Once you come off the A1 towards Byron bay you can go on a back road that takes you past houses on the top of a hill, looking down on the sea to one side and the green landscape to the other. It's the best of both worlds, land and sea and the added bonus of being in the sky! We loved it up here..... then we drove down into the town. It's like entering the 70s. There's rainbow shops, crystal shops, people sitting on the beach in a circle playing guitar and there's loads of surfers riding the waves.
We pulled into the info centre to get a map. The man there gave us a free map and told us the cheapest place to camp. The Arts Factory. Its $16pppn to park our camper in their car park and use their facilities. We drove there, checked in and went for a look around. The hostel was an extension of Byron bays hippy scene. There were teepee dorms, graffiti artwork everywhere, people wearing earthy clothes (they looked like hippes) as we went to walk up the stairs Lee said 'can you not see that?' I stopped walking and spotted a huge water dragon by my foot. Before I had chance to be shocked its mate ran across my path too. I ran up the stairs whilst Lee stood at the top, looking down laughing at me! At the top of the stairs was a man eating his dinner with a huge cockatoo! He said 'have you never seen a water dragon before?' I replied 'yes but I've not had them jump out on me before?!' He said 'it didn't jump out on you, you jumped out on it'... 'either way it freaked me out!' He responded with 'welcome to Australia' Hmmm we headed towards the kitchen and had some beans on toast.
After we were fed we walked down to the beach. It's so relaxed here. We loved it! After a while on the beach, people watching, watching the surfers glide through waves, listening, sunbathing... We headed back. We had a good look in the shops along the way too.
Back at the hostel we got a much needed shower. I counted 5 mosquitos in the shower with me Lee lost with just 4. Then we jumped on the wifi whilst eating tea, having a drink (of Pepsi) and listening to the different bands/ singers performing. The hostel is a cool place, so laid back. It is open plan meaning its like your in the rainforest. It's built in the trees with the wildlife all around you. At the end of the night we went to sleep in our camper parked in the car park.