Well our bus to Byron Bay arrived early again and we found ourselves there at 5:30 am sat in a bus station - it was raining loads, there had been storms here for the past few days but at least it was warm!! We decided to walk through the rain - meeting some Irish guys (Rob, Denise and Orlaith) on the way, on arrival to the hostel at about 6 am it was all shut so we sat outside for what seemed like ages waiting for it to open!! After getting a room we had a well earned sleep and due to the inclement weather. The day I had promised that Sarah could have to sunbathe on the beach was cancelled in favour of playing pass the pigs, cards, eating crisps and chocolate, drinking wine and tea all day in the hostel!!

We ended that evening with our new roommates (Taneka, Jo and Jacquline) and our Irish friends, we had some great fun playing all sorts of drinking games and a lot of goon (cheap and nasty boxed wine) was drunk, so we decided to hit the town to a cheesy club called Cheeky Monkeys where there was much dancing on tables and which ended with a walk home through the deluge - was very funny at the time!

Saturday the weather had improved so Sarah and I decided to go for a walk to the lighthouse and Cape Byron -the most easterly point in Oz. We walked for a good few hours along the beach and up the cliffs. It was so hot and humid, but we were rewarded with great views and a good sense of achievement. When we got back we realized that we had both caught the sun quite badly, it looked as though I had been wearing a vest where the bag was and Sarah had a red back and tummy - lessons have been learned (although we did put sun-cream on but must have sweated it off). We finished the day with an hour on the beach with our roommates until it started raining - again! In the evening we had a BBQ at the hostel but it was nothing compared to the ones we had in South America!

Sarah kept telling me that I was very lucky with the room we had in our hostel - 3 other girls, apparently I should've loved it! I suppose it wasn't too difficult to deal with until Saturday night when I was subjected to a girly night in - I was of course thrilled to be part of this! Sarah's pedicure was apparently lovely though.

Sunday we booked a trip out for the day to go to a place called Nimbin which is the hippy capital of Australia, we went with "Jim's Alternative Tours" I think the name may explain a lot. When we finally got there it was a very small town, probably living on tourism due to the fact that the police don't enforce the cannabis laws very tightly, and just walking along the main street we were asked many times if we wanted to buy some marijuana - we of course declined but did succumb to a cookie each!! We didn't stop in Nimbin too long as there wasn't loads to see and a storm had just started!! On the way home we went to visit a crazy Californian hippy that has been living in a hut completely self sufficient for 30 years - it was all a bit strange. We were then driven into a national park to go and see a 100m high waterfall which was great - especially because of all the rain they have had lately. We even saw a Koala in the wild too that the driver spotted up a tree next to the road which was really cool.

When we got back we had a shower and dinner before heading off out (it was our roommate Taneka's birthday) to go and see one of Australia's biggest acts - Sneaky Sound System in a hotel in Byron. It was great fun, me and Sarah danced the night away - must get their cd when we get home. It finished quite early so as the hostel was so close to the beach we went to look at the stars for a while - there were loads out, really beautiful and the lighthouse looked pretty cool too.

We then had to get some sleep before getting up early this morning to head to Brisbane - Andy Warhol exhibition, Australia Zoo (with the Irish folks) and possibly the Koala sanctuary await us over the next few days, we can't wait!!

Love to you all, keep in touchA&S xxxx