Back on the road

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As we set out on our ventures from Sydney we had the idea to explore more of the local culture in a small fishing village called Tea Gardens.

While the area was quaint and had plenty to offer in the way of fishing excursions, Dolphins in the bay and local chit-chat over a well-deserved scooner in the local bar, we felt that there was very little to offer, although the Chinese restaurant did offer a true taste of your typical British cheap take-away with neon coloured sweet and sour pork!

We then headed off to Byron Bay on an overnight bus journey which Lex found to be an experience in itself sitting next to a woman whose oversized posterior took up 2 seats as she slept.

We arrived in Byron Bay early and clambered down the stairs with twenty other young ‘soon to be tanned’ boys and gals and after watching the haggling between hostel representatives we departed to the Art’s Factory Lodge’ http://nomadshostels.com/arts-factory/

Slightly out of town (10 minute walk) the stylish haven of the Arts Factory Hostel graced our sights. The Hostel itself was set on the edge of a national park and we shared our sleeping quarters with Lizards, bush turkeys and according to the local bush man many different types of spiders that of course thrilled Kevin no end. We chose to stay in the Island retreat (basically a tent with a double bed, sounded posh though!) on a mini island surrounded with water.

Moving from the forest surroundings into town, which is a mixture of surf shops, day time café’s and ice-cream parlours we walked along Main Beach, up to the look-out and then onto the lighthouse, in Cape Byron on our first afternoon.

On our decent away from the most ‘Easterly part of Australia’ we were confronted by a lizard that belonged on the set of Jurassic Park in the middle of the path, luckily for us the creature seemed a lot more scared of us than we were of it and rustled away in the bushes. Some of the views on the walk were breath taking and the national park threw up more than a few surprises in the wildlife department.

We chose to eat out at the nearest noodle bar as a quick cheap and cheerful meal for the evening, as soon as we entered a crowd started to arrive – obviously with the same idea!

The next day we decided that our pasty Sydney bodies needed to experience some sun, sand and sea so we headed towards a secluded beach cove for a bit of relaxation away from the bustling crowds of the main beach. Unfortunately for us the cove was infested with baby jelly fish so we seemed destined to be spending the day on the Main Beach which was great for Lex and her people watching addiction.

We headed off to Brisbane where we stayed in a hostel that resembled a large shared house rather than your usual run of the mill hostel, with an open seated balcony on the first and second levels and small pool out the back.

After dropping our bags off we headed off into Brisbane in the cooler evening climate, after 4pm the temperature starts dropping, and it starts to get dark at around 6pm. We wanted to familiarise ourselves with the city, coming from Sydney the place seemed so much smaller and less busy, especially for a Friday evening.

The next day we took a bus from town to Mt Coot-that Reserve, as we travelled out of the centre, the bus started going up some very steep hills, it was interesting seeing the outer suburbs, mostly small bungalow homes with pools. The look-out point had some impressive views of Brisbane but we preferred walking around the Brisbane Botanic Gardens that are in the same area. Some of the photos we took of the plants and flowers look spectacular and has given Lex some creative juices.

We found that Brisbane didn’t have as much to offer as we had anticipated; apart from the South Bank – The cultural Centre (although the Queensland Museum was closed until Jan 2012) we took a look at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. What else….man made beach and pool which was a very popular jaunt over the weekend and the lifestyle markets, restaurants and bars, we did think of going to Max Brenner’s – an Australian chocolatier café of all things chocolate, but we just weren’t in the mood for chocolate (I know very unlike Lex). We did stumble across the Suncorp stadium that had some people auditioning for street performers and dance acts practicing for some Dance Competition – free entertainment, catch this type of thing when you’re travelling around it gives you a different flavour of a place.

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