Beautiful Byron Bay!

When we left Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island behind we headed to Byron Bay with a one night stop over in Brisbane as the journey was pretty long. The night in Brisbane was fine with a nice walk along the South Bank of the river and then some cheap homebrand pasta for supper washed down with nearly the last of the goon. It was at this point annoying Alan from Peckham who was a dead ringer for Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber told me that one of the goon ingredients was something to do with fish eggs - from that moment on I couldn't get that out of my mind so didn't drink anymore!

We arose early to get the bus to Byron bay dropping some of the kids of at Surfers Paradise along the way - this looked a bit grotty so we were pleased when we arrived in the very cool Byron Bay for a couple of nights. We were greeted by the Backpackers Inn mini bus and were checked in to our big double room in no time.

Due to doing a few trips on the way down the coast we were now on a major cash flow squeeze so we went to the supermarket with the budget in mind and were bang on with food for the next few days - we even managed to get a big bottle of DC as a "treat".

Once all the duties were out of the way we relaxed and soaked up the brilliant atmosphere of Byron Bay - everyone we have spoken to said that they plan to go to Byron for a few days and stay a month - I can really see why, such a nice and amazing feel about the place. We hit the beach so Liz could top up the tan that was apparently fading and worked out we had $12 we could spend on drinks in the town that evening. Now I am no mathmatician but I know a steal when I see one - 6 bottles of Pure Blonde for $11.99 was meant to be. It was like we had been called to the bottle shop just in time as they were due to close as we walked in. We kicked back under the stars and enjoyed a couple of cold beers before retiring back to the hostel.

When we had been picked up in the mini bus the lady had pointed out the lighthouse at Cape Byron and showed us the most easterly point of Oz so that set us the challenge for day 2. After a VERY restful day on the beach - I fell asleep (good nap by the way) - we started the walk to the lighthouse for sunset. We had a good walk and saw a beautiful sunset before heading down a pretty precarious road as quickly as possible as it was getting dark. We had a Pure Blonde each left and these were well earned after the walk.

For some reason we decided to go for a run on the beach the next day before we checked out - no sooner had we got out of the hostel grounds it started to chuck it down with rain. Pretty soaked but a refreshing run all the same. The sun came out just in time for our departure from Byron to head to the airport to get to Sydney to stay with Jenny and Matt.

For anyone thinking of going to Oz on the East Coast we fully recommend Byron Bay - 10/10.

Oh by the way - we seem to be leaving a trail of destruction behind us - or we are lucky enough to be dodging everything. Eathquake in Japan just after we left, left Adelaide just as they had the most rain they had had in years, Cyclone in Airlie Beach about a week after we headed south. Hope it is just coincidence!!

Sam