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Byron Bay Beach
At sunset- Bootiful!!! Hello and welcome to the latest enstalment of Jonnys Ozzy Adventures!!! The last time I left you i was sun bathing it up at Surfers Paradise. I forgot to add there that I won the inaugural game of crazy golf at King Tut's Putt Putt and also ate far too many kebabs!!
From Surfers we headed South to Byron/Bryan Bay. This place was utterly stunning and perhaps my favourite of all the surfey towns we have been to down the East Coast. Its so beautiful as it does not have any sky scrapers encroaching its stupendous views, but its just an old fashioned styley town of surf and sun. It has a very hippy feel to it also, with everyone completely chilled out (other than a local Byron nobhead who wanted to start a fight with me on the walk home one night from a club!). The days passed here with me chilling on the beach, throwing a frisby about everywhere and generally getting a gorgeous brown/red tan- the white lining has officially vanished like a 20pence piece down the back of the sofa!! Activities at Byron were very limited but we did manage to wander to Byron Lighthouse, a
Surfers catching a wave
About loads of surfers all vying for that monster wave! good 2 hour walk around the coast, opening up stunning biews over the whole of the bay. We saw dolphins splashing around in the ocean below the cliffs and even visited Australia's most eastern point on the walk!! Apparently Jack Johnson was at Byron Bay when we were here but I didnt hear any of his banana pancake croonings!
Most notably however was the 5 aside football tournament we entered on Thursday on the beach. On our team were the 4 of us and 2 danish guys- its so knackering that u need at least 1 substitute! Our old univeristy team, Taptontina, was represented with aplomb, as we won the first game 1-0, with a wonder goal from the left boot of, yep you guessed, Jonnynio!! Picking the ball up with an exquisite tackle from their attacker, Jonny advanced through midfield, dropping his right shoulder and beating their defender down the left before strapping in a super strike into the corner. What a goalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!! If Theo Walcott repeats this in the WC Final, I for one, will be happy! After 2 more game of victories, we advanced into the final where we were to play the second best team
in the tournament, with a crazy rastafarian Italian in the team. How were we to cope with the pressure as favourites??? Well, we answered that question....!! The first half was cagey, although I missed 3 chances to open the scoring (even though I was playing at the back- God Im mint!). Into the second half and shock, they opened the scoring. We kept our heads up and Mike responded with an absolute pearler- controlling a Jonny pass on his chest, dummying onto his left and firing an equaliser that even dennis bergkamp would have been proud of. This beach 5 aside final was becoming exciting....!! Suddenly, from nowhere, the athlete that is...Me.. broke from the back, did a 1-2 with young Christopher before tapping in past the keeper for a likely winner. A celebration of the highest order as the usual jump and fist pump entertained the crowds!! However, they responded with an equaliser in the last minute as William "the Cat" Scott misjudged a "swerving" strike that left the Taptontina heroes devastated. Luckily, J Sprig Sprog (me) had enough character to setup one final push, as he laid a perfectly weighted pass to Alan (a Dane) to fire in
The boys at Byron Lighthouse
Saw dolphins from this point the winner with literally the last kick of the game!! Victory!! The organiser had filmed in and although intending to get a copy of the tournament we didnt that evening as we got too pissed- bugger!! We celebrated in usual fashion- by gloating in front of our German friends whilst drinking goon (cheap wine). And then dancing on the tables at Cheeky Monkeys meant a classic, victorious day was had by all!!
Overall, Byron Bay is one of the most enigmatic places I have ever been to. The sunset over the beach, as surfers continue to find a wave, and fishermen catch their tea, is one of pure awesomeness (is that a word?!). I think I could possibly live here and i promise I will at some point return to this beautiful place. As we left I renamed the place "By-Ronaldinhio Bay" from our football exploits, but it was the character of the town and beach that was the highlight!
The weather has also turned nippy and we can really feel the Ozzy winter kicking in. At about 4pm everyday, the sun loses its heat and we're often freezing are knackers off on the beach! Gone are the
Ja das ist gut
Our Germanic Freundens mit der automobile (pascal, frank and sherinne) evenings wearing shorts and tshirt- now its onto jumpers and trousers!!
From Byron we headed further down to a place called Coffs Harbour. Here we were to chill for a few days before the partying of Sydney was to commence. We stayed at a really cool hostel called Aussitel where everyones real helpful. On the first day in this sleepy town we got canoes and kayaked up and down a creek that runs alongside the town. I also managed to make the walk to the coast, which has a stunning viewspot where you can often see whales- sadly I was not so lucky! We also spent a day playing beach volleyball with everyone from our hostel, followed by a very messy night on the cheap wine again! We also went down the road and saw the Wallabies train (the Australian rugby team)- I did some reconnaissance for Jonny Wilkinson and the boys cus England are playing them in Sydney in a week (which we're going to cus we are jammy gits getting tickets!). Our final day here has been spent surf rafting which is basically in a white water raft catching waves on the ocean. The best thing is
Coffs Harbour
Apparently Russel Crowe lives around here! Nice area Shane anyway! that it was free as a crew from a TV program were filming us all- we are going to be famous. The program is just advertising what goes on around new south wales, and is hosted by a famous old Australian cricketer called Mike Whitney (never heard of him?! We had the usual Ashes banter with him of course! However, the highlight wasnt meeting this 'cricket legend' but we saw 2 dolphins circling our raft- they were about 10 metres or so away- utterly stupendous!!
We're had a great few days in Coffs Harbour- I see it as a place to bring up your children!! We catch the night bus at midnight and head for Sydney to meet our old flat and fat mate, Dan. We need to do some reconnaisance in the next few days to find a 'suitable' pub for the world cup in sydders- its gonna be exciting!!
Hope everyones good back home?
Ciao for now
Jonny x
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Smudge
Michael Smith
Top Blog Sprig Sprog
Although i'd be interested into how you found Byron one of the most enigmatic places you've ever visited!? Garage?! Mike x