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After Sydney we started our East coast package and headed on the overnight bus to Byron Bay. This was our first experience of the Greyhound buses in Australia. They were ok, pretty basic nothing like the luxury we were used to in South America where we got a meal, fully reclining seats, a few films and even champagne on one of the journeys.
The bus was going well until we got pulled over in the middle of the night by the police as apparently the bus had no tail lights. Slightly worrying especially when you see the size of the road trains out here that are over 50 metres long and weigh up to 200 tonnes, you don't really want one of those smacking you up the backside! Anyway the driver stopped at the next garage and fixed the problem. We headed on and arrived in Byron Bay early the next morning.
Byron Bay was named by Captain Cook after John Byron a navigator and grandfather of the poet Lord Byron. It seems James Cooks' name springs up everywhere in Aus and NZ think they have a lot to thank that Yorkshireman for. Anyway Byron Bay is a small pretty town known for its magnificent surfing beaches. The town is famous for its relaxed and alternative way of life and seems to have attracted an interesting mix of residents which is reflected in the galleries, boutiques and shops with New Age offerings. The residents also pride themselves in being an environmentally and socially aware community with no high rise buildings, McDonalds, no traffic lights or parking meters.It really does have a hippy feel. Also Mick Dundee once lived there so must be awesome!
We stayed in a hostel in the town which was actually really expensive and the room was tiny literally a double bed and nothing else. We paid for a private room but had to actually walk through a dorm room to get into it which wasn't ideal. The first evening we were there we were awoken at about 3am by a girl screaming in the adjoining dorm. We could hear her saying something about one of the guys getting into her bed. Anyway about 1 hour later there was a knock on our door and a police officer told us we had to vacate our room due to their being a sexual assualt in the adjoining room. Apparently our room was now also a "crime scene". How nice! We hardly had time to get dressed as we were ushered out of our room into the hostel kitchen. This isn't really something you expect, was all quite a shock really. We weren't told how long we would be out of the room, so as we were up, we walked down to the beach to watch the sunrise. When we returned it was all over the culprit had been arrested and taken away.
This experience was the start of the nickname we gave to Australia. We named it Ozbekistan. Much of Australia is a bit grim really. The hostels are nearly all dirty, no matter how much you pay. Many of them also have bed bugs, we didn't really think they existed until we came here and have actually been bitten ourselves and seen others eaten alive. We thought it was just a rhyme you say to kids before they go to sleep 'night night mind the bed bugs don't bite' now we seriously say it! Also the buses are filthy and many of the people on them really do omit a foul stench. We were really surprised as coming to Australia from South America we thought hostels, buses, food would be of a higher standard. The hostels and buses are dirty and basic and the Aussies don't even have their own national dish. There's only so much barbequed sub standard meat you can endure! Anyway rant over for now anyway!
Even though we had the assault incident in Byron Bay, we didn't let it spoil our time there as Byron Bay really was a brilliant place. On our final evening we headed down to a local pub and watched a great live 7 piece band. We met an Aussie couple who we spent the evening with, we had a few drinks and a good laugh. Byron Bay is definately worth a visit.
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