As the greyhound bus came into Byron bay we immediately knew we were going to like it. It was made up of a series of quirky shops and a variety of good food places. The hostel minibus picked us up from the bus station and the guys working there were so welcoming and chatty. They took us round town showing us the beach and the Main Street. They told us about the main nights out and where people were going that night. You could tell they loved living here and it made us excited to explore.
We explored the shops and found so many nice hippy shops with good quality clothes and beautiful jewellery. It was all quite expensive but I loved how arty it all was. Everyday as the sun starts to set, locals head to the beach to play drums and dance. We saw a beautiful sunset on the beach which was made so atmospheric by the music and all the people attracted to the beachfront. That evening we stumbled across a vegetarian Indian restaurant. The curries were all on display and you pick which one you wanted. We joined others at the hostel by taking the minibus to a bar called cheeky monkeys. It was pretty busy when we arrived and definitely had character. We chatted to some of the people that worked at the hostel and some other travellers.
The next day we had a tour booked to Nimbin. We waited on the side of the road for the hippy bus to pick us up. It was a campervan with 'happy coach' written on the side and it was painted with colourful patterns. The driver was dressed in a top hat and tutu. She told us to call her Princess Fiona and she introduced us to her black cat. The cat got a lot of attention from all the travellers on the bus and was quite content sitting at the front being stroked by people.
The first stop was at a waterfall, where some people were swimming. The waterfall was a circular pit and a sudden drop down from where we were standing. The tour guide offered to take pictures where she lent over the side of the waterfall with our cameras or phones in one hand to take a risky picture of us. She also had her cat on a lead in the other hand. She was a great tour guide though, telling us the history of places we visited and as we went past main sites.
The next stop before the hippy village was at a local pub. The journey itself was lovely as the sun was out and we took a scenic route through the countryside. I was surprised how similar the fields looked to those back home. We went through a village that was prone to flooding and all the houses were built on stilts. We were shown a marker where the waters had reached a number of years back. Apparently the aboriginals had warned not to build on this land but we hadn't listened.
When we arrived we drove through the village and saw how it was literally made up of a small Main Street. We had a couple of hours to explore. We enjoyed going into each shop and seeing what arty souvenirs and clothing was on offer. We were often offered chocolate brownies which we politely declined. The tour guide cooked us all a BBQ which was absolutely delicious - proper beef batties with cheese, sweet potato and pineapple. At lunch we talked to all the other travellers on the tour. We slept on the way back after a long day.
We both fancied different meals for dinner so got takeaways and went to sit by the sea. The drummers were still playing and some of the locals were still dancing even though it was long past sunset. We sat and ate while watching the waves come in. On the way home we popped into a supermarket to buy breakfast. I fancied some chocolate and asked the guy at the till if they had small packets of malteasars. He couldn't find any then turned to me and was like 'you know what I've had a long day and everyone should deserve malteasars when they fancy them' He opened a large packet of malteasars and poured a load into a bag for me. He gave them to me for free and I thanked him for such a kind gesture. It shows the kind of behaviour that I keep seeing in Australia already. Everyone just wants to please and they come across as so happy and genuine. The next day we got dropped at the bus station and had an easy journey to Brisbane.