Hello Folks,
We are very sorry again for the long delay in the blog update. Its tuff on the road you know!!
After leaving Tazzie on Saturday the 8th of March (god that was ages ago) we flew from Launceston to Sydney, where we met Derek, who is Jamie's dads cousin and his partner Andrew. They stay in Terrigal which is about an hour north of Sydney. We never arrived in Sydney until 10.30pm so by the time we got our bags and got to Terrigal it was just after midnight. Andrew and Derek have an amazing house which they built themselves so we were treated like kings for a week...BRILLIANT! Derek arranged a BBQ for us and all his family, it was nice for Jamie to see them all as it had been years since they last met. After a few glasses of wine and a great Ozzie BBQ we felt like part of the family.
On Monday Derek had to work but Andrew took us out for a tour of the area and we went for lunch in Terrigal, which is only a small town with a population of 6000 but has a real holiday feel with all the beaches and buzzing cappuccino strip. That night we went to the local club which does a $10 steak night. Cant beat that, real backpacker prices. On Tuesday we got a shot of the car and went to the beach. Andrews car is an automatic which technically should be easy to drive but was proving a little more difficult than Jamie had anticipated. Jamie kept thinking the brake was the clutch and trying to change gear. Very amusing, we had to pull over just to laugh a few times, never the less she eventually got the hang of it. I took my guitar to the beach and we spent the day chilling. We stopped off at the butchers on the way home and got some meat for the barbie. On Wednesday Derek pulled a sickie and took us all round the area in the car, we went to Patonga for lunch then round a few beaches. We never actually went to the beach where Home and Away is filmed but we could see it from one of the beaches we were at. Another sickie for Derek on Thursday and the 4 of us went up the "Hunter Valley" wine region, which is the oldest wine region in Australia. We went round about 6 wineries the hunter valley gardens and a cheese factory. The wineries were beautiful and so was the wine, Jamie bought a few bottles and Andrew bought a few cases. It was a good day and the weather was amazing. We would definitely advise a visit to this area its very stunning. Friday was another chilled day at the beach, Jamie was determined to go swimming and got abused by the waves, it was hilarious from my point of view and J had a ball as I watched and strummed my guitar. On Saturday we we went to a market with Andrew and Derek then took them out for a Thai meal at night to say thanks for everything. Sunday was our last day there, we spent the day chilling before our over night bus to Byron Bay. Thanks again Derek and Andrew we had a brilliant time with you both.

We caught the Greyhound Bus from Gossford and settles in for our 12 hour journey to Byron Bay where we were meeting, Deano, Leanne and Mhairi. After a pretty rubbish drive we arrived in Byron at around 9am and made our way to the hostel, however couldn't check in until 2pm so we had a shower and went into the town for a look and a few beers. As it was St Patricks day 17th of March it was great excuse to have a Guinness. We went back to the Hostel, where we had booked a 4 bed dorm or so we were told. When we got shown the shack it had no windows and was flee ridden, the hut was obviously only in use because Byron was so busy for the Blues Fest. I took it upon myself to make a complaint but the guy on the desk didn't care and basically told me that it would be impossible to get another hostel as Byron was so busy....Sounds like a challenge to me!! So taking the im away from impossible we would not be defeated by a know it all in the "Arts Factory", once again we came up trumps and I managed to wangle us a 4 bedded dorm at "Backpackers Inn" which included a double bed...BONUS! Marc and I were happy to have the double, plus Deano and Leanne were impressed with the on beach accommodation which was clean and comfortable. Once we checked in Marc and I went for a sleep and waited on our Buddy's arriving, it was brilliant seeing them both again and of course meeting Mhairi for the first time in Australia. It was BBQ and punch night at the hostel and everything was green to celebrate Paddy's day, we got BLIND at the hostel before we headed to ED's favourite place in the world, "Cheeky Monkeys", its a pub/club in Byron aimed at backpackers, $2 meals and $8 jugs, quality, oh and dancing on the tables....Top class night. Byron is quite a small town with a population of only about 6,000 people and is famous for its surf, but with all the backpackers and festival goers in town it had the vibe of a city, the cafes, pubs, beaches and streets were totally chalkers. It has a real hippy feel about it, all the locals wandering around bare footed and very colourful. Nothing is a problem and people make time to chat with you and find out about your travels and life experiences.
