Rather than detail my experiences of Byron Bay, I thought I'd do a summary of the week.

Saturday
Brekkie at Ginger Pig, where the food was yummy, after they got my order correct.
Mooched around town, found the beach, chilled.
Accommodation at Byron Quarter Apts is lovely, very spacious, well appointed but loud live music heard at night. Plus aircon keeps turning itself off!

Sunday
Pottered in town. Byron is a very alternative hippie place where anything goes! Lazed around in the sun reading. Went to Earth'n'Sea pizza place for supper. Lesley took home her uneaten slices in a foil swan (see pics).

Monday
Woken up by loud noise from woodwork place out the back... Great! Live music to sleep to and a band saw to wake up to! I went for a remedial massage to try and sort out some crunchy bits resulting from bad pillows/beds. I found experience slightly traumatic but good. Massage provided by a singlet & short wearing Italian chap who had very definite theories about muscle tension and stress. Despite this I felt much less pain after the experience. I compensated by having my eyebrows threaded and tinted in the avo.

Tuesday
GoSeaKayak Byron Bay! I had a brilliant morning on an amazingly quiet sea. I paddled with Jo, one of the guides, who was fab and helped build my confidence. I snorkelled and saw a green turtle, a wobbegong shark, small sting rays and loads of fish. We all paddled between some rocks at The Pass, which is normally not possible but a surfers paradise. I stood up in the kayak, although it was short lived I did it :) We also saw a pod of about 20 bottle nosed dolphins, who have babies and were being a bit elusive. It was a great trip and finished off surfing a wave back onto the beach, fun!
Having used lots of energy I felt hungry and had two scoops of gelati from In The Pink... Nom nom! One scoop of rocky road and one of mango & macadamia, heaven! I'm not a massive ice cream fan but this stuff could make me change my mind!!!
We headed out to Miss Margaritas in the evening. I had a couple of chipotle chilli and lime margaritas-Gaz, you'll love these, we need to find a recipe! The snapper chimichanga was to die for as well. It was a very cool place with a great atmosphere and some fab tunes.

Wednesday
An odd day from start to finish. We got a cab out to the crafts and industry centre, about 3k out of town. We were surprised at the size of the place and ended up visiting only a handful of places, which included Hammer & Hand, a cooperative of jewellers, where I treated myself to a new ring. We stopped at a small cafe to cool down and headed back to town by taxi.
I spent the remainder of the day at home reading on the balcony.
I think I've solved the aircon issue, it appears to be attached to a motion sensor, so think it goes off after set amount of no movement. Also downloaded manual and played with settings, seems to be on for longer!
We got some dough balls to go with supper and I walked up to look at the beach whilst waiting. I saw a naked man run out of the sea and a dog say hello to him before he had a chance to put his boardies on! There was also a lady doing yoga on the edge of the water. This confirms that this town is not your run of the mill kinda place!

Thursday
I went to join Lesley in the beach but didn't stay long as I wasn't prepared to tolerate the sand lashing that was on offer. I decided to walk up to Byron lighthouse instead. I walked to Wategoes beach, little Wategoes beach and up to the most Easterly point of mainland Australia, where I saw a pod of dolphins cruising along the coastline, beautiful. By the time I reached the lighthouse I was very hot and had emptied my two water bottles. I was gutted to find out that the water tap was not operational and the cafe closed due to a power outage! I lay on a bench in the shade and finished the Kangaroo Dundee book. The power came back on an hour later, I filled my water bottle and headed back via the forest path. I got to see lots of wild Brush Turkeys, which was a bit wierd! I stopped at Twisted Sista for a bagel and well earned smoothie on the way home.
In the evening we headed into town for some yummy food at Fishheads. I had barramundi with fennel and baby tomatoes, washed down with a bottle of the locally crafted Stone & Wood Pacific Ale. We had a walk via the sea on the way home, which looked pretty much the same at night!!

Friday
Having been woken up by a headache from hell at 4am I was a bit grumpy. We did the return shuttle bus trip to Brisbane airport in around 3 hours. I said goodbye to Lesley and boarded my plane to Launceston (pronounced Lawn-ses-ton) in Tasmnia. I flew with jetstar as it was the only sensibly timed flight but wouldn't do that again in a rush. It was grubby but it got me here. I eventually got the airport shuttle to my accommodation at Elphin Villas having met a lovely postman who is cycling around Tassie on a postman's bike for the next 10 days! Having checked in I walked into town and along the waterfront. There is a really nice atmosphere here, I feel very comfortable. I had beer battered pink ling and chips for supper, sitting waterside and washed it down with a glass of Tasmanian Pinot Gris, very nice!

Here starts my two week tour if Tassie...