Byron Bay

Hey!

So i left Sydney on Saturday and was really glad to get out of the city. Spent my last day with my american friend Nicole, and we went up the Sydney sky tower for some great views and then we just chilled in Hyde Park before making our way back to bondi.

I got the night bus up to Byron Bay, and it took 14 hours!! It left Sydney at 7pm and the bus driver decided that he was going to stop the bus every 3 hours and make us all get off so he could clean it - i was really annoyed as it meant i couldnt really sleep. Also, the bus was full and my chair was broken, so it was an uncomfortable night anyway! The majority of people were heading up to Byron, and most people had not booked any accomodation (unlike me, who booked it weeks ago!) and were spending the journey phoning round hostels to find out that the whole of byron bay was fully booked and there was not a bed anywhere! So, that meant that a huge group of people had to get off at the stop before Byron to find some accomodation there - nightmare for them!

Anyway, we got into Byron at 9am on Sunday morning, and some guy from the hostel came and picked up me and another girl, Karen, from the bus stop which was nice (sick of carrying my backpack already!). The hostel is called Aquarius, and it is 100 times nicer than my hostel in sydney. Its all open air, with dorm rooms surrounding a courtyard. There is a swimming pool (luxury in hostels, believe me!), bar, travel agents, and every night they organise a meal that costs 8 dollars (3.50 pounds) and everyone sits down together to eat. Its so relaxing here.

Spent the day with Karen (girl from the bus) and we just went to the beach and sunbathed, went out for lunch, and then sat around the pool for a while. I met some really nice people..a guy from the Netherlands and 2 Swedish people. Last nite (sunday nite) i went out to the Byron Hotel with these people which was cool.

This morning i had booked a surf lesson. I though i'd pick it up really quickly, but seriously, i was the only person in our group of 10 people that couldnt stand up on the board! Its really not as easy as it looks....

I actually got up twice for a split second before completely wiping out. Its hard work and trying to drag a surfboard out to sea around 50 times really wears you out! Anyway, the surfing was for 3 hours and when they asked me if i wanted to book myself in for another lesson tomorro, i said thanks, but no thanks! It was a lot of fun, but too difficult!

Came back to the hostel and just chilled out by the pool and had a wander around byron bay. Its such a lovely little town, with loads of cafes and boutiques. (i've been good and so far i have only bought one dress the entire trip!)

Think tonight a group of us are going to Cheeky Monkeys which is a club which has big steel tables that you dance on cause there is no dance floor - sounds interesting!

At the moment i'm in a travel agents (you get free interenet here - its great!) and i've just booked myself onto trips for Fraser Island and for sailing the Whitsunday Islands.

Tomorrow i'm going on a tour to a place called Nimbin, which is a hippy village where they take a load of drugs and stuff. nut its apparantly a good sight to see!

Thanks for all the emails peeps!

Speak soon
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