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Published: March 21st 2011
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Graffiti Art
the town is filled with painting and mosaics on the buildings and sidewalks Greetings from Byron Bay! So after our long day of travel flying from Cairns to Brisbane followed by a bus to Byron Bay we checked in late at the Backpackers Inn - the only hostel on the beach, which was recommended to us by another traveller we met in New Zealand - we've landed in paradise. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were greeted with a free chai tea and pancake convention taking place in a park - they even had maple syrup. Byron Bay is a tiny town just south of Surfer's Paradise that is surrounded by gorgeous beaches and inhabited by the most relaxed crowd. When you walk down the street at night you're bound to hear at least 3 different live musicians playing anywhere from street corners, benches, parks, to bars; after you pass one block the music fades and is picked up by the next musician on the following block. There are always people sitting on the grass in front of the beach listening to music and watching the different artists - mostly fire dancers. The city is mostly taken over by the young backpackers, and the bars are crowded with people from 18-25
years old from all over the world. Since this is the longest we have stayed at one hostel (11 days so far and 7 to go) we've made quite a few friends with the fellow travellers, and had a variety of roommates from Germany, America, and Norway. We missed our friend Elise when we had our norweigan roommates - I even tried out the few phrases I knew with my awful accent. Since the town is quite small we spend a lot of our time getting to know the different people we've met, but there's tons of cool shops and the clothes are cheap and the style is great so it's fun just walking around. Every person that I have met here planned to stay for a couple weeks but ended up extending their stay from months to years; it's all too easy to get sucked into the relaxed lifestyle here (don't worry mom and dad we've already booked our bus ticket out). Time passes slowly and we've mostly filled our days with swimming and surfing and reading and yoga. Hillary rented a surf board for the week and battled the riptide to compete with the rest of the surfers
Hill and Me
the most easterly point of Australias mainland while I sat on the beach taking pictures. One of the first days that we were here we headed for a long, sweaty hike up to the ligthhouse at mid day, passing the most easterly point of Australia; on the way home we witnessed about a dozen dolphins surfing in the waves along the coast. Later in the week we went to see a psychic - Hillary had her tarot cards read and I did a reiki energy reading, which I have never experienced before - we've officially become hippies. Some of the information we got was pretty shockingly accurate and it left us with a strange feeling for the rest of the day. Our plans for the next week consist of kayaking, cliff diving into a water hole (only the 5 meter jump because the others are way too ambitious), more surfing and yoga and potentially a day trip to a cool little market town called Nimbin. Lots of love to everyone at home! Ps. the sand is so fine here that it actually squeaks when you walk on it.
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Dad
non-member comment
get pix of yourself too
Hey, one day you will look back and wonder who went on that trip with hillary! or at least your senile parents will be confused!! pass that camera around and get in the shot - you won't regret it. Love Dad