Byron Bay

Satellite photos of Byron Bay would have showed a green haze moving around the town; this was from the stink-waves coming off the two of us. We had left the bars in Port Macquarie at 10PM and then sobered up by sleeping on the filthy floor of the bus terminal until 2AM, then slept on the bus until 8AM. Since we couldn't check in to our motel until noon, we killed a few hours by taking a long hike to Australia's easternmost point on Byron Cape:


The cape is covered in subtropical rain forest, and it was cloudy and a steamy 28C so we were disgustingly hot and sweaty by the time we got back to our motel. With air-conditioning, our first proper bed in eight days, and a much needed shower, our room was like an oasis in the desert!

Byron Bay itself is the opposite of lazy Jervis Bay: crowded beaches full of surfers, crowded streets full of the young and beautiful, and crowded bars full of drunks. We found a nice restaurant with a balcony overlooking the chaos for lunch (though of course there's nobody on the street the moment we took a photo):

By dinnertime the streets were a zoo of young party-goers with techno music echoing out of every bar. We decided we were too old and tired for this nonsense, quickly scoffed a couple of kebabs on the street, and went home to barricade ourselves in our room for an early night.