The Far East of the Australian Mainland
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2005
1
98
141
Trip End
Dec 15, 2005
Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Friday, November 4, 2005
My companion lazes about and I head out to see the beach and Cape of Byron. Picking up a makeshift map from the front desk, I start walking north. The beach is only about 120m away. The beach is clean and well taken care of. The surf coming in generates larger waves than I've yet seen (although they are close to what I once saw at Lake Michigan). The water is very clear and it basically reminds me of the stereotypical paradise image. One thing that stands out to me, is the amount of graffiti in Australia. For such a seemingly nice country, the number of vandals is rediculous.
Walking on, I find the path around the cape and start on my way. The trail is generally a dirt track and it varies from a gentle walk to steep stairs. After about 2km, I come to the famous Byron Lighthouse. It's supposedly the most powerful lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere. A sign indicates that when it was first built, forest fires kept occuring in the forests about 25km inland. After three years, they figured out that the lens of the lighthouse was acting like a magnifying glass on the rising sun and focusing it on some unfortunate spot out in the forests. I can't resist the gellato ice-cream stand and buy a A$3 strawberry cone. It really hits the spot, and I walk on down the hill to the tip of the cape. The tip is the easternmost point of the Australian mainland. Of course, I take a GPS measurement just to confirm the sign's claims. From this lookout, I can see the surf crashing hard against the rocks down below. I can only imagine what it used to do to ships before the lighthouse was built. There aren't any sailing ships around these days, but I can see a couple of container ships coming up the coast from the south. Unfortunately, I don't see any whales or dolphins migrating through the area.
Walking on, I come to another lookout point where I can see the endless beaches. Using my binoculars, I watch some people trying to surf. It looks like such a pain in the ass. They have to paddle endlessly against the waves to get out to sea, and then hope for just the right wave to catch back in to shore. It's something I'll have to try someday, but not today. Jellyfish scare me. After walking through some more rainforest on the cape, I make my way back to the hostel. I book a A$60 hiking tour for tomorrow up Mt. Warning, a massive extinct volcano area about 45 minutes away.
The rest of the night is rather uneventful. Byron Bay is filled with more attractive women wearing less clothing than I've ever seen in my life. This might seem to put the odds in a guys favor, but there's a catch. The number of guys with Australian accents wearing swimsuits exceeds the number of women. If there's one thing I've learned on this trip, it's that North American women fall for Australian accents like grass to a lawnmower. To sum it up, Americans equal losers while in Australia.
The day ends at 6pm as I fall asleep...damn buses...
