Hey all,

We are now at Byron Bay and staying for a week so we'll be leaving again on the 14th for surfers paradise. After leaving Sydney we went to spot x at the surf camp and stayed there over night with the oz bus people. The place was small but extremely chilled out with surf boards as part of the furniture and message boards lol. The main rule we were told was to always 'stay cool'!!! Our lesson the following day was bright and early at 9.00am to catch the best waves. It was so much fun, the water was nice and warm and i think i must have swallowed my body weight in salt water trying to master the board! It is actually a lot harder than the pros make it look so i think i only managed about a second standing up....Ali and I actually cut each other up one time and railroaded each other off the boards! so funny! Definately something i want to try and do more further up the coast!

Since being in Byron bay though we have just relaxed and enjoyed the hot weather, getting into the 40s over here now! The beaches are lovely and soft and there is a walk up to the lighthouse where you can see sea turtles along the way. We took a bus tour to the small town of Nimbin the other day, it was an allday trip to see the hippy town and then drive to the Minyon waterfalls at the Nightcap National Park. It was a fun day walking round the markets in the sun and listening to some retro music provided by our driver Ivan. All the surfing and biking equipment are free to hire at our hostel which is called holiday village so we think we might take advantage of them and soak up some more sun over the next few days! We've booked our fraser island and whitsundays tours from rainbow beach and airlie beach for later up the coast because with it being peak season for backpackers over here places are running out fast. can't wait to do some camping and cruise around in a 4x4!