Byron Bay

Sorry for the delay folks, but we have just arrived back in Sydney from a short jaunt to Byron Bay. Our friend Andy (who lives right next to us) invited us to go up with him to spend a long weekend in Byron Bay. Since Veronica and I were still unemployed, we thought it was a wise idea to go on vacation. What better way to ease our employment blues than with some sun, surf, and beautiful beaches?

Byron Bay is a 10-hour drive from Sydney. Saturday, we cruised out of Manly at 6 in the morning, and traversed through many beautiful little country towns that dot the coast of New South Wales. As we got near Byron, Andy made a slight detour to Lennox Head (a small town 25 km South) where we went to check out the town’s epic pointbreak. To our surprise, the point was breaking decently, and with only 12 surfers in the water we quickly got our boards and went down for a quick surf. The waves were quite fun and the water was crystal blue and warm (similar to Hawaii). It was such a rejuvenating session to experience after the coldwater beach breaks of Sydney. An added bonus was getting a glimpse of two eagle rays swimming in a wave right in front of us. Unfortunately, Veronica got a fire ant bite while doing a short hike around the headland. (Veronica thought the bite was quite severe and was afraid her leg might need amputation. Lucky for all this was not the case.)

After the short surf we continued on to Byron, where Andy dropped Veronica and I off at our accommodations, Arts Factory Lodge. I had found “Arts” in our trusty Lonely Planet, where it said that we could stay in a tepee. Naturally, I thought it would be a great idea to stay in a bohemian enclave since we were headed to the hippie capital of the Southern Hemisphere. When I had initially presented the idea to Veronica she was a bit skeptical, but then we had checked out the website to look at photos and we were both sold. It’s unfortunate that pictures cannot convey smell, because once Veronica and I settled into our private room (the tepee was booked full that first night, so we were staying in a private tent, then moving to the tepee for the last 2 nights) we were both utterly dejected. Perhaps it was because the tent smelled like stale urine, or the fact that we were paying $80 to practically camp, but nonetheless we both knew we had made a horrible mistake in staying there. Perhaps making the situation even worse was the fact that we had a lake front place. Lake is apparently a commonly misused term because the body of water behind our tent was barely big enough to be considered a pond. (And this “lake” emitted sulfur, so it perpetually smelt like a smelly fart.) Immediately I called up another backpacker hostel right near the beach and found a private room for $70 a night and booked it for the following 2 nights. As it was, Veronica and I felt quite dejected that we even had to spend one night in that steamy dung heap, but we ended up laughing about our situation over a great falafel dinner at a small restaurant called Orgasmics.

The next day we woke up and moved our bags to our new hostel. Afterwards, we drove around to check out the surf south of Byron. South of Lennox Head, at a beach called Boulders we saw a pod of dolphins riding waves and jumping around. It was a beautiful sight. We finally ended up at a beach called Broken Heads. The beach was beautiful, and even though the winds were onshore, there were still some fun waves on offer. Veronica enjoyed lazing on the beach and swimming in some warm, clear water (despite the strong winds blowing sand all over her). Unfortunately we did not take any pictures of Broken Head, I think partly due to all the sand flying around on the beach. After a big lunch we took a nice nap. Feeling refreshed we walked along the beach up to the tip of Cape Byron, where we climbed up the stairs to top of the rock to watch surfers catch waves at the top of “The Pass”, Byron Bay’s legendary pointbreak. Our dinner that night was curry, from a more expensive restaurant than the previous night, and it was quite lame. Lucky for us there was a Baskin Robbins to serve us up a little piece of Americana, and we indulged in some delicious cotton candy ice cream (if you have the means, I highly recommend it).

Our last day in Byron started for me with another surf at Broken Heads (so fun!) while Veronica went for a jog along the beach and relaxed at the hostels pool. After enjoying a delicious Subway sandwich (what can we say, it’s cheap!) for lunch, we went to the beach to hang out and swim. Besides for getting bitten by sea lice, we had an enjoyable swim where we saw some fish and a stingray. Veronica also saw a white jellyfish as we swam (the non-poisonous kind). We decided to go back to Orgasmics for another delicious dinner of falafels and fresh lemonade.

The drive back today was hot and long, but the good news is that Veronica and I both received phone calls from employers today. Hopefully soon we might be employed again.