Australia. Byron Bay.

After a marathon 12 hour overnight bus journey from Sydney I arrived exhausted in Byron Bay on Thursday 27th March. It was so hot! So much hotter and more humid that Sydney and it was also very grey. I think the rain was hitting the whole east coast. The farmers seemed very happy about this in the newspapers, but not me so much! 

I got to my hostel which was so far out of town! But it was amazing. Like a big hippy place with hammocks and yoga and nice outdoor space. It was also right on the beach which was amazing. I had chosen this place because of all this but hadn't realised was so far out of town in a place called Belongil. Think this will be a dry stay as not prepared to trek back from town after a night out! Anna was staying in town so it turned out to be hard to arrange to meet her. 

I took a walk along the beach in the afternoon of day one into town. It was a wet and windy 20 minute stroll along the beach. I was surprised at how warm the water was! Much warmer than Sydney, but still too rough to be tempted in! Town was cool. A mix of hippy and surfer shops with a great selection of restaurants bars and cafés. The hippy shops were amazing, but need to remind myself that I'm going to Asia and can do this shopping there! This is a photos of the rainbow shop, very typical of Byron! It's full of hippy shops and places to get readings and healing. 

The rain then didn't stop all evening, but it was cool to hang out and cook dinner and listen to the band play at the bar next door. 

The next morning the monsoon continued :( I was so bored! It's ok when it rains in a city as there are still galleries and museums you can visit, but there was nothing to do here. We had sofas in our room so we could hang out there as all the hammocks were wet! Luckily the rain eased off at lunchtime and we went into town for a coffee and get some souvenirs with a girl from my dorm. The shops really were great and it was so hard not to buy anything! Then the blus sky came out!! Hurray!! Beach afternoon! It was really windy but it was nice as it took some of the heat off. The kite boarders were out and Byron looked like I wanted it to!

The hostel has yoga classes and I went to class that evening with a couple of girls from the room. It was in a big Indian tent and it looked amazing! The tent had leaked in the earlier rain so inside it was incredibly humid. I have never sweated so much in yoga! I though at one point I would have to give up. I was dripping! My legs were dripping and I was soaked! Crazy. The two girls I was with were totally giddy over the instructor and whilst chatting to him later he offered to take us out to a frozen yoghurt shop which he said was the best. They were so excited and we went and the frozen yoghurt was amazing! Then we walked around listening to the buskers and then watched as he hit in our 18 year old friend really hard! It was hilarious and so obvious. He even showed us his room in the hostel then talked about the stars. Classic. 

Saturday was a great surprise to wake to blue sky. I had tried to get up and watch the sun rise, but it had been too cloudy and very underwhelming! I hit the beach in the morning and got absolutely cooked. It was so hot, such a difference to everywhere else I'd been this trip. After lunch I took the walk to Byron Head to see the lighthouse. It was supposed to take an hour and I really wanted to do it. I walked along the length of our beach, Belongil beach then onto Main beach, I was glad we were staying in Belongil as the beach was some much nicer and quieter. I could feel myself cooking in the sun. At the end of the beach the climb started. It said it was 1.5km to the lighthouse so I started the climb! The beaches got better for surfing around this area, but still not great. 

The climb went on and on and I was so hot and humid I was really struggling! We hit the most easterly point in the Australian mainland, there was a path out to a rock pinnacle but I could not face it!

I finally made it to the lighthouse, which was very pretty. As I was climbing the last few stairs I had a revelation, why do I keep coming to look at lighthouses?!! I've seen so many especially on this trip! I come from a small craggy island with loads of its own lighthouses, why do I need to visit Australian lighthouses which were probably built by British people anyway!!! (I was having a tough time!)

I was glad I made it, but then had to get back home! I finally got back into town and got myself another frozen yoghurt. Was definitly needed! I'd spent too long in the sun and was feeling really bad. Very headachy and confused. Got the shuttle back and went to bed! At least I wasn't burnt! 

My bus to leave Byron was at 7:45 am so whilst waiting for the shuttle bus I went to beach and saw a magnificent sunrise. At last! It was beautiful. Maybe I was there too early the day before! It was a great memory to leave such a great place with. And the lighthouse was flashing!