My Australian Adventures: Byron Bay!

Hi guys,

So here is my update from Byron Bay where we stayed for 3 nights. Byron Bay was lovely, it was a small-ish town with a kind of hippy feel to it - very layed back with a really good atmosphere. We arrived at Byron after a few hours in the Oz Experience bus from Surfers Paradise. After arrival and checking in at our lovely hostel (we had our own room so it was lovely) we went for a quick walk to Byron Cove to watch the sunset from the lighthouse. The walk was pretty hardcore, especially as I was wearing my flip-flops rather than trainers, walking through the so-called "rainforest". Obviously I got my sweat on even though it was evening - the walk was very up and downy though so that is my excuse. We reached the lighthouse just as the sun was setting though and the views were wonderful. My pictures will follow at some point....

The next day was a day to relax on the beach. We generally just monged on the beach, had a play in the sea - a typical beach -holiday type of day....lovely! In the evening we went to a bar called Cheeky Monkeys, the most popular place in Byron Bay with $4 meal deals in the evening. Obviously there was nothing on the $4 menu that I would like so I had to buy some more expensive food. The bar was pretty packed at 7.30, I guess everybody goes here to take advantage of the cheap food. We eventually managed to get a booth so we could sit down and met some really nice guys from England who had been in Oz for a while. One of them had one of the those sunhats with the propeller on the top, it was ace. We had a good night full of banter. As the night came to an end, we attempted to steal some bowls...well we got one of the guys to steal one of the bowls in a massive Mexican hat. All was going well until the bouncer at the door asked what was in the hat and he told him the bowls! That meant we had to pay to hire some bowls from the hostel! Ruined it for all of us. Claire got a bit tipsy that night so kept us all awake with her snoring - the other strange noises that night didn't help either....I love staying in hostels!

On our last day in Byron (Tuesday I think....days no longer mean anything to me) we decided to go sea kayaking! We booked the day before when the weather was lovely but woke up to grey skies and masses of rain. We decided to continue with the kayaking anyway and hoped it would clear up at some point. The sea kayaking was the highlight of my trip so far...it was the funniest thing ever! We got to the beach, had a quick lesson in how to paddle and off we went. The waves were bloody massive and this made us all nervous. Unluckily for Kerry, she got stuck with me and we were the first to attempt to get out at sea beyond the breaking waves. My goodness, it was so scary. We weren't the best paddlers at all and were just going all over the place basically. Pretty much at the first wave (OK maybe the 4th or 5th) we capsized! Kerry proceeded to turn the kayak back over and get in. It was then my turn to get back in the kayak.....I hopped in, didn't manage to get into the kayak properly and upturned the kayak again, knocking Kerry out again. We got in again (successfully this time) and off we went again, paddling for our lives to get beyond the waves. This time, however, we got struck by a series of absolutely massive waves - they really were massive!!! The final wave (probably 8ft in height), hit us straight on, and we fell out the kayak once again, Kerry doing a backward somersault. We lost the kayak, Kerry lost the oar and we were just being hit by wave over and over again. The instructor had to dive out of his kayak to help us! Obviously I was laughing so much at this point! We eventually got back in the kayak and got pushed back to shore. This adventure massively knocked Kerry's confidence and she really didn't want to go out again but Sam and Claire were out at sea and the guy was really worried for their safety. So he actually forced Kerry to get in his kayak and took her out himself to reach the others. She really was not a happy bunny. The guy then had to come back for me! So after what seemed like forever, we finally reached the sea beyond the waves, and proceeded to kayak. Kerry was still really shaken up and got herself in a bit of panic - she later developed sea sickness and was puking all over the place. With me stuck behind her in the kayak with her it was not very nice. The instructor forced her to carry on though, refusing to take us back to land, whilst she was still vomming everywhere! After 2 hours our tour finished and he got back to firm land to be treated to a tim tam slam (hot chocolate which you basically suck through a penguin chocolate biscuit). Kerry was still being sick and got given a foil blanket, it was really really funny! This story was probably really boring to read but it really was funny! I had an excellent time and will definitely do it again! Kerry, however, will not be doing it after her "near death experience" - I don't really blame her! Oh, I forgot to mention, we did see some turtles!

Oh, I also tried noodles for the first time! I am becoming much more adventurous with my food...I mean Chinese, would would have thunk...

Next morning we got up early (once again) and caught the bus to our next destination....