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We arrived into Byron Bay where the sun was shining and everthing seemed alright again. The rage at the Oz bus passed quickly and i started to get excited about what Byron Bay had to offer. We made it to our hostel (The Arts Factory) and immediately noticed the change in pace and how everyone was just chilled out. It was ovbious straight away that this place was full of hippies and everyone had been to Nimbin to get stoned out their boxes. Fun times! Our hostel was pretty nice and had a good pool and jacuzzi. Obviously i didn't use either but they were nice to look at! We had a good group of guys in our dorm and got on well with the. 2 of them were Irish and one was American (think its the first time i've actually spoke to an American!) and they just constantly took the p*** out of us, it was good banter. Our hostel also had a good bar called the Buddha Bar which had a Sunday roast for $20 so obviously we had to have it mmmmmmmmm. Was yum. We just got smashed in the hostel on our first night there because everhwere closes down at 10pm on a Sunday which is bizarre. We got our ipods goin and had a right old party ourselves. Think the boys were a bit annoyed as they had been out 4 nights in a row and wanted a quiet one hehe. Ah well!
On our second day there i went and booked my skydive (woohoo) and got my tarot cards read. Byron Bay is such a spiritulistic (is that even a word?) place that you just have to get your tarot cards read there. The guy was actually pretty accurate, i was impressed. At first i was a bit sceptical as i didn't know what to expect but he didn't say too much about the past or predict much about the future, he just kinda described what kind of person you were and i have to say he got me down to a tee and that was me not giving anything away and helping him in any way. He did say a bit about the future so we'll see what happens, it was just a bit of fun anyway and if nothing else it makes you analyse your life and see if there are any changes you can make for the better!
My mate Kerry taught me how to make a good spag bol (i am the world's worst cook) so now at least i can make something when i get home! We then got smashed at our mate's hostel (altho i didnt get too smashed as i was up early the next morning for my skydive!) and had a wicked night out in Cheeky Monkeys! Apparently this bar/club is famous worldwide but i had never heard of it before. Its a good night out if your already out your face but if your sober i reckon it would be rubbish. However we had a fab time, there is no dancefloor as such and if you want to dance then you need to jump up on the tables and be careful not to fall off. Its pretty expensive in there but thats the good thing about getting drunk in your hostel beforehand, you only need to buy one drink in the place! I seen loads of folk i knew in there. It was so weird, i met people from my Whitsundays boat trip, people from my hostel and people i'd met in various parts of my trip down the east coast. Pretty much everyone was wasted so we were all up for having a good time. In the end one of our mates got chucked out for not dancing on the table but dancing between 2 tables and on the archway and so we all left. I thought it was a bit ridiculous that they chucked him out considering they let everyone dance on tables - i mean thats a hazard in itself! So anyway we went a trek to find a kebab (i think we all thought we were at home) and of course we couldn't find any so we had to go to a bakery at 2.30am. Its times like that i really miss home lol. One of the Irish guys tripped over and twisted his ankle cos he was so drunk he tried to climb over a fence - idiot! We got back and had a late night chat and then i realised i had to go to bed cos i was getting picked up in 4 hours time to do my skydive AAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!
So the next morning i was on autopilot which is just as well cos it never gave me the chance to get scared. I got to the skydive place and it was a matter of paying the cash and getting into the plane as quickly as possible. The company were so professional and made you feel at ease so it was easy to forget you were goin to jump out a plane! I decided to pay the extra to get a photographer who would jump out of the plane with me so that i'd have a better dvd of the scenery and get some pics to put up on the internet. It was well worth the money. I used to be terrified of flying but my journey to Oz and my trip up over Byron Bay in a tiny aircraft has cured me of it thankfully! It took quite a while to get up to the height we were jumping from. We were supposed to jump froom 14,000 feet but they increased it to 16,000 for safety as most people were doin tandem jumps however my certificate only says 14,000 feet - gutted! I was third to jump and just as i was sitting with my legs dangling over the plane i suddenly thought "wtf am i doing?" Even my palms got sweaty there as i typed that! I had about 70 seconds freefall and it was the most amazing experience! The photographer was brilliant, she managed to circle us and get some good shots in, i was well impressed. It was weird watching her continue to fall as our parachute opened. That was bloody sore because the harness was so tight. The view was beautiful and you could see the lighthouse (the most easterly point in Australia) and Cape Byron. When we first jumped out it was freezing because we were so high up but after about 30 seconds we hit the heat and it was just lovely. Had a nice wee chat with the instructor on the way down and he twirled me round from side to side which was cool. Coming to land was lots of fun, it was like coming down a chute at the swing park! Got some high five action going with the instructor at the end for the benefit of the dvd. I look an absolute riot in my dvd and pics but i don't care because i had so much fun and i'm well proud of myself for doing the skydive. Loved it and will definitely be doing it again somewhere else!
After our crazy night at Cheeky Monkeys everyone was feeling a bit subdued by the time i got back to the hostel. We ended up not doin much at all that day and just went out for a quiet meal at night. I attempted to get some HOT chocolate brownies from Domino's but they gave me them COLD. I was sooooo disappointed but stuffed my big fat face anyway. Hmmm...no wonder i've put on weight! We had an early night as we had to be up and ready to get on our bus by 8am - bloody early morning bus trips. The bane of our lives!
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