Australia : Byron Bay & Surfers Paradise

Amy : Byron Bay (17th – 23rd Dec)
Now this is a place I could live and its so apparent why people get caught up in the whole hippy atmosphere of Byron. Our initial thoughts when we arrived weren’t the best as we arrived at the campsite to find that the keys for our cabin weren’t left where they said they would be and no one was on reception until 7.30am the next again morning and we arrived at 8.15pm!! We had images of us having to stay in the camp loo’s of kitchen until the morning. I mean how would I explain that one to Mum?!? Thankfully the strange but helpful security guard came on duty at 10pm and was able to get our keys for us and let us in the cabin which was cool :O)
Our first full day in Byron was just awesome, the camp was right on the beach and 500m from the centre which isn’t like any other centre it’s a stretch of street filled with spiritual cafes, auroa reading places and other wacky shops like that. It’s so hard to explain but the whole feeling whilst you were there was just of relaxation and you couldn’t help but take your day at a slower pace…and no this had nothing to do with the Hippy Herbal shop honest!!
Of course we spent quite a number of hours on the beach and Stu got his Body Board for a few days and came out each time with red wave marks on his chest but he had fun.
On one of what we thought was going to be a cooler day we did a walk to Australia’s most Easterly Point…the Lighthouse which was around an 8km round trip. The first 40mins were fine but the sun was getting up. We tended to stay close to the tree’s for the shelter and in doing this saw 3 possums (Mum and two babies) in the middle of the day just plodding around the tree’s and giving us an odd look every so often. The rest of the walk was just really tough going as the heat and sun increased and even though it was slightly overcast it reached to over 33 degree’s and there’s me and Stu in this stifling heat walking mainly up hill to see a Lighthouse! There were great views when we reached there and one a cooler day I would have enjoyed the views better but all I wanted to do when we got to the top was stop and have a cold drink and ice lolly. It was way too hot. Just before you hit the Lighthouse there were signs about whales being in the area so we stood for a whiley to look out for them with no luck but we did get to see some Sea Turtles. Seeing these wee guys battling against the ocean just reminded me of the scene in Finding Nemo with the cool Aussie Turtles swimming :O)
On our last day in Byron they held their Annual Beggars Banquet festival which is a Charity festival to help all of Byron’s homeless people. This was such a Hippy Fest. The locals brought free food and you just helped yourself to it throughout the day then all these musical hippies would get up and play a song or two. You could have sworn with all this going on that you were in the 1960’s!
Byron is one of the few places so far that we’ve said we’d definitely come back to when we take holidays in NZ. It was a total chill out time and the weather was pretty much on our side most of the time.

Surfers Paradise (23rd – 29th Dec)
Now Surfers was a place we wanted to visit but expected it to be like Bondi. What a pleasant surprise to find it was more holiday feel than Bondi, not as tacky and in a strange way more like Las Vegas with all the bright lights, eateries and casino’s.
Surfers was where we were to spend almost a week in including our Aussie Christmas.
We were so lucky and manged to get booked into The Shore Holiday apartments right on the beach. This wee apartment was a last minute booking and we were sure it would be crap but low and behold it was the best digs we’ve stayed in so far. We were on the 10th floor and had 180 degrees views of the ocean. Stu made sure that each night our bedroom window was open so we could hear the waves throughout the night.
We arrived on the 23rd and spent three great days in the apartment. Christmas Eve was great as we watched most of It’s a Wonderful Life (typical Aussie TV didn’t leave it enough time to air and cut the last 15mins off as MASH was due to begin!!) And we watched a pod of 3 small dolphins playing in the ocean!!
Christmas day was just amazing. The sun rises around 5.30 so we tried to have a wee snooze till around 7.30am on Christmas morning as we knew it would be a long day. We got all the relly phone calls out the way before brekkie. Then had our traditional bucks fizz breakfast before we spent a few hours on the beach before heading back to cook a traditional Christmas dinner. Stu got his Turkey Leg and I had a Veggie Nut Roast with all the trimmings. It was our first Christmas on our own and we both had a ball. After spending a few hours eating we walked into Cavill Ave (the main strip) to try and walk off most of the dinner and soak up some Christmas atmosphere which the town severely lacked as most people in town were backpackers or orientals who sat eating McDonalds on the beach…each to their own I suppose.