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Published: December 17th 2012
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17/11- Having slept reasonably well, only being disturbed a couple of times when the bus stopped and passengers changed seats, i woke as we were driving down the highway, looking across the road and the flat lands of Woolgoolga either side, at 7.10am I saw my first wild kangaroo bounding across verge!! They sure can cover ground quickly! Regretfully, a couple of hours later the bus blew two tyres and we were stranded by the side of the road for 5 hours until another driver came to collect us. My fellow travellers and I chatted to pass the time and walked into the local town for a schooner of cold beer. It turned out that quite a few of us hadn't booked accommodation for the night, we learnt that it was Schoolies Week and the whole town was booked out. Schoolies is celebrated by senior school leavers at the end of their schooling. It's huge in Australia and all of them head to the Gold Coast to party. They attract toolies, the older crowd (c.21) who head out to pray on the schoolies!! It is apparently carnage, the equivalent to A Levels results night!! A lovely guy from the Oz Experience
drove past and picked up everyone travelling to Byron Bay. He was really sympathetic to our situation and tried to ring around some hostels to get availability. Unfortunately, he couldn't get us any dorm rooms but he did arrange dinner for us all and drinks in a bar/club called Cheeky Monkeys. I clubbed together with a couple of others and we tried to get beds in several hostels to no avail. I ended up sharing a bed with a guy called Brendan from Ireland in the quirky Arts Factory a way out of town. The hostel was located in a few acres of rainforest and resembled a hippy retreat, everyone was wandering around off their faces watching imaginary butterflies, but i was just happy to have a bed for the night, especially as the heavens had opened and it was raining hard. Brendan and i dumped our bags and headed for the bar before going to the restaurant where the rest of the bus would be. Looking at the rain and not wanting to turn up looking like i'd just completed my life saving training, I fashioned a poncho from a unused bin bag. Lets face it, i looked ridiculous,
but Brendan took one look outside and decided that the bin bag was the sensible option and joined me in the fashion statement. We walked through the rain and got to the bar dry as a bone from the neck down to my knees....everything else was soaked!! We soon dried off and danced until the early hours forgetting the tribulations of earlier. Sunday - 18 November - With heavy heads we checked out of hippy camp and I checked into a hostel closer to the centre of town. After I had sorted our bags out and done some washing, Brendan and I did the lighthouse walk passing the most easterly point of Australia. Wanting to get a bit closer to the action i jumped the fence and scaled down the rocks to the furthest land pinnacle of Cape Byron. As I watched the waves, i heard crashing behind me and realised the tide was coming in across the headland, the waves were crashing into the rocks beside me but way higher, so we rapidly climbed back out of the bowl and continued the cliff walk. Along the way I was so pleased to see loads of dolphins. They were corralling
schools of fish into tight pods then shooting through them, they're so majestic it was brilliant. I tried to capture them on camera but they were too fast for film. There was a photography exhibition by a Byron artist at the lighthouse which was brilliant. Brendan and I walked along the beach for ages admiring the stunning beach views, taking dips in the crystal clear waters and chatting, exchanging tales of our travels so far. Many of the Schoolies had left the town but despite this I wanted a quiet night so sorted myself some dinner and took a seat in the TV room to watch a film, I can't remember which one as i was soon fast asleep. As i brushed my teeth and readied for bed, i noticed loads of bugs hitting the window and falling off the window sill onto the floor. It turned out that the whole town had been invaded by a swarm of Christmas beetles, basically orange flying cockroaches!! Lovely!!!
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