This trip was discounted for us, and 6 out of the 10 (including myself) from Fairfield went on the trip. We left Saturday morning and got back around dinnertime today (Monday). I skipped 2 out of my 3 classes to go on this trip- whoops! I didn't even know what Byron Bay is, so I had little to no expectations, which made it absolutely amazing. We woke up early Saturday morning and took a bus to the University of Queensland, where all of the other students who came with us are staying. There were around 30 of us total, and most of the other students had already done a trip to Sydney together so they were all familiar with one another. Everyone was super friendly, and it was very refreshing to be able to hang out with American students as there really aren't that many in Brisbane.
On the bus to Byron Bay, we stopped at Coolangatta Beach and it was incredibly beautiful. We all got to walk around for about an hour and a half. There was even a surfing competition going on!
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| Fairfield girls throwing up our stags! |
I can also assure you that there are no filters on any of these photos! Trust me, when you're in Australia, you really don't need a filter. From Coolangatta, we went to our hostel in Byron Bay. I've never stayed in a hostel before, but it was actually a lot better than I had anticipated. There were 5 of us in one room, but we really weren't in the room all that much. Also, we were in New South Wales, which is the state south of Queensland. NSW has daylight savings, so we were 16 hours ahead of home instead of 15. However, everyone at home sprung forward, so then we were back to 15, and now that we're in Queensland again we're only 14 hours ahead. All very confusing to deal with this weekend.
Shannon, Grace and I headed to the beach, which was a 5-10 minute walk from the hostel. We got to see a wedding on the beach! We also saw three more beach weddings throughout the day. That afternoon, we went for a mini-hike to the Byron Bay lighthouse. I don't want to be sappy or anything, but the views I saw that day were the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. We were all walking around in a complete state of awe. I have never been so genuinely happy. As much as I love Brisbane and it's really cool to live right in the city, Byron was the Australia that I was expecting. The natural sights were so incredible, and it really reassured me that I made the best decision to come to the best continent.
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| The most eastern point of Australia! |
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| Byron Bay lighthouse |
After we went back to the hostel, we showered and then got ready for dinner. All of our meals were included, which was really nice. Paul, our tour guide, bought tons of boxes of wine (which they call goon here), so I was pretty much buzzed the entire weekend (sorry Mom if you're reading this!). We went to Cheeky Monkeys, where we had dinner and then partied that night. The nightlife is a lot more laid back in Byron compared to Brisbane, so it was a nice change of pace from the dressy clubs we've been going to.
The next morning, Shannon, Grace, and I woke up at 5 to go see the sunrise. We walked for a half hour to a certain point on the beach and looked at the stars until the sun started to rise. Because this is the most eastern point of Australia, we were the first people in Australia to see the sun that day. We were also almost the first people in the world to see the sun (I think just New Zealand is before us). It was so beautiful. We just stood there in silence as we watched the whole beach light up. There were also a ton of surfers in the water as the sun rose which was really cool!
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| The very beginnings of the sunrise! |
We went back to the hostel for breakfast and got ready to go kayaking. Let me tell you, I get motion sickness to begin with, and when you combine that with a brutal hangover it was a recipe for disaster. The kayaking instructors were so awesome- they were the stereotypical chill Australians that you would imagine they'd be. The kayaks were for two people; I was in the front and Shannon was in the back. Getting through the waves was definitely the hardest part. Somehow we made it through without falling off! I was doing fine at first and then I started to feel so sick. I wasn't the only one as pretty much everyone else was hungover and seasick. A couple of people quietly puked and we didn't find out until after. As much as I felt like I was going to, I refrained from puking in the South Pacific Ocean. My favorite part was when we were paddling back into shore and a huge wave knocked me and Shannon off of our kayak. The water was so warm so I didn't mind it at all! It was also nice to know that I made it back to land without throwing up. I creepily found these pictures on the kayaking company's facebook page and I'm so glad they took them! As much as I felt crappy at certain points, it was such a cool experience and I'm so glad I did it.
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| I'm in the front holding on for dear life as we're about to get knocked off by a wave! |
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| The instructors are the guys jumping for joy in the back |
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| After we got wrecked by a wave on our way back in! |
Nimbin is this tiny little hippy town and also happens to be the drug capital of Australia. We stopped there for about an hour and just walked around. Everyone was super nice to us because they were all high as kites and they could clearly tell we weren't from there. We went into the Nimbin museum which was just this crazy little place advocating for the legalization of marijuana- no it's not legal here but they still sell it everywhere!
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| The Nimbin version of the Mona Lisa |
This is definitely my longest post yet so I apologize if you are bored of reading this! In case you couldn't already tell, I loved everything about my weekend in Byron and I definitely want to go back for another weekend while I'm here. Everything else has just been normal- getting into the routine of classes and my internship and everything else. I can't believe I've already been here for over a month. I'm scared of how fast it's going by, but so excited to see everything else that Australia has in store for me! Thank you for reading this novel!
