Arrived at Byron Bay and we had a few problems booking in somewhere so ended up at the Arts Factory Lodge which looked ok in the Lonley Planet guide - it said that it was a bit Eclectic and different and some of the beds may be in a tent... it was exactly that! basically a hippy commune just out of town where we stayed in a big tent with bunkbeds in it! It was not as you may think, it was full of young british chavs and the noise didn't stop until the early hours - we were not impressed!!

We kept ourselves occupied by shopping and visiting the local A and E department to check out the facilities and then moved to another hostel which was right on the beach and much better.

Spent a couple of days on the lovely Main Beach as the weather was so good and thenbooked on a trip a place called Nimbin because the leaflet looked all nice and happy, and the company was called The Happy Coach..... we weren't really sure what to expect.

The trip started well, we were on this colourful little bus, a bit of Jack Jonson on the stereo and yes, everyone on the coach was very happy! We stopped at a waterfall which didn't have much flowing water but was impressive none the less. The guide, Fred (dreadlocked Auzzie, real laugh) showed us a Kukaburra and gave us all a lesson about snakes.

When we got back on the bus it finally dawned on us why everyone was going to Nimbin and why everyone on the Happy Coach was so happy.... and that we are very naive!! Fred reminded us that drugs are NOT legal in New South Wales, told us not to take photos of any of the residents of Nimbin and not to bring any cakes back on the bus. This place was unreal!! Basically an old farming village that was desserted and then the Hippy's found it and now live there doing whatever it is that hippy's do. There was a police department although for the life of us we weren't sure why!!

We walked around, soaked up the ambience and then had some food before visiting the Nimbin museum which was, from what we could tell, a collection of things that people had thrown together when they were high! instead of a beer garden it was a weed garden and some aboriginal woman was in the recovery position on the floor at the entrance to the museum, we just stepped over her and went right in! it had to be done.

Anyway, there were conciderably fewer of us on the Happy Coach on the way home but we made it home, that is the main thing. We went out to watch a band that night, the singer was odd and decided to use our table as a drum kit - we left shortly after that seen as they were really not so good!

The next day was time to move on so we checked out and went for a walk up Captain Cook's lookout, and then went in search of the lighthouse.