Byron Quarter Byron Bay

... in under five minutes. There are a lot of expensive tourist shops here, but the town still retains a quaint charm that helps add to its affable character. I spent some time with James, Steve and Chris from Coffs Harbour, and met a few other interesting people who it will be a shame to part with, and went to the town’s infamous club, Cheeky Monkeys, which wasn ...

... so I'm gonna try to figure out that crazy old wizard's game and beat him at it. He was probably just a really good guesser.

Anyhow, more updates later, I'll fill y'all in!

-the Alster

PS Finally figured out how to upload pictures...well, actually, not "figured out," per say, cause I knew all along, just finally tried to. Anyhow, we'll try to get some pics in the rest of the entries now.

... coffee before she new what was happening. The possibility of grievous bodily harm was a concern but I doubt she would pull out her shearing blade and exact reciprocity whilst her partner Joshua was present. I couldn't help a mischievous smile as I took the turn off for Byron Bay, as this would be a great start to this adventure.

I'd made excellent time and decided that I would take a quick detour up to the light house to take advantage of ...

Since the last blog Tom wrote, we went to the Hunter Valley Wine Region and had LOTS OF FUN tasting wines, and buying a few bottles too! Moby cruised us around with a bit of chauffering help from Tom. Some of the wineries probably knew we wouldn't be taking away cases of wine when they saw our wheels (no offence Mobymojo). That night we did our first "dodge" which means just parking up in a large layby instead of seeking ...

... the site showing us various plants and their uses and how to survive in the outback. He showed us these flowers you could pick and suck some nectar out. Apparently 30 of them were equivalent to a teaspoon of honey but they were easy to pick so a good source of energy! There was also the toilet paper tree, a tree who's bark was soft on one side if you were desperate, was also a good tree for starting fires with and carrying the fire in the bark once it was made. We ate ...

... resouceful, I hacked my way through with my trusty Swiss Army Knife. We saw a few big pigeons on the way back. We eventually got back to the van, only to find Yvette's trousers soaked in blood round the ankle. First thoughts were it was from a thorn, but she hadn't felt anything. We found a leech, but only had matches, no lighter or salt. Leeches aren't easy to remove with a match, especially when the victim keeps moving. Yvette eventually took it ...

... some to take home. My gift list is getting shorter luckily! Its hard to buy stuff thats not tat. There are always a constant flow of street people playing instruments so the day always has a backing track. I notice people practising poi in the small park. Woolies gets a visit on the way back and i get dinner to finally cook something for myself and get my phone topped up with credit, then head back to the hostel. I get back and cook some ...

... the money Nights have been a trainwreck every nite since we've been here, its a hard atmosphere not to get completely hammered since everyone is so outgoing and fun. plus goon (cheap box wine) is sooo inexpensive and the clubs/pubs/bars are awesome and theres free live music somewhere everynite. For anyone wanting to use the internet for free, you can just go to any travel booking office in byron and internet is free for backpackers. And ...

... reserve, on a very long surf beach that stretched all the way to Cape Byron. Most other campers were surfers, and it's a lifestyle that I could have become accustomed to very quickly indeed - a ten second walk to the beach; surf for a while; have a kip; eat and then repeat. Awesome. We took a few walks up and around the headland, watching the Surfers and just listening to the bird calls. It was simply sublime. We also noticed ...

... up on email.

Simone then kindly lent me her PC so that I could spend some time burning my photos onto CDs, and it took bloody ages to get them done. Thankfully Simone & H had popped out, so I wasn't creating too much havoc in their office!

We said our fond farewells when they returned, we were sad to leave them so quickly but we had to push on down ...