We got into Byron Bay in the late afternoon and drove through the small town to a holiday park right down at the beach. Although fairly pricey for a place to park the van, the park had an amazing location right beside the town centre and backing onto the beach so we decided to go for it.

After parking up the van we went for a look at some of the nearby shops and the beach just in front of the park. Stretching out for ages in both directions, the beach was fantastic with a rocky headland off to the right with a lighthouse on it, and a long curve of sand curving around to the left to form the Bay.

In one of the surf shops, I arranged a surf lesson for the following morning, keen to take advantage of the great looking waves and recommended surf tuition in town. After that we wandered back to the campsite for the evening.

We'd bought some food earlier so cooked that up at the campsite, making some amazing burgers on the electric hotplate with fried onions and plenty of salad, then relaxed and read after our long drive.

the next morning I was up bright and early to head out for my surf lesson. I was picked up at the holiday park's gates by Gaz, a grizzled, bearded, long blond haired bloke somewhere in his 40s who was going to be our instructor for the day. He whisked me and a German girl who was already in his van down to a parking spot along the beach where we met the third student for the morning.

We got our wetsuits on and carried our boards down to the beach where we stretched and got a bit of theory from Gaz, before trying out some techniques on the beach, then making our way out into the waves. Gaz had been surfing for years and clearly knew his stuff. He was a funny guy and had a great teaching style. By the time we got into the water I was dying to try out what we'd learnt.

We started by practicing standing up on the board in some small, broken waves with Gaz holding the board and getting us started. I was really pleased how well I got on on the first couple of waves, and it wasn't long before we were paddling out beyond the breaks to catch waves from further out.

The next couple of hours passed as we practiced getting up on the board and catching waves at the right time. After a while I was managing to jump up and stay fairly steady on the board, and at one point managed to keep upright after nearly being thrown off by a big wave, and ride it most of the way into the shore.

Eventually our lesson was over but by that time I was pretty exhausted from wading through the breaks and paddling out. I really enjoyed the lesson and left looking forward to trying more surfing when I could.

Gaz dropped me off back at the campsite around lunchtime where I met Lucy and found she had done all our laundry and dishes as well as cleaned out the camper van. Worried she was ill, I thought I'd better take her for lunch so after a quick shower we wandered through the few small streets of Byron to one of the backpacker hostels where I'd heard you could get a great lunch.

On our way we checked out the shops in town including plenty of surf shops as well as lots of cool little boutiques with various odds and ends for sale. By the time we got to the backpackers we were starving and enjoyed some cheap and awesome food and a beer to wash it down.

After lunch we walked down to the beach and strolled along the sand in the sunshine back towards the campsite. Deciding we couldn't be bothered doing much else, we grabbed our Kindles from the van and propped ourselves against a couple of rocks back on the beach and stayed there reading until the sun went down, the sun painting the clouds amazing oranges and reds.

As soon as the sun was down it got much cooler so we nipped back up to the campsite and made some pasta for tea, then had another quiet evening in the van.

The next morning it was Lucy's birthday so we got up and headed out for a nice breakfast at the same place we'd had lunch the day before. After breakfast we meandered through the chilled out streets back to the campsite, looking in some other shops and picking up some wine and snacks. Back at the campsite we loaded a backpack with our nibbles and set out for a walk.

It was an amazing sunny day and perfect for a walk, so we set off along the path behind the beach, heading towards the cape with the lighthouse on it. Near the far end of the beach, we took a path which squiggled through the bush and up and down loads of steps, with occasional views of Tallow Beach to the south around the cape from Byron Bay.

Eventually we popped out of the bush up near the lighthouse and walked the rest of the way up along the access road, with great views over Tallow Beach until we reached the lighthouse with views back along Byron Bay, looking amazing curving into the distance in the sunshine.

On the way up we spent some time looking out to sea to try and spot some whales. We saw a few spouts but kept walking when suddenly a massive whale burst out of the water and splashed down, near enough for us to see it perfectly below us.

From the lighthouse we took another path winding down the tip of the cape to a small beach at the foot of the hillside. From here we walked around some rocks back towards Byron to yet another beach, where we stopped and sat among some rocks for a glass of wine and some crisps and olives, watching the waves in the sunshine.

We'd also brought our Backpacker game with us and managed a game before the wind picked up and started trying to fling our cards into the sea. We decided it was time to move on so took a path which followed the clifftop between the beach we'd been on back to the main beach in front of Byron.

We walked back all the way along the beach in the surf to the campsite and lazed in front of the campsite to watch the sun go down again. After that we dropped off our stuff at the van and went out to get some dinner for Lucy's birthday.

We were in the mood for fish and chips and had read about a good place called Mongers so made our way there, just around the corner from the campsite. Offering 'gourmet fish and chips' the restaurant lived up to its name, and we enjoyed a massive bowl full of fish, chips, oysters, prawns and potato cakes, washed down with the remainder of our bottle of wine from earlier.

After dinner we nipped to a nearby hotel bar near the beachfront for a drink, before making our way back to the van via Baskin Robbins for some dessert. Then it was time to get a sleep before we moved on in the morning.