Date: 18 May 2012
So excited! Catherine and I packed up an overnight bag and got on a Greyhound bus to go an hour and a half south. On the journey to the Greyhound I realized that I had failed to pack a towel despite my mental note....Epic fail! Also, I forgot eye drops and allergy medicine that I am forced to take due to Hay fever which I have had for almost two of the three weeks I have been here. Womp Womp. I am definitely going to have to improve on my packing skills before next Thursday!
We made a friend in the greyhound station. My first one! She is American who has been here for 10 months and traveling alone. I am excited to start making more friends! (not that the ones I already have aren't wonderful)
We arrived at Byron Bay at 12:45ish and exited the Greyhound. Awaiting our arrival we all sorts of hostel workers with surf boards with their assorted company names on them. We hadn't previously booked a hostel so we just went with the one that sounded the best and most affordable. Youth Hostels of Australia roped us in and the shuttled us to their hostel. The front desk lady was super nice and helped answer all of our questions. She even gave us directions to the light house that I had my heart set on watching the sunset at. She also gave me a towel! While we checked in we signed up for surfing lessons for tomorrow! It's on my bucket list to learn to surf so I am giddy with excitement!
We got settled into our 5 girl dorm room and changed to begin our journey to the lighthouse. We set out for our long walk (estimated 2 hours) to the lighthouse at 2pm. The sunsets at around 5pm so we have loads of time to go for a swim if we would like. ( we didn't)...half of our walk was on the beach and if I had to estimate how many stairs we climbed in the other half of or walk I would say about 1000...
Well that's what it felt like! The water was super blue and full of kayaks and surfers. Byron Bay seems to be a very laid back town full of hippies...I felt right at home! On the way to the lighthouse we got to stand at the most Eastern point ofAustralia and looked out for whales and dolphins. I haven't seen any yet but since June thru August are winter months whales are supposed to be all over!!! Fingers crossed!
For Tea (dinner), we decided to just get a pizza and some beer and hangout in the common area of our hostel. We had almost finished dinner when two guys asked us if we wanted to play a drinking game with them. We politely said sure...that's where we met Sebastian from Finland and Glenn (the most annoying person we have ever met) from Sydney, Australia. Glen was very particular about the rules of his drinking games and got really frustrated when we asked to tweak his rules (Catherine was so annoyed I thought she may burst!) He then continued to lie, call us chicks, and say offensive things throughout the games. Thankfully he ran out of wine....but then he went on a search for weed. He asked me if I would go I would go in on some weed with him....haha I said no thank you! He then left and we talked to Sebastian about Finland and his travels around Australia. He then left to get some more wine and we sat in hammocks and talked about all the annoying things Glen said. It was a funny evening...I can't wait to live in different hostels in the upcoming months! I love getting to hangout with new and different people and find out about their culture and country. Well it's off to bed now, we have a big day of surfing tomorrow!
We woke up early for our day of surfing because we had to check out of the hostel before we left. Thankfully they allowed us to store our bags and valuables and use all the facilities for the rest of the day. Our surfing instructor was a funny older man with long dirty blonde hair. He was a stereotypical surfer dude. He was really funny and entertaining but as for actual teaching anyone more than the steps to stand....he wasn't spectacular. By the end of the lesson (about three hours) I could stand and ride a wave! I loved every bit of surfing! It was challenging but when you catch a wave you feel like you are flying! It was complete bliss!!!! I can't wait to surf again! Sorry I don't have any pictures of us surfing...I don't have a waterproof camera! EPIC FAIL!!
After surfing we went back to the hostel to shower up and put on proper clothes for lunch. We went to a place with delicious fish tacos near an Indie backpack shop that advertised free wifi for backpackers. We walked up to the indie shop and we greeted by two guys. They told us we had to sing a song in order to get in...I of course said Catherine has the better singing voice...but we both sang and got our free Internet!! While we were at the shop we asked questions about different places up the coast since we are heading that way next week. The guy told us he could get us cheap tours if we booked through him so.....we did! Now we have 3 tours and accommodation for all the things we wanted to see in between our fruit picking along the coast!
Byron bay is super beautiful and I can't wait to visit again in October!!!
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