Goon.

After our Nimbin trip, Mic and I decided we wanted one more day in Byron Bay. We needed a day to figure out where we were each heading next. We had to change rooms though and could only stay for one more night as Saturday night was fully booked. Our next room was a 4 person mixed dorm and we shared it with an Australian guy up in Byron for a weekend holiday. We had a balcony over looking the hostel courtyard which was nice, but there were goon stains on the carpeted floor and cake on the walls. Mic and I were sitting in the common room when our new room mate came over with his friends. I don't know why I took a picture of what they were drinking and eating as I could barely stomach the look of it, or even stay at the table without my stomach convulsively turning. But this, I learned from Byron Bay, is what all the backpackers were carrying around and drinking. Goon. Goon is cheap boxed wine. These guys had "splurged" so they said, on butterscotch schnapps as well. I thought maybe they would add it to the goon, to make it sweeter, but no, they would take a shot of pure sugar and chase it with the goon. I can barely even continue to write this. But this post is just to show you what drinking cheaply in Australia means. One box typically contains 4.5 litres of wine.  If you want to binge on a premium boxed wine for a couple more dollars, it is only 2 litres. 

Nimbin.

One of the "activities" in Byron Bay is a day trip to Nimbin. Mic and I were quite looking forward to our cultural excursion, to see another part of Australia and especially because it was a kinda rainy day. We were excited, until we got on the bus and the bus driver introduced himself and said the first stop would be to the bottle shop. Mic and I just looked at each other and rolled our eyes. What were we really expecting on a day trip to "Australia's cannabis capital"? Two English kids on the bus already had cups of red goon, which I actually didn't believe could be goon at 10 in the morning, but slowly came to the harsh realisation that yes it was indeed. (and having seen these two guys again in Rainbow Beach and Airlie Beach since, goon at 10am is really no big surprise from them anymore) So, we followed suit, and bought a couple beers, not really sure what we had gotten into.

Our first, or well, second stop, was to Brunswick Heads to take a look at the beach in the drizzling rain.

The water ran inland towards the national park...

Really? This is a ridiculous day.

Then we got back on the bus after a horror-movie worthy park bathroom stop. The bus probably held about 20-30 people and was completely full. I couldn't stop laughing and everyone was looking at me like I had already smoked all the weed in Nimbin. After driving for a bit, we stopped at some sort of retreat with a lake to have a bbq. 

another odd bathroom break...

We drove on and on, over hills and through rain forests of cedars and banana trees. The bus was a bit dinky and every time it turned a corner or a went around a bend in the road, I honestly thought it was going to roll over. I was holding on and bracing myself feeling utterly unsafe and way to familiarly reminiscent of my May '11 car accident. There was even road works along the way and we were driving along bumpy red dirt. It was not a pleasant trip, but we survived.

When we finally got to Nimbin, we had about 2 hours to wonder around the one main street that goes through the small town in the middle of the mountains. It felt as though we had gone back in time. Along with the alternative sub-culture vibe it gets from the immense presence of marijuana, the town is incredibly earth conscious with organic food stores, meetings for all grass-root and social movements, and flyers promoting all sorts of sustainable farming practices, permaculture, and alternative energy.

There were all sorts of paraphernalia available to buy....all sorts.  

It's definitely a colourful place. Stuffed animals on the roof of the sidewalk? Why not?

There were people walking around not-quite-so-inconspicuously asking if you wanted to buy cookies, since cannabis is actually illegal in Australia, you can't go into a cafe like in Amsterdam to buy drugs. Instead, people bake it into cookies or brownies and you can buy about 3 for $20 or so. Chocolate chip. With sprinkles. Big ones. Little ones. The whole place was a bit bizarre. I'm not really sure how people get away with it if it is illegal, and it is known that's what goes on here. The police station was just down the road. There is a MardiGrass party every year apparently....

Then there was the Nimbin Museum. It was absolutely covered with drug-related history and oddities. Newspaper clippings were pasted onto the wall, quotes were everywhere...it was a lot to look at and a lot to take in.

No Expectations. No Disappointment. I like that. Even though it's spelt wrong. 

WWOOF. I'm not sure if this is real/serious or not. 

Human teeth wanted. Anyone?

There was a guy at a cafe where we were waiting to get back onto the bus and he had heaps of weed stuffed in his gums and in between his teeth.....

 After Nimbin, we were told we were going to a waterfall, but it was actually just a cliff. With some water drizzling down the side. Kind of a mean place to take people after they may or may not have eaten some cookies, with the sheer drop below freaking them out....don't look down.

Yeah so it was a curious sort of day to say the least. 

Cheeky Monkey's.

As I said before, the people make the place. The first people Mic and I met were the 3 English guys who may or may not have remembered us but my camera was proof enough. We hung out for the next few days together and they just made us laugh the entire time. When I think of Byron Bay, I will always think of Cheeky Monkey's and for anyone who has been there, "have you been to Cheeky Monkey's" will be the first question anyone asks. It's a must.

