Cairns to Sydney

The alarm was set for 7am this morning but I actually woke on my own about 6:30. I felt rested and didn't even try to go back to sleep. I packed up my things and went down to the dining area for the complimentary bfast. I know you are wondering what I had...Toast and PB. With a side of fruit. It hit the spot. At about 8am all our group gathered in the hotel lobby for a group photo.  We then boarded a bus (we had our driver Scotty from the aboriginal experience again) and drove from Port Douglas back to Cairns. We made one quick stop on the coast for photos but otherwise we went straight there.

We first went to the airport and this is where I said goodbye to most of my group. Thirteen of the sixteen (and the guide) were continuing on to Alice Springs and to tour central Australia down to Melbourne. Myself, Kevin from the USA and Ben from Toronto had other travel plans. We got back on the bus and Scotty drove us into town. I didn't really have a place to go since I was flying out later that day so Ben let me come with him to his hotel. Unfortunately it was still early (around 9:30am) and there were no rooms ready. We put our bags in storage and then walked over to Kevin's hotel which was only about 5 min away.

We didn't really have a plan for what to do. According to our trip itinerary we were only supposed to be getting back to Cairns around 1pm so we were much earlier than expected. Had I known I would have booked an earlier flight to Sydney (mine wasn't leaving until 5pm).

Me and the boys ended up walking down to the main street (the Esplanade) and we stopped at a restaurant and had a drink on the patio. It was hot and I was a sweaty mess once again.  We hung around at the restaurant for awhile and then and then sat on the boardwalk by the waterfront for a while. Ben went to find a pharmacy at one point and when he came back he told us he was going to book a skydiving trip for the afternoon.  We went with him to get cash and to book the excursion. It took quite a while because there was only one person working.  We left there about 12:30pm.

We went back to the hotel and Ben was able to check in.  We then went back over to Kevin's hotel and we lounged out by the pool. It was a gorgeous day. Me and Kevin went swimming. Ben left for his skydiving trip and I stayed in the sun for another half hour or so.

At about 2:30pm I took a taxi from the hotel to Cains airport. It was only about a 10-15 min drive. I checked into my flight and unfortuntely had to pay $40 to check one bag because apparently my fare did not include any baggage. Not sure how that happened but anyway. After going thru security, I had some snacks and wandered around the airport for an hour and a half. There were some nice shops. I bought some souvenir cards. Saw an interesting sign in the washroom. See photos below.

I boarded my flight about 4:30pm. The plane was over half empty I'm sure. I had a whole row to myself. Unfortunately they didn't have tv's or music, but at least the flight was under three hours. I used some of the time to blog.

I arrived in Sydney about 9pm local time (clocks went ahead one hour). I was absolutely starving but the only thing open was a little sandwhich kiosk. I bought myself a wrap and then hailed a cab. The ride to my hotel was only about 15min but it cost me $25, which is $10 more than it is  to take a shuttle downtown Sydney. Unfortunately, it does not pay to stay closer to the airport where the shuttles don't run.

My accomodation was called Meriton Serviced Apartments and it was awesome. They upgraded me from a studio apartment to a one bedroom so I had a full living room, bedroom, bath, kitchen, and balcony. I even had a washer/dryer. It was really modern and nicely kept as well.  Oh and I had two flat screened TVs.

I sat on the couch and ate my wrap while watching TV. It was the first time I has watched TV since I left home three weeks ago.  There was little recognizable on but it was nice to chill just the same.

I then began the enormous task  of organizing my bags for the flight home.  I kind of had everything all over the place but wanted to have a reasonable carryon for the long flight home. That took a while. I went to bed around 1am. I was pooped!

