Friday 15th October

Off to Byron Bay, which promises to be better than Surfers Paradise (not difficult). Amie did hear someone on the phone yesterday describe it as awesome! There are probably many definitions of awesome, some good, some bad, but I guess they would like Southend or Blackpool on a wet weekend. As we drove out on the Greyhound a 50+ pony tailed American who had a studio in Las Vegas and didn't get off at Surfers Paradise, said he liked the look of it - "Smells of money". The driver said it was too busy for him and I'm with the driver on that one. It wasn't long before the concrete and glass was behind us and to be honest it took less space than the scorched forest area we had passed through earlier. Perhaps mother nature could be a little more selective the next time she visits combustion on the land.

The landscape is once again like the rolling hills of Surrey - green and very wet from the rain and burst creeks. Lost another hour as we passed from Queensland into New South Wales - who have daylight saving. Poor Amie doesn't want her 30th to come any quicker, it will already occur a day earlier than at home and now it's another hour sooner. We're in plush accommodation in Byron Bay and are making full use of the washing machine. Every time we put our heads out of the door to walk into town it starts raining. There's a circus centre here and the place looks a lot more laid back, right up Steve's street.

Wind and rain all night.

Saturday 16th October

What a contrast, still raining but clear blue skies. Walked to the beach and met Alex Sands riding 'drifters' - "The next big thing" he says. I asked where they came from and if they were made in Australia. "They don't make anything here, too lazy, they just smoke and drink!" Walked along the beach to the headland but no shelter from the wind. Walked along a trail to the next beach, watched someone making a large ying yang on the beach with a rake. It looked good from the cliffs. Lunch in the town, walked through the park and watched some rugby. Surprise encounter with Femke at the Greyhound stop. She's going to pick coffee for a while and seemed rather excited about being in Byron. More walking then back to the apartment for some sunbathing by the pool.

Sunday 17th October

Still sunny and a little less windy. Walked to the industrial site to the visit the arts centres, they were closed as was the circus centre. Oh well we'll go see the market.

Market not found so a couple of hours on the beach and then back to the apartment because Amie wanted roast lamb.

Roast was delicious.

Monday 18th October

Happy Birthday Tabby.

We have cold lamb sandwiches for the coach and are sitting in a small park in the middle of town, watching the world go by and waiting for noon to catch the Greyhound to Port Macquarie. The park has a few swings, a couple of Ibis and a group of drunks - much like many parks around the world, apart from the Ibis that is.

I like Byron, it has a late 60's hippy appeal to it but unlike the 60's hippys, everyone appears to have a purpose, travelling in straight lines rather than aimlessly wandering. They also have shoes on, well flip flops/thongs which is more than we had 40 years ago. There's also a lot of hair, mainly dreadlocks so it's not easy to tell if it's their own or someone else's. I mean they own it but it may have been grown from someone else's head before they got it. There are also a lot of surfers or people carrying surf boards.

There are various public buildings i.e. toilets, information centres etc. are decorated with poor imitation of traditional aboriginal art. They sure as hell weren't painted by the aboriginal people I've seen here, cos most of them are pretty drunk by 10am and would rather be off to the bottle shop than painting. It's very sad but it strikes me that the indigenous people of most countries that the white man has visited, just seem to give up. The only ones that survive are the ones that change and lose their identity in their own country.

There is a level of prosperity in Byron, people making a lot of money and houses are expensive but it's been done in a way that doesn't permanently scar the landscape as they have done in surfers paradise. How is scars the people? A 3 day visit wouldn't be long enough to tell.

