BYRON BAY
YAY! I have been saving Byron Bay as my last and final stop for my Aussie journey. I'm giving myself a full week here to really tune into the town, the people, and what all the hypes about. All I have been told by friends who have been to Byron is that I probably won't be leaving. And they are correct! Kerry and I woke up in time to catch the 9:00 AM Greyhound to Byron Bay, taking 3 hours and $44 AUD for a ticket. We arrived in Byron and my eyes turned heart shaped. From rainbow shops to smoothie bars and all the barefoot hippies, I knew I found my future home. I will most definitely live here at some point in the future.
Anyways, Kerry and I got off the Greyhound and stopped for a coffee before making our way to the Arts Factory Lodge, which is a hostel that is run by Nomads like the one we stayed at last night in Brisbane. Everyone I know has raved about this hostel, and they were spot on. This place is epic! There are teepees, tents for camping, dorms, private rooms, and shared rooms. And so so so many wild bush turkeys running around the property and on top of the roofs! We book a 10 bedroom dorm room at the hostel for $24 per night and we were put in what is known as The Wreck, right next to the camping grounds. This hostel is a community with a cafe, a creek, little jewelry stands, meditation and yoga spaces, and heaps of artwork all around. Absolutely gorgeous and totally awesome!
We put our stuff down, did some organization, and then I took my first proper shower in a week (yes I have rinsed my body but between a campsite in Fraser and a boat in the Whitsundays, its been a bit tough). The shower was amazing and knowing I have more than 3 days here in one place is quite a relief. I am ready to get comfortable for a bit. Kerry and I decided to walk into town, check out all the cute shop plus restaurants, and go to the grocery store Woolworths. I walked barefoot the entire time, even in the store. And I blended right in! There were more people without shoes than with shoes! We loaded up the cart with all the veggies you can imagine along with a big tub of hummus. We went by the hostel to have some veggies with hummus and found a nice spot by the creek. Right when we sat down to eat, a bird crapped right on my foot. Good luck I guess, and on my way to rinse it off, I saw my Israeli friend from Noosa, Rony! He joined us while we nibbled on our snack. And then the three of us headed into town to the bottle-o for some wine.
The cheap boxed wine here is called Goon and is the most common thing you will see people drinking. Along with a box of goon, we purchased a bottle of tequila and then walked back to the hostel to cook dinner and sip. I made myself a big 'ol salad and Rony cooked Alfredo pasta for him and Kerry. It felt so good to be back on my salad game! I was dancing all around while preparing it. We had awesome conversation, sharing things about our culture, backgrounds, home life, and made a drinking game out of Kerry and the way she speaks. Rather than saying "my glasses" or "my wine", she says "me glasses" and "me wine", which apparently is common in New Castle, England. So we decided to drink every time she would say "me" instead of "my". Needless to say, we all ended up drinking quite a bit throughout the night, though it was still a very chill evening sitting at the hostel and hanging out. And it was "chill" in more ways than one, as it is quite cold here in Byron! It wasn't too long before I got tired and we called it a night and headed into bed, curled up in sweats and a jacket.
09/09/19
It was quite hard to sleep in the cold. I went to the reception to get more blankets to sleep with tonight. Once Kerry and I woke up, we headed to the kitchen for brekkie, cereal and eggs for Kerry. I did some writing and we relaxed on the benches for a bit. Then Rony showed up and joined us for a little while. Around noon, Kerry and I headed into town to go to the beach. The Main Beach in Byron is nice and known for good surf, though it is also known to have a lot of sharks. To be honest, when we arrived at the beach, I wasn't very impressed. Part of it is because there are quite a bit of fires in the area, so there is a haze in the sky. But the other part is probably because I just came from the most beautiful and colorful beach I have ever seen in my life, so my expectations were raised a bit.
We laid down and spent time enjoying the warm sand below us, though it was a bit windy so we did get whipped by the sand often. I decided to dive into the sea, even though I was chilly, because I can't resist the oceans calls. And I was definitely cold after, but also felt very alive. And then Rony happened to show up! I love running into people unexpectedly, organically, and unplanned. It's quite cool. After some time, Kerry and I got hungry. We walked thru the town and came upon Get Toasted, a panini and jaffle place. It's a cute little place on the corner of the main street, and the worker was named Elisa from Italy, so neat! I ordered a scrumptious vegan sandwich on Turkish bread with roasted pumpkin, caramelized onions, tomato, spinach, avocado, and homemade tomato relish all stuffed on the inside. YUM YUM YUM! And we split an order of sweet potato fries.
As we were walking back to our hostel, Rony messaged me with his current location and said he was listening to live music. So we joined him, beachside, and listened to Adam Harpaz sing and play the guitar. It was beautiful, and the sun was setting off to the side. After about an hour, we headed to the grocery store to buy some papaya for tomorrows brekkie because Kerry has never had it before. I was skipping, barefoot, happy as a clam, with my papaya in hand all the way back to the hostel. We didn't feel that hungry so we sat back at our table from last night to finish off our wine and tequila. Tonight we have a new drinking game, which was similar to last nights, except this time we drink whenever we hear Rony say "definitely", which is a very common word for him to use.
As we were drinking, a German girl named Karina came over and asked if she could sit with us to eat her dinner. Karina has been in Aus for 6 months and I'm the first U.S. citizen she's met! She had caught a ride down with someone she met in a Facebook group page named Hassan from Saudi Arabia. So you have an Israeli, Brit, American, German, and Saudi all hanging out, and this is why I love traveling! We got cold and decided to move down to the fire pit, where our group expanded, adding Aussies and more Brits to our gang. And my friend Max from the Gold Coast decided to drive down and join! Also, a friend from Cabo, Axel, just so happens to be in Byron at the moment as well. I invited him out and he joined us at the hostel for some drinks. It is so nice to be with another Cabo amigo here in Aus.
After a little while, we all headed to the Beach Hotel for reggae night. $5 entry and so worth it, as I danced my tail off for a straight hour. This is my first time wearing shoes in town. I danced into closing time, which was 1:00 AM. Things close pretty early in Aus-- 5:00 PM for most shops and 12-1:00 AM for most bars. Even in Sydney, the bar closed at 3:00 AM. We walked back to the hostel and it didn't take much for me to crawl into bed and fall fast asleep. Cheers to an incredibly diverse and spontaneous night once again! PS, two new bunkmates checked-in today, both vegans from England, woohoo veganism!
