I have fallen in love with Byron Bay!

Angus was kind enough to give me a lift in his car all the way to my hostel - the infamous Arts Factory. Byron Bay is the small laid back hippie and surfing capital of Australia and it is great.

I was recommended that I stay in the Arts factory by someone I met in Bondi. I am so glad I did, it is a real alternative style hostel with the opportunity to stay in dorms, tents, tepees and even a double decker bus! The atmosphere was buzzing and there were workshops and activities going on all day. The first night after a miserable day I met a whole bunch of doctors who were travelling around Oz together and ended up sitting down with them to play a game of Cribbage - what a painstaking game and I hate probability so it was not my forte to say the least! We all then went to the 'Buddha Bar' for a few drinks and a good laugh. The next day was equally as miserable but I wondered in with my room mates to have a mooch around Byron and to watch laura have her first tattoo. It looked really good and am really tempted to have one myself, though I know Mum and Dad would kill me first. Byron Bay has a beautiful selection of shops full of really beautiful ethnic/urban clothes and jewellery - heaven for me, nightmare for my bank balance!

That evening, I was cooking dinner when I got talking to two girls (the kitchen is such a sociable place) called Sarah and Charlotte. We ended up eating together before heading over to a healing session with the Tibetan Monks - I am not kidding, the Dalai Lama's actual monks were staying in Byron Bay! The healing session was amazing. What the monks said really made a lot of sense. The healing involved us imagining all the negativity in ourselves oozing out of our body like dirt and then the monks came around with a vile of water which they dipped over our head to wash away all the impurities. The whole session really made me look inside myself and admire myself for who i am and not what I think i ought to be. I thoroughly enjoyed it and that is one experience I am pretty sure i will never be able to repeat again!

The next morning, i was up bright and early and after breakfast I headed down to a meditation session with the monks. The session this time involved us all to sit on ground cushions and just relax and clear our minds as the monks began chanting. I have never heard such a sound in my life. I never knew the human voice could go that low - it was literately reverberating around the room and I could feel it on my chest! I was not entirely focused, my mind kept drifting every so often but the experience was unforgettable all the same. The day followed with a little more relaxation as Sarah, Charlotte and I all headed down to the beach via the 'Organic Doughnut Shop' - the best donut I have ever tasted and for anyone who visits Byron bay it is unmissable! The day was lovely, most of the clouds had lifted and we were able to make the most of the suns rays. I also did a little shopping that I shouldn't have done - I bought myself a bikini. O well, I am in Australia after all so at least I will get a lot of use out of it! Then that evening we went out for a $5 Mexican special at the local backpackers pub. Was great food (including the chocolate mud cake we all had for desert). Following that we popped into see a couple of my mates form Melbourne who were staying in another hostel in Byron. It would have been great to catch up but they were all a little to busy so we weren't there long.

I was due to catch a bus the next morning at 9.30 but the day was far do beautiful so I put the bus back to 2pm and got up with the girls to go for a walk along the bach and up to the lighthouse to watch the sunrise. It was the most beautiful setting, almost to picturesque to be real. That when i decided to delay my bus yet again and spend another day soaking up the sun and the surf on Byron Beach. sarah and i got completely battered by the waves as we attempted to have a swim in the sea - I recon we ended up with half the beach in our bikini bottoms by the end. It was sad having to leave Byron and say goodbye to the girls. I knew I would probably see them again at some point up the coast but they were two people I had gotton on famously with and can see myself keeping in touch with them for a while to come.