The wonders of Byron Bay:

Byron Bay was a desired resting place after the last few hectic, night-life-filled weeks in Melbourne and Sydney. Byron Bay is a rather small beach community filled with hippy overtones and organic venues at every street-corner, reminding me of a cross between Amsterdam, Height-Ashbury, Santa Cruz and Vermont: laid-back, super-friendly and crunchy to the max. After a 14 hour bus-ride from Sydney on Monday night, I got off the bus like a haggardly mule, hauling my 200 tons of luggage (though I saw a Japanese girl run across the street today with more luggage than me!!! I don’t know why that makes me so happy, but it sure made me smile). Lost, tired and overloaded, I desperately tried to peel my eyes open enough to search for this Arts Factory hostel…the only well-hidden backpackers down the back of a winding road on the far side of the railway tracks—how the hell do you get over the tracks??? But some really nice and considerate man stopped his VW bus/wagon, and gave me a ride to the hostel (the only other time someone has displayed such an act of kindness, has been in VT):

I have apparently rented out the only empty teepee housing unit on the factory campus!! There are 8 beds, and just “me”! What an unexpected treat seeing that I really needed the quiet and the uninterrupted evenings of slumber (well, minus the brouhaha marching past my teepee from the bar to the hostel but that is nothing I can’t fix with some handy-dandy traveler’s earplugs). But also, I have been so exhausted at night since my arrival that I have not even stirred to the on-going nocturnal noises.

Need I say more when the bathroom art (at the hostel) is this trippy?

I rented a bike for the day to ride around the area—and do my usual scrutiny-tour. It turned out to be far easier than the tortuous ride I experienced on the Northern beaches of Sydney. I managed to ride from beach to beach to beach without losing my breathe or sensations in my legs too many times. And, I feasted my eyes with some lovely sunshine, blue skies, a little surfer-watching and beautiful ocean-views:

One thing to note about the residents of the Suffolk Park areas (south of Byron Bay): each house along this shoreline (though tucked away from the beach-proper) must be worth millions but I love the fact that they all look quite modest and subtle in design from the outside (I now just have to get myself invited into one of them!!). No crazy obnoxious mansions—just a beautiful beach location preserved in its natural state.

And after cruising around for a good 4 hours around the east and south-sides of Cape Byron, I managed to return in time to the main beach for a quick sunset photo session before my camera died…

And, here is the proto-tourist shot by the lighthouse—with this vista being the “farthest” easterly point on the mainland of OZ: