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"