Byron Bay

bed count: 104

So - since I haven't yet found a job I thought I would pop up to see our friends Matt and Trace for a few days. They have spent the last little while touring round eastern Oz in a camper van and are just heading back down the road to Sydney now. They were in Brisbane when I called them and we planned to meet up in Byron Bay. Like a true Brit I looked at the map and thought, "Yeah - that's not too far. That's do-able for a few days". One 14 hour journey on an overnight bus later...

So yes - I am still getting used to the fact that Oz is a BIG place. Having only really worked out routes in the UK and NZ before, gauging travel times here is going to take a bit of getting used to. Still, the bus journey up was fine and I managed a fair bit of sleep before arriving in Byron Bay in time for breakfast with the wandering vagabonds on Monday morning.

Everyone told me how lovely Byron Bay was and how great the weather would be. Byron Bay is indeed a lovely town with many very nice shops and places to eat on a very nice beach. And, whilst the weather wasn't all that I was led to expect, we're not allowed to complain as NSW is currently in the middle of a pretty bad drought so any rain is a cause for celebration rather than anything else.

Not that it rained all the time - we just had quite a few heavy, tropical downpours and Trace and I managed to keep ourselves amused in the bead shop during these (poor Matt). It was great to see Matt and Trace again and hear all their stories about travelling round Oz, though I would have been quite happy not to hear about the snakes in the toilets and the size of the spiders. We also managed to visit the 'Big Banana' in Coffs Harbour on the way south, so it looks like I won't be dissapointed on the giant fruit front in Oz.

I took the overnight train back down to Sydney last night so I can sort some flat stuff out and harass people about giving me a job again, but Matt and Trace arrive back in Sydney tomorrow, in time to help us 'warm' our new flat at the weekend. Picking up the keys tommorow and looking forward to having some space. All I need to do now is find a job to pay for it...