 I have so many more pictures, but I think I will just leave it at this. 

See you in London, boys! x

Byron Bay Bonfire.

it's funny how you meet people. apparently one of the key cards to the room wasn't working so the maintenance guy came to check it out. I followed him down the hallway from the bathroom and he walked straight to my all-female dorm. 

I said, "I have a key if you want to get in."

"Try it to see if it works."

It worked. Then all he said was, 

"What's your name? We're having a bonfire on the beach tonight if you want to come." 

So, a complete stranger invited us to a bonfire on the beach and of course we wouldn't say no! He had gathered a large group of people from the hostel to meet, everyone speaking different languages, some people who worked in the hostel, some people who knew each other. He led us to the beach in the dark, but not before one of the guys in the group invited this crazy, drunk, woman to join us. "And that's why you don't bring Billy with you," someone muttered. This woman was for sure off her rocker.  We walked onto the dark beach, barely able to see who we were talking to let alone see where we were going! Suddenly, from behind one of the dunes a fire was blazing. We sat around the bonfire as it highlighted our faces and chatted with the people around us. The crazy woman was trying to get drinks off anyone she saw that had extra bottles, was bumming smokes of others, yelling for Billy until finally, like a beached whale, she collapsed, or passed out, face down in the sand. Only occasionally would she roll over and yell for Billy, the blonde haired boy. Just from word of mouth, people came and went from the bonfire as they pleased, no one not really knowing each other but getting to know each other. The English guys came to meet us, and we just laughed under the stars.

Shit Australians Say #10

"Free BBQ."

it means a slice of white bread and a sausage. maybe some grilled onions if you're lucky. 

Tallow Beach and the Light House.

I stayed at Nomads in Byron Bay. It was a really clean, busy hostel that offered all sorts of activities throughout the day from morning yoga lessons on the beach to travel trivia and free bbq's. One of the afternoons offered a sunset walk to the lighthouse. Mic and I had a bit of time to spare before the group met, so having said goodbye to some very funny friends we had laughed with, danced with, surfed with, jacquzzied with, and beached with we took a local map of the area and wandered to one of the other beaches on the other side of the peninsula. It was a bit of a hike in the heat, but we were being passed by surfers coming and going so we knew it would somehow be worth it. And it honestly was. The beach was practically empty, we could have had it to ourselves, but the ocean was filled with surfers catching rough waves near the headland. 

The sand was so soft and it was if the sky and ocean were competing to see who could be brighter and more blue.

 If anything, I learned that picking up a local map and going somewhere not necessarily mentioned in the guide books, or a bit out of the way off the tourist track, is definitely worth it. 

I'm so awkward. This one's for you, John and Sheelagh! 

Panarama pictures never look as good as reality. But you gotta try to capture it. 

It had taken us about half an hour to walk to Tallow Beach so instead of walking back to the hostel to meet the group for the lighthouse walk, we had decided we were already half way there and would just continue the walk on our own. There was a map at the threshold of the walk with the different trails marking the lengths and difficulties of each. We picked the one that hugged the edge of the coast for the best views and would walk through the Cape Byron Conservation Park on the way back. The heat and the steps reminded me of the walk along Cinque Terra. Luckily, Mic would "stop for pictures" aka catch our breath, as frequently as me so it wasn't so strenuous. Let's just say lack of fitness from laziness . Joggers ran past us as we stopped for a clementine break on a bench, "enjoying" the view. Ha.

It was a really pleasant walk actually. We didn't see any koalas or sharks or dolphins or snakes or spiders as we talked about the dangerous animals Mic encountered on Fraser Island that I had to look forward to. But, there was a random mountain goat along the way....

We did get to the most easterly point of mainland Australia though! (although if you look past the gate there actually some more rocks....even further east...)

Nothing more further east...until.....who's any good at geography? 

Looking back towards Byron Bay.

Yay! Walking is good for the environment :)

We reached the lighthouse way before sunset, which is lucky because it got quite chilly up there and it would have been a long, dark walk back! More importantly though, we reached the lighthouse before the little shop closed. We had heard from our English friends that there was the most amazing ice cream and after the sun-penetrated walk we definitely were looking forward to and deserving of an ice cream.

The view from the top.

Mars Bar and Pooh Bear ice cream. What a treat!

Along with the ice cream, we were told that there was a book in the little museum called Love Letters from Mother Nature. One of the blokes was quite taken with this book. I think he left a little bit of his vomit on the cover page. 

It looks like a fairy tale castle!

Around the corner, we could see Tallow Beach from above - the beach we had been on previously.

The surfers were still in the water. 

We eventually found our way back, I'm not quite sure how but saw the sun setting over Main Beach.

