Byron Bay – Philipp's TravelBlog

Around 4am that Friday we arrived in Byron Bay. Our bus driver / surf instructor drove us around and gave us a first orientation. Then he dropped everbody off at the hostel where he/she was staying. I was dropped off at the Backpackers Inn on the Beach. I had chosen it because it is the only one with direct beach access :). Turns out it is also the cheapest, but nevertheless a really good one!

I shared a 4 bed dorm with one guy, Lew, who was from Israel. I didn’t stay long in my room and went into the city instead to hopefully pick up my ATM Debit MasterCard at the Westpac branch office. They had it! I got it! I was able to set a PIN, and the card is fully working! Awesome! Finally I can easily access the money on my australian bank account. I was so happy! Afterwards I met Jess again who was waiting for her bus to the airport and who had to pay me back the money for the surfcamp. I had booked her in and payed in advance. We talked until she had to leave and said goodbye. It will “only” be a few months until I meet her again in Melbourne.

After the goodbye I had a look at the beach in the dark and the beam of the lighthouse, before I went back to the hostel, got changed and then went to the “Cheeky Monkey’s” (Party Bar & Restaurant) to meet Nicole and Sabi for dinner. They had been in Byron all week while I was at the surfcamp. At the Cheeky Monkey’s you get awesome meals for little money. Later at night it’s the place to be in Byron Bay. Sabi didn’t stay that long, Nicole and I continued talking for a while.

Around 10 I went back to the hostel, watched some series on my laptop and went to bed.

The next morning I left the hostel around 10. I went to a travel agent to book my greyhound bus ticket to Surfers Paradise and the OzExperience pass that gets me from Brisbane to Cairns with as many stops in between as I like.
Then I went to the dive shop to redeem the voucher for the snorkling trip that I had won. Unfortunately there was no trip that day because there was so much swell that they couldn’t launch the boat :(. In the dive shop I ran into a dutch girl I knew from the camp. She was staying a day longer in Byron than me, so I gave her the voucher in the hope that she could use it the following day when I would already be on my way to Surfers.

From the shop we went to the beach together, sat down and talked for a while. I then said goodbye and went into town to buy new thongs, mine had broken at surfcamp. “Thongs” is the aussie term for flip-flops.

After having bought nice&comfy thongs I walked to the ArtsFactory Lodge somewhat outside town to pick up Sabi’s red rainjacket. She had forgotten it when she left for Surfers Paradise and asked me to pick it up. So I did. Once I had the jacket I walked back to my hostel and got changed to spend the rest of the day at the beach. I went for an extensive swim, then worked on my tan, though “work” is the wrong expression 😉 doing nothing but chillaxing in the sun is not exactly work 😀

Around 3:30pm I started to walk along the bay to the eastern end. On the cliffs there is a lookout which I went up, afterwards I started the bushwalk to Australia’s most easterly point and then up to the lighthouse where I watched a beautiful sunset. When the sun was already down I walked back out onto the cliffs and took awesome shots of the dark red glowing sky. It took me another half an hour to get back to my hostel. I arrived there at 6pm, had a quick shower, then went to Woolworths to buy some food for the next day. On the way I ran into Irene and Jet, 2 dutch girls whom I met before in Sydney and at surfcamp.

I guess I walked at least 6 km that day.

At 7pm I joined the BBQ with live music and camp fire at my hostel. Jet and Irene invited me to join them afterwards for games. At the BBQ I met other people that I had seen at the Sidebar on my last night in Sydney. Turns out two of the girls were – of course – germans. Joined them for the BBQ, went to Irene and Jet afterwards. We had a nice evening with a drinking version of Jenga 🙂

Later at night when the girls went to bed I finished my beer on the beach, watching that awesome sky again.

From 2011-06-04 Byron Bay. Posted by Philipp Hübner on 6/04/2011 (64 items)