After taking much longer than most, and stopping off in a variety of NSW towns, we finally arrived for our 3 days in Byron Bay. As we predicted, the bus emptied as we arrived in Byron and we spilled onto the busy street, filled with Backpackers, tourists and shops! Our tired selves immediately got tricked into entering a touristy shop, where they tried to sell us a travel package! But after escaping the clutches of ‘Happy Travels’, we set off on the very short walk to the hostel. There are 2 hostels in Byron which are YHAs, both very close to one another so we just plumped for the Byron Bay YHA (rather than Cape Byron). We were shown our small, very warm 5 bed room but were happy to see that the kitchen was brand new, there was a pool and everyone there was very friendly. Once we’d settled in slightly, we set off to get our bearings and seek out coffee. Although it’s definitely a very touristy place, filled with the typical European backpacker, Byron is actually also a very friendly place and an easy place to spend a bit of time. We spent our first day just walking down to the beach which of course was very busy and enjoying the weather, which had very much been in our favour the whole East Coast trip so far. At night we decided to venture out and see the town, stumbling across a free music event with free chai tea and pancakes (my most hated foods but David's favourite!).
The next day was Australia Day, so we were prepared for it to be a loud day full of parties, but it actually started out pretty slow and chilled. David booked onto a 'kayaking with dolphins' experience (he didn't see any dolphins but still had a great time kayaking in the sea) so he got up and left early, about 6am, leaving me to have a sneaky lie in and dip in the pool! Because the weather was very warm and humid, with only a fan (not air con) in the rooms, I took at least 2 trips downstairs to the pool a day, just to cool down! Luckily, in the morning there were not many people in the pool, so it was a good opportunity to have a swim. When David arrived home, he also came into the pool for a bit before a small nap! We then took on the walk to the Byron lighthouse, which was uphill and difficult in the sun! But we did get a great view of the bay, including a pod of dolphins in the ocean below (shame they weren't there in the morning when David went kayaking!)

Come the evening, we were ready to celebrate Australia Day so headed to a nearby pub, the Sticky Wicket, to listen to some live music and have cocktails! We returned to the same pub the following night with our roommate and our friend from the Blue Mountains Anthony who randomly popped up at our hostel! We could have stayed in Byron longer but the last day was starting to get rainy (like a warm weather thunderstorm) and it was forcast for the next week so we decided to leave the beach town, and head towards the Gold Coast.

Highlights: great hostel, walk to the lighthouse, dolphins, pub with friends
Accomodation: Byron Bay YHA