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World Trip 2005-06
Byron Bay (3rd - 9th Feb)
Byron boasts a small community surfer vibe, with plenty of fellow travelers living it up 24/7. We arrived in the area late at night, initially driving through the town to get the vibe then we headed to the 'Arts factory', a great hostel that Neil had been informed about. Had everything, pool, volleyball, cinema, bar, etc. Soon as we arrived we jumped straight into the pool only to find that the pool had closed an hour prior and was full of cleaning chemicals! We were told to have a shower right away, didn't help Neil's sunburn any. Chemicals didn't effect us afterwards, so not to worry. That night we had an awful night sleep, first we were woke at 3.00 in the morning and told to leave the hostel car park, then at 6 in the morning to leave another car park! Turns out you cant park your camper were you wanna in Byron. That morning we got the camper stuck in the sand in the middle of a car park. Crazy stuff, but the friendly locals helped and we eventually got it pulled out. Later that day we went to Nimbin.
Nimbin
A place like no other, a sleepy town took over in the seventies by hippies who refused to leave after a festival took place there. They still remain there today with their hippy ethics, refusing to let the town be diluted by commercialism, McDonalds, for example, would never be aloud to build there. The town is made up of small businesses run by the hippies for the locals and those tourists who come to witness the towns 'groovy' vibe. As we drove into the town it felt like we had gone back in time- hand painted psychedelic colors everywhere. We couldn't really get our heads around our surrounding environment so thought it best to visit Nimbin museum- the towns' main attraction. Any attempt to gather understanding however was squandered as we quickly realized it wasn't a museum at all, more a collection of random objects really, covered in psychedelic paint of course. We visited one of the towns few pubs 'the hemp bar' and got talking to the owner- our Oz project member, he said that what makes the town special is that "when you enter Nimbin, you leave Australia" indeed. We spent a night at a very basic camp site, once again run by hippies, they showed us to the chill out area where we spent most of the night...chilling out. In the morning we headed back to Australia, possessing a slight appreciation for town's way of life. All in all a very unique and surreal part of our road trip. Back to Byron we go.
That night we stayed at a campsite, playing football and drinking wine until sunset. The site was empty, but we did manage to run into one interesting guy who had left his home town because of family troubles and just kept on driving because he didn't want to do anything he regretted. He was a crazy guy but kept us entertained with his stories and unique outlook on life.
Neils Birthday (8th Feb)
Today Neil turned 22! Presents included a surfing lesson, a sandcastle building kit and a pub crawl. The pub crawl started at 4.00pm, joined by 12 other guys from a nearby hostel we were chauffeured around the bay, bouncing from pub to pub we sang songs and drank through the afternoon. By 9.00pm we were finally dropped off at the local club and left to our own devices, we decided to take over the dancefloor for a bit before heading of down town to meet 'Amy', one of Neils old school friends, who was also traveling the coast.
The following day we were all hung-over, Neil had his surfing lessons while Brides painted a didgeridoo for his Dad's birthday before we all eat a cheap steak and heading for Sydney. It was going to be a long drive but we were ready for it, with music blaring we powered on down the coastal road. On the way we stopped for the night at a random town and parked up over-looking cliffs and the ocean, great views. Soon as we awoke we were back on the road and by later afternoon we finally hit Sydney. That night we stayed in a campsite, while I slept early Brides and Neil ended up having drinks and chatting with their security guard for the whole of the night.
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