Last night in Aus :(
T

Great Great Barrier

I set the alarm for 6:50am this morning. I wasn't planning to get up so early but I realized lying in bed last night that I forgot to purchase an under-water camera for my trip to the reef. I quickly got dressed and walked about 15 min up to the main street in search of a convenience store or pharmacy/supermarket that was open at 7am. I found a few places but none had cameras. I aborted the mission and decided to live without but by this point it had started to rain. I proceeded to get drenched on the way back to the hotel. Normally I wouldnt mind a bit of rain in such hot temps but it was still dreadfully humid and so I was dripping in sweat and rain by the time I made it back. I had a few minutes to spare, so I stopped in the dining area for to access the free bfast. I went back to my old NZ faithful... toast and peanut butter. I added some fruit for good measure.

At 8am, the bus from Poseidon (the Great Barrier Reef company we were using) picked us up at the hotel.  It was a short ride to the marina. We borded a large motorized yacht, like a cruiser. I'm not sure how many passengers there were in total, but if I had to guess I would say maybe 60-70. The company takes a max of 90.

The crew strongly suggested that we take sea-sickess tablets as soon as we got on board in light of the wind conditions.  I was all over that given my history of vomiting on boats.  Shortly after this we set sail and were on our way. The trip out to the reef actually took about an hour and a half.

I signed up to do an introductory scuba dive and some snorkeling.  Those of of us who were new to diving spent most of the first hour of sailing getting instruction on equipment and safety maneuvers.  By this point the seas were sufficiently rocky and we started losing people to the barf bags one by one. I managed to keep down my breakfast but I was definitely struggling while trying to pay attention.

We were all fitted with snorkels, masks and stinger suits...these were thin body suits to prevent jellyfish stings. Those of us diving then went out on deck to get our weight belts, vests and air tanks.  We were put in groups of four per diving instructor. Initially they took each of us one-by-one off the boat and they taught us how to do the safety maneuvers under water while holding a rope. I did ok. I was nervous I might panic or hyperventilate but I didn't. By the time it was time to actually go under and dive, our group of four was down to two because two people bailed. Our instructor then took me and the remaining girl down into the water.  We held onto a rope as we gradually went deeper and deeper.  About every meter or so we had to equalize the pressure in our ears by holding our noses and blowing. I found this difficult and one of my ears didn't really want to pop so easily.  At one point it really hurt but the instructor was really good about waiting and checking in with us often. He spoke to us in sign language that we had practiced before.

We made it to a maximum of 12 meters down. We then had a very brief swim around and a peek at the coral before we had to start ascending. The view was really cool and I enjoyed it a lot, even tho it was brief. I was excited to try a second or potentially third dive. As we ascended my ears popped along the way. My right ear never fully equalized however. I got back on the boat and felt like I was still underwater on one side.

I decided against going out for the second dive which was shortly after the first.  I didn't want to hurt my ear further and I got queezy again when the boat moved to the next spot anyway.  I elected to try snorkeling for the second trip. Oh and at this point I also realized that I wore my Fossil watch on the first dive. The gears were floating. Needless to say ill be getting a new watch for Christmas!

The views when snorkeling were amazing. The coral was multi coloured and so were the fish. I saw parrotfish, zebra fish, giant clams (and I mean giant!), and a yellow hammerfish. Some people also saw clown fish (aka Nemo) and reef sharks. There was a big orange fish with yellow eyes and mouth but I didn't know what it was. I saw only one really big fish and it was a species of parrotfish. It was almost as big as me! He had a bump on the top of his head. The sea plants were quite amazing. Multi coloured and textured. We could see them really closely.

The water was really warm but incredibly salty (seemingly more than the ocean back home) and the seas were a bit rough.  Sometimes you had to really work to make headway when swimming around. I stayed out snorkeling for a while but started feeling tired and a bit nauseous again.  I also felt like my head and lungs were overflowing in salt water. I swam back to the boat and got out. I went to straight to the toilet and hurled my guts up. It felt good and bad if you know what I mean.  After that I went inside to sit down and they had just started serving lunch. There was an assortment of salads, bread, meat and prawns. I had a bit of pasta salad and two dinner rolls. I wasn't pushing my luck. I took another sea-sickness pill too, as the crew had recommended.

I decided to go out snorkeling for the last stop. My ear was still plugged so I decided to give up on the scuba for the day.  The views of the coral were just as good but there were fewer fish it seemed.. .or I just got used to the amazing scenery.

