Byron Bay

casey and i left for byron bay at noon on friday.  it was quite an adventure to say the least...  we had to take a bus from bond to surfer's paradise (which is "town" basically) and then we ate dinner while we waited to catch the surfer's/byron bay express at 2:00.  we arrived in byron at about 4:30 and then we had to find the "bus" to the aquarius backpacker's motel where we would be staying for the weekend.  so we were wandering semi-aimlessly (theme for the entire weekend, turns out) and we come across a van that says aquarius on it.  so we kind of stand there staring at it, and this german man comes up to us and says, "need a ride?  get in."  we have no other options, so we jump into the van.  luckily, we made it safely.

once we arrived at aquarius we unpacked our stuff, "met" some of our "roommates", who i think were german and didn't speak any english, at least not to us.  the girl winked at me.  more than once.  once we were all checked in and everything we trekked into town to have a beer because travel is exh

austing.  we passed the great northern hotel who offered us $5 coronas, and who can pass up such a deal?  certainly not 2 famished backpackers.  so we h

ung out at this hotel bar for a while, watching locals and people playing pool.   finally we realized we were starving so we walked down to the beach hotel, which we got a small taste of the last time we were in byron.  we ordered the most delish nachos i have ever tasted, and then there was live music which just about makes me the happiest person alive. 

so we're standing near the stage, swaying to the music and there's this very strange group of boys/men (?) sitting near us and casey looks over and says she thinks one of them is pretty cute.  she must have been making some major googly eyes or something because he comes up to us and asks if we want to sit down.  i was perfectly content to continue swaying, but casey accepted so we sat down at this table.  he introduced us to his friends, but i'm not so good with the names.  he's the only one i remember (byron bill) besides his very attractive friend i dubbed "sexy m" (i think his name is matt).  well, byron bill chatted some more, and i sat there pretty entranced by the music and staring at sexy m.  somehow the conversation got around to what we were up to the rest of other weekend, and byron bill insisted that he give us a surfing lesson.  now, i'm all about trying new things in my life, but the last surfing lesson i took did not end well so i was hesitant.  casey, however, was all about going to the beach the next day so she gave him her number and then we left shortly after, not really expecting this strange man to actually call.

we got back to our hostel eventually, after wandering down to the beach for a while, and went to bed.  the next morning we woke up to some veryy strange sights that i am positive can only happen at a backpacker's.  casey and i were sleeping in top bunks across from each other, and i pointed down to the bunk below her and informed her that there were two people sleeping in the bed below her.  spooning.  i don't know if you've ever slept in a hostel before but these beds are small and not comfortable, so i do not know how or why you would be sleeping in bed with another person.  plus it was about 100 degrees and there was no AC so it was really hot and sticky.  which is probably why the man sleeping on the bunk under me was naked.  

so i got up to shower and when i got out casey informed me that byron bill had, in fact, given her a call and told her he would take us to "a place overlooking the ocean".  creepy?  maybe to the average person, but this sounded like a really fun idea to us.  once we got ready we went to main beach where we met byron bill, sexy m, and the rest of the posse.  they surfed and body boarded and casey and i sat on the beach and watched because it was winding and the water was freezing and to be honest i'm not a big fan of water sports.  then came time to go to broken head - the place overlooking the ocean.  so we hopped into byron bill's truck (if you are sitting there reading this and thinking i die at the end of this story, do not worry, i am still alive) and he drove us up and around this windy road until finally we came to a "hiking trail" where we then walked up some more.  there was a small time during this adventure that i thought to myself, we have no idea who this person is, he is probably going to kill us.  but then we got to the top, byron bill laid out his towel, and cracked open a few beers.  everything was going to be okay.

we returned safely back to town just in time to grab some lunch at some Oz-Mex restaurant where we got the most delish burritos ever.  we had already taken off our shoes and were walking around the streets barefoot, so the only next logical step was to take a seat next to some skateboarders eating pizza and gorge our faces with burritos while onlookers stared at us like the crazy byron hippies we wish we were.  after the burritos, some very serious beach time followed, and then we went back to get ready to go out for the night.  we went to cheeky monkey's for dinner and free champagne, then checked out the club scene (not so good) and then ended the night back at the beach hotel because, really, it is my favorite place in the whole entire world.  sunday we had to go home, and i have to say i already want to go back.  if i drop out of school and move to byron bay, no one would judge...