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Published: December 18th 2011
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Went to the Blue Mountains for a couple of days which was brilliant, the views were amazing, although it wasn't as blue as I'd expected. It was quite an overcast day though. 2 hours on the train from Sydney, and then 7 hours of hiking around the rainforest and cliff edge walks. Was knackered by the end of the day but was definitely worth it. Was quite muddy with difficult paths in places but I got to walk right under some of the waterfalls and see some sights that I wouldn't have seen if I'd stayed on the main paths. At times I didn't see anyone else for an hour. Was a pretty cool experience. I went on the worlds steepest railway, went to the famous Echo Point and the Three Sisters, and walked down the giant stairway (the steepest steps I think I've seen, was pretty hard going). Managed to survive the whole day of difficult treks without falling, to then trip over in the rain on the way back from the restaurant that night. (Cut my hand and bruised the base of my thumb pretty badly, and ripped a hole in my trousers where I got a nasty cut
on my knee.) I met a girl in the hostel I stayed in, a nurse from Canada, and we went to Wentworth Falls together the next day, still part of the blue mountains but a couple of train stops away (supposedly the best of the waterfalls in the mountains). Wasn't as much to walk around as the previous day but still some good views. We later met up in Sydney for dinner, watching the fireworks for our last weekend in Sydney.
I'm now in Byron Bay. Went to a surf camp for a week starting in Sydney and finishing here. Was a brilliant week. Although had a pretty long bus trip on the 1
st day to get to the camp. There was 10 of us, 5 guys 5 girls which was a good mix, but we were all packed in and squashed with our luggage for what felt like eternity. When we arrived at the camp, a place called Pacific Palms, we had a surf lesson that afternoon, followed by two full days and then the next morning we left and went to a campsite, Yuraygir National Park, where we had two more lessons before going to
Byron Bay. We camped 50m from the beach which was fantastic. I got to listen to the sound of the waves crashing as I went to sleep, and on our last lesson we saw dolphins jumping not far from where we were surfing. What more can you want! Had lots of bbq's on the way and spent the evenings sitting around either the pool or campfire drinking beer/cider and chilling. (I actually had a beer too which was a first!) When we got to Byron we all went out for dinner/drinks to celebrate. Was a pretty cool bar, all the waiters were dressed as Elvis, we were on the VIP list so got free drinks and there was lots of dancing on the table/bench tops and free stuff to win. Only minor injuries this time. Jumped off my board and didn't realize how shallow the water was. My heel's still pretty saw when I walk on it, but hopefully it's just bruised.
The weather's much better here. Glorious sunshine and about 26 degrees. My hostel has direct access to the beach so definitely going to be taking advantage of that.
Spent my 1
st day
in Byron Bay walking up to Cape Byron, the most Easterly point of Australia, to the lighthouse where we there's a great view of all the beaches and bays. Saw some hangliders too which looked pretty cool, jumping from the clif top and landing on the beach. Definitely my kinda thing. Spent the afternoon chilling on the beach. Today I hired a surfboard to put my lessons into practice. Went with another girl who was at the camp which made it more fun. Wanted to make the most of having the board so surfed allday and am pretty worn out now. Got to the point where my legs and arms just wouldn't work anymore and I kept falling off. Brilliant fun though, absolutely loved it. Need to take it easy for the next few days though I think as my knee is agony now. Constantly stinging from all the sand and salt in it, and rubbing it on the board hasn't helped either. I think a few days of sunbathing on the beach is in order!
One more day in Byron then off to Surfers Paradise.
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