Byron Bay and Beyond!
Trip Start
Mar 25, 2006
1
Trip End
Ongoing
Byron Bay, Australia
Friday, March 24, 2006
Good news! The cyclone has moved off the Queensland Coast and is heading for NZ. This means I will be leaving the lovely town of Byron Bay for Brisbane tomorrow morning. I don't think I will stay long in Brisbane, maybe just time for a quick dive and surf lesson. I was going to have a surf lesson today but the waves are 4-5 metres high so probably best not to try to learn in those conditions. I went for a dive yesterday, my first in 2 weeks (I know, I was having withdrawal symptoms!). It was just off the coast of Byron at a place called Julien Rocks. It was a lovely dive in about 10m of water and full of turtles, leopard sharks, Bullnose Rays, and other fishes. Not so much of Nemo in this water but lots of the big marine life. The surge was pretty strong and you could coast along with the surge without bothering to kick but then it would drag you back three quarters of the distance you had travelled. It was slow going but with clear water and 25 degrees it was very nice. I was going to do another dive this morning but it was cancelled as the surf was too rough.
Byron is really chilled out and relaxing. There are lots of alternative therapies and treatments for people to have when not diving,surfing and kayaking etc and the travellers who stay here seem to enjoy the alternative lifestyle. My hostel is really nice, just by Belongil Beach (which apparently is the local nudist beach, and no am not going to try it!). There is a nice group of people there, some people are there for months as they enjoy the casual lifestyle and many like me are just passing through either going south to Sydney or trying to go North up the coast. Due to the cyclones I think a lot of people are staying around this area and waiting out the bad weather and as a result I got one of the last beds in the place. I'm sharing a room with some English and German people and they all seem very nice.
Prior to getting to Byron I travelled via Greyhound up the coast from Sydney over a 4 day period. I stopped off at the large town called Newcastle which when the weather was bad was just like being back at home in Newcastle. It was grey and overcast, rainy and windy! But the hostel was excellent and really made an effort to help you out with things to do and mixing with other travellers. From Newcastle I went on to Coffs Harbour which supposedly had great diving off the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Unfortunately due to teh bad weather they cancelled the diving and so I spent the time ambling along the town and the beach front. I seem to do a lot of solitary walking along beaches these days - its so relaxing and you meet really nice people who stop and chat to you as you walk. The sound of the waves, the warmth of the sun and soft sand under your feet gets quite addictive and every chance I get I am on the beach!
That's about it from me today. We're having a big BBQ at the hostel tonight which should be good fun and then afterwards I might come into town for some alternative bar hopping.
I hope you are all well and do keep emailing and keeping me up to date with life back home.
Love Sam xxx