We all got back on the boat around 3pm or so and then started the journey back to Port Douglas. I was feeling much better so I sat outside on the top deck in the sun for much of the trip.  The seas were better for the first hour but then got choppy again. I was ready to get off when we docked about 4:30pm. Oh, I purchased a few digital pics on board. .. $55 for 4!  Good thing this trip is almost done or I would go broke!

We rode the bus back to the hotel and the first thing I did was hop in the shower  I was so salty that I could rub it off my face onto my hands. The shower felt amazing.

I blogged for about an hour and then went down to the hotel picnic area where our guide Brett was cooking a BBQ for us. It was the last night for some of us on the tour so it was a goodbye BBQ. The others were continuing on to visit central Australia as part of a larger trip. Brett cooked steak and sausage and he provided a green salad, packaged coleslaw and pasta salad for sides. It was great! He even served ice cream and Tim Tams (cookies you can buy here). Mmmm mmm. I love me some chocolate and ice cream.

The group hung out for a couple of hours, but by about 8:30 people were already starting to head to the rooms.  We were all pretty pooched. I left around 9pm and stopped to check email on the hotel computer for a a few minutes before heading back to the room.

Mary and I packed up our bags (again!) so that we could allow ourselves to sleep a bit later in the morning.  I went thru a bunch of my pics and finished my blog for the day. Unfortunately there was no free WiFi at this accomodation, but everything else was so good it made up for it.

10:30pm and it was beddy bye-bye. Cant believe my journey comes to an end soon...
T

Ps. Sorry, no reef pics yet. Have to wait till I get home to a reliable computer.

Port Douglas

We set the alarm for 6:30am this morning and it was not well received by this chick. I was tired. I didn't get to bed till about 11:30pm the night before and it was not enough sleep.  We packed up and walked to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. It was complimentary with our hotel stay  which was good. It was a buffet and they had everything...including WiFi!  We stayed for about 45 min and then headed back to the hotel.

We met the tour group at 8am in the lobby and borded a bus to Coowa beach...just outside of Port Douglas. The morning itinerary was an "aboriginal experience". Our driver Scotty was a local travel guide and he told us all about the area during the one hour drive.  We got to see small mountains to the west and the icean to the East along the way. At one point, we saw several wallabees resting under the trees. I got really sleepy on the bus so I admit I missed most of the talk.

We arrived at the home of Brandon, our aboriginal guide at around 9am. There we got off the bus, lathered up with sunscreen and walked to the shore. We removed our shoes and left then on the beach and then we walked a short way into the Mangroves...this was basically a green marshy area where the water from the ocean came up under the trees. We were given hand-made spears and we trudged thru knee-high water looking for  crabs and other small water creatures like snails/barnacles. The whole experience was, well...gross. The water was murky so you couldn't really see where you were walking and the bottom felt like poo. There were lots of leaves and small plants growing on the bottom too, which kind of freaked me out cause you couldnt see them, but you could feel them.  Some were sharp and some were just tickly.  To top it all off, the mosquitos (or mossies as they say) were horrible. The "hunt" lasted about 20 min and no one even saw anything except for one crab which Hillary found, and she got the guide to spear it.  I was glad to get out of there. Mangroves "all done"!

We returned to beach to pick up our shoes (there were crocodiles in the water btw, which is why we had to stay in the bushes for our hunt). We then walked to Brandon's house. On the way some of the guys tried to knock mangos out of the trees with overripe ones that had already fallen. We got a few and they were delicious.

Back at Brandon's house we sat on his deck and he served us water and muffins and a local bread (soda bread) and golden syrup, the local equivalent to maple syrup although its not maple at all. He also cooked up a bit of seafood (including our one crab and some snail-like things) in some chilli and butter. I didn't even try the seafood because I was too grossed out by the whole fishing experience.

After our snack, Brandon talked to us about some of the sea creatures he had hunted. He showed us two huge turtle shells, the blades of sword fish and saw fish, spider shells and some weapons he had made out of wood (boomerangs, knife). I learned that boomerangs are actually hunting tools, not just toys!

