Byron Bay, First stop up the coast

I’m now safely on my way up the coast, destined for Cairns. I bought a Greyhound ticket for about $350 which will let me hop on and off at any of the regular stops. I’ve got a few others in mind, but for now I’m in Byron Bay. Took over 14 hours to get here too.

For those who may not know (I surely didn’t) Byron Bay is a popular surfing/beach community. It’s located about an hour away from an inland town called Nimbin that’s pretty notorious for being a drug/hippie haven. They run a tour out there for $25, and just about everyone who goes comes back with the giggles. I wonder why…

Been here two solid days now, with one more on the way, then I’m off again. Yesterday and the day before I hit the surf for a couple hours with a dude from Sydney I met shortly after getting off the bus. I arrived at about 4am and, since I didn’t have accommodation, I just wandered out to the beach and caught the sunrise. I was probably sitting for a good couple hours before I decided to get up and find a place to crash. That’s when I stumbled across Jonny (the bloke from Sydney) similarly looking for a place to stay. We wandered around to a couple places before settling on one. He’s planning on being in Byron for the next month.

Anyway, whatever. The hostel we’re in loans out free boards and bikes, which was the deciding sway for us staying there. I’m burned to the point now where I think I’ll sit surfing out the rest of my stay. Tomorrow I’ll look to grab a cycle and head to a lighthouse situated on a peninsular portion of the city. Seems like it’d be the best view of everything.

I like it a lot better here than in Kings Cross. I’ll take sun and schoolies (high school kids… there are tons of them here right now as it’s schoolie week, when graduating seniors go to a beach somewhere to celebrate) over whores and drug addicts any day. I also learned that college is usually referred to as “Uni”. Then I came up with this joke:

Q: What do you call special ed students at a university in Australia?

A: Unitards.

BA-ZING. *holds for applause* Thanks for humoring me… I shan’t return the favor.

That should be nearly it. Consult the visual references for clarification. I’ll drop some new sizzling tidbits in the coming days.