The hostel in Byron Bay was filled with a lot of young people from all over the world. A lot of English, Canadians, and Germans. I don't know how long they were traveling for, but it seemed as though a lot of them would stay in the hostel during the day and drink in the courtyard then continue to the clubs at night. Which is fine, if you've seen what you want to see and are young enough to do that, but I would recommend this walk to anyone going to Byron Bay. At first, seeing so many young people, I felt a bit old, that I had missed the window frame for appropriate travel time with other like-minded people. I've found that a lot of people are between 22 and 26, which makes sense. I remember when I turned 25 and felt as though I was having a quarter-life crisis, quit my job and moved in with my parents. It happens to everyone, at different times of their lives. They need to go out and find themselves, figure out what they are doing in this world. I thought that I needed an excuse to travel, do charity work or something and that's part of the reason why I decided to go back to school and go to school abroad. Obviously being obsessed with the program and curriculum helped, but I never thought I could just go on holiday to Australia. I think for some of these kids, it is a spring-break year abroad. But now, at my age, I can look back and say that I am glad I came now. I suppose I wasn't ready before and wouldn't want to waste my time sitting in a hostel drinking. I feel as though I can appreciate more of what I see. I still feel old sure at times, and maybe I am overly generalising, but even though we are all doing the same trip basically - either up the coast or down the coast - we will all come away with completely different experiences, memories, and achievements.  Maybe these younger kids will get traveling out of their system and figure out their lives sooner than me, but that's ok for them and it's ok for me. 

Byron Bay

It was time to leave the northern Sydney suburbs. It was more than accommodating to welcome me to stay for as long as I liked but I missed my independence I had gotten used to. I was itching - literally - to start travelling, really do it backpacker style, to meet people, see some beech beech places, and have some horrifying hostel stories. Baby Ryan was on the way and my time was running out. I booked an overnight bus to leave Sydney at 11pm and was heading to Byron Bay. 12 hours on the bus is worth it, I suppose, when a night's accommodation and transportation are included. 

Byron Bay is a really cute beachy town. It definitely has an eco-friendly, hippy, surfer vibe to it that's very laid back. There are a variety of restaurants from kebabs and pizza by the slice to vegetarian Indian, dining by the sea, and dietary-friendly cafes. I wanted to buy everything in the boutiques and everyone other person was eating an ice cream.

Since I couldn't check in until 2 I wandered over to the beach, Main Beach. It was really quite striking. I've found that beaches either take your breath away right away, try desperately to, or just stare right back at you blankly. This one made me smile and I knew right away I wanted to stay in Byron Bay for longer. To the right the beach was quite crowded so I headed to the left where I found myself amongst wave-lapping dogs and topless sunbathers. The Australian sun is impressively strong, but I was quite happy lying there in my clothes soaking up the fresh sea air, listening to the waves, and knowing that sand was mischievously tucking itself away in all crevices, wrinkles, and folds. I looked up at one point to see a standing older woman drop her stuff off in front of me as her dog ran off into the water. With her back facing me, she started to take off her cover up and I thought, that's awfully brave of her to be wearing a two-piece. Then she took off her cover up and she was topless! Just sauntered down to the shore through a group of boys, no problem. Brave. That was not even the right word! 

I took a walk to the end of the beach where I found a look-out that I had entirely to myself. I sat down enjoying the peaceful silence, watching the surfers below, and looking back onto Byron Bay quite proud of myself for having embarked on this adventure on my own. With a bit of nervous anticipation, I had no idea what to expect, who I would meet, how I would meet anyone, and what I would do. 

I felt really lucky in Byron Bay. I had booked in a 6 person all-female dorm (I didn't want my first hostel experience to smell like feet) and on the first night, there were 4 of us in the room who were traveling alone so we decided to go out to dinner together. Each of us had our own reasons for traveling: one girl from Canada was divorced and was using her alimony money to travel, another was an Australian flight attendant who had three days off inbetween her international flights and decided to come up to Byron for the weekend, and another English girl had always wanted to travel and her boyfriend urged her to follow her dreams. 

I had booked three nights to stay in Byron as I had read that people come for one day and stay for a month. I stayed for five nights. Mic, the English girl, also decided to stay on longer with me. We got along so seamlessly well. We met some really funny people together, in groups of three of course, and had a lot of laughs - of course of course. Although I had a list of places I wanted to see along the coast, she proved to me, or really made me realise that it's not about the place, but about the people who you meet who make the place memorable. I could just travel to see places, check them off a list, but it wouldn't be the same trip without the people you meet along the way and share these experiences and places with. Part of the reason I planned my trip the way I did, as in not having a plan at all except to head north, is because I wanted to have the flexibility to have these experiences, meet people along the way who might be doing something I had never heard of or be open to their suggestions, I wanted to be able to stay longer if I liked a place, and have to sleep on a beach if my no plans actually turned into no plan at all! 

I had a lot of fun in Byron Bay. I like it. I like it a lot.