We left the house at about 12:45pm and got back on the bus.  Scotty drove us into to Port Douglas, which was about a 20 min ride. We arrived at our accomodation, Mantra Portsea. This was a beautiful resort-like facility. It had several outdoor pools interwoven between the wings of rooms. The rooms were self-contained apartments with a full, small kitchen, a living area with a love seat and chair, and a small dining table. It was reeeeally nice. It was nice to stay for two nights too cause we didnt have to unpack for one whole day.

We checked into our rooms and I decided to take a walk into town. It was about a 10 min walk to the main street and it was hot and muggy. I was pretty soaked when I got there. I headed down to the end of the street to see the outdoor markets but it was almost 2pm and most people were packing up. I did go into one booth where a man was selling local stones.  I bought a zebra stone pendant. Its basically a stone found in western Australia that lookes like it has zebra stripes when polished.

I checked out the waterfront briefly (which was beside the market) and then I gradually made my way back along the main street, stopping in shops that looked interesting. I didn't find a lot...well i found some, but it was really expensive. I bought a ring but no clothes. I was looking for a cool dress because it is so hot here thay I have regretted not having more skirts/dresses.

I got back to the accomodation about 5:30pm. I dropped my things and then went straight to the pool. I went to the largest pool in the centre of the resort. The water was like bath water but it was still nice. I met some fellow travelers and stayed about 30 min before heading back to my room.

I took a shower and chilled until almost 7pm. I then met our guide and some of the group jn the lobby and we walked back to the main st. for supper. We went to a pub called the Ironbar where they were having a special event: cane toad racing. This guy basically came equipped with 6 Australian cane toads and he had members of the crowd act as jockeys for each toad. The first toad to jump off the table and then be scopped up into a bucket by his jockey was the winner. It was a slimy, stinky event, but entertainkng nonetheless.  I ordered pub food tonight for the first time in a while. I got a chicken burger and it was good.  They put pineapple on it which sounds weird but it actually tasted really good.

We returned to the hotel around 9:30pm. We stopped along the way at a convenience store for an ice cream since none of the gelato shops were open (pretty much everything was closed and the street was empty).

Back at the hotel, I finished my daily blog and got ready for bed. I was in need of  decent night's sleep. Reef day tomorrow!

T

Off to Cairns We Go

It was a VERY early start to the day today.  The alarm was set for 4:30am cause we had to catch a 5:05am bus. I was not impressed when the alarm went off that's for sure. I keep reminding myself that I'm on vacation.

I quickly got dressed and gathered up my things and met the others in the lobby. The bus was  on time and luckily it was almost empty so we had lots of space to settle in.  We made a few more stops and picked up a bunch  of backpackers at one point. I actually met up with Matt, a guy from the UK who was on my NZ trip. What are the odds?

We arrived at the Procerpine train station at about 6am. The train was delayed so we ended up waiting about 45 min. At about 6:45 am we boarded the train and we were off shortly after. It was a long ride...about 10 hrs schedled trip.  It was a nice train with TV screens on each seat and plugs and USB outlets. I was lucky and scored two seats to myself for most of the trip. I watched a few movies and dozed a bit too. We were able to deboard briefly at some of the stops so I did that a couple of times. It was HOT outside. They actually made an announcement that we had to travel at half speed due to the effects of the temperature on the rails.

The scenery along the way consisted mostly of farmlands (corn, bananas). There were also small mountains in the distance.  They served hot food on the train but I had lots of food in my daypack so I just ate that. We were given $10 to spend on the train for bfast/lunch so ill just use that for something else.

We arrived in Cairns at around 4:40pm. It was stinking hot...muggy and HOT. We took taxi vans to our hotel which was only about a 5 min drive away. We checked in at the Mantra Trilogy. It was one of the nicer looking buildings from the outside but the rooms were pretty small...decent just the same.

