Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay

Mobile-number:
+61405390692

The trip to Surfers Paradise from Brisbane took only 1,15 hours and when we arrived it wasn’t what we had expected.
Then again we should have learned by now that things never will be what you expect and that is actually the beauty of it. 🙂

Surfers Paradise is like mini-Las Vegas and not the small, cosy town we expected. We had no idea where to stay so we went in to the Transit-center and there was an Irish guy (Patrick) that was heading for Surf’nSun Beachside Backpackers, so we decided to also go there.
The guys that work for the hostel picked us up with a mini-van and showed us a bit of the town before heading to the place to check in.
It was a very nice place with very nice personnel and we got a 5-bed dorm (shower and toilet in every room) for 20 Au$ per night for three nights.

Already checked in was two very nice English girls, Katie and CJ. We unpacked and changed clothes, because the hostel offered all guests free dinner and drink at a place called Shooters.
44 guest had sign up for it and we all went to the place downtown.
The dinner was great and it was a nice place, but at 12 we called it a day and went back to the hostel.

The next morning we took a power-walk down at the beach and the place was beautiful. It’s very clean, luxurious and probably very expensive here. 🙂
We went to get some food downtown (Cole’s and Woolworth is the places to shop at) and went around looking at the place. In a way I like it but then again it wasn’t the real Australia I wanted to see. Still cool though.

The manager at the hostel has a Border Collie named Lilly so i played a bit with her when we got back. We also made some food and then we just relaxed. We sat and chatted with Katie and CJ in the room and Maria from Italy had moved in so then we became a all-female dorm.
In the evening we watched Madagascar downstairs. It was hilarious. 🙂

The day after I had a soar throat so I stayed in bed and read my book most of the day. A-M was nice and made me some tea. She is so sweet.
In the evening I called my mom and talked to her for over an hour (it’s cheap with phonecards down here) and then I felt better. You know how you always long for you mom when you’re not feeling well. 🙂
Katie and CJ left for Byron Bay that day, A-M went out partying that evening (with Brian from Dk, Ben from UK and some other guys from the hostel) and Maria and I had a nice evening chatting and reading books.

The next day I went up at 8 and walked to the post office. I sent home another 5 kg since I can’t carry everything around. I know that you are thinking ”Why does she continue to shop things?”
Well the thing is that I had to send home some summer clothes since I bought some warmer stuff here. So there you have it. It’s not my fault it’s cold down here. 🙂

When I got back A-M was barely alive (after partying half the night :p), packing her stuff. I got my stuff together and we checked out.
We still had a few hours so we went downtown to take some photos of this rather strange place.

At 14.25 the bus left for Byron Bay and we went through some nice landscapes during those 2 hours. When we came off the bus there was lots of hostels standing around giving us offers for accommodation. Katie and CJ talked about The Arts Factory before leaving Surfers so we decided to go with that.

The girl from the hostel drove around for a bit in Byron and showed us a few good places. She went down to the beach and told us that they have some wicked sunsets there. Sounded good.
Byron Bay is exactly what we wanted. It’s small, cosy and has a relaxed feeling about it.

We got an offer for 22Au$ per night for 3 nights and when walking to the room we saw CJ and Katie sitting in the outside-jacuzzi.
It was a 6-bed dorm and the hostel was really different from anywhere else we lived. It was a bit of a hippie-style over it. 🙂
We went downtown to shop some food, did dinner when we got back and then we crashed in bed at 9 or so.

The next day I found an add for Ipod’s so I called them and asked for a 60GB and they had it!
We took on our walking shoes and started to walk.
On the way we went in to the police-station to see Ron Brown that we met on the way back from Halong Bay in Vietnam. He told us that if we ever came to Byron we should come and see him and his son Mason (the little guy that talked instantly for 2 hours in the van :p).
Well unfortunately he wasn’t there, he was home packing to go to Alice Springs and wouldn’t be back until Monday evening, but his nice and funny workm8’s helped us call him and then joked with us so much we can’t really take the Aussie police-force seriously anymore. 🙂
Before we left the station they wanted a picture of us so we posed with Steve, the tallest of them all, and he kept saying that we pinched his behind and asked us to stop. :p
We laughed so much we almost cried.

After that unforgettable moment we continued our 3 km walk in the rain to get my Ipod. (geek-warning! :p)
Worth waiting for! I also bought a Camera Adapter so I can now transfer my photos directly from the camera to the Ipod without a computer needed. Perfect!
We hitch-hiked back to town with a girl (Katerina).

When we came back we made some lunch, rested a bit and then went down to the beach to see the sunset.
We actually met a girl from Malmo again there. She was at the Didgeridoo-place in Brisbane using the Internet when we also sat there and she heard me talk to A-M in Swedish and started talking to us.
Too bad I forgot to ask for her name, but I’m sure I will see her in Malmo next year when I’m back. 🙂

There was lots of surfers out in the water, waiting for that perfect wave and I admire their patience.
We saw the Lighthouse in a distance and decided to go there the next day. It is the most easterly point on Australian mainland so it’s a must.
We spent the evening with Katie sitting downstairs by the fireplace, talking.

Friday again! We sat at the Internet place for free from 10 to 2 and then after some lunch at the hostel I went back to the room. A guy had checked in and he was lying on the bed resting. Then I saw it was Brian from Surf’n’Sun. He had just checked in and was rather tired from partying all night. 🙂
Was fun to meet him again.
A-M and I tried to rent bikes to go to the Lighthouse but at the hostel they couldn’t find the keys to the bikes so we walked downtown. When we passed YHA hostel we thought we might try there so we went to the reception and there was a Pierre Pablo, an Italian guy from our Fraser Trip.
No bikes to rent, but he came with us and we started our walk towards the Lighthouse.
After walking at the beach for a while we went up to a parking-lot. I asked a girl for the direction and then saw that it was Katerina from the day before. 🙂
She gave us a ride up. Some people are just too nice!

The Lighthouse was amazing and the view was great.
http://www.byron-bay.com/byronbay/lighthouse.html
We took some photos of the sun starting to set and then walked down to the most easterly point on Australian mainland overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Beautiful is not a word enough to describe it.

When reaching the town again my father called and it was great to hear his voice again. We talked a bit about December when they will come and visit me in Asia. Can’t wait to see them and hug them!

After some food-shopping Pierre went back to his hostel and we to ours.
We met Cj and Katie that had been to Nimbin that day. It’s a place filled with hippies, and most of them are stoned the whole time. Not my kind of thing, but they had fun.
We had some dinner together and then sat downstairs and talked.
Katie and CJ left for Sydney (Koffs Harbour first) that evening and we will hopefully meet them, if not before, on NZ.

Today I went up at 5.40 to see if there would be a nice sunrise. It was too cloudy so I went downstairs to call my friend, Rene, in Holland. Had a nice long talk with him before the money on my card ran out and then I went back to bed. 🙂

We checked out at 10 and now I’m using some more free Internet-time. Our bus to Sydney leaves 18.50 tonight and arrive at 6.25 tomorrow morning (Sunday).
We will probably take the afternoon bus to Melbourne which arrives at 8 or so on Monday morning.
I want to go to The Great Ocean Road to see the apostles before they are all gone (8 left of 12…) and that is west of Melbourne.

Hugs to you all!

Don’t forget to leave a comment so I know that you are alive and reading this. 😉