oops, long again

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Howdy everybody,
I thought i'd send an email sooner than the last time, so i don't
have to write a dicken's novel, and you don't have to read dicken's
novel. Although, i did get some positive responses, and several
people asking if i was an alcoholic.
So, Sydney is where i left off. That was a bit of a party. And then
there was Byron Bay.................

I caught the bus out of Sydney, an overnight bus, and arrived in
Byron Bay at around 9am. When i got off the bus, everybody
proceeded to flock to the phones to phone hostels to get
accomodation. Me, being cool as a cucumber, decided to go get a
bite first, let the panic subside, and then maybe walk around to
the hostels as Byron Bay really isn't that big, and the vast
majority of the hostels are all withing a couple blocks of each
other. I had some thick raisin toast and a coffee, and watched
Byron Bay wake up. There was a lot of natural/organic shops, spa
and body shops, surf shops, and clothing stores. Also, quite a few
hippies, which is what i expected. Byron seemed like a little laid
back surfer hangout, with a touristy side to it. I was quite
pleased to be there, it was very nice, clean, little, and just very
beach-town feeling. I started walking to the hostels to book in,
only to find that the majority of them were full, no vacancy. I
didn't feel quite as smug then, but i usually rationalize things by
thinking of the worst case scenario, and that would be: sleeping on
the beach, which really doesn't seem so bad. No i didn't end up on
the beach, but i had to go to 6 hostels to find a room for the
night. I booked one night, as that was all that was available at
the time, and then jsut walked up and down Byron bay. It was a
decent hostel, i t didn't seem fantastic, but good enough. I shared
a room with 3 swedes who were all quite nice, and that evening, we
went and threw around the frisbee for a bit, which i always enjoy.
Had dinner, went to the beach. I didn't really know anyone, so i
just packed a book, my journal, and cd's and went to the beach and
listened to the waves crash. It was very peaceful, and i was tired
from sleeping on a bus the night before, so it was an early night.
The next morning i moved hostels as there was no room at the one i
was staying at. Byron Bay YHA. It was very nice. Swimming pool,
free body boards and cruiser bikes to use. I stayed in a 10 bed
dorm, that smelt exactly as you'd imagine a dorm to smell after 9
guys slept in it after a night out boozing. So, i just put my stuff
on my bed, said hi, and said bye. Got a body board, went to the
beach which was 2 blocks away, and relaxed on the beach. It was
another quiet day where i jsut took it easy (is it ever hard?) and
went to the beach in the evening. One thing i liked about byron is
that it it always had a good night life, and the streets were busy
every evening. I think about 75% of the people in Byron were
tourists, foreign and australian. Nice bars had good live music
coming out of them, and on the streets there were buskers, who were
more like musicians practicing on the street. I heard a couple of
guys who were playing a nice slide guitar, and a miniature drum kit
who were phenomenal. Nice quiet melodic slide guitar, with a really
good drummer playing to the guitarists song. So nice. Day three i
think started quite the same, quiet day. I got one of the cruiser
bikes and rode up a lighthouse which was closeby, and had more fun
on that bike than i'd had in a while. Comfy little cruiser with an
old style coaster brake on the back, just like when you were a kid
(well for most of us, for some, i don't know if the wheel was
invented when you were a kid, trevor?). Bombing down hills,
skidding in the dirt, and hopping over whatever i could find. Good
times. That night i purchased the finest 4L of wine i could find
for $10. I think this was the beginning of the end. Had some drinks
with a few guys from the hostel, and then proceeded to the local
bar, Cheeky Monkeys. A great great bar. It's mostly backpackers in
there so everyone is quite chatty and not clique-y (?). I spent
about 5 min with the guys i was there with, and then we split and
jsut wandered the bar chatted, drank and danced the evening away.
that was a good random night of jsut partying by myself, but with
everyone else. the next morning i woke up feeling a bit rough, but
had to get out of bed at 9am to go on a tour to a little town
called Nimbin. A very unique/odd hippy town. Spent a couple hours
there walking around the market, litstening to live reggae and
checking out the little stands set up, and seeing the few shops in
town. it was a fun tour as sobriety was not encouraged on the tour,
so we got dropped off at our hostels and all were half cut from a
day in a little hippy town. When we got back ot our hostel, it was
early evening so everybody had already made there dinner's and had
started on their goon, so we followed suit. That was a nice evening
of sitting around the hostel and jsut chatting and laughing and
being too loud and generally having a good time. The next day was a
bit rougher. I had planned to leave the following day, but that
would have involved booking a bus ticket, which was way too much to
