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Hello all

Just got back from Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise (Gold Coast). We (myself and Julie) arrived in Byron Bay and headed straight for Main Beach to get a tan, really nice surf beach. We went back to our hostel, The Arts Factory, a very retro and chilled out hostel with a restaurant, bar and cinema, very impressive! Best hostel I've been to in OZ or NZ for that matter.

The next day we got up nice and early for sea Kayaking very exhilarating and tiring, very scary going for the big waves. While in our Kayaks, Dolphins were swimming by and turtles swimming below us. After that, we went in search for car hire to Surfers Paradise, we got a red convertible, doing it in style for the gold coast. That night we had a lovely meal at Muoi Feast and watched a jazz band on the beach by the Beach Hotel.

While we were in Byron we went on the Grasshopper Nimbin Tour, the first stop was a quaint little town called Lismore and then onto Nimbin, a hippie village. There is a big aborigiana population there and the town is trying to legalize cannabis for medical reasons! We had our BBQ lunch by the lake at a National park with the other people on the tour which consisted of lively Irish people, so it was a lot of fun felt right at home. The best part of the day was the visit Minyon Falls, where we cooled off in a swimming hole by the waterfall, perfect!! We kept going into the night and visited all the nightspots of Byron; Cheeky Monkeys, Tonic (where all the locals hang out), The beach hotel, Great Northern Hotel and Coco's.

With a sore head the next morning we headed to Surfers Paradise in our red convertible BUT in the rain! We stopped off at Tweed and by the time we got to Surfers the sun was out, so the top came down! We had an average lunch at Surfers and did some sightseeing. It is very Americanised in Surfers and they seemed to be proud of it, most buildings our named after American cities. We went up to the highest building in Surfers, Q1, and saw the marvellous and famous view of the town. I was more impressed with the Q1 views instead Surfers town itself , a bit too built up but definitely worth a visit. I want to go back to do the theme parks . We stopped off at Burleigh heads beach and that was good, it had a cool view of Surfers in the background. We spent our last night on a camp site with our Julie's friends from home, good to hear everyone different travel stories.

Back in Melbourne now and ready for work again, had a great few weeks travelling again. I've uploaded some more pics (mornington peninusula and Alex's wedding and great barrier reef) and more videos. I'm in the process of sorting out my Byron and Surfers photos. Hope you enjoy.

My next travel stop is the Pacific Islands; I'll let you all know the details when I book.

Lots of Love

Niamh