The next day I was up early to get my bus to Byron Bay. I have heard great things about it and also the Arts Factory where I was staying so I was really excited. Its a gorgeous coastal town with cute little shops and the beach is amazing. Honestly I know I say this alot but there are so many lovely places to go to and its just stunning. I had to wait a while to check in which was irritating but the hostel is very funky. There is a camp ground, tepes, tents and other funky room. Mine was a standard dorm room but it was all good!! It has a lovely vibe to it, very chilled out and there is a bar oppostie and cinema and other little places. I headed for the beach and chilled out for the afternoon. Later on I bumped into Caroline and Maria from Ireland who I was in a room with in Brisbane. I was also sharing a room with Madeline who I have met various times so all was good.

The next day (Thursday 25th Nov) Caroline, Maria and I headed for the beach. As it was a bit cloudy Caroline and I thought we would do the walk to the lighthouse which took 2 hours round trip but it was a lovely walk and I felt the better for it.. I miss my regular exercise.. we took some pictures up there and of the most eastingly point of OZ before we headed back down to chill on the beach for a few hours. Later on we headed for Cheeky Monkeys for some dinner but the queue was an hour wait with all the schoolies and backpackers. We finally got in and the food was good when we finally got it but man that was one hell of a wait. I had a free entree of Veggie curry- delicious and fish and chips and we got a free wine and champagne so all was not lost!! After a while and all the pushing and shoving we headed for CoccaMangos where we met the two Lauras. It was good to go and check out the nightlife but I honeslty felt to old when out and did not enjoy it that much. Its a shame as I know it would be a good night out if the place was not overun by kids.

On the Friday I said goodbye to Caroline and Marie and chilled out whilst I waited to be collected for my surf lesson ith Mojosurf. I was pretty scared I won't lie especially after our talk about currents, rips and bluebottle jellyfish etc. But once we got in the water I got the taste for it and through myself into it, quite literally. I was wiped out a few times by massive waves but I was determined and boy I was loving it. I did manage to get on the board a couple of times but admittingly that was with the assistance of the instrutors. I carried on trying myself and managed a few times to half get on but it is harder then it looks thats for sure. Anywho I really enjoyed the day so was glad I did it. Hopefully I can do some more in Sydney. I am learning alot about my character on this trip and I have defintely thrown myself into some things I never thought I would do e.g. riding a motor bike, swimming with sharks, getting my ass into Australian waters and throwing myself into waterfalls etc. Those are the things I can think of now :) Anywho after the lesson I felt shattered so made some food and relaxed and went to bed really early.

I woke up the next morning aching all over and like I haven't in a long time. Its a good and bad feeling :) I went to the beach, oh its a hard life.. which is a great feeling especially when I hear about snow back home.. brrr not missing that AT ALL!! After a few hours of scorching myself and I definitely scorched myself I headed to Woolworth to get my dinner and then back to the Lounge cinema to watch Eat Pray Love which was showing for $5- bargain!!The cinema was so cute with zebra print chairs which you could stretch out on and it was good to watch the film after reading the book a few months ago. I made some dinner and hung out with Doreen and Victoria before we called it a night and headed for bed. The next day I hung out with Madeline and some of her friends on the beach. There was actually a shark spotting so they cleared everyone out of the water. Pretty exciting for a day on the beach. The following day was my last day in Byron Bay so I just went and chilled out on the beach on my own. Doreen popped down for a bit as well. Later on I went back and ate and showered and got ready for the 13 hour overnight bus ride to Sydney.