Mary and I dropped our bags in the room and changed into some cooler clothes and then we went for a walk around town.  We had had enough sitting for one day. Cairns is a really nice waterfront town...as were all the towns along this trip. We walked down the main strip called the Esplanade and along the boardwalk which was just parallel.  The Esplanade was lined with restaurants and shops and it was bustling with activity. This was not surprising given it was Sat. night. We saw some neat marine birds near shore (resembling pelicans) as well as a ton of really big bats (flying squirrel) flying into a tree. There was a sign at the waterfront warning not to swim due to the presence of crocodiles!

Near the center of the Esplanade there was a park like area that was neatly decorated with multi-coloured lights and lanterns hanging from the trees. There was also a huge, lit Christmas tree in the middle of it all. This was nice to see as there haven't really been many decorations to be seen over the past few days of the trip. After walking around and visiting a few souvenir shops we stopped at a restaurant on the Esplanade around 7pm for dinner. It was so hot we both ordered salads. It was good tho...made with greens and pine nuts and beets and pumpkin with a garlic aioli.  Yum.

At about 8:30 we left the restaurant and went to the Night Market nearby. This didn't turn out to be as exciting as I had hoped. It was basically filled with a bunch of mass-produced, made-in-China stuff. There were a few things of quality but not much. Mostly souvenirs.  I bought a towel and Mary bought some Uggs (knock-offs likely).

At about 10:30 we headed back toward the hotel.  I was feeling the 4:30am wake-up call majorly by this point. We made one final stop at the gelato shop before heading home. This time, I got Ferrero Rochee flavour. It didn't really taste like the chocolates, but it still hit the spot.

We returned to the hotel for showers and bed. I did my blogging that I had started on the train and went to bed around 11:30pm feeling exited that I didn't have to wake up till 6:30am :s

T

Island Hopping: Airlie Beach

I got up around 8am this morning. My roomate Mary was up earlier but I could not drag myself out of bed. I got dressed and went to breakfast at about 8:30. There was a free buffet bfast at the resort and man did they have a spread! Everything. I had eggs and bacon and potatoes and toast and fruit. Delish.

I went to my room and packed up my bags and then I met up with Mary and another guy (Ben) from our group.  We took a walk along the boardwalk to the opposite end of the resort to see what was there.  It really was a beautiful place. More pools and a lovely beach and lots of places to lounge outside either in the shade or in the sun. It was really quiet too...not many guests. There were kids activities as well...like a big play structure.

At 10am we went back to the main lobby area, specifically to the outdoor aquariums (there were pools for sea life that ran between the lobby area and the room buildings).  The aquarium pools were situated so that you could stand on the bridges and watch the fish swim by. They had small tropical fish as well as rays and sharks.  At 10am, it was a scheduled feeding time. We watched for a while but it was pretty hot and not very exciting so we left. 

Me and Mary then went to hang by one of the pools.  We took a couple of dips and lounged on the beach chairs for a while before making the decision to go back to the other end of the resort. We pickedpup shop and walked to the other end.

It was much quieter at the other end. We were able to get loungers that were situated very nicely between the pools and the ocean. We jumped into the ocean first cause it was so hot outside that the pools were warm and not that refreshing. The water seemed incredibly salty. ..not sure why but it burned my face and lips a bit and the taste in my mouth was strong.

We stayed there for about an hour and then made our way back to the lobby area/docks around 12:30pm. I scarfed down two oranges and two mini muffins that I had taken from the bfast buffet and that was my lunch.

At 1:15 we boarded dingies (? spelling) which took us out to a yacht in the harbour. We then spent the afternoon sailing around the Whitsunday Islands (from Daydream Island to Airlie Beach). It was a slightly smaller boat that the one in Sydney but a much smoother sail. At first it was raining, and they even handed out rain jackets but the skies soon parted and it was a gorgeous day for a sail. They handed out fresh fruit and a cheese tray too which was a nice touch.  We didn't really have to work as much on this yacht although I did get to steer for a while which was cool!

