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So onto Byron Bay. By this time I was really seeing the benefit of my Greyhound Bus ticket. Its so cheap! You can buy a kilometre pass and get on and off the bus where you like. I arrived in Byron late afternoon to find the rest of my room mates sat outside the room getting drunk. I was greeted by Anders and Henrick (Swedish poker players), Marcus (Italian pharmacist) and Rob (Irish playboy). We bonded immediately over several drinks (mine was Goon! its australian boxed wine which contains milk, fish products and various other random ingredients). I was to spend the next 4 days with these guys.
The next day me and Marcus went on a trip to Nimbin. We were picked up at 10.30am by the local hippy bus, and taken on a tour of the local area on our way to Nimbin The most pleasing thing about Byron Bay and the surrounding area is that they are determined to keep commercialism out of there localities. There are no high rise hotels, no Mcdonalds or any other fast food restaurants. They have a very environmentally friendly councellor who is adamant that Byron Bay will not turn into another Surfers Paradise. You have to admire these people because so far they are succeeding at the moment. Back to the trip. Our bus driver was a local hippy and he informed us about his life and the role he has played in the area. The whole bus journey was set to music, which reflected the journey. By this I mean the scenery we were passing or the speed the bus was travelling! We had a section in the tour where the bus driver stopped at a give way sign and turned to his passengers and told us we where going to be travelling the hilly part of the journey. He changed the music to something from War of the Worlds (dont know the title) and then we set off at speed! For the next 7 or 8 minutes we had to hold on for dear life as we ascended and decended the hills, having to swerve onto the the grass at the side of the road if a car was coming! It was fun and frightening at the same time! The amusing fact was, as we pulled upto the next give way sign we came across the music ended. Perfect timing from the bus driver! We spent about 5 hours in Nimbin soaking up the sun, the atmosphere and the scenery.
In the evening, me and the rest of my room mates decided to go for a drink in Byron. We ended up in a place called Cheeky Monkey's! Its as bad as it sounds! We actually had a great time until Henrick got himself thrown out for looking drunk. Get this, its illegal to serve a drink to someone who is drunk! Oh! Australia you have a lot to learn! The next 2 days were spent body boarding and sunbathing with the 2 swedes! On my final day in Byron I organised a diving trip with a local dive company. We took a short boat ride off the coast to a tiny island. We moored up and jumped in! Wow, is the only way to describe what we saw. Everywhere we looked we saw leopard sharks (10ft long), eagle rays (30ft long) and loads of really colourful fish. Definitely the best diving I have done. I was totally blown away!
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