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Published: January 21st 2006
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Bald Rock
...almost at the top... Aborigines
A memorial for them
Really makes you think.
Cardinal rule #1 broken by the driver. He told the group we would be leaving at 8AM...ready to go at 8:30. So of course the whole group hears 8:30. Me, not one to like waiting for the bathroom was up and washed first so when Sparrow, our driver, came through to wake up the "possums" I was the only one awake. Oh well. Another lazy and leisurely breakfast for me! 😊
The day was a pretty long day of driving with a few breaks to stretch the legs and see a few things too. Our first stop was to see an Aborigine memorial. I believe there were several Aborigines savagely murdered and one of the largest trials in Australian history took place to prosecute the murderers. It is really sad the way we treat one another...not just in the past but present day as well. Really makes you think about things and how we treat one another.
Lunch was once again in a small sleepy town. Once again I'm surprised by the number of cafes lining the streets. Our driver suggested picking up lunch at the Famous Pie Shop but as per usual I had a lot of snacks beforehand on the bus and wasn't all that hungry. But I did indulge in the most scrumptious ice coffees I’ve ever tasted and it was topped with ice cream and a huge mound of whipping cream as well. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
Our afternoon break was at Bald Rock, Australia's largest granite rock and cousin to the famous Australian monolith, Uluru. the views from the top were awesome. Looking down at all of the trees was cool and the walk was only 1.2 km. Mind you it was a steep 1.2 km! So quite a workout - perhaps I burned off some of that whipped cream. 😊 We crossed paths with this one couple, a Causasian male and a Thai female. We chatted for a bit before he asked me if I was Thai. Perhaps I am Thai after all because even outside of Thailand people think I'm Thai. LOL Must be a sign for me to go back to Thailand. I wouldn't mind checking out some of the beaches. 😊
At Bald Rock we met the south bound bus. Now the driver of that bus was older and kinda larger and in my opinion a bit scary. We were joking that if we had her as a driver nobody would ever be late for anything. lol The group going south seemed pretty small especially in comparison to our group of 23. After our little climb up Bald Rock, we continued our drive to Byron Bay, a cool beach town.
Oz takes passengers to the Holiday Village Backpackers Hostel to stay so everyone but myself and Nicola stayed there. We had booked ahead of time to stay at the YHA which turned out to be a good decision. $4 cheaper. Nicer bathroom facilities with showers, nicer kitchen, free use of bikes and boogie boards. Plus there are only five of us to a room.
We all made plans to go to the Cheeky Monkey for a night of drinking and dancing. You could order food from there as well if you wanted. Nicola and I decided to eat elsewhere thinking the food at the Cheeky Monkey likely wouldn't be the best (we were correct!) and found a great place serving up curries, sate and a few other Asian delights. We got to the Cheeky monkey about half an hour after the set meeting time and still we were the first two there other than our driver Sean who was eating dinner already. Guess the young ones were getting all gussied up. Plus they all probably had to wait for the shower. lol
There were a few games and giveaways like who can play the Didgeridoo the best, swapping clothes (Helen went up to participate in this one and then all of a sudden screams out...I can't do this...I have no underwear on! She must have said this at least a half dozen times. Too funny. Now I wonder how many guys tried to pull her pants down later on that night??) and the first one to give their bra away wins something game. Ryan and Amy from our group were real keeners and tried to win something so badly so many times but alas they were unsuccessful every time. In my opinion I think they just really like the attention...
By 9PM it was time for the dancing to begin. The tabletops became the dance floor! The tables were really long picnic benches with stainless steel grooved tops. I thought they were going to push the tables together but they didn't! I still can't believe we danced for 5+ hours. Some stayed til closing at 3AM and danced even longer! As you can probably imagine, there was a lot of excessive drinking going on and to accompany that a lot of smoking too. So as you can also probably imagine, there was a bit of beer spilling everywhere. At around 1:30 a fight broke out not too far from me. One of the guys in the fight was knocked down and in turn knocked down George (the loud, pink shirt wearing gregarious, happy chap from our bus) who in turn knocked me down because I was standing/dancing behind him on the bench. Luckily I wasn't hurt at all. Just knocked to my butt on to the table top. Eww! It's sticky! Meanwhile the guys in the "altercation" were dragged off outside. When Nicola and I left the club about a half hour later the police were still outside trying to get everybody's stories straight.
On the way back to our hostel we saw John on the street looking really disoriented. Obviously had too much to drink and I'm guessing he took some sort of pills too. I only say that because he said he was into drugs quite heavily back home. He started telling us that he regrets joining the Oz bus and he isn't enjoying himself and misses Thailand and is not enjoying himself one bit in Australia. Then he asked us to help him find his hostel. It was directly across from the Cheeky Moneky but he misjudged by about half a block and had walked in the wrong direction and was in the median looking really, really lost.
All in all I had a fun evening but there were moments throughout the night where I felt a bit "older" and outta place.
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