Byron

Having never heard the word "shire" used outside the context of Bilbo's homeland, I was quite tickled to see that the town everyone calls Byron Bay is actually called Shire of Byron.  Everyone I have ever talked to about Australia has absolutely raved about Byron Bay.  Unfortunately, my visit was a bit of a let down as it was raining most of the time.  And not even just normal rain, but torrential downpour, you get soaked just crossing the street kind of rain.  Despite that, there were definitely a few big trip highlights on this stop.

First off, I got to stay in a teepee.  Okay, well, not quite a teepee.  It was more like a small circus tent with bunk beds in it:

This was at the Arts Factory Lodge, recommended to me by my lovely cousin Katie.  It was a great place to stay, particularly on the rainy days because they actually had a movie theatre which I did check out one night to see Salt (enjoyed it, but was annoyed by the ending).  This is also where I met Cockatoo Paul:

Cockatoo Paul is the one on the left.  With the cockatoo (Mr. Pickles) in his lap.  He's a totally weird, over the top outback kind of guy that runs the social events at the hostel.  I have no idea who the guy on the right is.  He was just there.  Anyway, Paul took us on a bush tucker walk around the hostel grounds and showed us what we could eat in the bush, how to find water, what plants are useful for other things, etc.  He even showed us how to make rope out of the inner fibres of some plant that I don't remember.  It was turned into a bracelet for me, which I don't have a very good picture of.  Hopefully it's still in tact when I get home.

That night there was a talent show at the hostel.  There seems to be a disproportionate number of backpackers that know how to play the guitar and sing well.  I am not one of them.  The talent show was a highlight though mostly because that is where I met Emma:

 

Emma and I were pretty much inseparable for the next day and a half before she had to head home to Brisbane.  We took the opportunity presented by the torrential rains to do a little shopping around Byron and try on anything we fancied and then followed it up by losing fairly badly at trivia back at the hostel that night.  It was sad to part ways and I'm very excited to be seeing her again in Brisbane when I head back down there.

Next big highlight - surf lessons!  Unfortunately, I can't post pictures at the moment as they're on a CD which I can't put in these computers.  I'll post them as soon as I can!  I took two surf lessons over two days.  It was super fun despite the fact that I was dreadful.  Though I did get standing up a few times my first day and a bunch more my second day.  Since I hadn't spent much time in the ocean before coming to Australia, I was quite surprised at just how strong the currents and waves are.  It was a struggle just to wade out far enough to try to surf.  Then I'd fall off and have to do it all again.  But totally worth it!  I am glad that I didn't opt for a third day of lessons though.  I don't think my little spaghetti arms would have survived it.

While trivia night was a bust in terms of our intelligence, I did win a tour to a town called Nimbin in a draw.  As it turns out, Nimbin is a small little hippy town with nothing going for it but easily accessible pot.  Given that that wasn't really my thing, this little day trip was a waste of time even being free.  We spent at least half of the 8 hours on a bus and the BBQ lunch was nothing special.  But you live, you learn, right?  At least I don't have to wonder if I missed out on anything by not going.

Nimbin was the last of my Byron Bay adventures before I moved on Surfer's Paradise.  Coming up next!