Byron Bay - Feb 21st to Feb 23rd - Sydney Feb 24th

After leaving Surfer's Paradise and the theme parks behind we headed down the coast to Byron Bay. This is a well known tourist spot on the east coast and is hugely popular with travelers. With accommodation already booked we rolled into Byron and dropped our bags off before heading to the beach for the day. Our first impressions of Byron were what we had hoped to see with hippie fashion and culture still visible all around the town and the people were as friendly as many people had told us. Setting off for the beach we did not know what to expect although many had told of good surf around the area so we, or should I say I, was hopeful of a bit of fun in the sea. As we arrived we could see that the beach stretched for miles, overlooked by the famous lighthouse at Australia's most easterly point and Mount Warning on the otherside which was swamped by low cloud as the rain gathered in the distance. With the sun powering through we spent most of the day relaxing on the beach and in the sea. The swell eventually picked up into the afternoon and the waves soon started crashing onto the beach. After body surfing numerous Pacific rollers into the shore we decided we had had enough sun for one day and headed to the supermarket for dinner before meeting our flat mates for the next three nights. The place we were staying at was called Holiday Village, our most expensive accommodation to date at $72 a night but it was a decent place. We shared our apartment block with 6 others and had our own kitchen to prevent the usual crowding that takes place in most hostels. There was a common room to chill out in and watch some first class Aussie TV. The night passed with little in the way of excitement as we all chilled out and watched the classic film Jaws while playing cards mainly because we knew we had a busy day on the horizon.

As we awoke the following morning after a slightly eventful night with a crazy woman shouting and banging on the door in the middle of the night we set off to reception to hire out two bikes to hike up to the Lighthouse that overlooked Byron Bay. As to be expected the bikes were not really up to much and little did we know how steep the climb would be in places to get to the lighthouse. As the bikes only had one gear "5" and the brakes were applied by pedaling backwards, you can imagine that we were pretty tired by the time we made it to the top, although once we were there it was worth every drop of sweat. As para -gliders jumped off platforms above the trees below us the roar of the ocean echoed as it met with the land and all around us the views were panoramic and picturess. Byron Lighthouse, erected in 1901, stood out perfectly, white and blue in colour and cleaner than a street in the centre of Singapore. It was one of the best kept land marks along the East coast of Australia. After admiring the views from the top we started the decent down towards the secluded bay behind the lighthouse and were not to be disappointed when we got there as nature was going to treat us to something special. The sea seemed to change in colour from crystal blue to emerald green after every wave and we noticed that he sea kayaks were only about 20 feet away and that meant only one thing, dolphins were in the area. As we got down to the beach and into the water there they were jumping in and out of waves no more than 15 feet from the shoreline, a whole family of dolphins were enjoying the surf as much as the surfers themselves. As much as I wanted to swim out just that little bit further something told me it may not be the smartest thing I could do so we watched from the shoreline and spent the afternoon enjoying our own little bay away from everyone and everything else.

As the day grew older we started the accent back to the lighthouse to collect the bikes and make the rapid decent down to the town. When the evening arrived much to our surprise Chris and Charlotte had arrived in Byron so the night was made easy as we spent the evening in the bars along the coast to catch up on recent activities and enjoy DJ Hippie.

On our last day in Byron we had organised with Chris and Charlotte to make the journey to Nimbin. A town I could only describe as a place caught in a decade which passed nearly 40 years ago. The bus journey in took us a little over an hour but on arrival it felt like we had entered into the world of Doctor Who and gone back in time. The main street running through was a blend of wild colours in true hippie fashion and the scent round the town was a true class from the 70's. After having a brief look around the museum, which had some interesting sights, we grabbed a pie and took a tour around the local area, visiting an area completely powered by the sun, the Nimbin rocks, rich in Aboriginal culture and stories from initiation to death and a candle factory brighter than the main street itself. After an eventful, and different day, we left the time warp behind and made our way back to Byron to catch our overnight bus to Sydney.,As the night started to draw in we headed to Dominoes to make use of a cheap voucher for the journey ahead before enjoying a meal with Chris and Charlotte at the Hogs Breath café.

Before we knew it our time in Byron had ended and we were starting our long two night trip to Melbourne. After an average night on the bus we pulled into Sydney in the best possible way, across the world famous Harbour Bridge. As we left the bus and found somewhere to store our luggage we randomly bumped in to Tom and Nick (Rachel's friends from Uni) and spent the day looking around the city, as far as our legs could carry us. Obviously not wanting to over do it as we would be coming back we took things slow, so we headed to Darling Harbour, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, oops. After a long day and knowing what lay ahead we grabbed some food at the YHA and headed to the bus for what we were sure would be another long night with little sheep being counted.