Finally Byron Bay Is In The Past

"Cape Byron Lighthouse"

So now, after what I thought was going to be a short little stop in Byron Bay, I have finally manage to escape the Arts Factory that quickly became my home for a couple weeks. When I first arrived in Byron I know I was going to love it and end up spending much longer than I thought. With all the live music, games on the beach, surfing, relaxing, and all of the amazing people I met there its not hard to understand why.

In my last few days at Byron I started to feel like I had to do somethings other than just sleep and lay in my ham,mock so on Friday I decided to move my reading area to the beach and spend the day lazing in the sun when I found out that there was a big beach volleyball tournament being held. Since I am only by myself I shyly walked up to where you sign up when I was immediately grabbed by two Americans and a Swedish bloke that needed a fourth. I gladly joined there team and was relieved that I didn't have to find my own cause we all know how brave I am talk to random people I have never met.

The tournament took about 3 hours in total and consisted of 15 teams of four and to make it to the final we had to win around 12 games but after an exhausting day we won the tournament after a 19 to 21 win on the third game of the best of three final. The tournament unfortunately was just for fun but I met some good people and won a free barbecue and a wicked sunburn!

That night after the tournament I walked up to the lighthouse at Cape Byron, which is the most easterly piece of land in Australia, and watched the sunset. After it was dark I fumbled down the path back trying to make my way through the bush and back down the beach, with just a lighter cause the genius that I am didn't seem to remember it gets dark soon after the sunsets. . . . . good times. I finally reached my tent and hit the sheets early, boy what an exhausting day!

The next day I book a day tour out to a small town called Nimbin which is unlike any town I have ever seen in my life.

Nimbin is just a tiny little town about an hour and a half inland from Byron. The entire town is just full of hippies, basically, that are all fighting prohibition and fighting marijuana laws so the whole town is people with strange shops (which you will see in my picture), cafes, and rivers of alcohol and the air thick with the smell of marijuana. Even though it isn't really my thing I figured I had to go and see it just because it is truly a unique town. As entertaining as the town was for the two hours I was there it is quite sad because addiction is a very huge problem in Nimbin and its also sad to see as your walking down the streets a different 13 year old kid asking you if you want to buy some weed every 20 seconds, and I know that sounds like an exaggeration but it truly isn't. Another strange thing is that as much as the people in Nimbin don't listen or respect the laws it is still illegal and there is even a police station in town, I sure wonder what they do all day.

After my two hour experience in Nimbin I was happy to jump back on the happy bus and drive back to my little tent that I called home.

My final day in Byron was Sunday which there was suppose to be a peace festival, which was the reason I extended my stay a few days earlier, in hope that I could find a treasure of some kind and hear some more live bands. But once we arrived at the festival our hopes were ruined. It was not at all like I had pictured in my mind, so after five minutes we hitched back to town and sat around and visited with all my new friends in the campsite for my final day in Byron Bay.

The next day after packing up all my stuff and saying some quick good byes I walked out to main road to give hitching hiking in Australia a try, seeing as I had all day to get to Surfers Paradise and it was only about an hour and half day away. My first lift I only had to wait for around ten minutes then it took me a total of three different lifts and two hours to make it to the outskirts of town and jump on a local bus to bring me to my hostel.

I spent two days in Surfers Paradise (ya that's its actual name, strange hey?) but do not have to much exciting to report. Surfers Paradise is a city of around 15 000 people but it is basically a resort town. If your not into expensive clubs, Louis Vuitton, and huge skyscrapers this is not the place for you. It has more high rise accommodation than the rest of the entire continent of Australia. It is also famous and has earned itself a spot on the map because of the "Meter Maids". The Meter Maids are basically girls that are aspiring to be models or actors that wear gold bikinis and walk around down town feeding parking meters that have expire from time. Strange I know, and the way they are funded and get money to put in the meters is by taking pictures with people and selling, "The Meter Maids", merchandise. I sure wish all city's world wide had the Meter Maids to make every ones life a little easier. What a strange town Surfers Paradise is indead.

Needless to say, seeing as I dont have money to shop nor to eat at expensive cafes, I spent my days on the beach or by the pool at the hostel(seeing as that's free), and my night were filled with little events that the hostel put on whether it was a pool party or a pub crawl, to see some of the city's hot spots.

And that officially brings us up to date. After my two days, even though I did have fun, I was happy to get out of the concrete jungle of Surfers Paradise and headed further up the coast to Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland. Seeing as this is also and big city, with a population of over a million, I don't suspect I am going to stay hear long before I head out and try to find some more small towns, beautiful beaches,amazing scenery's, and laid back atmospheres that makes Australia a truly amazing country.

"My Day Of Beach Volleyball"

"Sunset Over Sleepy Byron Bay"

"Cape Byron At Sunset"

"The Strip In Nimbin And The Bringabong Store . . . Get it!"

"Surfers Paradise Beach And Skyline"

"Protected River Running Through Surfers"

"The Beautiful Meter Maids"

Hey Everyone sorry about only getting one video onto this here blog but yesterday I was trying to upload a couple more videos when the card reader messed up my card so I lost the videos and a few pictures. I am still in Byron Bay but planning on leaving tomorrow but I wanted to stick around because Anthony (the guy in that video) is doing a full set at a little pub tonight and I figure it would be a shame to miss it. Last night I went to a one man band named Cockatoo Paul which was really good. He plays all his own original Aussie music with a guitar, shakers, seven piece drum set, and rocks on the diduridoo. Anyway thats about all I have new to report but I will write a better entry next time. Cheer!

