G'day all!!

Well sorry about the lack of blogging but I have been spending a lovely relaxing time in Byron Bay!! Its quite a small town based around the bays and the best way to describe it is as a hippie town!! Walking down the street you see some very strange people, such as a guy walking round with cans on strings attached to him!! But overall, its a lovely chill out place!! I arrived on Sunday evening and got picked up by my hostel!! Its about 1km out of the main town but an easy walk (just not with my backpack!!)! The hostel was quite small but had a pool, TV and nice kitchen!! I was lucky to get a room though as I got the ;ast bed available on the Sunday and it stayed pretty busy throughtout the week!!

So Monday, I enjoyed a lie-in after getting up early sunday to check out!! Then I headed down to the beach, which is lovely! They have separate areas for swimming and surfing which is great as its a very popular place to surf!! The waves were way too strong for me though so I settled for a paddle!! I then wandered back to the hotel through town enjoying the local shops, and of course stopping off at Woolworths to stock up on food!! Went for a run in the evening to a nearby beach!! What I didn't realise is the first turn off from the main road was a hill and then the majority of the path was sand which made it a bit more 'fun'!! Was all worth it once I reached the beach though and ran along the sand barefoot towards the lighthouse!!

Tuesday was another chill out day but today I spent it by the pool!! The weather picked up massively today and there wasn't a cloud in the sky so didn't want to get sunburnt so hopped between the sun and shade!! The pool at the hostel is pretty small but just what you need to cool down after a hard time reading and sunbathing!!

On Wednesday, I went sea kayaking!! It was amazing fun!! We had a group of 9 so I went in a kayak with one of the guides!! We set off from the beach and headed straight out over the waves!! Very good fun although being sat at the front meant that I got splashed a lot when we went over a wave!! Nice way to cool down though!! We headed out to a nearby reef and got the chance to snorkel!! Obviously the reef didn't quite match up to the views of the Great Barrier Reef but I got the chance to swim alongside two turtles!! Our guide soon got us out the water though and after we were all out he explained that there were rumours that a 2m Bronze Whaler shark was swimming at the edge of the reef!! So instead we decided to head out to a further point in the sea, to try and find some dolphins!! We headed out around the lighthouse, only to find 2 more sharks!! These ones were leopard sharks which are 99.9% of the time harmless and they were swimming on the top of the water about 20m away!! It was pretty cool to see them but definitely glad to stay away from them!! On our way back to the shore, we attempted to snorkel again, only for one of the guys to jump out the water and back in the kayak quicker than I have ever seen anyone move and with the biggest eyes!! Turned out he had seen a shark but it was only a reef shark which are harmless!! Very funny though!! Now all we had to do was get over the waves back to the beach!! To do it without tipping the kayak over, you need to move as close to the back as possible and lean back when you catch a wave!! As I was with the guide we went first and did it perfectly (obviously!!)!! The others weren't quite so lucky and so I was on camera duty while the guide was on rescue duty!! After some water and choccy on the beach, it was back to the hostel!! In the evening, I went out on a pub crawl with 3 girls from my room!! We had a good night and certainly enjoyed the free drinks!!

Due to the free drinks, Thursday was spent lazying around the hostel and taking naps!! One thing I did do in the evening however was watch the cricket!! Unfortunately I only got to see Australia batting as the common room shut at midnight, but it was good fun, especially as we were sat with an aussie and an indian!!

Friday started with an early morning as I went and walked around the lighthouse and wanted to avoid the midday sun!! It was a pretty long walk but sooo worth it for the views!! I walked all along the cliff and you can walk out to the most easternly point of mainland Australia!! When I was out there, I was lucky enough to see some dolphins!! On one side, there was a whoel group of them and then on the other side, there was a couple literally 30m away from the rocks!! Definitely made up for not seeing them on the kayaking!! It was a pretty steep walk with plenty of steps and hills!! The lighthouse itself was very small but very nice to see aswell!! I treated myself to an ice cream at the top and sat overlooking the beach that I ran along on Monday!! The walk back down was a bit easier as it was all under shade!! Finally once I was back at the beach, I walked along the beach back to the main beach!! In the evening, the 4 from our room, went out to a pub called Cheeky Monkeys!! It was a very funny night and the standard procedure in there is to dance on the tables!! To be honest you don't really have much of a choice seeing as the dance floor is covered in tables!!

Overall, I had a wicked time in Byron and understand why no-one has a bad word to say about it!!

Sending lots of sharky love

xxxx