Surfers Paradise - Byron Bay

Fri 14th Nov - Surfers Paradise

Today I leave Brisbane for Surfer's Paradise. Due to the G20 taking place this weekend (starting today), Brisbane resisdants have bank holiday weekend and many of them have taken this opportunity to head down to the Gold Coast. On arrival to the bus terminal, today populated by many riot police in preparation for any protests, I again bump into Anouk and Britt, two Dutch girls (having first met in Agnes Water and again briefly at Noosa Everglades). They will also be staying at the same hostel in Surfer's.. 'Couple O Days'.. nice and cheap! (Beginning a running joke with Britt re: only buying/taking the cheap options where possible). We take the smaller bus to our destination, hitting plenty of traffic on route due to the bank holiday. 

After checking in at our hostel, later in the afternoon we all walk back into town (my feet are in pain due to some new.. cheap.. flip flops rubbing my skin..) On route down one of the main streets we are stopped by a party night promoter.. (apparently one of the best places to go clubbing in Oz..) we decline his offers. 

When we get to the beach I chill out for an hour whilst the girls go shopping. When we meet up again we walk down the slightly underwhelming street markets taking place that late afternoon into evening.  

We decide that we will go out tomorrow night, so just spend the rest of the evening back at the hostel chatting. A drunken room mate tries to drag me out so I end up having a few beers with the group of Germans.. still in my swimming shorts and t-shirt I stay at the hostel when they head out! 

Sat 15th Nov - Surfer's Paradise

A very very hot/humid/sweaty morning .. and day ahead. I walk to the beach.. bare foot.. (later proving not to be such a great choice as the tarmac burns my soles on my return to the hostel..!). On my walk to the beach I pass a massage parlour.. after a brief lie down on the beach .. I'm soon back at the parlour having a 30 min massage.. EXTREMELY PAINFUL AT TIMES!! .. but worth it. When I return to the beach for a brief nap I awake to my body covered in sand due to the strong winds! 

In the evening we have some pre drinks at the hostel, I meet Britt's Dutch friend Valerie, and we meet a new room mate of the girls, Amy from Wales. A lot of fun drinking games. Later Denise and Mathias (two Swedish travellers I have been bumping into throughout my east coast travels) also join in. Valerie's friends from Surfer's pick us up and we head down the coast to a nice club.. our night however ends back in the main part of Surfer's at Sin City.. not so great! A fun night, with some much needed pizza slices and milkshakes on our walk back. 

Sun 16th Nov - Bus to Byron Bay

Erghhh.. not the best mornings.. but it could have been worse.. I had initially planned to get the 8.20am bus to Byron Bay but decided (phew) to change options in the early evening last night to the 2.30pm bus. After checking out by 10am, I crash on the sofa in a hot and sweaty tv room. Today is 30+ degrees.. HOT. Denise and Mathias also leave today and take the same bus.

On arrival to Byron, I take the shuttle bus to the Art's Factory where I will spending 3 nights in the Small Teepee (see pics below). I meet Karys, Aimee (Londoners) and Morgan (Welsh) when I get to the teepee. Karys is adamant that we have previously met.. I am unsure! Soon we are all getting on well (maybe not Karys and Morgan... !) and having a lot of banter... this is too continue throughout my stay here. 

It is now late afternoon/early evening so we walk (15mins) into town and end up getting food at Noodle Box.. very tasty. The bottleshop is shut.. loosing track of the days as usual we find that it is Sunday and therefore the bottle shop is shut early! We walk back to the Art's Factory so that Morgan can change and then straight back into town heading to the Beach Hotel. It is already very busy with a live DJ. Soon after arriving I bump into Nicole and Emma (roommates from Hervey Bay) and meet Sam and Devan (two Canadian travellers). We all have a fun night, spent on the dance floor. Later also randomly being recognised on the dance floor by a Dutch couple who I was room mates with for one night in Agnes Water!

Mon 17th Nov - Byron Bay

After a late wake up.. me, Karys and Morgan head into town for brunch, finding a nice cafe (one of many in Byron.. no chains here).. egg&bacon roll and coffee.. happy days. Morgan shoots off to meet a friend. Me and Karys head to the beach, walking all the way down to the furthest end and the lookout point out to the sea (we are at the furthest eastly point of Australia). Out to sea we see dolphins! 

After a swim in a coldish choppy sea, we chill out on the beach and then stroll back to Art's Factory. 

