Rae's on Watego's Byron Bay

... some lovely views which was quite good because it was stormy.<br> We returned to the town, then checked in, Hostel Bookers, who we used to book quite a few hostels had upgraded our room to a 6 bed dorm ensuite, we had originally just gone for the 6 bed dorm, I guess they overbooked and had to upgrade someone (woohoo!)<br> We got to our room and found we were the only people in the room and it stayed this way all night, which was a nice surprise and we had a double bed in a dorm room!<br>

... a day trip to the hippie town of Nimbin located about an hour from Byron. We ate some macadamia nuts-a first for both of us- that you have to crack open with this contraption thingy and picked some mulberrys right off the trees. Soooo sweet and delicious.<br><br>We listened to a former new yorker named Paul who moved here 35 years ago or so rant and rave about atoms and overpopulation and some other nonsense, the whole time holding a pipe filled with marijuana. He was ...

... uns Brisbane naeh**n, desto n**voes** w**de ich beim Blick auf die Uhr... Wir haben scheinbar in Surf**'s Paradise (mit Abstand d** haesslichste Ort, den ich bish** in OZ gesehen habe!) durch einen Stau so viel Zeit v**loren, dass wir die V**spaetung unmoeglich aufholen koennen. Im Endeffekt kommen wir mit ziemlich genau ein** Stunde V**spaetung in Brisbane an und ich habe noch 3 Minuten Zeit zum Umsteigen! Eigentlich wollte ich mich noch mit neuen Getraenken und etwas ...

... was on UK news but we had a sand storm which blew down the coast, made everything feel very eerie. I went for a walk, did not return an orange but did have stingy eyes and sore throat so should have heeded the warnings of staying indoors!! Amazingly enough apart from all the cars having a layer of sand - all was normal the next day - blue skies, birds singing, etc.,<br>Walking loads, walked to the Lighthouse the other day, the ...

... seemed to quite like it. Even though it was far from my best performance of the song. Probably because there were quite a lot of people watching &#8211; around a hundred or so &#8211; so my nerves were up, and I hadn't played the guitar for six months, and the guitar I borrowed was rubbish and the Chilli Con Carney I had that evening... <br><br>Next up was the mouthwatering prospect of three days and two nights upon the sun-drenched paradise that is Fraser Island. I'm not ...

... and many cups of tea in the van! The next day we found out we had received the government stimulous money and immediately put a recently purchased sparkling shiraz in the fridge. We spend the day on beaches singing "We got nine hundred dolll-lars" Wayne's World style. That night we ventured out to a bush camp again and as soon as we stopped we heard a curious mewing noise. The source was a kitten which had clearly been ...

... on the plus side I was sitting on a bus for most of the day! We were picked up and had to go on a slight detour because some roads were closed because it had rained so much. Unfortunatly halfway along this detour the bus had a bit of a problem. The driver crashed into a bridge because it was too small to fit under it!! It wasnt a bad crash but the bus did get a little hole scrapped in the top!! Ooops. It was annoying because we then had to go on a further detour which meant we ...

... saving rainforests from the orcs (the loggers), about how the planet has four years left, that of course you know the queen's a reptile don't you - why do you think they have all those dungeons? and various conspiracy theories, from Diana to the lord of the rings being a documentary rather than fiction! Brilliant!! He was so what you would expect that I almost wonder if it is just a day job and he is normally to be found reading up on stocks ...

After spending about two months in Sydney trying to find work but to no avail, I decided I would hit the road and head up towards Brisbane. This was probably the most nerve wracking part of my trip so far. It's always difficult to leave your comfort zone &amp; I was worried about leaving my friends in Sydney and heading off on my own with no real plan, but I knew in my mind it was definitely the right time to leave. I had bought a hop on/off bus pass up to Cairns and after ...

... shops everywhere, dreadlocks on half the people, and a distinct smell in the air. Let's just say that most of the people appeared to be in an altered state. After our quick stop we drove directly to the coast of Byron Bay. Upon arrival we were surprised by the size of our hostel, the Arts Factory. It was a huge compound just outside of town, filled to the brim with ...