We docked in Airlie Beach at around 4pm. We collected our luggage and then took a short taxi ride to our hotel (Airlie Beach hotel). It was a nice hotel and the town of Airlie had a lot of character. Many houses were situated on a hillside making it colourful. The town itself was small with one main street and lots of little shops. Our guide told us it was a party town and it did seem that way from looking around.

After checking in, I walked into town with Ben (TO) and Hanna (UK), Marlene (Waterloo) and Kevin (USA). We got some snacks/food for the next day and went in a few stores to shop for souvenirs and other items.  I bought some nice, but expensive jewelry.  I didn't plan on it, it just happened.  Merry Christmas to me!

I returned to the hotel a round 6:30pm. I took a shower and reorganized some luggage. At 7:20pm, our group met the guide Brett in the lobby and we took a short walk up the hill to our restaurant for dinner: Fish Devine.  It's know for its seafood so I got a panko breaded whitefish ( I can't remember the name). It was good and cooked although I would have preferred it even a bit firmer. It came with a side of green beans. It cost $28.

I returned to the room about 9:15pm. Got my bags ready for a VERY early start the next morning. Did some blogging and called it a night around 10:30pm.

T

Daydream Island...Sounds nice!

This morning we set the alarm for 7am. I was actually up earlier than that since I went to bed at 10. Nevertheless, I dozed till about 6:30. We packed our bags and then headed out in search of bfast, and even more importantly, WiFi. We ended up going to the same place we had breakfast at yesterday. I was able to submit 3 or 4  blog posts finally! The bfast was good too! I had pancakes.  Sounds simple but they were succulent! They had syrup and blueberries and mascarpone cheese.  Mmmm. Delish!

We returned to the hotel around 8:45am. At around 9am we boarded the bus for a 2 and 1/2 hr ride to Brisbane. On the way we stopped in a little town called Tweed.  We stopped at a lookout place called Point Danger where you could see the Sunshine Coast across the water. This was not what I expected. The Sunshine Coast is actually a sea-side town filled with high-rise buildings and that's pretty much all we could see in the distance. Ironically too, it was anything but sunny...at least where we were. Windy and cool.

We were back on the bus about 10am. We drove for another couple of hours and entered a new state (Queensland). The time went back an hour.  At approximately noon we arrived at the airport in Brisbane. We checked in for a 1:40pm flight to Proserpine. I've never even heard of this place but its on the way to Daydream Island apparently!  Airport checkin was pretty smooth and I grabbed lunch at a cafe while I waited...a lentil salad.  I'm sooo over fried foods! I had some free WiFi at the airport so I took advantage and tried to catch up in Facebook. Its amazing what you miss!

Flight was pretty standard and we landed in Proserpine around 3:15pm.  It was muggy and hot! We gathered our things and then took a bus to the ferry terminal, which was near Airlie. We were officially in the Whitsunday Islands by this point and it was beautiful.  Sunny and hot and looked like we were somewhere in the Caribbean.

At 5pm we boarded the ferry to take us to Daydream Island. It was definitely a day of travel!  The ferry ride was only 15 min but we came up to this beautiful little resort island...I couldn't believe this was our home for the night.  It seemed so remote although it wasn't far from the mainland. We checked in to the Daydream Island Resort and Spa.  It was a full-on resort...they greeted us with a cocktail and a shell necklace.  After a brief introduction we were showed to our rooms. Really nice room. Me and Mary decided to take a walk around. Great views of the ocean as the resort is right on the water. There were several pools and several resident kangaroos hopping around too! I wanted to stay forever.

We stopped in at one of the restaurants and had a cocktail by the ocean...it was a $15 cocktail but who's counting?  At about 7pm we went back to the room.  I grabbed a quick shower and then we met the group back at the restaurant (The Mermaid) for a 7:30 dinner. I got the "Tasmanian Salmon". It was served on truffle mashed potatoes :p. The serving was small...especially for the price but it was delicious.  This dinner was covered by the tour which was nice.

