Gday from New South Wales! We are not in Byron Bay, where the weather sucks but the beaches are nice! We came here from Brisbane via a trip to a Zorbing centre. For those of you who have yet to look at our photos, zorbing involves being put in a big inflatable ball with water in and rolling down a steep hill... very fun... slightly odd though... Feels like you're in a washing machine (not that I've ever been in one... I don't think...) and at the end you have to go through the suction hole to get out... a bit like being flushed out a toilet I should imagine (although, again... never tried that...) Next stop was Surfers Paradise - a really nice place, where the sun was shining and the beach was stunning. We spent time sunbathing and checking out the shops. From there we went to Danger Point, which had great views up and down the coast, and then to Nimbin. Now... Nimbin is the wierdest place either of us has ever set foot in. Luckily we only spent an hour there (and for that hour we sought sanctuary in a cafe!) Basically, Nimbin is in the middle of nowhere and is full of hippies who all appeared to be high on the local speciality substances... we stuck to coffee... We spent our first day here with a cycle ride up to Cape Byron lighthouse... we didn't realise just how steep the road was, but we made it! We spent about two hours up there eating our picnic and watching the marine life. Our first 'spot' of the day was dolphins playing in the surf, and then we spotted whales out to sea. Gradually more and more whales started appearing - there must have been hudnreds. One huge humpback was coming right out of the water and then splashing back down. We took some photos (almost as impressive as the dolphin pic from KP Ngan Hadge!) - so check out the photo pages for a game of "Spot The Whale!" We were sharing our apartment here with two boys who first off stole Fleur's mug... and it gets worse... didnt put it back for her morning cup of tea... let's just say they'll never do that again... THEN they stole our food when they came in drunk... grrr... we got them back. I casually asked Fleur "Fleur... did you eat that cheese?" "No" she replied... So I was like, "Good... don't know how long that's been there but it's past it's date..." He he... Yesterday there was torrential rain here all day (despite a poster in our bathroom claiming there's a drought!) so we shopped, ate and drank coffee and tea all day before having a girlie night in watching Home and Away, and numerous reality shows including the Oz version of Dancing on Ice with Torvill and Dean! It's good!! We painted our toenails a sickly colour of pink and put face masks on to complete the girly night in! Heading to surf camp tomorrow - will let you know all about that from Sydney, where we will arrive on Saturday evening! Lots of love Karen and Fleur xxx xxx