Byron Bay

A further 3 hours down the coast lies the small laid back surfer's resort of Byron Bay - our first experience of the state of New South Wales. This place was completely different to Surfer's, it was much more of a traditional surfer's haven with hippie's-a-plenty and loads of surf shops and vegetarian cafes. We both immediately thought it had the Glastonbury vibe about it, only with a massive golden beach and killer waves....winner! Incidentaly we spotted an organic healthy living food supermarket... the first in Oz so far, not big on healthy eating over here (although to be fair they do a hell of a lot of jogging)!

Again we were pretty lucky with the weather here on our 3 night stay so we made the most of the beach and the warm sea. This time we both hired Bodyboards and spent hours cathing wave after wave on the beach. Fortunatley none of the beachy resorts are overly busy here as its just turning into their winter (although it is still 26 degrees!) and all the school hols appear to have finished.

We stayed at a hostel called 'The Belongil Beach House', which really was a stereotypical beach retreat - 20 mins from the beach with a laid back attituide and even a spiritual massage and yoga service! The rooms were spacious with wooden floorboards and stained glass windows. It had a really friendly feel with lots of nationlities present...french, german, dutch, irish, american and english. We shared our room with a friendly couple from England who were driving up the coast in a van, we swapped experiences and tips about where to go and what to see as they had already been to SE Asia and NZ and we had done most of Oz they had left to do.

On our final day before heading down towards Sydney, the weather took a turn for the worse and we saw some clouds!! But the wind also changed and started to come from the north which brought the infamous 'Blue Bottle' Jellyfish down from the north, so we were advised to stay away from the water as they give you a nasty sting. so we decided this was the perfect opportunity to head upto the lighthouse on Cape Bryon, overlooking the whole of Byron Beach and beyond. It was a tough walk through some steep bush for about 5km, but finally we made it and enjoyed the view from the most easterly point of the Australian mainland.

Byron Bay is definitely worth a visit if you are in Oz, and has much more to offer compared to Surfer's Paradise. There is a really laid back attitude, the place seems to run at its own pace and is stuck in a bit of a time warp (in a good way!).