We left the restaurant around 9:30pm and then went to the lobby to use the free WiFi. Yay!  I realize I sound like a WiFi freak but it just seems to be such a luxury in this country. And when you get it you usually have a time limit or a data limit that doesn't allow you to accomplish much.

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, blogging, sorting thru pics and listening to musak in the lobby.  It was sooo quiet at the resort...It seemed like there there were only about 10 guests aside from our group. It was so nice and relaxing and an unexpected but welcomed surprise to the trip. Sometimes it pays not to read the itinerary fully!

Until next time friends...
T

Surf's up...again

Today we got up about 7. We set the alarm for 6:30 but were tired from staying up late talking. We met our guide and the rest of our group in the lobby around 7:30 and then walked to a place for breakfast.  Our meal was included provided we stayed under $17 this time.  I got scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and potatoes.  Oh, and $7 orange juice. At least it was fresh. I think I'm going to have a heart attack if I keep this eating up tho!

We returned to our apartment briefly and then headed to Mojo surf, a surf shop and school here in Byron Bay. We then signed a waiver and were off to the beach. At the beach we were given rash shirts to wear (mostly to help staff identify us in the water but they also prevent chafing between you and your salty, sandy board). We first took a 20 min yoga class (these surfers like their yoga apparently) and then we got a very brief surf lesson. It was much less instruction than I got in NZ and it wasn't even exactly the same technique. They seemed more airy-fairy here overall. Anyway, I was glad to have had a good lesson before and stuck to my previously learned style.

The waves were hard and fast. We stayed in the shallow water again but it was much rougher than my previous try. I managed to get up on the board a few more times when the instructors helped me to catch the waves. I got totally banged up and  thrown off several times tho too. My knees and leg are a bruised mess.

We only surfed for probably an hour or so. It was enough considering we were getting so banged around by the boards and the surf. We then went to a nearby fresh water lake to rince off all the salt and sand.  This lake was unique. It consisted of naural tea tree oil and it literally looked like you were swimming in tea.  The bottom had that brownish/red colour.

We took the bus back to the surf shop around 12:30pm. They then showed us the pics they took that we could buy..one for $25 or unlimited for $39. Yeah.... I passed this time.

At 1pm we walked down the street to this very unique vegan/vegetarian restaurant that was located in an old church building. Lunch was again included in our tour which was nice. The food was delicious. I got a veggie burger that was as big as my head. It was made with lentils and and other legumes, grains and it had carrots, beets, caramlized onions and yummy sauce on top. It was so big i had to eat it with a fork and knife. Others got mussaka, curry, salads. It all looked and smelled amazing.

We left the restaurant around 2:30pm and me and Mary decided to head to the beach. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the wind was up and the sun was gone. It was too cool to sit and bathe so we walked the beach from one end to the other.  The surf was ridiculous and loud.

We walked back to the accomodation around 3:30 pm. We got showered and changed but I spent most of the afternoon blogging.  Its hard to keep up when you are busy. We had a wicked thunder and lightening storm while we were chilling. It was sooo loud. I would have loved to have seen it on the beach but was happy to be dry inside.

At 6:30pm we went out to meet our group in the lobby to go for dinner. But when we got out there (about 3 min late), there was no one in sight. We could only assume that they had left without us. Luckily we knew the name of the restaurant and we were able to ask someone where it was. We ended up walking there and it only took about 10-15 min.

The restaurant was called The Brewery. It was an indoor/outdoor pub and eatery. We ate inside but the outside was just as big and there were live singers. It was "open mike" night so it was hit and miss. We had to pay for our own dinner tonight but they had a 2 for 1 special if you bought at least $10 in drinks. I didn't want a drink but my roomate got two glasses of wine which covered the cost. We both ordered the vegetable curry and it was underwhelming to say the least.  Byron Bay has not been my friend when it comes to dinner.  Luckily, it only cost $12.

We stayed at the restaurant till about 9pm and then took a shuttle bus back (the one we apparently missed earlier).  When we got back I did some packing and finished my blog for the day. Then it was bedtime.

Goal for tomorrow:  Find some WiFi so i can make these posts!!!
T