Australia - Melbourne to Byron Bay

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Our Australia leg of our trip started with a week in Melbourne, where we got to stay with the lovely Komps. Whilst there we got to explore the city with the help of our lovely guides, aged 12 and 9! We also got a really nice day on the Great Ocean Road, so got see the 12 Apostles, The Grotto and London Bridge etc. We also took a day trip to Phillip Island to see the penguing and got to go on the Puffing Billy steam train. It was really nice to be able to spend a few days chilling in the house, to organise some more of our trip and just relax in front of the tv. We were also treated to some Australian goodies such as Twisties, TimTams and a range of ciders in our stubby holders. All in all a great start to our Australian adventure!



From Melbourne we got an overnight bus to Sydney, arriving nice and early to be able to try and negotiate our way to where we were staying in Dee Why. Managed to get ourselves a bus pass and find the right flat all in time for toast and peanut butter for breakfast. Sydney offered us our first taste of proper Australian sun and therefore the beach, we got to experience Manly beach which was lovely as it was fairly quite but the beach was beautiful and the town itself was nice. We also went to Bondi beach which is good for a bit more action and people and we went up to Palm Beach (the setting for Home and Away) which again was a nice beach but very, very quiet! The city of Sydney had a nice feel to it as although it is obviously a busy city the Botanical gardens and the Harbour give you plenty of places to relax. A highlight of Sydney for us was our walk through the Botanical Gardens following the harbour to watch the sunset over the harbour bridge and the opera house.



Another overnight bus took us up to the very pretty town of Byron Bay. The sun was shining when we arrived which was a very nice suprise so after dumping our bags at the hostel we heading straight to the beach to have our brunch before being able to check inb properly. Arts Factory where we were staying which was a very unusal residence, clues in the name. Hostel comes complete with recording sudio, didgeridoo lessons and endless supply of weed. We were accosted on our way to the hostel by travel agent trying to sell Fraser Island and Whitsundays tours, which after 30 mins of talking to the guy we had signed up for! The rest of our time in Byron Bay was spent soaking up the sun on the beach, we didn't even make it to Cape Byron to see the lighthouse because it was just too hot for the walk!

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