Byron Bay

Our aim for today was to get to Byron Bay which is south of Brisbane. Carrie had offered us a lift to Northgate train station as it was near where she was working so after a quick shower we packed up and had a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast which Carrie made for us. I was very grateful for this and it was yummy but the egg wasn't runny and my bread was toasted which bothered me slightly. I always think, unless someone says a toasted sandwich, why use toast for a bacon and egg sandwich? I've started to complain about petty things now. 

We said goodbye to everyone and half an hour later (it was rush hour so it took longer) we made it to Northgate. We said thank you and farewell to Carrie and got on a train to Brisbane. When in Brisbane we walked up to the third floor to the bus terminal and waited half an hour before we boarded our bus to Byron Bay. 

The bus took two and a bit hours so we arrived in Byron just before midday. We'd booked a hostel that was a little out of town but luckily there was a guy there with a minibus waiting for any hostel guests. We got in and few minutes down the road made it to the hostel. Unfortunately, we were too early to check in so we left our bags in the luggage room and took our bread and some jam Matt bought when we were waiting in Brisbane for the bus to the beach and had a little picnic. There was only a road separating the hostel from the beach which was quite perfect. It was a huge stretch of sand spreading in both directions. It was quite sunny but it wasn't that warm when the sun went behind a cloud. I think it might be the end of our nice weather. 

After amusing ourselves with a ball and books we finally checked in before deciding to walk along the beach to get to town. This took around 15 minutes and was very pleasant. The town was a proper surfer hippie town where everyone walked around barefoot and most people were high. This was different to anywhere we'd been before so it was very interesting. There were lots of sweet little shops as well. We tried to look for a New Zealand guide book but failed to find one. Instead we went to the supermarket and spent a long time choosing meals for the next two days. When we finally decided and paid for our food it was dark outside (it gets dark really early in Australia so it was only like 6pm). We decided to walk back with our shopping as we weren't sure on the times for the free shuttles back to our hostel. When we reached the beach we passed all these hippies playing drums and doing a bit of chanting and cheering in a very slow, mellow way. Byron is a funny place. We walked along the beach in the dark using our phones as torches and 15 minutes later we were back at the hostel. 

We had sausages, half a pepper, a courgette and an onion that I decided to barbecue as there were free barbecues to use at the hostel (every hostel has a free barbecue in Australia). They were gas but they didn't have the griddle thing, instead it was like a metal sheet over a fire which meant the food didn't get the same firey flavour. However, with the addition of a bit of pasta it was all still yummy and I became very full. By the time we'd finished food and washed up it was around 10pm and as we both fancied surfing in the morning we decided to call it a night.