I in the evening I meet up with Abbi and Tom (an English couple from my Whitsunday Trip, who I also briefly bumped into before heading out in Surfer's on Sat night). A few hours later.. and a 'few' drinks later we head into town aiming to head to reggae night.. we are too late and its full! Me, Karys and Aimee have made a plan to get up on my birthday morning and go see the sunrise (EARLY!!) so they head back to the hostel. Me, Abbi and Tom head to Cheaky Monkeys.. but by now I have sobered up .. and after walking into the bar.. I quickly fully sober up! As we are about to leave.. after just one drink.. I bump into Anouk and Britt so I wait around with them.. Nicole, Emma, Sam and Devan are also here so I catch up with them but I head off early ready for the early morning start. 

Up at 5am.. we head to the beach....

... the sky is full of thick grey clouds...

We sit.. 

wait..

no sun to be seen.. 

.. just the slight appearance of more light behind a vertical strip of the clouds out in the distance..    

When I get back to the hostel I Skype family (it's still monday night for them.. but my birthday has begun in Oz!) 

I wake up a few hours later to a warm teepee.. the sun is now out and heating it up. Today Dan arrives in Byron! A reunion with my early East Coast travel buddy. We walk into town and catch up, sharing a tasty and filling felafel mega platter! Next week I will be heading on a roadtrip with Stef (Swiss traveller I met on my Atherton Tablelands trip), so I successful book up a campervan after a few unsuccessful attempts with other companies.

Later (after a later afternoon much needed nap) me and Dan head into town to get some drinks, we meet up with Denise, Mathias and Amy at the bottle shop, head back to the hostel, and meet up with Abbi and Tom. Tonight there is a talent show, so we drink here and watch this, before heading out for a fun birthday night with great company and familiar faces!

Brisbane

Tues 11th Nov 

Today I head out for my first day exploring Brisbane. First I walk from the hostel to the South Bank, an area with a wide range of restaurants, a man made beach/lagoon and fantastic views of the city. It has similarities to South Bank in London, with a music hall and Wheel of Brisbane. The main city is on the other side of the river so I take the footpath bridge across and head into the center where I get some lunch. After weeks of talking about it.. I next head to JB Hifi where I buy an early birthday/xmas/rest of the year present.. the new Hero 4 GoPro. With so much more to see during the year ahead I am keen to capture footage many of my experiences and adventures. 

In the evening I reunite with my Cairns Quiz Team champions Donna and Danny who are back in Brisbane working again. We head to the West End, a short walk from the hostel, a street full of many thriving eateries/quirky shops. We eat some tasty vegan curry.. and very cheap! Then head to the Melbourne Hotel for a few drinks.. where I am introduced to the pokies..before heading to the South Bank Imax Cinema to see Intersellar .. (plans have actually come to fruition.. back in Cairns I had spoken to Danny and Donna about the film, showing Danny the initial teaser trailer .. he refuses to watch trailers as they usual ruin the film, so would only watch the teaser.. the film came out close to the time I had planned to be in Brisbane so we arranged to watch it together when I arrived.) At times a stunning movie visually with an impressive score by Hans Zimmer, great dialogue but a fuzzy final third that only sunk in the morning after.. A must see though. Be prepared.. 169mins.

Weds 12th Nov

Today I get myself up and running with the new GoPro, write up my previous weeks adventures on my blog and back up my photos. I eat again at the curry restaurant and then explore the city by night. Due to the G20 taking place this weekend, there are many pop up marquees where you can light up the city.. you choose the colours for each building and then see the lights change after hitting GO. 

Thurs 13th Nov

I have decided to stay for one more night after enjoying the city so much. I begin planning ahead for the weekend.. booking up my greyhound bus and then finding a hostel for my next destination Surfer's Paradise. I grab my wallet to put my bank details into the booking section and.. no bank card.. ?? I have a rummage around my bag and a slight sweat and panic sets in.. I check my balance online and am relieved to see no money taken out and realise that the last time I had it out was when paying for the GoPro... I phone up the store.. and to my relief they have my card there! Pheww. I head into the city via the Botanical Gardens. 

After picking up my bank card I had planned to take the bus to Mount Coot-tha, the bus however stops going to the lookout from 4.45pm onwards so I head back to my hostel which works out well because Danny has invited me to a poker night at the Melbourne Hotel. I head there for a drink before hand and then play poker in the evening.. all out after the first break!

I have loved my time in Brisbane and maybe I have had the realisation that I am a city guy from being here. I'm excited now for Sydney and Melbourne over my last two weekends in Oz with Byron Bay to come during my birthday and a roadtrip also..