Byron Bay to Brisbane
We arrived at our hostel and met some folks about to embark on a sky dive. Not only do you have to jump out of a plane at great height, but you have to get up ridiculously early to do so? I think I'll pass thanks!
We sat & waited for Reception to open, and waited a bit more. I was very tired and knew we were unlikely to be able to get into our room before the afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised when Ellie, the receptionist/owner, turned up and did everything she could to welcome us and get our room ready as quickly as possible. That more than made up for her late arrival in my opinion.
Unfortunately, the people in our room the night before had had a bit of a late one and at 10.15am, Ellie had to go find them to evict them (they were supposed to be gone by 10). Turns out they were fast asleep from all the booze! Our room was cleaned and we were in there by 11am, which was brilliant. We had a shower and a little kip, before heading into town (as expected, it was a very nice day). We even made it to the beach! Although the water was freezing so I only paddled slightly.
We'd been told that today was going to be nice, but then a front was coming and the weather would be taking a turn for the worse. So we really tried to make the most of it, we really did, but it's tough when you've had very little sleep! We took some time to chill on the beach but then we just did some food shopping and headed back to the hostel for an early night.
The next day was more successful but the weather did take that turn, just as we were about to take a walk to the local beach the rain poured. So we had our lunch and waited for the weather to pass. We walked to a little place called Tallow Beach. We'd been told the currents and rips were too strong to swim and the beach was unpatrolled, but it was nice for a bit of a paddle and a wander along a practically deserted beach. I don't know if the weather put people off, or if it was because of the 15 minute walk you had to take to get there (being in Byron Bay, the main beach is very easily accessible from the centre - we were a bit further out of town), but it was very peaceful. And it wasn't that little. I believe it's part of 7 mile beach that we saw from Lennox Head last year. Literally 7 miles of beach.
The weather looked like it was going to turn again so we headed back to the hostel. The next day was checking out day, but we had another whole day in Byron. Unfortunately the weather was even worse - it had hammered down all night (Aussie houses & hostels tend to have tin roofs) which made for another lack of sleep. I even heard a possum on the roof at one point - once I'd figured out it wasn't a fellow backpacker!
We went into town in the morning, then back to the hostel for a lazy afternoon before coming back to town for the evening, ready to collect our bus to take us to Brisbane where we'd meet Sophie. It was a relatively short journey by our standards - just 2 hours on a coach from Byron to Brisbane. It was dark and therefore pretty uneventful.
We met Sophie and then headed back to hers, our home for the next few nights at least. It was lovely to see her again and catch up with all that's been happening since we saw her last year - they're moving up North sometime over the next few months as Dan's been posted to Mareeba. So this maybe the last time we'll see them in Brisbane (I don't know why I sound surprised - most people don't visit friends the other side of the world twice within a year, so who knows when we'll be back)!
We sat & waited for Reception to open, and waited a bit more. I was very tired and knew we were unlikely to be able to get into our room before the afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised when Ellie, the receptionist/owner, turned up and did everything she could to welcome us and get our room ready as quickly as possible. That more than made up for her late arrival in my opinion.
Unfortunately, the people in our room the night before had had a bit of a late one and at 10.15am, Ellie had to go find them to evict them (they were supposed to be gone by 10). Turns out they were fast asleep from all the booze! Our room was cleaned and we were in there by 11am, which was brilliant. We had a shower and a little kip, before heading into town (as expected, it was a very nice day). We even made it to the beach! Although the water was freezing so I only paddled slightly.
We'd been told that today was going to be nice, but then a front was coming and the weather would be taking a turn for the worse. So we really tried to make the most of it, we really did, but it's tough when you've had very little sleep! We took some time to chill on the beach but then we just did some food shopping and headed back to the hostel for an early night.
The next day was more successful but the weather did take that turn, just as we were about to take a walk to the local beach the rain poured. So we had our lunch and waited for the weather to pass. We walked to a little place called Tallow Beach. We'd been told the currents and rips were too strong to swim and the beach was unpatrolled, but it was nice for a bit of a paddle and a wander along a practically deserted beach. I don't know if the weather put people off, or if it was because of the 15 minute walk you had to take to get there (being in Byron Bay, the main beach is very easily accessible from the centre - we were a bit further out of town), but it was very peaceful. And it wasn't that little. I believe it's part of 7 mile beach that we saw from Lennox Head last year. Literally 7 miles of beach.
The weather looked like it was going to turn again so we headed back to the hostel. The next day was checking out day, but we had another whole day in Byron. Unfortunately the weather was even worse - it had hammered down all night (Aussie houses & hostels tend to have tin roofs) which made for another lack of sleep. I even heard a possum on the roof at one point - once I'd figured out it wasn't a fellow backpacker!
We went into town in the morning, then back to the hostel for a lazy afternoon before coming back to town for the evening, ready to collect our bus to take us to Brisbane where we'd meet Sophie. It was a relatively short journey by our standards - just 2 hours on a coach from Byron to Brisbane. It was dark and therefore pretty uneventful.
We met Sophie and then headed back to hers, our home for the next few nights at least. It was lovely to see her again and catch up with all that's been happening since we saw her last year - they're moving up North sometime over the next few months as Dan's been posted to Mareeba. So this maybe the last time we'll see them in Brisbane (I don't know why I sound surprised - most people don't visit friends the other side of the world twice within a year, so who knows when we'll be back)!
posted by wobblepop at 12:17 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home