Total Relaxation

---

As far as I’m concerned probably nothing will compare to Noosa at this point. I had such a good time that it’ll be impossible to duplicate. But I pull myself together the next morning, fixed my foot (which I somehow managed to slaughter the night before), have breakfast with Phillip and meet Nathan just before check-out and we walk down together to the bus stop. Once again the YHA in Brisbane is fully booked out, so I booked the Banana Benders since I at least knew where it was. You would not believe it if you saw it with your own eyes, but the exact same group of guys are sitting around the hostel still not doing anything, and this is 10 days later! The guy at the desk even found them a job while we were there and the boys looked at him skeptically, asked what the hours were and how much they would get paid, and then turned it down! Unbelievable…

The only reason we wanted to go to Brisbane was to go to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the country’s oldest and largest koala sanctuary. Here you can hold the koalas and pet the kangaroos and see presentations on reptiles, birds of prey, sheep herding, and all sorts of other wildlife related things. Nathan and I both pay the $15 to have out photos taken with a koala and saw a few presentations. When we saw the birds of prey I got to be an audience volunteer and had barn owl land on my hand. It was pretty cool. We only stayed two nights in Brisbane. That was actually more than enough - we could have see the koalas and bused out the same day, but oh well. We left the next morning for Byron Bay, but since Nathan couldn’t make up his mind till the last minute, we ended up at different hostels.

Byron Bay is supposed to be the mecca of the east coast, so to speak. That is where all surfers want to be and where everyone wants to go to be a surfer, or so the Lonely Planet says at least. It’s nice, from what I can tell, but not amazing. Then again, it could also be the fact that a cold has just hit me today and my neither my eyes nor my nose will stop running. I walk around town a little bit and look in the shops, and then go back to the hostel for a nap and a long shower. Two Norwegian girls are sweet enough to close the curtains for me while I’m sleeping. Once I feel like more of a human being I call up Gendy, who I went to middle school with and also happens to be in Byron Bay at the same time. I haven’t actually seen Gendy for 8 years, but I figured that I couldn’t possibly go all the way to Australia and then not see him when we’re both there. We get fish and chips and sit on the beach until Nathan calls to see if we want to walk up to the lighthouse with him and a guy from his room to see the sunset.

Byron Bay is home to the most easterly point of mainland Australia. Standing there is Australia’s largest and most powerful lighthouse - the light can be seen for 50 kilometers in every directions. We make it to Captain Cook’s Lookout, a strange looking rock jutting out from the beach, but by the time we start trekking up to the lighthouse the sun has practically set, so we turn around and start walking back. Gendy heads back to his hostel and I leave Nathan and his friend at theirs before walking on to mine. That’s when Nathan and I officially part ways, which is too - I've started feeling comfortable again. I’ve only booked the one night in Byron Bay, so I wake up early the next morning to walk out to the lighthouse to try and see the sunrise. Too bad I’m a little slow going up hill, and that there’s a big cloud blocking the sun, but I basically missed the sunrise completely. The light was still pretty from the top though, and the view was worth the hike straight uphill. I check out and catch the shuttle bus to Nimbin.

Nimbin is a really small town (population approximately 400, with 9000 more living in the surrounding hills) inhabited by a hard-core hippie population. It started in 1973, when a student organization decided to stage an experimental Aquarius festival and some of the visitors just never left. On Camille’s recommendation I’m staying at the Rainbow Retreat for three nights, just in time to get me back to Byron Bay to catch the night bus to Tuggerah, where I’ve finally found a WWOOFing host.

The third annual Nimbin Film Festival is happening this weekend, so I check that out my first night. There’s an emphasis on Aboriginal films, and its fascinating for me to see how many similarities between how the Australians treated their Aboriginals and the Canadians treated theirs. Some of the movies were greats, others were awful, which I think is to be expected. I had to walk home alone, which was terrible since my hostel is on the edge of town and there aren’t any lights. All I had was the glow of the display on my camera. But I made it.

Then sitting in my room I very distinctly hear something below my bed and then see a mouse run up and across the bed beside and then disappear between the head board and the wall. Freaking out I leap out of the room, but the office is closed so there really isn’t anything I can do right now except wish that I had actually booked the YHA next door instead. I pull the other set of bunk beds out from the wall and climb onto the top one (it’s a good thing I’m the only person checked into this room) assuming that this way I’ll be mouse free of the night. I decide that tomorrow I’m going to make a stink and maybe even see if I can get my money back and check into the YHA, but I don’t know if that’ll work. I can’t afford to waste $40. When I told the manager about the mouse, his only response was “yeah, that can happen sometimes”. He told me my two options were either to stay where I was and deal with the mouse or move to the open-air dorm where they have no mice because a python takes care of it. I decided to stick where I was. I didn’t see the mouse again, so it was all fine.

Nimbin is a really interesting town. Everything is so colorful and everyone is so trusting and full of love that it’s really refreshing. The hostel is the same way, so we spend most of our time there, sitting around and relaxing. Everyone is friends. I even almost managed to convince an American, Dillon, to stick around an extra day and drive me to Uki. He almost did, but then decided he couldn’t. It was a great place to be for four days, but the craziness of the town takes its toll, and by the end I was most definitely ready to leave. Tim, one of the most generous people I have ever met, convinced some random guys to drive me into town with all my luggage and then waited with me in town till the shuttle came. Tim never stopped talking. And I mean never. It was the most unusual thing to watch. Nimbin was an all-round special kind of experience.

---

Photos

wildlife
i made friends with the cows - they liked the sound the camera made

Candle Factory
100% organic candles