Thanks for all the messages guys. Can't believe we've only got 2 weeks left (we're back in Blighty on 22nd) but looking forward to seeing you all.

After a couple more nights in Sydney (we had to wait to get a seat on a bus) it was time to visit the great Byron Bay.... apparently everyone's favourite place in Oz. As you can imagine, expectations were high, so much so that after calling about 20 different hostels and numerous websites trying to find a bed, when we eventually did hear those beautiful words, "yes, we do have availability" we didn't think twice and booked 5 nights. That was a foolish move really as alarm bells should have rang immediately - I mean, why was every bed in Bryon Bay booked up apart from this one? I'll tell you why: the hostel was a s**thole (or at least it didn't meet our 'flashpacker' standards!). The double room we had booked was literally just a double bed in a wood-panelled room big enough to fit the bed in and not much else, it was like a sauna, it smelled rather foisty and at $120/night it was a complete rip-off. But, as the over-exuberant yank receptionist informed us, Bryon Bay is the 2nd most popular tourist destination in the whole of Australia (Sydney being numero uno) and there will "literally be 500 people sleeping on the beach tonight as they can't find a bed"... what a load of tosh!

Anyway, despite our lodgings not meeting the required standard, we were pleased to see that Byron Bay itself is as lovely as we had heard. For those of you who have not been, it is pretty much just one beach in a semi-circular bay with a couple of main streets lined with bars and restaurants and surf shops. Even with a back-drop of grey clouds and drizzle (which is what we were blessed with for most of our stay) it was a really cool place to spend a few days. There isn't much to do there, so we spent the time when it wasn't raining on the beach and the time when it was raining in the pub. On our second night we met up with Cat and Stig again (the Irish couple who seem to be following us around!) and went to the famous Cheeky Monkeys for a night out. We could have been in Tenerife! We were surrounded by 18 year olds dressed up to the nines in their holiday best, all donning flower garlands which were given out during the night and being cajoled into drinking up and getting their kit off by an Aussie guy on stage who at the same time was orchestrating some competitive goldfish races (the English fish beat his Irish counterpart in a nail-biting final) and persuading the guys in the audience to buy the female tour-rep more drinks "because the more drunk you get her, the cheaper the tours will be... whey-hey!" At the beginning of the night we felt old. By the end of the night a flower garland was wrapped around my head like I was some kind of 70s hippie and I was giving it wigan to the Greece mega-mix with the rest of 'em. It was a great night!

Day/night no. 3 didn't present much to write about seeing as though we were both hungover, but the following night (after a day of drizzly rain) we went to a bar which was hosting a surprisingly good local reggae band in their beer garden. We weren't going to get involved but we couldn't resist the bright lights and music so naturally we went in for a quick beer and stayed for the duration before getting a kebab [the sign read "the healthy alternative" so who were we to argue?] and eating it on the beach on the way back to our sauna.

On our last day the sun was shining so we walked up to the lighthouse which overlooks Byron Bay and is apparently the Eastern most point of Australia. And we were rewarded by being able to look down at the sea and see dolphins swimming alongside surfers... it was really cool. Unfortunately, the great view didn't last very long as the heavens opened and we got absolutely soaked on the way back down. That was just bad timing though as the afternoon turned out to be really nice, so much so that Stuart decided to hire a body board seeing as though we hadn't been able to have the surfing lesson we would have had had the weather been as it should have been. This provided much entertainment. And a few injuries - they're bloody strong some of those waves you know! And FYI, the sea bed (i.e. the sand) can be pretty hard and painful for one who decides to headbutt it. What a plonker Stu is sometimes! You know how the best way to get past the waves is to dive under them? Well Stu, instead of diving under the crest of the wave by diving forwards, threw himself with much gusto into a head-first downward dive in water the depth of which barely got his knees wet.... nice one. He couldn't move his neck properly for a week but he still thinks he could be the next Kelly Slater!

So although it was a shame about the weather we had a lovely few days in Byron Bay. Next stop, Brisbane.... xxx