Surfer's Paradise and Byron Bay: February 27th - March 2nd

We flew into the Coolangata on the beautiful Gold Coast from Adelaide on Wednesday, the 27th of February. We rode the local bus for about and hour to Surfer's Paradise, a small city north (also part of the Gold Coast). All along the coastal drive, we spotted locals testing the big waves of the Gold Coast. Despite the name, Surfer's Paradise isn't where the best surf is located unfortunately. We stayed in Surfer's for about 2 nights and found it relaxing, but a bit touristy. It had an atmosphere and appearance close to San Diego. We were lucky because when we arrived in the evening the first night, we had the chance to browse through the beach market (only Wednesdays and Fridays) which offered all sorts of goodies and merchandise. We had pizza and gelato to finish the evening. Crazy thing of the night was finding huge black bats flying through town and hanging down from palm tree branches!

On Thursday, we spent most of the day at the beach reading, swimming and body surfing. It was a gorgeous & sunny day and we made sure we took advantage of it. Following the beach were 2 scoops of delicious gelato :) The rest of the day was spent walking around the town and enjoying some cold beers.

On Friday morning, we took the bus south to Byron Bay (1.5 hours). When we arrived at our hostel, we immediately rented two boogie boards and headed towards the beach closest to our hostel. It was a good walk but when we arrived we found that conditions were too harsh to board (really windy, big waves, fast breaks), so we headed back the other direction towards the main beach in town. Unfortunately, we didn't find conditions that much better. Ben got in a couple of good rides but Liya had a much tougher time! We got back to the hostel close to dinner time. In exchange for a free meal, Ben and I offered to help grill the hamburgers and hot dogs at the all-you-can-eat-and-drink-BBQ at our hostel. The sangria and the Toohey's beer weren't that good but hey, it was free - can't complain! We stayed up late meeting backpackers from all over. Overall, a very nice day.

Yesterday, we got up early in the morning and rented bikes to ride into town. We grabbed a couple of muffins and iced coffees (which BTW in Oz is coffee w/vanilla ice cream - no ice!) and headed to the main beach to watch some good surfing. Afterwards, we walked through town and browsed through all the boutiques and cafes. Byron Bay is a very laid-back town with very nice people. There are a lot of hippies, surfers, musicians, artists, and happy-go-lucky people here...overall, just really nice & free-spirited souls here in Byron.

Following our ride through town, we participated in a 4-hour surf lesson about 30km outside of Byron. We learned to surf in a bay since the waves along the coast were too big to take on for most. We did really well right from the beginning. They were just hoping for a bit bigger waves...maybe next time! Our arms were tired nevertheless from all the paddling!!! We knew we would sleep well... Following our lesson and return to the hostel, we rode our bikes back into town to see what night life in Byron had to offer. We came across a lot of live music at various bars which we stopped by for a few minutes each. We grabbed some vino and fresh-baked bread and took that back to the hostel to enjoy.

This morning, we checked out of our hostel and headed back into town where we enjoyed the big and diverse Sunday market. There, we found a lot of organic products and produce, live music, clothes, bags, cafe kiosks, etc. We bought some lychees, plums, passion fruit, bananas, and apples. For lunch, we enjoyed a cone of shaved ice and a bratwurst.

We leave tonight for Brisbane on a bus. We'll spend one night there and a bus in the afternoon for 7 hours to Hervey Bay, the jump-off town for Frasier Island. We'll spend a couple of nights there before embarking Frasier Island. We'll do a self-guided tour w/6 other backpackers for 3 days & 2 nights. That means we'll be sharing a 4WD vehicle, camping gear and food, and having the freedom to explore wherever we want on the island (sand dunes, the pristine lakes, jungles, etc). After Frasier Island, we will take an overnight bus up to Airie Beach, the jump-off town for Whitsunday Islands. We will sail with 30-40 others out to explore the many islands and do plenty of snorkeling/diving and see the beautiful Great Barrier Reef of course! Following Whitsunday, we will fly back to Sydney and then it's on to Vietnam!

Hope all is well back home! Cheers!