Byron Adventures 2

 Our bus finally arrived in Byron Bay at about 5:45 in the morning. Dropped in the middle of a town we know nothing about, we started wandering. Needless to say, there wasn’t much going on. So we found our way to the beach in the pre dawn light, and had the pleasure of watching the sun rise over Main Beach in Byron. Being on the East coast of a continent is a new experience for me. I’m used to watching the sun disappear below the ocean, not rising over it. After the sun slowly exposed the beautiful scenery around us, we decided it was time to find our hostel.

 

Finding the hostel was no easy task. After a few wrong turns and a few more u-turns, we finally found “The Art Factory,” our residence for the next 2 nights. When we arrived, I went to the reception to check in and was very pleasantly surprised when the lady behind the desk said that we had a “cabin on the lake” reserved for that night. Quite a sales job. It would have been more accurately described as a “tent on the swamp,” but I guess that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. It was reminiscent of one of those half building, half tent structures that all young boys are subjected to on Indian Guides or Boy Scout trips. But nevertheless, it had a great view of the… swamp.

 

This is when I really regret not being able to post pictures. Words really can’t do this place justice. There is this strange swamp/lake thing that snakes through the grounds surrounded by small “cabins,” on one side, and a campground on the other. The central area had a kitchen, a café, a couple pool tables, a lounge and more hairy female armpits than I was comfortable with. It was quite the alternative, hippy hangout.

 

Tired from the nights travels, and cursed by a rainstorm, we had a slow, relaxed day in Byron. After touring the small town we went to a few bars, and called it a night.

 

On Saturday we decided to take a bus inland to Nimbin, where old hippies go to die. We were picked up in a baby blue school bus by a man named Doug who worked for, “Jim’s Alternative Adventures.” He was a 50something year old man who never grew out of being a hippy. His now grey hair looked as if it had been long and disheveled for at least 3 decades, his stories were interrupted by one tangent after another, he had done more drugs in the past month than most people could dream of doing in their life, had a masters in Education, and was an elementary school teacher. A strong combination… He was one of the more interesting people I have ever met. But, lets get back to the tour.

 

Nimbin is a little over an hour West from Byron. It was refreshing to see a land so beautiful remain untouched. There were modest homes sprinkled over the countryside, but for the most part, it was green and empty.

 

The bus rumbled to a stop in Nimbin and we had 2 hours to explore the postage stamp of a town. Nimbin is referred to as the Amsterdam of Australia with good reason. There were old ladies selling special cakes, brownies, cookies and anything else imaginable. Whenever a police car drove by you would hear people yell “TAXI!” which was code to wrap up whatever kind of legally questionable activity was going on. Quite a place. After visiting the museum, a few cool shops and nice café, we boarded the bus again for the second half of the adventure.

 

We must have taken the direct route there, because the way back was entirely narrow roads that wove up and down steep hills that I really didn’t know if the aging bus could handle. Our trip back was interrupted once for a stop at Doug’s friend’s house who may have actually been crazier that Doug. He had bought 60 acres of land that had been deforested in the 70s, and had turned it into a “botanical garden.” He gave us a tour of the grounds before taking us back to his house that had a giant balcony that extended over a small lake. He told us stories of protests and demonstrations that he had taken part in or planned over the past years and shared buckets of macadamia nuts that he grew on his property. After an hour or so at his house, we waved goodbye and hopped back on the magic school bus, and back to Byron we went.

 

Sunday, we were pleased to wake up to sun, so we spend a very relaxing day at the beach. We rented some surfboards and paddled out for a while although the surf wasn’t very good. Still a good time.

 

Then it was back to the bus to the train to the other train to the ferry, and then finally to campus. We arrived just in time for a quick nap before heading off to my first Monday class.