Next stop... Byron Bay

After the great cruise around Whitsundays we continued our route towards the south .... next stop.... Byron Bay.

It took us a couple of days to get there... the thing is that the car that we rented started to make a strange noise... and yeah... we checked everything but we didn't have a clue what was wrong with it!! ....as we didn't see any smoke or liquid coming out everything seemed to be grand for us...hahahhaa
Eventually, we had to stop in Brisbane and then change the car for another one. I don't think even the guys there knew what was wrong with it but they just gave us another car and we were happy with it.

Brisbane is a business city. The city centre (Centre of Business District) is full of skyscrapers where all the offices are. When the office daily work finishes there's none around!! It looks like a phantom city! Completely different to day time!



Brisbane river cross the city and.. beside it.. of course, there is a fake beach!! This Aussies love artificial beaches! yeah... in this ones they don't have to worry about crocodiles, sharks or jellyfishes!! hahahaha



Brisbane has also lots of parks and pathwalks. One thing to stress about the Aussies is their concern about sport. Everywhere where we have been ( beaches, countryside or city) you can find lots of people doing some exercise! Running, cycling, skating, surfing... and all kind of people :old people, young, childs...

We went for a walk around the city and visit the parks around and the riverside...

The next morning, as soon as we woke up, we decided to go to Byron Bay. From Brisbane to Byron Bay there are about 3 hours driving. On the road you pass by the famous "Surfers Paradise". We decided to stop there to walk around and have something to eat. Ok... there are some waves to surf... but there are also thousands of skyscrapers apartments on the seashore... and restaurants, and shops, and pubs... It is like the Benidorm but in Australia!! Awful!!!


Aqui te pots trobar al Mitch Buchannon de Los Vigilantes de la playa!!!


After we headed off to Byron Bay. Some travellers recommended us the Arts Factory; a hostel with a special character where you can also camp. They run lots of daily activities such as yoga, reiki, cinema, live music, etc... so we decided to camp there. Unfortunately they were doing some refurbishment on the place so they didn't have that much going on....



First of all... picth the tend. Yeah,... now a new issue... one of the sticks is broken from last time! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh



But some of our little friends helped us and we finally put it up... yeah little strange animals who come to say hello all the time!!



We stayed a week here.... so we had time to visit the town and its beaches. To be honest, we found that it was a quiet town... the beaches are very long and wide and the waves seem to be good for surfing. We found lots of people who stays here for months.. even for years!! They come here... they look for a job and learn to surf and they save money to keep travelling.



It's a town with a hippy atmosphere full of organic restaurants and markets. During the evenings there is also some live music going on and everyone meets there for a few drinks. Most of the people are young backpackers but you can also see some Aussie families who come to spend their holidays here.




For those who want to do some exercise (as the slope is sooooo steep) or just have some wonderful views of the ocean , they can go to the Cape Byron Lighthouse. This one is located on the top of a 100 m cliff and it is also the Eastest point in Australia.





It's an stunning place where you can breath peacefulness.



So.... we are in Australia... in the Surfers Maca... do you thing that we shouldn't try to learn surfing????? Came on!!! Let's go!!!!

We decided to join a Surfing school for a couple of days... it was great! It is great fun!!! Everytime that we standed up it was a record!!! Well, when the teacher push you is ok, but when you have to look for the wave yourself then the problems come!

But look, after two days look at us!!! Such a style!




Hhahahahaha yeah... of course they are not our pictues! We wish they were!!! If we were those we wouldn't be here!!! We have photos but they are in a protected CD and we can't download them... to be honest... not sure if we wanna show you!!! Such a disgrace!!!

The days that you are learning with the school is fine because they teach you to surf with a very wide board and you are able to stand up... but the third day we decided to rent a board and try.... yeah right!!! the board was half size the previous one!!! We couldn't even keep the balance when we were lying down!!!!! So, how do you stand up now?? Padle padle padle!!!! But honestly...even though it is good fun ... and dangerous too if the board falls on your head!! hahahhaa

And do you know what? We saw whales!!!!!! Yeah!! they were there... less than 100 m from us!!! They were splashing down with their tail as if they wanted to wave us! Amazing!!

As everything could not be about surfing , one of the days we decided to go for a day trip to Nimbin. Nimbin is a small hippy town located at 70 km from Byron. This place is famous because its Mardi Grass festival where every year attracts lots of musicians and artists. But do you wanna know the secret? The reason why people come here is to buy weed. Yeah!! they sell you weed everywhere and the cookies and chocolate with it!

It seems to be illegal here but they have high tolerance for it.




Nimbin is tiny!! just a couple of streets!! but it is located in the middle of valley and mountain and the landscape around it is very nice.




Now, after 7 days here and become professional surfer is time to change destiny... now we are going to Sydney!!!!!

We'll keep you posted from there !


If you wanna check more photos about our trip around Australia enter here :


http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/