Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
BYRON BAY
We had a passable night on the Greyhound and get collected when we arrive in the morning by a surfer 'dude' in a camper van who works at the hostel - a promising start to Byron Bay. After stopping off at Woolies to buy our rations for the week, we arrive at the hostel which is a good mile away from the town but makes up for this by being a really lovely clean and friendly place; it's more like a house than a hostel, so we are well impressed with our choice of Byron Springs Guesthouse.
The weather whilst we are in Byron is a little hit and miss so we only got the beach a couple of times to catch some rays. We do however go surfing a couple of times - we sign up with 'Kool Katz' surf school which is run by two 40 year old going on 14 year old barking mad 'Aussie to the core' blokes; 'you've gotta fight for your right to party' one of them tells a kid on a bike through his van window, they are great guys. Sarah is initially just going to go and watch but when we get to the beach it seems stupid not to give it a go. We both manage to stand up and Mark does it the very first time (which he WILL have great pleasure in telling you!) however the sea was pretty kind to us that first day as Mark finds out on his second outing where he is useless. No excuses or exagerating ...but, when the sea is bad in Oz and you're in it, it is definitely got to be worse than doing 10 rounds with Iron Mike Tyson. Sarah is not what you would call 'a natural surfer' but she still enjoys it (although not so happy the next day when she wakes up feeling like she has been in a fight, told you!). We spend the rest of our days soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying a few beers in some of the great pubs of Byron - particularly 'The Rails' which has live bands on every night and is full of the hippy-types which Byron is famous for. Sadly these days the rest of Byron Bay is not so hippyfied anymore as the trendies have moved in to pose about in the many expensive bars/restuarants - it is definitely more trendy than hippy now. They have even painted over the murals which covered the community centre walls which is a bit of a shame as it used to reflect the character of the town. Anyway it is still a really fantastic place and we really enjoy our days in Byron.
- comments