Byron Bay

JUST HALFWAY THROUGH MY 2 MONTH HOLIDAY I FIND MYSELF again being let out of a motor vehicle (shuttle bus in this case) in a city where I have never been and know no one.  All I know is the voice(s) at reception at the Backpackers Inn in Byron Bay, New South Wales that I told was coming.  I can remember walking down the street in the dark and feeling a comforting cold gust of wind hit my face and know that I was in a good place, good city, good part of the world.  Queensland is, for now, history.  I remember seeing a Backpackers Inn flyer in my reception in Cairns (those really slow mornings where I would wander around reception and read pretty much every flyer and brochure we sold).  It was the only place I knew to stay in Byron Bay besides what I could find on the internet.  But who wants to have to use the internet?!  Internet-less travel is growing on me.  Anyhoo, due to them and us being friendly hostels and having each other's flyers in each other's reception, they were able to give me a 4 bed share with a balcony for $20 a night.  I paid for 2 weeks immediately upon hearing the great news that I was basically getting my accommodation for 50% off.

 
YOU HEAR A TON ABOUT HOW GREAT BYRON BAY IS BEFORE YOU GET THERE.  Everyone seems to always say "Oh my god I love Byron Bay I am trying to get back there,"...or..."Byron is AMAZING,"...or..."Holy shit, dude, MAKE SURE you make it Byron Bay and go to Nimbin."  Let me be the first to tell you that the all the hype lives up to itself and this little beach town is cool as all hell.  While being from one of the best beach towns in America and living there for 4 years (miss you San Diego friends!), you wonder what could make this particular surf town so cool.  I can't really put my finger on it but I what I can tell you is that nights would go for example, from a calm and collective dinner at a bar to dancing on the same tables (you ate on) hours later to some internationally known song classics with 2 Spanish Girls and an Italian girl

and many pictures are being taken.  The night spirals back to your accommodation that has hammocks and direct 24 hour private beach access to the Pacific ocean.  Tons of fires at night with other travelers and guys and girls of all ages from all around the world.  The evenings were always ABUZZ around 6 or 7pm as people would start showering in the communal showers, drinking, getting dinner out of the way, etc.  We would party and socialize at Backpackers Inn until 10:30pm which was quiet time and then everyone would head out to go dancing.  While this didn't happen every night it did seem to happen a lot :)  I changed crews of people a few times during that two weeks.  First it was the English, then it morphed into the Spanish...then it combined into the Dutch/French/Canadian/American group.  Days were filled with multiple beach visits, swimming, napping, reading, surfing, and writing.   I didn't really have any touristy things to do while in Byron...the only two things that I put on the must do list were; going to Nimbin to buy souvenirs; go up to the lighthouse to watch the sunrise (thank you Selina Gray).  I am thankful to say I was able to check both these off the list with much pleasure.

NIMBIN IS A LAUGHABLE STREET IN THE MIDDLE OF NOTHING THAT IS TRAPPED IN THE 1970S.  The best way I describe it to people is "a township (street basically) that is stuck in the 'drum circle' stage of government upheaval and extremely passionate about the legalization of marijuana."  One sees Nimbin in less than 2 hours and you are ready to leave.  The street is lined with strange local people that look like muts of societal flaws and mishaps yet have a small wink of happiness in themselves.  LOL, now that I think about it they are very similar to the nialists, or Germans, in the movie The Big Lebowski that tell The Dude that they "belieevs in nussing Lebowski, nussing!"  I bought some Nimbin souvenirs on the streets and in these small little shops.  Bought a patch for my backpack, a postcard with a smiley face on it saying some nonsense about Nimbin or something, and some other items I can't remember...Anyway,  Nimbin is a must do if you are ever in northern New South Wales.  Some days I can just randomly think about the fact that Nimbin actually exists on this earth and it will make me laugh out loud.  It has made me laugh twice while writing this paragraph.  After Nimbin, our group (English squad at this point) went to a waterfall and swimming hole to cool off and take a dip.  It was refreshing, cold, crisp, and needed.

GOING TO THE LIGHTHOUSE AND THE MOST EASTERLY POINT OF AUSTRALIA at 5am and watching the sunrise was an incredible morning/experience.  Rather than attempting to get up at 4am and hike 2 hours up a decently large hill/point I opted to stay up all night after going out to the pubs and wrote til 5am and had a taxi driver launch me up there in the dark quiet hours of 4:30am.  I packed my Nikon D5000 DSLR, my tripod, a polarized lens filter, some cookies and crackers, my mp3 player/headphones, and a bag of wine (the good shiraz cabernet's come in bags over here :) ).  I hiked up to the lighthouse from where the taxi dropped me off (as far as a car could go up at that hour) and was very entranced by the overwhelming view down to the wave crashing cliffs of the Pacific.  Time to go to work as a travel photographer; I hiked around side trails along the cliffs edge under the moonlight reflecting off the top layer of the ocean.  I found a nice lower spot a bit down from the lighthouse to setup my camera on the tripod.

 
I set to take a photo every 10 seconds for an hour from 5am to 6am; a timelapse of 360 separate shots of the sun rising facing east off the horizon.  This is the stuff I live for friends and family.   So I am set for the shot with my Nikon so I ventured down a bit to use relieve myself of the many beers I drank with my good Spanish girlfriends that night.  On the way back up I came up over this hills railing and right in front of my face about 10 feet away from me is a silhouette of a pagan symbol that has appeared in the sky and I rub my eyes to see if what I am seeing is real or not.  Staring and staring this black strange figure of the night the outline begins to move.  I begin to shape out a head a ears and horns of this image and realize it is alive.  Being the only one around miles in any direction, my new only friend was this image in front of me; a mountain billy goat.  He climbed all the way up the cliff to come see what I was up to and for about, no kidding, 10 minutes we stood and stared at each other without moving or breathing.  It was of my favorite memories thus far in my travels and while I felt small on this earth at that moment, the billy goat seemed to reassure me that even in the loneliest spots of this magnificent globe, a friendly energy is always right around the corner.  There I was on the most easternly point of Australia as our Sun rises up to warm my face in the cool coastal morning.  I just sat back, listened to music, and had some red wine with crackers periodically as our star peeked up over the end of the world.  Below you can see in the distance the sleepiness of a quiet tanker headed south.  The mental transcending going on at that point was indescribable.  I am so glad I made the decision to travel the other side of the world for a bit.  Great adventure, RCM