Leaving Sydney felt like quite a relief, we both realised how much we needed to escape the city! Byron Bay was just what we were after.

We arrived early in the morning to glorious sunshine and were met by a Canadian hippy girl who drove us in a beaten up minivan to the Arts Factory Lodge. This was a slightly different hostel to those we have been staying in because it is home to loads of 'free love, eco-friendly, tree-hugging hippies'. We set up camp in the only available patch of dirt, over a few nice big tree roots and just completed setting up as it started to rain. When the sun came back out we took a stroll into 'town' and sat on the beach admiring the view before going for a cheeky pint. That evening was spent with said hippies at an outdoor open mic night, there were certainly mixed levels of talent but overall it was a very enjoyable night. By the end we were well lubricated from the 'goon' (very cheap Ozzy boxed wine, 7 quid for 4.5 litres).

The rest of our time there consisted of walking up and down the huge beach, and also taking a great picnic up to Byron Bay's famous lighthouse (see picture). The walk in itself was a big sweaty mess to be honest as we ran through the bush on a dirt path in 27 degree sunshine but that makes the story less romantic doesn't it?

We also spent two evenings at the local independent cinema that has only one screen complete with glow in the dark paintings on the walls, cow-print beanbags, loungers and teddy bears!! They screen an eclectic mix of films, both mainstream and independent. We saw a thriller which consisted of a guy buried in a box and was a one-location film, we also saw a drama revolving around the lives of a lesbian couple and their two kids.......both good films.

Aside from this we didn't do much apart from wandering round the town and talking each others heads off as per usual. We also came to the conclusion that Australia was just too expensive, the current exchange rate debacle isn't helping. This lead to us making the decision to move our flights forward a week so we will arrive in Singapore earlier than planned. This will not only save us money but also give us more time to travel Malaysia. Feeling like we've made the right decision, we are now both really excited to get to Asia.

Right now we are in Brisbane staying with some friends, Ben and Julie but we'll let you know what we all got up to after the weekend.

Big hugs all round, Adds and Liz

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