Byron Bay - 2 weeks before I leave Australia

  Byron Bay, Australia
Thursday, July 17, 2008

We (mum, dad, hamo & I) planned to go for a weeks holiday to Byron Bay as I would be able to get some experience working behind a bar and we have family friends - Lynne and John up there. Mum & I flew up on Friday afternoon with Jetstar... never fly Jetstar!!! They are hopeless! They managed to lose mum's bag and then didnt contact us at all for 2 days and wouldnt even answer their phone. By the time they managed to locate mums bag and contact us, she had returned to Sydney!

Me pulling a beer

Anyway, I spent Friday and Saturday nights working at the Bangalow Bowling and Sports club thanks to Lynne, who is the licensee there and a friend of mum & dads. She and the other bar staff taught me how to pull a beer, change over kegs and what to do when working behind a bar. Although it was hard work I had a great time and will be able to use what I have learnt when I am overseas if I want to get a job in a bar somewhere in Copenhagen.

Dad & Hamo arrived on Saturday night. On Sunday we all drove up to Brisbane to visit uncle Rob & aunty Del. We had a great lunch together and Rob & Del showed us around Southbank and where Del works. I had never been to Brisbane before and was surprised at what a clean and welcoming city it is. I think it would be a great place to live.

Rob & Del's house in Brisbane

Hamo & I at Tweed Heads beach

On Monday Dad, Hamo & I drove back up to Tweed Heads as Dad had a meeting there. Hamo and I looked around the town while Dad had his meeting and after that, we decided on the spur of the moment after walking into a tourist information shop to go to Dracula's on the Gold Coast. I was expecting a dodgy restaurant with weirdo vampires as waiters but I was pleasantly surprised. Dracula's is actually a whole theatre/production combined with dinner, a ghost train ride and a terrific show. All the waiters were dressed as cool gothic/vampire/monsters and they were really entertaining. The show itself was also fantastic and kept us thoroughly entertained.

Vlad - the star of Dracula's

On Tuesday, Hamo and I were on our own as Dad had to work. So we decided to explore Byron Bay town to occupy the day. We had a big breakfast in a nice little cafe near the beach and then decided to head off to Wategos beach. Despite being the middle of winter, the water was beautiful and we had a very pleasant beach experience. We then decided to watch a movie - Kung Fu Panda - in order to kill some time before picking up dad. It was an entertaining movie, but very short. With more time to kill, Hamo & I explored the shops of Byron but didnt find anything that needed buying.

Tee shot from the 8th at Byron Bay golf cours

On Wednesday Dad, Hamo and I played a round of golf at Byron Bay golf course. It was an overcast morning but very pleasant non the less and we were fortunate to have no one following us and could therefore take our time and enjoy the game without worrying about our crapness causing us to be too slow and holding up the people behind us. In the end Hamo shot a 69 while dad & I shot a 71. Pretty impressive ha! (except that we only played 9 holes - not the full 18). We had lunch on the balcony of the clubhouse after our game and halfway through were attacked by some very crazy, aggressive magpies. They were swooping and moving in on our food and despite us trying to scare them away they just kept coming back & eventually forced us to retreat indoors. Straight after that we went and saw The Dark Knight, the latest batman movie starring Heath Ledger as the Joker. It was an entertaining movie, perhaps a little long, but Heath Ledger was fantastic - a very convincingly disturbing portrayal of the Joker indeed!!

the essence of golf...

On Thursday, Hamo & I flew home on Virgin Blue - so much better than Jetstar. The whole flight experience was very enjoyable and we had a comedian as our flight hostess. She had the whole plane smiling by the end of the journey and clearly loves her job. At one stage she told us all to switch our air vent fans to full blast and point them towards the back of the plane. I, assuming that this was to help the air pressure in the cabin or something, promptly obliged until she continued by explaining that this was to help us get to Sydney faster and that when we arrived we would have to point the fans towards the front of the plane to help it slow down. Ha ha... she certainly got me! I would certainly recommend Virgin Blue as the first choice domestic carrier in Australia & will fly with them whenever given the option in the future. An hour after getting home I was off to work at Liquorland and back to relative normality in Sydney for the next couple of weeks before I head off for Hong Kong on August 1st.