Byron Bay & Nimbin, Australia, February 2014

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The bus arrived in Byron Bay early in the morning so we walked the 10 minutes to our hostel, Backpackers Inn. The hostel appealed to me straight away, it had a large social area, hammocks, volley ball net, swimming pool and you were actually allowed to drink your own alcohol (a huge rarity in Australia)! There was also a small path at the back of the garden which led straight to the beach in less than a minute and the beach was really nice. We finally checked into our room and met two Essex girls called Laura and Amy who both seemed like they had decent banter which is a massive bonus when you have to share a room with people all the time. We sorted our stuff out and then all jumped in the pool and played a bit of head tennis and volleyball then chilled out down the beach and in the sea. Me and Freeman had agreed we 100% wouldn't go out that night but when the girls found out we hadn't yet had any goon, they gave us no choice and we all drank goon and played cards at the hostel. It was rammed with an open mic which was quality, it just goes to show how much better hostels are when they let you drink, we are all travellers and will drink anyway even if we are not allowed so everyone ends up hiding in the room rather than socialising. We played cards and drinking games and then headed out to Woody's Bar and then Cheeky Monkeys. As I showed the bouncer my ID he asked how many I'd had (a common occurrence in Australia) so I said a few and he told me to come back in half an hour. Freeman an the girls went in anyway so I nipped across the road and sat chatting to a couple of girls to kill my half an hour. I went back again and politely asked if I could go in and he was completely fine with me and explained that by going back half an hour later I had proved I wasn't as drunk as he thought, pretty random but whatever, I was in! I walked around the bar and finally spotted them all up on the podium and when they saw me we all celebrated, got the drinks in and had a messy night, throwing shapes up on the podiums. We ended up not getting home until around 4am, another great night out!
In the morning the girls woke us up to say bye as they were heading further north that day. We went back to bed and when we finally got up around midday we headed out to a little Mexican place and got some tasty burritos. For the rest of the day we just had a stroll around the town and had a walk along the beach. We had a swim and then chilled out in the room as we were still pretty hungover. We were so tired and had a tour booked for the next day so we just cooked some pasta and sauce, a random girl even gave me some cheese proving how travellers all just look out for each other and then we had an early night.
We woke up feeling fresh for a change in the morning so we cooked breakfast and walked down to the bus stop for our tour to the infamous Nimbin, a random hippy druggy town in the middle of nowhere. It was red hot on the bus which was only made worse when we had to keep going backwards and forwards to pick everyone up. When we finally set off properly our driver introduced himself and he was an absolute legend, he was giving everyone advice that if they wanted to take drugs how much they should take and said obviously it's illegal but to just be careful and enjoy yourself. There was a loud group of Irish girls and he warned them to be careful as he had seen people twice their size come back in bits. We finally arrived in Nimbin and straight away it was a completely different world. Everyone was hippy with dreadlocks and looked a complete mess, as if they had aged at least 10 years older than they actually were. We wandered down an alley and were offered weed, the guy had the biggest bag I had ever seen! We then walked up the Main Street which is tiny and then back down the opposite side of the road and on this short 15 minute walk we had been offered weed, acid and mushrooms, along with weed cookies. What makes it all the more unbelievable is the fact that there is a police station at the end of the small street and everywhere else in Oz is very strict on drugs. Obviously we didn't actually buy anything and instead strolled around the tiny hippy museum which has loads of quotes about freedom and how god wouldn't have put drugs on the earth if he didn't want u to have them. It is by far the strangest place I have ever been. We sat waiting for the bus and two girls ran past, followed by a guy who stumbled down completely off his face, if that's what these drugs do you I am extremely glad we decided against it. Back on the bus we drove up to a beautiful park with a huge lake and had a really good BBQ. We were joined at our BBQ by a giant lizard that strolled around causing the group to do constant Mexican waves of jumping up onto the tables, I found it quite funny! Back on the bus to Byron Bay the Irish girls had eaten some cookies and had the giggles so spent the journey back in hysterical laughter and another girl was getting paranoid and scared so the driver gave her some water and reassured her that she would be fine, everyone else seemed OK and not everyone had actually done stuff. We chilled out back at the hostel, had some pre drinks and headed out but the queue for Woody's was huge so we went to Cheeky Monkeys and it was dead in there. After a couple we went back to Woody's but the queue was now even bigger so we sacked it off and headed back to the hostel to bed.
Byron Bay has been my favourite place in Australia so far, it has a great vibe about the place, a nice beach, good weather, our hostel was amazing and the night life was really good too, I would most definitely visit again!

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