Byron Bay

This past weekend, a group of five of us traveled down south to Byron Bay, which is a beach-side town in the north of the state of New South Wales, just south of Brisbane, and is the eastern most city in the country of Australia. The group consisted of four of the girls from New Jersey; Chelsea, Kate, Elise and Mary, and me. I started off Friday morning with an Ecology practical (lab) at Uni, which luckily ended nearly an hour and a half early, as I would have had to leave early to catch the bus for my trip. I made my way over to the Brisbane Transit Station straight from Uni, all my gear in tow, to meet up with the rest of the girls.

Our bus took off at 1:15 pm, and we arrived at nearly 5:30. The trip was only 2.5 hours, but because Byron Bay is in New South Wales, which is affected by day lights savings time (the state of Queensland, where Brisbane is located, is the only state not affected by day lights savings time), we had to jump an hour ahead. We placed all of our things in our hostel, which held 10 people total, and met our first two hostel roommates, an English guy named Tom, and a French guy named Steve. Steve was traveling alone, Tom with two friends. We headed to the bar area of our hostel for dinner, where they provide free dinner with the purchase of a drink. Nothing exciting, but at least it was free food! This is where we met the other two English guys, Jack and Matt, and another English guy traveling alone named Oliver. After dinner all of us girls, along with all four English guys, got ready to go out, and headed out to the constantly recommended ‘Cheeky Monkeys’ which is a backpacker bar just down the street from our hostel. It was similar to our favorite bar in the city, but bigger and more dancing on tables. We had a great night dancing and getting to know our new friends, and after a long night, Chels and I left together. We decided we weren’t quite ready to head back to the hostel, so we grabbed a kebab and we made our way to the beach. It was just two blocks from our hostel, and we enjoyed an hour of laying in the sand and talking, before making our way back to head to bed.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the beach. We spent the day laying out, playing in the ocean, and taking lots of photos. We took a mid afternoon beach break to head to a nearby gelato/ice cream shop, and then made our way back to the beach. Saturday’s weather wasn’t all that nice. It rained a bit, but was also incredibly windy. It was difficult to lay out and enjoy the sun with so much sand flying around, but there were times when the wind did die down and we were really able to enjoy our beautiful surroundings. After hours at the beach, we headed back to the hostel to shower, buy a drink to get our free dinner, and start getting ready to head out. The five of us girls headed to a bar called LaLa Land, which appearance wise was pretty cool, but was too much of a ‘lounge’ for us. We needed dancing, so we headed to another nearby bar, the Beach Hotel. It was a really neat place, and we enjoyed a bit of dancing, and decided that all together we didn’t really want to be out anymore, so we headed back to the hostel, where minutes later Tom, Oliver, Jack and Matt came through the door. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in our hostel, snacking on Mary’s chips (or ‘crisps’ as the English would say) and laughing at each others accents and sayings.

The following morning we had to check out of our hostel by 10 am, as we would be heading back to Brisbane that evening. Because the guys were staying a few extra days, they were nice enough to let us leave some of our things in their room. We headed to the beach early morning, and not long after it started sprinkling, and then down pouring rain on us. We ran back to the hostel while we let the rain pass, and then did a bit of shopping in the town. We headed back to the beach early afternoon to enjoy our last few hours in Byron Bay, where I decided to take a long walk down the beach. I saw some really incredible views, and spent quite some time standing at the top of a set of rocks and watching people surf. I have never really seen anyone surf before, and after seeing it this weekend, I think I could have sat there for hours just watching. After a 2 hour walk and complete exhaustion after climbing in flip flops and walking down the beach, I went back to our spot on the beach to meet up with the rest of the girls, where we soon came across our English friends. We started kicking around the soccer ball, which turned into a game of beach volleyball with the soccer ball, resulting in Kate fracturing her finger! Once again, we were lucky enough to be able to use the hostel one last time to shower before we said our goodbyes and hopped on the bus back home to Brisbane.

I had such a great weekend, and I am still in shock at how beautiful every place I have gone in this country truly is. I cannot get enough of the sand, sun, ocean, and the beautiful city I live in. I have recently spoken with my mom, and I think I will be extending my trip through July, because I just don’t think I will be ready to leave yet.

HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEK: MY BEST FRIEND CHRISSY FROM STILLWATER BOOKED A FLIGHT TO COME VISIT ME AFTER SHE FINISHES FINALS! She mentioned about a month ago it would be fun to come visit, and out of nowhere I get a text from her saying she bought her flight! I am so incredibly excited and cannot wait to see her. She will be flying out of MN May 19th, and leaving Australia June 3.

More fun facts about Australia:
Bogan= a person who is white trash or a redneck
Arvo = Afternoon
Morning / Afternoon Tea = morning/ afternoon snack
Lolly = Candy
Ute = Utility vehicle—a small sized truck. I haven’t actually seen ANY full sized trucks over here. They are all Ranger sized or smaller! All vehicles in general are much smaller.