Kicking back in Byron

For our last week in Australia we decided it would be nice to stay put relax somewhere rather than moving from place to place as we've been doing pretty much the whole trip so far.  We loved Byron Bay so we decided to go back and spend the week on the beach.  We stayed at a great place called Belongil Beachhouse (http://www.belongilbeachouse.com/).  Belongil is located right on the beach slightly out of the main town - a perfect spot to kick back for a week.

We were pleased to discover that Belongil offer extended stay rates for guests staying more than 3 days so we got a great rate on a private room (only the second time on the whole trip we've not had to share a room with a bunch of strangers!)  The outdoor spaces around the beachouse were great, we had dinner outside most nights under the thatched roof huts, listenting to live music from the little cafe next door.

Unfortunately it rained almost constantly for 2-3 days so we didn't get as much beach time as we had hoped.  Instead we ended up relaxing at the beachouse, doing a lot of reading and recharging our batteries for the next leg of our trip, Thailand.

The rain didn't stop us taking surfing lessons though.  We weren't too worried about getting wet as we knew we'd be spending plenty of time in the water anyway.  We took lessons with a company called Kool Katz (http://www.koolkatzsurf.com/) whose owner is apparently known as "the Steve Irwin of Learn to Surf" - he was definitely quite a character.  The lessons were the cheapest in Byron Bay too at $49 for four hours - perfect for our budget.  We were both able to stand up and ride a few waves (as promised by the company's flyer) and, other than Lee almost crippling the Steve Irwin of Learn to Surf, we both returned from our first surfinf experience in one piece.

Besides the rain there was one other unfortunate experience during our stay at Belongil...bed bugs!  Courtney was practically eaten alive by them.  We didn't discover them until the third day, after they had had a good munch on Courtney's skin (for some reason they didn't really like Lee) and the bites are soooo itchy (they get worse before they get better as Courtney later discovered).  The staff at Belongil were great about it though and couldn't stop apologizing.  They immediately moved us to a new room, payed for us to wash all our clothes to make sure there were no stowaway bugs and refunded us a night's stay for the inconvenience.  Our new room was fine with no trace of bugs so it was probably an isolated case.

Byron Bay

So it's only right we begin with a brief apology to our followers (we're up to 36 official fans!) for the distinct lack of updates over the last couple of weeks.  We have been experiencing a bit of blog updating fatigue.  It's very taxing trying to maintain a blog as funny and informative as this and furthermore, it's also quite expensive ($5 an hour just to get online.  It's outrageous!)  Anyway, these are all just lame excuses, we need to do better and, from this point on, we promise to try our hardest.  Now that's out of the way, lets talk about what we've been up to over the last week or so.

View from Cape Byron

After a long but uneventful drive from Coff's Harbour we arrived in the beautiful beach town of Byron Bay.  We checked into an 8 bed dorm at Aquarius Hostel which was was located a stone's throw from the beach right in the middle of town.  It was early afternoon so we decided to drive up to Cape Byron and check out the lighthouse.  On the way back we stopped at Wetago Beach to take a dip and relax for a bit before heading back to the hostel to prepare for a night on the town with Kate and Lizzie.

Our backpacker status requires that we maintain a strict budget which means we have to be creative where possible.  Booze is expensive in Australia and definitely a luxury purchase so nights out have been few and far between.  Luckily, thanks to a rather friendly but very alcoholic Swede we met in Sydney, we discovered Goon, the champagne of Australian backpacking.  Goon is basically wine (using that term very loosely) in a box.  It tastes pretty bad and does not make for a pleasant morning after.  Nonetheless, it's cheap and it gets you good and drunk, so it ticks all the boxes for us backpackers.  After a few glasses of Goon we headed down to the bar.  Our hostel was offering a nice special in the bar - buy a drink and get a free meal - so we thought that was a good place to continue the festivities.  Dinner was surprisingly good, vegetable lasagna and salad, and was followed by a bit of limbo.  Courtney is the undisputed champion of limbo at Lee's old apartment so we thought she was in with a good chance of taking the honors here.  A free bar tab was up for grabs!  Lizzie joined Courtney in the competition and although they both gave good perfomances, an unnaturally flexible dreadlocked man took the prize.

Limbo!

With happy hour winding up we headed back up to the dorm for some more Goon with our roomies.  Wasn't long before the playing cards were out and Kate introduced us to "Ride the Bus" (not recommended with Goon!)  This is where things get a bit hazy...

We're a month into our trip and have only been out for drinks on a couple of occasions so our drinking abilities have diminished somewhat (we're mainly talking about Lee here) (editor's note: It's Lee who is writing this and unfortunately I can't remember much of what happened after we left the hostel.  Quite embarrasing for a man of my age I know but there you are).  The stamps on my arm the following day suggest we went to a few clubs but I was told the following morning by Courtney and the girls that we were turned away from more places than we got into because of my "dead eyes."  Courtney, Kate and Lizzie now refer to me as lightweight or "Sally" (a name also used to make fun of my apparently slow driving).  Personally, I think I was roofied.

Come on.  Does this guy look drunk to you??

An extra couple of hours in bed were required to fully recuperate from the Goon, but when we finally surfaced, we headed down to the beach for some tanning.  Lee managed to fall asleep sans suntan lotion and got a bit burnt and then we all cooled off playing in the surf for the rest of the day. 

Overall, we had a great time in Byron.  The beaches are beautiful, the water is warm and turquoise and the waves are huge.  From what we can remember, the nightlife is decent too.