Before I start, please excuse me if this blog is brief but I have just spent around 5 hours writing my Byron Bay blog and then I highlighted it all and pressed a letter by accident and it deleted the whole thing, it's not going to be the same and I have sort of lost interest in it now but I will try.

We were told about the little hippie surf town of Byron Bay way before we had started to plan our route down the east coast, as soon as we were told stories about it we knew we wanted to be there for Christmas and we definitely made the right decision!

We arrived around midday, unfortunately it was raining but we couldn't let it get us down because we had looked forward to this place for so long, luckily there was a hostel shuttle bus collecting us from the bus station. We booked this hostel months and months before we left as we knew Christmas would be one of their busiest times, we booked it blind to their reviews and reputation but it turned out to be the best hostel!!! It had a big open bar and cafe where they served organic foods and smoothies, loads of sofas, a big outdoor seating area with a volleyball court and hammocks then added on the back was a big camp site surrounding a little lake, they had permanent tents that were like tepees situated around but then temporary put up tents too, we had a wonder around, it was like a maze and felt like a very tight nit community. Back in the hostel, alot of the rooms were based around the edge of an outdoor swimming pool which was actually clean enough to swim in - compared to other pools we've seen. We were to early to check in so we put our stuff in lockers and walked into town. Christa was already in Byron as she arrived a few days earlier so we met us with her, it had been a while since we saw her so there was lots of gossip to catch up on. We had a ponder down the high street and instantly fell in love with all the diddy hippy shops and organic food bits, we couldn't really afford to eat out but we couldn't bear to look at another packet of 2 minute noodles. We headed back to the hostel to check into our 6 bed dorm, which was an average room but had a funky smell to it. We all needed a little nap but I woke up before the others, I got up and get ready for the night out but they wanted to stay at the hostel for a bit to call home and sort bits out so I went ahead to meet Christa at her hostel for a couple of drinks, Luciano (Italian dude from up the coast) was also in town, Christa didn't rate her hostel much so we just went to his instead, so nice to see him again, he's a funny guy and we all got on well with him. His hostel was a proper party hostel, there was loads of people drinking on long tables, playing games and listening to music. The girls joint us a little while later for a drink or two, they weren't really feeling the night out so they went back to the hostel when we headed out. The main club to go in Byron was called Cheeky Monkeys, it was brilliant, free entry with wristbands from Lucianos hostel and a fun atmosphere, you were allowed to dance on the tables there so everyone just messes around and has a good time.

The next day was Christmas Eve, in one of the previous towns when we was with Christa, we promised we would all do Secret Santa as we wouldn't be getting any other gifts this year so we all split off in town with 30 minutes and a $10 budget. I had Kate as my person to buy for, I knew she liked these clip in feathers so I bought it straight away and found a post card that reminded me a funny personal joke we have so I bought that as her Christmas card. Once we had all met up we made our way to the beach, on the way we went past a shop that sold Santa hats and we couldn't resist, we each bought one but Kate bought reindeer antlers. We wore them sunbathing on the beach, although not for long, the band of the hat quickly turned into a sweat band, it did help boost our festive feeling we were lacking so was totally worth it. We all had a little funny photo shoot in the sea too, I'm sure you've seen some of the photos. We didn't have long on the beach because we had to go and do our food shop for Christmas Day as the supermarkets and most of the local shops would be closed. We stocked up on alcohol, a crate of cider, few cheap bottles of bubbles and some goon, went to Aldi to get food bits then onto Woolworths for the rest. We would never get anywhere close to mums roast dinners so we had to go alternative. We bought, salad, quiches, crackers and cheese, coleslaw, fruit salad bits and yogurt for breakfast. After the trolley was piled high we realised it was pretty impossible to tackle the 15 minutes walk carrying it all so we had to be naughty and borrow the trolley for the night, it was a bit of a struggle to get it round the winding roads, especially with Kate as my helper in steering while I push, apparently Kate hasn't had enough experience in supermarket shopping trips as she was, frankly useless at it so she needs training when she's home. We had to hard it round the back of the hostel for obvious reasons, we just hoped that it would still be there tomorrow as we had to get it all back to the beach somehow. We stored as much stuff as we could in our room but a couple of the bits had to go in the fridge so we crammed it in the rank leaking hostel fridges that were ridiculously over packed compared to the normal amount people overpack them. That night the hostel were hosting a Christmas dinner banquet for people staying there, it was $20 odd dollars but so worth it, they put big long tables out the back, with table cloths, decorations and Christmas crackers and a big cooked meal with live music and prize give aways. They were really strict about only having hostel guests there we did manage to sneak Christa in, although we did get stopped and questioned at the door! After we had stuffed our Buddha bellies it was time to meet Luciano etc at their place for a few drinks and a bit of Cheeky Monkey action. The midnight countdown to Christmas started and it instantly made me miss all the girls back home because we all normally go out together on Christmas Eve.

A groggy wake up on Christmas Day morning is a tradition (not necessarily a good one but a tradition all the same), this time I was greeted by one of Kate's socks at the end of my bed, I picked it up puzzled but realised she had made me a little Christmas stocking with chocolate buttons and a lollipop, bless her little cotton socks - literally. Liv and I jumped on her top bunk for a big good morning bundle. We all headed to the kitchen for our special Christmas Day breakfast of fruit salad (kindly cut by Ms Olivia Lawson), yogurt and a Buck's Fizz to wash it down with, although I nearly took my eye out with the bottle cork, as soon as I undid the wire it flew off and I felt the wind brush past my face. That would not have been a fun Christmas story to tell. Once finished we started to get all the stuff ready only to find some beggar had stolen our box of salad, not impressed. The good news was that yesterday's trolley was still there, we loaded it back up and walked it into town, we felt bad walking it through town but when we got to the beach there was other trolleys there so other people obviously had the same idea as us, it meant we could clip them together and someone from Woolworths would come and get it later on, plus I got my dollar back! We met everyone on the beach, there was about 10 of celebrating together. Us four girls got together to swap Secret Santas, Kate liked her so mission complete, turns out Liv was buying for me, it ended up being a funny present because we made a joke a few days before about buying joke gifts that we had to wear all day, Liv took this literally and I ended up with false eyelashes and neon clip in hair extensions but I did get a nice new nail polish so that's pretty, I wore the neon extensions for most of the day, mainly because I completely forgot they were there. After a bit of sun bathing, one of the guys said who wants to jump in the sea, so a few of us started running down the beach and when the water got to about knee height, I hit a ditch in the sand and skidded on my shines, I had to get out because the salt was stinging the grazes. They quickly bled, bruised and lumps swelled up so I went to the lifeguard (bloody second time this trip) to get some ice and rest in the sun. It was soon lunchtime and time for our Christmas feast. We laid it all out on the table, got out of plastic plates, knives and folks and tucked in, we cleared the table and was festively plumped up, now it felt like Christmas! We spent the afternoon listening to music, drinking, laying on the grass above the beach, just meeting people and enjoying our alternative Christmas. That evening there was a party on the beach so we got all our hippie clobber on and headed down with everyone, sadly shortly after we go there the police shut off the speakers and made everyone pour away their drinks. We still sat around waiting for them to leave. There was a guy sitting with us that had a guitar and was singing, as the circle of us grew bigger and bigger people joined in with their homemade instruments, using goon boxes as drums. Just past midnight and it started raining again, god was obviously holding it back for Christmas. The 3 of us happily skipped home in the rain full of good spirits from the day. Boxing Day came and the rain was still going, we didn't want to spend the day at the hostel so we caught the shuttle bus into town and went to a gorgeous cafe next to Christa's hostel, had big fry up's and Kate got her English bacon. The four of us spent the afternoon playing card games out of the rain. That evening we off course went to Cheeky's although this time without Luciano and the gang as they left today, us four still had a brills time though, topped off by a second dinner from one of the late night cafes, we had a weirdo that sat with us while we were eating, can't even put it into words he was just weird. The next day we had to check out of the hostel because we were booked on the greyhound that evening, we put our stuff in lockers and went to the beach as the sun was shining again. Liv went and had her hair coloured as a Christmas present to herself. Kate, Christa and I went to the beach and annoyingly I got myself good and burnt. We went back to shower and get ready for the bus, Christa came over for card games and to finish off the left over drink. Time to go and we all went to the bus station, said our sad goodbyes to Christa, we said we wanted to plan to meet later down the road in whichever country but at the moment it's looking unlikely as our current paths don't cross. The bus was an hour late, we was all getting restless until this street magician came over to entertain the group, he tricks weren't very good but he kept the crowd happy. Finally the bus arrived.

We didn't want to leave but wouldn't be able to live there because its not busy enough but it's a definite holiday home kinda place! I reckon I could live there for 2 months out of the year! As we clicked on our seatbelts, we were sad to say goodbye to our hippy playground of Byron Bay. Off we drive to Sydney, arriving in 14 hours time.