think about at the time, so i just booked another night. It was a
slow day, which was fine. Did laundry, read, swam in the pool. That
evening was an early dinner, and met some more great people; funny
english guys, and some vacationing australian girls. More goon, and
then to Cheeky Monkeys. Lots of dancing, chatted with a german guy
at the bar who rode bmx, and we both talked about how we missed our
bikes. We didn't get served for about 1/2 hour because we were so
engrossed about talking about bikes and kept missing the bar-girl.
eventually, we got our drinks and he bought a couple shots to
celebrate our love of bikes. I walked back to the hostel on my own
as everyone had left to get up early. On the way back, ran into
another guy from my hostel, and we stumbled around the streets
together, walked along the beach, got rained on (yes it's been
raining, and oh so humid, but i'll get to that), and returned to
the hostel. Got up relatively eary the next day because i couldn't
sleep from not feeling well and being in a stuffy dorm room. Went
for a bike ride with a couple people from my hostel, went for a dip
in the ocean, and then it's dinner time. Busy days, let me tell ya.
Another good dinner of meeting more people, goon, and out to the
club. Left the club early-ish due to hunger, and walked through
Byron. I got some food with a english guy, went to the beach, and
joined a group of people who had a little fire going on the beach,
and a guitar and a bongo. Spent a short while there with some crazy
hippies and other beach wanderers, and then back to the hostel.
After a refreshing 3 hrs of sleep, i caught the bus out of Byron to
Brisbane. I was sad to leave as i had met some great people, and
generally, just had a really good time. But, on the other hand, i
felt i needed some detox time, and i don't think i would have
gotten that in Byron. But, sniff, sniff.
I had heard mixed reviews on Brisbane, not too exciting, pretty
bland, so i didn't plan on spending a lot of time there. On the
bus, there were three irish girls and a german guy who were in my
hostel in Byron, so when we got to brisbane, we all went to the
same hostel.
And now i digress. Humidity. It was pretty bad in Byron Bay, but
worse in Brisbane. Having limited clothes, and limited money to do
laundry, you always try to wear most things at least a couple of
times, or until it starts smelling funky. In Byron, with humidity,
shirts last a half day, before they become a bit fragrant. You
never feel quite clean, you always have a bit of grease on you, and
everything is always a bit damp. It was tolerable though. In
Brisbane, the humidity was worse, and there's not even a beach or
pool closeby, and your in the city where everyone's well groomed
and looks good, not in a laid back beach town. To make things
worse, i stayed in a 32 bed dorm, and it was a bit cramped at that.
The first night i fell asleep okay, but with the help of a couple
drinks, and being exceedingly tired from the 3 hrs sleep the night
before. I woke up at 7am and couldn't fall back asleep due to it
jsut being too stuffy and warm. Ooh boy was i greasy. Constant
night sweat. eww. So, two showers a day, one to cool down and get
the grease off of me in the morning, and one in the evening to get
the grease off me from a day of walking. Goddam humidity. In Perth,
i was in 37 degree sunshine, but i liked it, it was nice and hot, a
dry hot. In Brisbane, it was 31, and it's a humid oppressive heat,
almost too hot, but only 31, i didn't like it. I didn't enjoy
brisbane too much, i felt people's reviews that it was bland was
true, and i just really felt like i was in a grey concrete city
when i was there. The only high point was that i got to meet up
with a friend that i met in Perth, and she was able to show me the
sights in Brisbane for a good half day, but i still wasn't
impressed. I spent 2 full days in Brisbane, and then bussed out.
Now, i am in Noosa. A gorgeous little town on the beach. Exactly
what the doctor ordered. It's much more rich and trendy than Byron,
but it's almost much more lush as it's a bit more north, and it has
a beach, so how can it be bad. In the hostel i'm staying, there's a
couple people who i met in Byron, and three people i met in
Brisbane. Weird. The first day in Brisbane i also bumped into a
couple i met over christmas in Adelaide. Big country, small world.
I've only been here for 24 hours, so i'm going out to explore the
national park, to the beach if i have time (there's always time).
Tomorrow i'm off to Steve Irwin's Zoo (!!!!!), and then i leave to
go on a self guided 4x4 tour of Fraser Island (yes, self guided, me
and 7-8 people just get a 4x4 and get to drive wherever we want and
camp wherever we want on a little sand dune island), and then to
Cairns where hopefully i can work a bit and snorkel/scuba in my
spare time. Hooray!
Oh yeah, I got my lip pierced in Brisbane, right in the centre
(Paul, you don't need to tell mom or dad right away, i'll wait till
i send pics home and they ask "whots that!").
I know this is a long one too, but i was just happy to write about Byron.
My name's Mark, and i've been sober for 2 days.
thanks to everyone who's emailed, i'll write back as soon as i can
and i love reading your emails!
i'll write soon!
mark

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