Australia - Byron Bay

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We arrived in Byron Bay at 12.30pm on Wednesday 16 May and checked into an apartment at Holiday Village. We walked down to the beach and then looked around the local area. When we returned to our apartment, we met the other 6 housemates (Rich, Dan, Ian, Matt, Alex, Kev) and we chatted to them all afternoon. At 6pm, we went to our hostel BBQ and started drinking with the other 50+ people that were there. At 9.30pm, after a lot of beer and cocktails of wine, vodka and orange, we went across the street to a bar called Chunky Monkey's. It wasn't long before people were dancing on the tables with everyone very merry. At closing time at 3am, a few of us went down to the beach for a while (including Alex in his speedo's). On Thursday, we got up at midday with splitting headaches and by 1pm, I was lying on the beach half asleep. All 8 people in the apartment stayed in on Thursday evening so we sat up to the early hours of the morning just chatting. On Friday morning, the other 6 guys checked out so Ian and I had the place to ourselves for a while. The weather wasn't great on Friday so we got mountain bikes from the hostel and cycled around for a few hours. Our first stop was the lighthouse which is at the most easterly point of the Australian mainland. As we looked out at the waves crashing against the rocks, we saw a school of dolphins slowly cruising through the sea and showing of some jumps. We then coasted down the road and cycled around the outskirts of Byron Bay before heading back to town. After both getting a haircut, we spent a couple of hours on the internet. When we returned to the apartment, 4 new guests had arrived (2 Australian guys and 2 Belgian girls). After cooking pasta - the first meal either of us had made on our travels - the 6 of us started drinking in the apartment. At 10.30pm, we all crossed the street and went to Cheeky Monkey's again. We had good intentions to try other bars but before we knew it, it was 3am and time to go home. I got to sleep at 5.30am and after 5 hours sleep, we went to the beach for the day. After sunset, we took a short stroll along the beach before returning to the apartment. On Saturday night, we stayed in and watched the FA Cup Final on TV. We got to sleep at 4am and woke up at 8am to check out and catch our bus to Surfer's Paradise.

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