Oi! It's been a while. I can't even believe I've slacked this much on here. For shame. So after that last WWOOF I went back to Newcastle for a night, then flew to Byron Bay. I stayed at this really chill hostel about a 15 min walk from town called Belongil Beachouse. Using more of my smarts, I got another all chicks room. Worst idea EVER. I got stuck in there with this girl, Fanny, who worked there so her stuff was EVERYWHERE, and she had her boyfriend in there all the time. That's fine and all, whatevs, but geez. I'd walk in on them doing inappropriate things and be like, oh, um, sorry. Or they'd be sitting in the doorway smoking, which isn't allowed either. I was so surprised she hadn't been kicked out of there she got so many complaints. Go figure. Luckily I met this cool dude in the dorm next door so he offered his dorm the night Fanny was having her boyfriend over. I ended up just moving in there for the next few days, so that was a big relief. The first morning I was there I met these two Cali girls. They invited me to walk with them to the lighthouse. Luckily it was an amazing day, sun was out, and we got to walk all along the beach until the lighthouse and then a short hike up the hill to it. It was SUCH a beautiful walk. Heaven.
After that we walked back into town, got some burritos (delish!, but not CA mexican) and did some shopping. Byron is really small. Smaller than Ojai for sure. It's got one main road with tons of shops and then some side streets, but not much else. Then they have that whole long stretch of beach. It's just a really nice town to go and veg at. The three of us went to one of the local bars that night, The Rails, and listened to some kick ass live music.
The next day Val's friend, Megan, was supposed to meet up with me. She showed up with her two Aussie friends and we all went for lunch and wine. Then we went to the Beach Hotel which is a sweet huge half outdoor bar with live music. We had a couple more beers there and then went to the Rails. I buggered off early-ish, being super tired from the tons of walking I'd done the day before. The three of them ended up sleeping at the hostel because the two friends got too drunk to drive. They went off the next morning for coffee and I didn't see Megan again until late that night. Turns out she made her own plans, as did I, so we weren't traveling together after all. So retarded, but glad I'm not dealing with drama and someone else's plans. That's the beauty of traveling alone. Everyone else can piss off. :)
I headed to Brisbane the next day on a greyhound. I stayed at this hostel right around the corner from the bus depot (thank GOD!) because my stuff is soooo heavy and I'm growing extra bags-o-crap to carry around. I most definitely look like a crazy bag lady. Hah! I roomed with this Canadian girl who I swear was my cousin Heather in 5 years. Tripped me out. And then four young French boys and an older French dude. The room was seriously...8x12...and it smelled like people, smelly feet, ugh...gross stuff. That's one thing I really hate about dorms! I tooled around the next day with one of the French kids, walking around the city, checking things out. We bought a Cornish pasty from this outdoor market they were having. It was sooo amazingly delicious! If you've never had one, I highly recommend it. Then we hit up the Botanic gardens, almost got attacked by 15 bigger birds after the frenchie fed one of them (what is WITH people?!) so we high tailed it. There were a few like, knee-high birds that followed us. I thought we were going to get followed forever. Funny though. Then we crossed the bridge and walked through this gorgeous bougainvillea covered walkway. It took us near this man-made lagoon and some outdoor cafes, it was nice. Then we went back to the hostel and chilled until free dinner! I LOVE free food!! He and I played a bar game at the attached bar of the hostel, and won a trip to Nimbin. It's the official un-official pot town of Oz. Everyone knows it. The next game this Aussie guy won a 3-day 2-night with two nights accomodation for Fraser Island. And he didn't want it!!! So instead of paying more than $200 for the trip (I ALMOST booked it that night) I bought it off him for $70. Sweet deal!! I was stoked.
Since I already had plans to go to Noosa Heads before I won the trip to Nimbin I headed up there the next day with the French kid. It was crap weather when we got there so we didn't do much the first half day we were there. We also got free dinner the two nights we were there. Yessss!!! The one full day we were there, the frenchie and an American dude I'd met in Byron went on a walk through the Noosa National Park.
It was really nice and we didn't see anyone through the first half of the hike. We went the long way around and most people only do the beach part of the walk so it was really quiet. When we got back to the beach we got massive burgers for lunch and then laid on the beach for what little sun had peeked through for a short time. After free dinner I was packing my bag for the next day about five feet from the door, facing the door, with it open because it was raining outside and I wanted to listen to it. I was looking down and saw a flash of light and was about to say, oh, I think I just saw lightening, because I wasn't sure if it was car lights, when the LOUDEST, SCARIEST, clap of thunder boomed...I almost crapped my pants. It startled me sooo bad! Haha. I was like OMG. It had also startled the other people in the room so I didn't feel too stupid breathing all heavily and moo-ing about the noise. We left the next morning for Byron, since Nimbin is a super small town West of Byron Bay. It was like a 10 hour bus ride. Miserable.
I stayed at the Belongil Beachouse again, and this time, upon telling the front desk girl about last time with Fanny (and her saying oh, yeah, I heard about that. That was you??) she let me have an empty dorm, and frenchie met up with his French friends who had gone to Byron after Brisbane. I got some amazing peaceful sleep while I was there. The day after we met in town for the Nimbin trip. It was raining, hard. Boo. But the bus was really cool and it was known for playing mad cool tunes the whole way, so it was entertaining. We got to stop about a half hour out of town to see the Sunday markets.
Frenchie bought a crepe and we shared it. Chocolate. Sooo sick! Then we went to Nimbin, which is all of...ten stores. The museum was cool though. Super small but cool news articles about pot and trying to legalize it and funny sayings and paintings. After that we headed to a waterfall not far from Nimbin, and then home. It was a looooong day. But I was glad it was FREE! :) In Airlie Beach now, going sailing today for 3-days, 2-nights to the Whitsunday Islands. Should be wonderful! Hopefully I don't get too seasick. :( Can't drink my goon if I'm barfing over the side. Will have more blogging after this. Perhaps when I'm in Cairns. Enjoy the day! xx
No comments:
Post a Comment