.......................................................................Flew to Brisbane from Sydney Jan. 31st. I met Nicholas up there and we stayed the night at possibly the nicest hostel so far, huge rooms with only four beds, a big bar down stairs with a swimming pool, very nice. We met Patricia from Austria and this guy Kim from Holland in our room. I walked around town with Patricia in the afternoon and then met back up with Nick for some drinks at the bar. We had a good time hanging out with a guy and a girl from Melbourne who were up taking a course for their jobs, airline engineers. The next day I just took it easy and took care of some chores. Then Nicholas and I caught the 3 hour bus down to Byron Bay, only to find there were no vacancies in any hostels, not one. So we ended up finding a place across the railroad tracks that was kind of like a trailer park out of the American south. We booked a "cabin" that consisted of a tin buildings with two beds, a kitchenette, bathroom, and concrete porch with a couple chairs for about $50 each. We sucked it up and payed because we had no other option. We grabbed some steaks and beers from town and made ourselves some Philly cheese steak sandwiches and hung out on the porch for a while. It was actually a very nice break from the hostel circuit. Later that night we headed into town and went bar hopping, first to the Train Station Bar that had a large outdoor area, then to a bar down by the beach that also had a lot of outdoor tables to hang out at. It was a perfect temperature and there were TONS of people out. To our chagrin we passed a hippie dude just standing there on the sidewalk with his pants down, praying, for what, I don't know, but he had gathered quite the crowd of girls giggling and pointing. To end the night we went into the Back Room Club and danced for a while with the ladies. We had a great time that night. Next day we were able to scrape ourselves out of bed and check in at a hostel by the beach. It was a 16 person dorm and you had to side step the 2 foot long dragon lizard that liked to hang out by our door, but it was cool at least. We hung out at the beach all day and then had a few beers but called it a night early. Next day we took a walk to the light house and then a hike through this trial in the woods before I had to say goodbye to my hombre and catch the bus back the Brisbane.
I met up with Patricia again in Brisbane, and went out for Thai food with her and her roommate from Montreal. Then I hit the sack because I had to catch a early flight to Alice Springs in the morning. I really enjoyed Brisbane and Byron Bay, and wish I could have stayed for about a week longer. Byron definitely was the best beach I have been too so far, counting Hawaii. The water was just so pristine and clear and the views were spectacular. I would like to come back one day, and get up the coast to do some diving, so I left myself and excuse to come back one day!