On the Tuesday we chilled at the beach for most of the day feeling a little hungover from the previous night. When we left the beach we made our way into town to book a day trip for Nimbin the following day. After going back to the hostel to freshen up, it was to Cheeky Monkeys for our $2 meal and a few jugs. Spag Bog for $2, that's under a quid you know! On Wednesday 19 March we caught the Nimbin shuttle to Nimbin of course which is about an hour North West of Byron. Loads of hippies came to Nimbin in the 70's for a festival and have never left. Its a crazy little place to say the least! On Wednesday night we moved out of the hostel into a flat that we had booked for the week. Originally when we phoned up for accommodation all the hostels were full due to the Blues Fest, so a girl in one of the hostels said we could have her room in her house. So she picked us up after we returned from Nimbin and took us to our new pad for the week which was nice. We chilled out at night. On Thursday 20th March the girls went shopping and me and Ed chilled at the beach then met the girls for lunch and went to check out an art gallery that had some amazing shots of Led Zepplin. We had a quiet night on Thursday in preparation for the Blues Fest the next day. Wait for it even Eddie stayed in with us, and lets face it Ed loves a night out at Cheeky's.... We woke up on Friday 21st of March and headed into Byron to get some booze for the festival, you weren't meant to bring your own vino in but we were going to try and sneak in 8 litres of goon. (Goon being the cheapest wine you can buy, all backpackers drink it) When i say sneak Ed ended up strutting past security with the goon in a plastic bag under his arm...ha ha legendary, well done Ed. The Festival which is called the Byron Blues Fest is an annual music festival held over 5 days. We only had tickets for 2 of the days. We rocked up to the festival at midday and got fired in about the drink watching a few blues bands and chilling in the heat. The only people we were bothered about seeing was Sea Sick Steve and Ian Brown. Because Ian Brown isn't that big over here it was no problem to get right down to the front which was quality. Then after the show we went to the singing tent which was dead and met Ian Brown. When we were in the queue I decided to phone Souttar who ended up speaking to him, Ian was totally nuts and enjoyed the craic. Jamie also met "Eskimo Jo", all our Australian friends will know who he is....oh and of course KC and Neil are big fans. Saturday was a bit of a non eventful day, in the morning we went to the lighthouse which is the most Easterly point of Australia, the views were spectacular and its well worth a visit. In the afternoon we all went to the beach and done a power of chilling. We met Karen and Rick who popped down to Byron for the night, so we had a few beers with them. Then it was back to the infamous Cheeky Monkey's again for Tea. Jamie managed to find a Catholic Church and went to the Easter Vigil Mass, I then met her and we all had an early night. Easter Sunday, 23rd of March. Jamie, Eddie and Myself got up at 5.00am to see the sunrise, the plan was to go up to the light house with Rick and Karen, however unbeknown to us Rick and Karen slept in so we waited at a roundabout in the middle of nowhere for them to pick us up, after waiting for 45 min's we realised that they were not coming. So we walked about 3K to the nearest beach to watch the sunrise. I would like to say "Beautiful" but the funniest thing after all that was that we didn't see much as it was a cloudy morning...so it was back to bed for an hour or two. Once up, Jamie made a fantastic picnic for the 5 of us and we headed to the beach for an Easter Egg decorating contest! It became very apparent who went to Tealing primary...ha ha ha We had to draw names from a hat and paint who we pulled out on the egg. Have a look at the photos it was brilliant fun...Jamie won, she had ED. Then we had a few egg throwing games which was crazy and included the egg and spoon race in the sand. After another day on the beach we headed to the pub where there was a soul singer on, the massive mama was rocking, we all sang our hearts out to all of the classics and had a wee boogie before going back to Cheeky Monkey's for a cheap meal and booze. Monday the 24Th of March and it was back to the Blues Fest....It was another scorcher of a day and the highlight was to be KT Tunstall. We seen a few bands mainly all Australian. We had gone to a huge effort to get our Scottish flags out and Jamie wore her kilt, however it was wasted, Miss Tunstall did not mention her Scottish roots once! All she spoke about was London, needless to say we were pretty disappointed however her music was good, but we won't be rushing back to see her again....boo boo The highlight of the night had to be John Fogerty who played many classics from Credence Clear Water Revival days, we all rocked our socks of....BRILLIANT. We would definitely come back to Byron it was a brilliant place and the Blues Fest made it even more special. Until next time, Marc and Jamie xx