Talent Show At "The Arts Factory"

Last Night Arts Factory, that is where I am camping, had a talent show. Everyone in it is just people who happen to be staying here and want to do a little something. The reason I am putting a few video on here to show is because I was completely blown away with how much talent is around one place with normal people that are just traveling.

The first video is the main guy his name is Anthony George and hes just travelling around Australia doing small gigs to fund his trip but the other people were just singing and and playing for fun last night. In his video hes playing a 12 string, get ready to be amazed.(Sorry its not the greatest quality but that's the best I can do to keep the file small enough to put on here)

Byron Bay

"Home Sweet Home"

I have now made my way out of Sydney and up the east coast a little ways to Byron Bay. For my last few days in Sydney I moved down to Bondi Beach to just laze around on the beach and relax before heading on the road again. Unfortunately the three days I spent at Bondi were windy, cold and rainy, so much for my laying on the beach weather. But I still managed to keep my self occupied just wondering the streets and shopping, well not really but I did some serious looking at things I cant afford. The hostel I stayed at was really cool and had an amazing location. It was about ten steps from the beach and had the roof open with picnic tables and chairs so you could hang outside in the sun, if it was nice out that is, and laze about and watch all the craziness that they call Bondi Beach.
After my week in Sydney getting my bearings and figuring out a plan of what to do in the future, well not exactly more figuring out a direction to head, I jumped on a 14 hour overnight bus up the east coast with my first stop being the surf mecca of Byron Bay. Byron is quite a small town but is quite popular with backpackers and local surfers alike. It is the equivalent of something like Jasper but surfboards, wet suits, and swimmers instead of snowboards and bulky jackets. At any given time in the daylight you can spot at least a couple people geared up carry there surfboards to the beach through downtown.
If the town and atmosphere of the town isn't enough to make a person fall in love with Byron Bay where I am staying to the cherry on top. I am camping right now in a place called the, "Arts Factory" and this is one place that I have learned is a truly one of a kind sort of place. The easiest way to explain The Arts Factory is its like Australians version of Thailand. The area of land that its sits on is about 10 acres and the whole place is broken up into different communities sort of. They have the dorm section, private bungalows, then big teepee's you can rent, and finally the campsite where I am staying and has completely sucked me in and I am going to have a hard time leaving anytime soon.
The campsite it self is just a big opening that you throw your tent anywhere you want really but then we our own kitchen, showers, and the Shack. The Shack is just a big gazebo that serves as the main hangout all throw the day and into the wee hours of the morning. The real thing that makes the Arts Factory truly amazing is the people and just the down to earth chilled out atmosphere. In the day there is constantly a musical instrument being play weather its a guitar, bongos, didgeridoo, or something I have never even seen. Then in the evenings it breaks out into a 30, or so, person jam with all instruments and singing until wee hours of the morning.
So as you can see this is my kind of a place, the mornings of sitting around with a guitar and coffee, afternoons of surfing, volleyball, or just relaxing, then the night of jamming and meeting people from all over the world. Its going to be hard to find the ambition to pack up and jump on a bus anytime soon.

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Bondi Beach From The Roof Of My Hostel


Just Weird seeing These In The Wild

Sydney, Australia

"The Sydney Opera House"

I have now been in Sydney for around four days just touring the city and trying to figure out a plan so I can see as much of this incredible big country as I can in just under two months. So far I have been staying in an area of the city called Kings Cross, which is actually kind of the, "Wrong side of the tracks" as far as Sydney is concerned, but all is well and I have been kicking around the hostel in the evenings and out to seeing different parts of the city during the day.
When I first arrived to Australia I had no idea what to expect especially with the weather. Its just turning to spring here like New Zealand but the weather is dramatically better. Since Ive arrived its been around 25 and pretty much solid sunshine everyday, which is much better than the 10 and raining I was in before.
I don't really have a lot to report right now though. Ive seen the city and its major sights like the harbor bridge and the, "Sidney Opera House." I also spent a day hanging out with Mason, who is a Aussie guy I met and traveled with for a while in Laos, and his girlfriend. They took me out to Bondi Beach and had breakfast, then sat on a patio looking over the beach and watched the surfers and beach bums for the day while sampling some Australian beverages.
Today I am going to pack up and move down to a hostel at Bondi for a couple days and just relax before making my way up the east coast.
Bondi beach is one of those places that gives you a straight out of the movies feel. The beach is right in the city with a skyscraper skyline, and has roughly 20 000 people on it in the summer surfing or just laying around and soaking up the sun. Then the Ocean front row is lined with shops and cafes that house some of Australia's best shopping and also some of the highest prices for just about anything, great place for a backpacker hey?
Hopefully in the next couple days I can find someone heading up the coast and catch a lift with them instead of taking a bus, but only time will tell. Hopefully next time I have some more exciting stories for ya but thats all for now. This week is my lay back and relax week.

"Again The Opera House (With a Strange Angle)"

"Bondi Beach"

"And Again The Famous Bondi"

"Downtown Sydney's Skyline"