G'day mates,

Sam here to tell you all about the wonderful place that is Byron Bay. We arrived here on Tuesday evening from Surfers Paradise. We went to our hostel which I like a lot, nice kitchen, pool, pool tablle (which you only pay for once then wedge 5 cents in there and the rest of your games are free!) Good eh? Anyway, we dumped our stuff and then trotted off to Cheeky Monkeys which had been bopoked for us on the bus for some cheap eats. And cheap eats they were. $5 for a burger and chips with salad, and very tasty it was too. There were also meals for just $2. We think we might check out them tonight, it's cheaper than buying food and cooking our own. Lol. We'll let you know whether we get food poisoning or not. SO anyway, Cheeky Monkeys was good fun, we chatted to our bus driver and some other girls from off the bus. We also took part in some of the enlightened games (trivial pursuits for drinks - the dj shouts out a random question, u yell out the answer, go collect ur free beer token). We also tried tpo play the flag game - a country is yelled out, u race around the bar trying to identify the correct flag, take a photo and run to the dance floor and show the man. A bit too energetic but was fun to watch. Erm...think that was about it. They also played a very random game of heads and tails but I won't go into that here (lets just say that ppl lost clothes if they got it wrong), needless to say we didn't play. We did some dancing on the tables tho (u were actively encouraged - so I did it for u mum, just like the Irish pubs yeah?). Oh...on the way home a bakery was open so I was overjoyed to get an egg mayonaise sandwich to accompany me on the walk home. It was huge though.

The next day we headed into Byron to check out the sights. It's a beautiful little place and everyone is very chilled out and relaxed. There's lots of very funky little shops and small clothes boutiques. We found some lovely pump type shoes but both amy and I needed a half size so we resisted. What else...we generally just wandered around for most of teh morning/ mid afternoon before we headed over to the beach. The beach is beautiful too and has some amazing waves, we said we'd hire boogie boards another day. We had a little paddle and walked along the beach as we were going up to the lighthoues, Australia's most Easternly point. And it was a bit of a trek too. Lots and lots of steps, long sloping hills and more steps. But it was punctuated with frequent 'scenic stops' aka benches where u could collapse for 5 mins. But we made it and it was well worth the **** Stunning views over the coast and the hinterland further inland. We trekked back down and stayed on the beach while the sun set, took lots of photos and Amy tested out her new camera. You'll see what I mean when the photos appear. We then decided to have fish and chips on the beach (almost...just above the beach). They were great - no seagulls to fight off either!

Yesterday we were off on our Nimbin Tour, we met Kieran and Janice, our white water rafting friends, and we waited for the bus. WE were slightly disappointed that it was psychedelic as promised but we hopped on to the grasshoppers bus regardless. WE were met on the bus by a random guy who told us to do whatever we wanted (but then got very irrate when nobody would stiop talking when he wanted to speak - even thouught it wasn't clear that he was going to). He was really odd, basically gave us his views on life, religion and stuff and told us that noone should tell u what to think but then kinda said his way was best. So immediately I was amused and also guessed he was some kind of sixties throwback, clinging on for dear life. But away we went. And the road was closed that took us to Nimbin, but never fear, he knew an alternative route. Apart from that he didn't and took us in a masive circle (we passed a village that we could have driven straight through about 50 km back). SO it took us ages to get there, about 2 1/2 hours! And lets not forget...he also had to turn around at one point as he took us to a low bridge, and drove under it and bashed a hole in the front of the bus. Smart. So then he reversed out and left some of the roof behind. He really was a smart cookie. I always wondered why vehicles had the stickers on them thinking surely no-one could be that thick. Well, I'm proven wrong. Oh...and this bus didn't have a sticker. It needed one though. Onto Nimbin, smewhat disappointing really, I expected a happy lively place with an undercurrect of dodgyness, but instead it was just plain dodgy lol! Everyone meandering around looking pretty dispossessed and even depressed. So we wandered in the rain, looked in a few shops then just had a cake from the bakery. A normal cake, no space cakes or anything dody. Mine was actually spinach and feta for all those still in doubt. Then we jumped back on the bus. Next we went to our bbq site, still raining. Then on a soggy walk to a waterhole (where u can swim but not today as it's raining too much and 'you might hit a log or stuff'...so you're not worried about us being swept downstream or anything? No? Oh good.) And finaly...back to normality....Yey! ANd did I mention the music? I like loud music as well as most ppl, but this was so loud the speakers sounded like they were going to explode and so u could barely make out the song. It was just white noise really. SO a great background tune for the day.

Today, Friday, we went zorbing! Yes, rolling down a big hill in a giant hamster ball. Apart from we're strapped in and the hamster isn't. I was a little scared for a start, mainly because the setup was only semi professional. Pick up in a truck with a hole in, transfer to a truck that won't start with the ball on the trailer behind it. Watch as mouse jumps out said truck and legs it up a tree (if its not that confident then I think I'd rather get up that tree too please). Get in adminst tonnes of dirt and away we go round t'other side of the hill. Get out, push ball out and empty the foot of water that's accumulated in it. It doesn't look so bad from this side but the ball has a slight leak he says, it keeps going down. Great. He did inflate it but not as ball like as it could have been methinks. ANyway, Amy goes first. Is loaded onto the platform, she jumps in and straps herself in, one big push and.................she's off! Zooming down a hill in a big rubber ball. It looks pretty bouncy from my angle and when she stops at the other end she seems to be stuck in a bog (it's rained a lot through the night and yesterday). Next (on return of the ball), it's my turn. Get in and strap in, eek, slightly scared. And a last piece of advice from zorb-man 'remember to breathe', yeah, okay, thanks! And I'm off! Boing, thump, bounce, arghhhh, oh ****, I swear it's not meant to be this bouncy. Slightly bumpy on the way down and a bit rough. But I made it and it was good, just better when it leveleed out and there were less bumps. All good though and I lived to tell the tale. But I do feel for hamsters now, I won't ever push them ever again. Poor things.

Now, we're in Byron, there's a rumour that Amy is buying me lunch (oooh) but it's raining so it's ruining my plans for an arvo on the beach.

Lots of love xxx

Glossary: arvo - Australian for afternoon.