingly during our visit to Byron bay I don't think we have had one Australian waitress! American, Irish, English.......
However the storm put a damper on the market (or at least our desire to go) and in the end we headed back to bed as I persuaded Ian that we are too old to queue to get into nightclubs and that the point you don't need ID is the point you should give up!
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