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27th Oct 2006
Australia: Sydney to Byron Bay
My hopes were raised on arrival at Christchurch Airport (at 5.30am!) when I was asked if I would be prepared to take a different flight to Sydney as my plane was overbooked, for a reward of NZ$360! Unfortunately this was then snatched away from me at the last minute, when some other passengers failed to show up for the flight. So I finally found Dave at our hostel (Wake Up), funnily enough he was in the cafe! The hostel was very modern and near to the centre of Sydney, though I wasn`t too keen on the extra girls brought home by some guys in my dorm! The main plus about the hostel however were the free tours – one around the city on Thursday and another to Coogee and Bondi beaches on Friday.
Saturday started with yet another early morning, catching the Oz Experience bus at 6.30am. From here we made our way up the coast and then inland to Barrington, stopping for lunch in Georgetown on the way. Having made some sandwiches, I was glad to have turned down the $6 lunch, which had been hyped up as a huge buffet when in fact it was some cold pasta, meats and salad that the driver/guide had brought with him! Those people who threw away sandwiches were not too happy! We stopped for a walk around some old gold mines – there were lots of leeches which were particularly fond of Guido`s (our driver/guide) boots. In mid afternoon we arrived at Barrington, a place in the middle of nowhere. We stayed in a lovely clean house at the top of the hill but spent most of our time in the “Miner`s Shack” at the bottom of the hill. In preparation for our night kayaking we had a short paddle in the river, then were taken for a nature walk by the owner Dave; we failed to see any platypus but did see lots of kangaroos and wallabies. By the time we arrived back at the miner`s shack we were ready for the all you can eat stone baked pizza which definitely lived up to expectations! Pizza eating was suspended at 8.30pm for some night kayaking. I helped lead the river (difficult when you cant see it) and pulled a few people out of the river. The idea was that everyone should follow the person in front, which is all very well until one person hits a rock and gets stuck. It was very funny looking back up the river to see lots of head torch lights pile into the person who was stuck! At some points Dave asked me to go ahead and lead the group down while he took photos. On one occasion I was told to stay 3- feet from the right river bank – all very well if I could have seen the bank! Couldn`t have been too bad as was offered a kayak guiding job the next day. The night finished in style with a soaking in the hot tub.
Everyone was excited by the prospect of our first surfing lesson on Sunday afternoon, but once in the water we found surfing to harder than expected. Amazingly there are some pictures of me standing up on the board – this only happened twice for about 3 seconds so hats off to the photographer. Burritos for dinner, then I stayed up late chatting to people I`d met on my bus – a fantastic group. Believe it or not we were on the beach again by 7.30 the next morning, stretching for our second lesson. This went slightly better than the day before, mostly as a result of my more forgiving board.
We arrived in Byron Bay around 2pm, staying at the Holiday Village. I`m sharing a room with Simon, Charlotte and Dave who are good fun. We walked up to the lighthouse on Cape Byron – fantastic views and some good whale spotting! Then in the evening our whole group went to Cheeky Monkeys (bar across the road) ate dinner for $2 before dancing on the tables until 3am!
I went sea kayaking on Tuesday afternoon in the bay, and saw dolphins really close to my boat! Unfortunately my kayak surfing skills left something to be desired as we capsized on the way back.
Most of Wednesday I windsurfed on the lake at Lennox Head, which is 30mins south of Byron Bay on the bus. I eventually got the hang of it, even though the wind was strong and gusty. A big group of us walked to the lighthouse to see the sunset which looked very pretty over the bay. By Thursday I was exhausted so chilled out around the pool and in town with Charlotte while the boys did a trip to Nimbin, where people openly sell drugs and “magic cookies” on the street.
Today I borrowed a bike from the hostel (for free!) and cycled to Sutton Park with Dave and Martin, stopping at beaches along the way. The beaches here have fine white sand and extend for miles along the coast, its really pretty. I`m now looking forward to a massage this afternoon (life is tough!)
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Diary Photos
| 27th Oct 2006 |
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| Nearly standing |
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| 27th Oct 2006 |
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| Standing!!! |
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| 27th Oct 2006 |
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| Still standing... |
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| 27th Oct 2006 |
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| Getting confident |
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| 27th Oct 2006 |
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| Fallen off! |
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| 27th Oct 2006 |
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| By the second day I found standing much easier |
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