Byron Bay

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Friday 18th December

You'll be glad to find this a short blog by my standards. Due to bad weather and a slow down in activities there's not much to write about for the next week or so. Never mind heres a wee read up on what we did on our way to visit Byron Bay.

We left Rainbow beach and travelled south towards Brisbane via Noosa where Fabrizio and Anna would be leaving us. We hope to meet up with them later on in the year and we'll miss them that's for sure.

The weathers utter crap and its on the radio that most of Queensland is flooding and its the wettest end to spring since records began. Lucky us!
After Noosa we travelled on Southwards passing Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise on the way down to Brisbane. We're coming back up the way after Byron so we'll visit these places next week.
We arrive at Brisbane and check into the splendid YHA there which is by far the best hostel we've ever stayed at although we once again are staying in separate dorms due to our mistake of not checking in properly when booking on line. Its no big deal as its just a bed for the night before we head off to Byron Bay in the morning, your probably thinking why not head straight down to Byron Bay? Well its getting into high season and trying to get accommodation in Byron Bay was tough at short notice so we opted to break the journey up and stay in Brisbane for one night.

Saturday 18th December

Its only a couple of hours down the road to Byron Bay (pop 4995) and into New South Wales which is one hour ahead due to daylight savings.
We are now in Byron Bay which is the nucleus of Byron Shire, which has in excess of 28,000 residents.
European history began in 1770, when Captain James Cook found a safe anchorage and named Cape Byron after John Byron, who had circumnavigated the world and who was later the grandfather of English poet Lord Byron. In the 1880s, when Europeans settled more permanently, streets were named for other English writers and philosophers which became apparent as we walked around later on in the week.

We have checked into the yha for three nights and as we open our dorm door we are horrified at our room. They guys that have been staying in this room have made it there own as they work in Byron and have been here a while. There's no room to put our bags and there's empty bottles and dirty clothes all over the place. So its back down to reception and we are soon upgraded to a double private room at the dorm price for the first two nights. Had we been only stopping over for a night we maybe would've suffered it, maybe!
Its nearly 8pm by the time we get settled in so we eat and chill out for the night.

Sunday 19th December

The weather really is rubbish today as its raining heavy and its relentless so we duck and dive in and out the showers as we head to the internet cafe to catch up on blogs, emails and upload stuff. Not much we can do today so we head home a bit miserable. As we arrived at the hostel we bumped into Katie whom we met on the Whitsunday tour and also we seen her at rainbow beach so we arrange to go out later to see some live bands at a local pub.
It was a good laugh and we met some people from England and also a guy called Lloyd from New Zealand who was excellent company. We went to a club and then walked home in the rain around midnight soaked to the skin.

Monday 20th December

We woke up to the sun! Bright, hot and glorious sun! Woohoo!..We're off to tour the town and surroundings after breakfast and hopefully get down to the beach.
Head
The walk up to the Cape Byron is a tough thirty minute walk but worth it. Here is the most Easterly point of Australia and there's a sign to prove it! The pathways are easy to follow and its a lovely day for a walk so we take our time on the way back and took a handful of photo's of the beautiful Byron Beach and surroundings.
We walk past the Wategos Beach which is popular with surfers and kayaks as its secluded from the main Byron Bay beach area.
The Cape Byron Walkways takes us around the Headland Reserve and towards some marvellous scenery and sea lookouts.

We headed up to Cape Byron to the lighthouse and to gaze out at the amazing views of the beach.
The lighthouse was built in 1901 at the most easterly point on the Australian mainland.
The longboarders arrived in the 1960s. This was the beginning of Byron Bay as a tourist destination, and by 1973, when the Aquarius Festival was held in Nimbin, its reputation as a hippy, happy, alternative town was established.

Everywhere you go you can sense the Byron vibe as there's street buskers playing by the kerb and theres a constant smell of incense in the air. There's weird and wonderful people constantly buzzing about town and we saw a guy literally dancing his way up the road and also we seen two punks that must've been at least 60 years old. The shops are great although pricey. Surf hire, aromatherapies clinics, massage parlours, Mind energy centers, spa's, coffee shops and herbal shops are in abundance along the main road and side streets.
There's the higher end market of boutiques and art galleries on Marvelle Street and also the endless eateries on Bay Lane for you to indulge in tasty delights.

Its a wonderful place to be as no one has a care in the world to the point skate boarders and roller blades have right of way over cars and nearly every second person has a pet dog. Heck, we even saw some one taking their pet parakeet for a walk on their shoulder!

We could've done so much here if the weather had been better and had we'd stayed another few days but I don't think the bank card would've survived much longer! Its fine to come and chill for a few days as we've been at it hammer and tongs for a whiley now since we arrived in Oz. I think we'll chill for a few days more when we get to the Gold coast the morn. Fingers crossed for better weather.

Tuesday 20th December

Its worked out fine this morning as we check out at ten and our bus leaves at ten thirty. We will be travelling back North to the Gold Coast for a few days before heading towards Brisbane for Christmas.

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