Okay, so the word ‘sunny’ in the title of this post might be a little misleading as the sun didn’t actually come out until yesterday. Yep, that’s right, we’re in Byron Bay, surfing capital of Australia’s East Coast, and it rained, poured, tipped it down for 4 days straight! Fun huh? Not.
Well it hasn’t all been bad. It’s a pretty cool place is Byron Bay, full of fun and life and party. But when it’s raining and all you want to do is lie on the beach and top up your tan, it can get a little tedious as there isn’t much else to do. Rosa and I arrived early on Saturday morning, feeling a little worse for wear after our night out in Sydney with Bulmer and co. We made our way to our hostel, the awesome Byron Beach Resort, and quickly settled in. That afternoon we walked along the beach into town and headed straight to Wicked Travel to book up all of our east coast activities for the next 7 weeks or so. Here’s the info…we’re doing a 3 day kayaking thing in Noosa, a 3 day 4WD & camping thing on Fraser Island, heading up to Airlie Beach to do a 3 day sailing tour of the Whitsundays, and finally we’re going scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef up in Cairns…epic! Wicked also gave us a bunch of hostel discount vouchers which is gonna make everything a whole heap cheaper. So yeah, I definitely recommend a trip to Wicked Travel if you’re ever in OZ…they’re awesome and will hook you up with so many discounts…and once you’ve booked with them you’re free to use their computers and internet whenever you like (for free!). Oh and we also booked our campervan for NZ…exciting stuff!
So anyway, where was I? After booking all our stuff we headed back to the hostel and that’s when the rain came. And it didn’t stop. oh joy. So we haven’t really done that much…just slept in, chilled, eaten, watched movies etc etc. We About two days ago, there was some sign of let up from the rain and we could see the sun poking through the clouds, so me and Rach decided to hire a surf board and head out to the beach to try and catch some waves. It was exhausting but exhilarating…and I actually stood up! 3 times! I also got absolutely battered and bruised by the waves (and my own board), but now I’m hooked…it’s so addictive, that feeling of freedom as you finally find your balance and ride the wave right to the shore. I tried again yesterday too, but unfortunately the surf was rubbish…totally flat as a pancake, which was disappointing. But oh well…I’m sure it’ll pick up in time for me to give it another go soon.
We’ve also been having a wicked time over the last few days with our new roomies, Levi and Robyn…it’s always nice to be able to hang out and actually get on with the people you’re living with! They’re both travelling alone, so it’s cool to have a larger group of people now to hang with…and Levi’s a surfer, so maybe he can give me a few pointers.
We’re here for another couple of days and then it’s off up to Surfers Paradise for more of the same I should think. I’ll be quite sad to leave this place…once the sun came out, Byron’s been really growing on me. I can see how people end up staying here for months!
Roo Around The World 