BYRON BAY

Byron Bay is a lovely place about 4 hours South of Brisbane that has a reputation as a bit of a hippy town and surf haven. We loved it there, and on our first night who should we bump into in the supermarket but Adam and Alex. We made another meal together, and it was like we'd made real friends! The next day we did a bit of clothes shopping with the boys, which was a bit weird and we ended up splitting up- they were obviously not usewd to shopping with girls. We met later on the beach and went to a bar for a free meal. A lot of bars give free meals to backpackers here which is really hany but obvoisly not usually the healthiest option.
Adam and Alex cought a night bus that night so the two of us went for a few drinks. The next day we got up early and hired bikes from the hostel (now that our bums have finally recovered after Rottnest Island) and cycled up to a lighthouse, the most easterly point of continental Australia. The view was incredible and we saw dolphins in the sea below. We looked for whales for ages as they have began to migrate North but we saw none. That afernoon we had surf lessons! They were such fun but a lot of hard work. the most difficult part was walking against the wave with the board in order to catch a wave. By the end we could stand up for a few seconds before falling in the sea. Harriet had more stamina than me. i spent more time lust lying on the board getting my breath back after walking into the sea! 4 days later we were still aching!

COFFS HARBOUR

To break up our journey to Sydney we stopped at a small town called Coffs Harbour for one night. It was an attractive coastal toen with not much to do. Our hostel had organised a big night out so we went along and it was really good. Beer in Australia is prettty shocking and expensive, so we stuck to gin that night, very patriotic! The next day we went to 'the Big Banana'.  It's difficult to explain what it is really. There is a big banana at the entrance, and there are loads of fields of banana trees surrounding it. They have a cafe selling banana products and a gift shop with banana merchandise. An interesting place! We had banana smoothies, banana cake and banana bread. They weren't a patch on the Thai's though.