As we were passing the time waiting for the bus, we met an elderly American gentleman with his young female polish companion (not girlfriend). He's a travel writer who bush camps wherever he can and has a particular fondness for England. He described the bush camps he had made in Battersea and just outside Gatwick airport. We both agreed that you can get away with more the older you get. He was sad we wouldn't be able to attend their party on Thursday, where they would be showing films of the wildlife that they had taken while camping. The journey to Port Macquarie took 6 hours and we passed through a quite flat countryside with large fields of cows sheltering from the sun under what looked like spreading deciduous trees. It reminded me of the journey from Ipswich to Middleton past the M. A. B. a big house, I can't remember its name (Glemmham Hall, Amie tells me). Small rainforests, swamps, enormous eucalyptus forests and as ever we crossed frequent rivers as wide as the Thames at tower bridge. We arrived at 1800 and were, as usual, met by a number of hostel buses vying for patrons. We'd booked with Ozzie Pozzie and were accommodated in a pleasant room. The bed however was less comfortable. It was obvious that when the owner had fallen on harder times, he had removed and burnt some of the mattress support slats to "boil his billy" It wasn't quite as bad to sleep on as I had imagined.

We booked a boat trip to whale watch the next day and went to look for food and test Amie's map reading skills. We eventually found the town and spent an hour in an internet cafe. We watched as a large colony of fruit bats took to the air. It was by then 9pm and the town was shut so we picked up a pizza and ate it at the hostel.

Tuesday 19th October

We headed off in the morning to do a whale watching tour. Exciting ride in on an inflatable craft with a very powerful motor, bouncing over large waves in pursuit of whales. We eventually located a mother and her calf, idly heading south along the coast surfacing to 'blow' and inhale, roll and submerge. Quite a magnificent site. What must it have been like prior to the decimation of the whale stocks by the whale industry?!

Fish and chips on the quay side followed by a trip to the koala hospital. The most treasured koala, birthday girl, at 24 is the oldest koala in the world and she was treated like a queen. My particular favourite was a male with back trouble but not so much trouble as to stop him regularly escaping from his enclosure for nocturnal shenanigans with females in surrounding enclosures. One of the females was blind and she pushed him out of the tree, the other only had one leg and this was a more successful venture. His name, most of you won't need to ask, is Barry - "good on ya Barry!"They were all so well looked after that it was not unusual for wild koalas to break in and pretend to be a little poorly. The word koala comes from the aboriginal word 'kola' meaning dry because they believed koalas didn't drink. As a boy, when pocket money permitted, I would purchase 2oz of kola cubes. It sickens me now to think that I may have contributed to the suffering of these beautiful creatures. They did taste good though.

We made an earlier trek to the town to eat and were rewarded with Thai green curry and beers.

Wednesday 20th October

06:15am Greyhound bus for a 4hr trip to Newcastle and then a 1hr local bus to Melaleuka in Port Stephens. Wooden cabins built in the bush - very laid back. We went to 1 mile beach (prizes for the first correct guess as to how long it is). It was very windy and we watched a kite surfer moving quickly across the waves. I wandered further along the beach whilst Amie rested. I returned to Amie carrying a storm damaged bird very close to death. We thought we may be able to get it back to the hostel, where the owners ran an animal hospital. They rescue sick or motherless animals and spend their time feeding noisy birds. But sadly for the sea bird, we didn't make it off the beach, before it died in my hands.

There is a kangaroo at the hostel that the owner hand reared living happily on the site. Well actually it just seems to sleep most of the time. There is also a hand reared frog mouthed owl, which also sleeps all day. But it is known to land on people's shoulders at night begging food.

Sausage, egg and beans "my favourite" after cycling to Anna Bay for provisions.

Thursday 21st October

A koala has appeared in a tree on the site. A male that grunts like a pig. Spent the day on the beach and then walked through the bush to the headland, disturbing lizards and goannas on the way. Long chat in the evening with Gary, an Australian man, about Oz, music and England.

Friday 22nd October

Cycled to boat harbour to try our luck at whale watching and were not disappointed. There were 2 or 3 humpbacks blowing, rolling and waving their enormous fins in the air and slapping them on to the water. We moved back to the headland at 1 mile beach for a better view but they had moved on.

We returned to Melaleuka and I cooked dinner while Gary watched our dvd. We exchanged lists of music and Amie taught him some poi tricks.