I have heard a fair few travellers say Byron Bay is there best place in Australia. Just to get some perspective on that, what they are saying is: Byron Bay is better than seeing the Sydney harbour, Byron Bay is better than Ayers Rock, Byron Bay is better Fraser Island etc. It must be a place that is good I thought, so I ventured to the place where Captain James Cook named Cape Byron after John Byron (who circumnavigated the world).

I stayed in YHA Cape Byron during my visit there and it was a nice layout with a pool, but it felt a bit like school with no noise after 11pm. Chairs and tables were collected by staff at 11pm and we were either ordered to go inside the room, or leave the hostel and go outside. We were playing cards at 10:59pm, and when we asked if we could have 2 more minutes to finish the game, the reply was "11 o clock is 11 o clock". I would hazard a guess that they may get treated better in San Quentin.

There didn't seem that much to do in this town, and it was obviously tailored for backpackers. In the supermarket, I heard German voices, Dutch voices, and plenty of English voices, but I heard not one Australian, apart from one checkout lady. It boasted a very pretty beach with the lighthouse in the distance and on one of the days we walked up to it and had a quick look inside. On the way up to the lighthouse, we were at the most Easterly point of Australia's Mainland. There were some good views of the beach when we were walking up there, and we saw some dolphins swimming around the surfers in the sea below.

I got the feeling the main reason why Byron Bay is so popular is due to its nightlife, but most places seemed to shut down by 12pm, unless we were just going to the wrong places. It's a pretty little seaside town, but there are quieter and nicer seaside places like Victor Harbour in South Australia that is better than Byron Bay in my opinion. Byron is just like a lot of places on the East coast really, a commercial machine where all the backpackers feel they have to visit. I definitely would not say it should be mentioned in the same breath as Fraser Island, Sydney Harbour, and Ayers Rock etc. I don't really know why so many people feel it is a must to visit here, if I'm being totally honest.

Sydney on the night train was the next mini journey.