Byron Bay

The first day I was in Byron Bay I went with a group from the hostel to see the lighthouse. The journey there was so beautiful! I had no idea what I was in for. I thought it was just going to be a little walk to see the lighthouse. We ended up going on a little hike through the rain forest that took about 40 minutes. It was so humid! I was sweating like crazy by the time we got to the top. I got to see a few native birds along the way. Once we got to the lighthouse it was so amazing. There was a dramatic cliff drop on the side of the lighthouse. The lighthouse itself was quite boring but the view was gorgeous. All you can see is ocean! There are these two random rocks not too far out from the lighthouse. A legend exists that two lovers ran away together and drowned in the ocean together and were cast into stone (a bit morbid and tender all at the same time). Apparently, part of the walk is the most eastern point in Australia!

Today I went kayaking with dolphins! I had a good time. We were only in the water for about two hours but it was super fun. We didn’t see any dolphins for about an hour and then we found a group of about five males. I guess that males aren’t as friendly as females. The females will come up to your boat but the males stayed a good distance from us. I did not know that dolphins like to ride waves! We were watching them ride the waves with the surfers. The kayaks were two people kayaks that you ride on the top of. I don’t like the ride-on-the-top kayaks but they are safer so tour groups use them. I shared mine with a German girl who was a lazy paddler. She had no idea what she was doing. I was a bit annoyed. The other tourists kept freaking out if our boats ran into each other. However, you can’t really help but to run into each other when you are just floating around looking at dolphins. I think they thought it was going to tip them over. There was this funny English couple on the tour. The husband kept saying how fun it would be to tip over and the wife kept arguing, “that would not be a good laugh.” She won in the end and he didn’t tip her over. I found them to be pretty entertaining. At the end of the trip we got to ride the waves onto the shore. I had not done that before when I have sea kayaked. It was really fun to try! We successfully got to shore but most people tipped over.

When we finished they gave us TimTam cookies. I don’t know if they are Australian or English. I have seen them before in specialty stores in the USA but had never had one. They are delicious! They are sandwich cookies with fudge or other fillings that are dipped into chocolate. All of the chocolate here is SO yummy! I think part of it is because they use cane sugars. I had some M&Ms that even tasted better than they do in the USA. I have also been really impressed with the juice here. It is really tasty. They also have a lot of fresh juice bars where you can get any kind of fresh juice you would like. They have all kinds of tropical fruits. The fresh fruit here is really tasty. I have had some peaches, apples, grapes and nectarines that were delicious. All of them were grown in the country. But the bananas I have had taste weird. They must be a different variety. They call raisins sultanas. I think they are the same thing?

Tomorrow I am going to get on the bus again and head to Brisbane for a few days. I am pondering a trip to Steve Irwins zoo! I think I might need to go even thought I all ready went to a zoo. I have heard it is really neat. They have different animals there. In the state of Queensland you can hold koala bears but not in any other state in Australia. Since his zoo is in Queensland I am hoping I can get a picture of me and a koala! My niece would be so jealous and proud. I need to figure out how to smuggle a koala home. I heard a koala has been added to her list of live animals that she needs. She thinks these animals can just ride on the seat next to me on the airplane. I see no issues getting through customs with two native animals…