Blogs from Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

Byron Bay. Where to start.Here is what the Lonely Planet has to say about it: “Byron Bay’s reputation precedes it like no other place in Australia. It’s a gorgeous town where the trademark laid-back, New Age populace lives an escapist, organic lifestyle against a backdrop of evergreen hinterland and never-ending surfable coastline. With such a heady high rap in mind, the pitfall lies in arriving in this utopia along with every other backpacker on the coast, and wondering what all the fuss is about. Never fear, the sensation doesn’t last long. Byron’s unique vibe has a way of converting even the most cynical with its long days, balmy weather, endless beaches, delightful accommodation, delectable food, delirious nightlife, ambling milieu and ... read more

We took an overnight bus to get to Byron Bay which wasn't too bad we both managed to get some sleep. We stayed at Aquarius which was such a good hostel it was really social with stuff on every night and also we got free dinner every night which saves us so much money. We met some of the nicest girls in our room Brittany, Jen, Sophie & Claire (who is from Melton Mowbray ). We went out with them on our first night in our hostel where they had karaoke, they offered anyone who did it on their own a free drink so loads of people had a go and they were awful but very entertaining haha!!! The hostel did a cocktail called Jungle Juice which is Goon (cheap cheap wine) based. We then went ... read more

Arrived in Byron Bay on Sunday. We got to our hostel Holiday Village quite late and just wanted to go straight to sleep. We arrived with a girl called Jodie who had also been at Spot X and travelled on the same bus as us. In our room was an American guy who seemed really funny at first but was having drinks with two girls (who weren't actually staying in our room) in our room. They stayed for ages pre-drinking before they would go out, and he clearly loved to be the centre of attention entertaining everyone. But my amusement soon wore off as he would not shut up and they contemplated staying in even though they could see the rest of us were trying to sleep! Thankfully they all eventually went out and he didn't ... read more

Hei alle sammen! Da har me vært i Australia i 5 dager. Har sett litt av å fantastiske Sydney har å tilby – blant annet har vi besøkt Sydney Aquarium, Operahuset, Chinatown, og vært oppe i et høyt tårn der me så utover heile byen, me har også bruka ein del for mykje penger på klær og unyttige ting og fått sola oss litt på Coogee beach! Det var ei veldig fin strand som lå ca. 15 min. me buss fra byen, men her var det mykje mindre folk og større plass – vel verdt det! Ellers har me vært sosiale og treft mange kjentfolk. På kveldane spiste med på noen av de koselig(og dyre!) restaurantane ved Darling Harbour, og på laurdagen reiste me ut i Sydney - blei ein stor gjeng tilslutt! Jaja.. Spør ikkje ... read more

hello!! Well we've managed to locate free internet so here goes a massive belated blog update! After my last one we headed up to the blue mountains in our vw camper! We picked her up in a suburb called Dee Why which meant once we were in packed up and ready for our road trip we headed blindly back into Syndey over Harbour Bridge which was a) terrifying because at this point paul had only been driving for about 20mins and we still didn't know when/if she was going to conk out on the side of the road, but b) amazing because the views from the bridge are pretty nice! So armed with no road map and only the knowledge that we needed to be west of Sydney to get on the Great Western Highway into ... read more

Saturday 17th March Happy Paddy’s day. Top ‘o ‘th’ morning to ya. Shamrock. Guinness. Toothless simpletons. People with eyebrows on their cheeks (credit A.P.). Other Irish things. I woke up with my passport lost. I found it eventually, but where that was was very sandy, which suggests where I must’ve been the night before, esp. as I was sandy also. The evidence (i.e. the sand) mounted. Lunch with northern Dave. One of the best Pad Thai I ever had. Unfort. I can’t recall where that was but take it from me; you can get a great Pad Thai in Byron Bay, somewhere... Met up with everyone from the hostel on the beach for Paddy’s day celebrations – more green punch – mmm! (This time with extra sand.) There was a group of the drunkest Dublin boggers ... read more

Byron Bay. A beach, some clubs, pubs, shops and hostels, and only beautiful people (except for the Brits, of course). I checked into the Hostel with the typically a-bit-too-cheery staff. “Oh no” I thought. Wisely booked into a mixed dorm which normally has a majority of girls in, strangely. Much better as they smell less. 10 beds, 8 girls – a good smell to non-smell ratio. For some reason the place was awash with Swedish, then Germans (although Germans are ALWAYS EVERYWHERE YOU GO, god bless’em), then Yankees, Canadians, Brits, Dutch, Danes, the occasional French or Italian (though rare). But I’ve said it before and I’ll do so again – it’s brilliant to be a native English speaker cos den THEY have to speak MY language and I can be all lazy and stoopid with no ... read more

Australia – Byron Bay – The surfers dream and I was too lazy to carry a board to the beach! I need to have a word with myself…… As a fully qualified surfer the only natural thing to do was to make my way to Byron Bay so that’s exactly what I did. Sadly the buses air conditioning had broken by the time it got to my pick up point and the bus was displaying an internal temperature of 35 degrees, it was going to be an uncomfortable four hours not to mention a sweaty four hours. Well it was pretty much like a sauna for the duration of the trip but it was still great to be in the world renowned Byron Bay even if a little sticky. I arrived at the hostel around 8pm ... read more