The Real Byron Bay

So, we are still alive.
Yet again, we appear to have become quite slack with keeping you all up to date! You may have seen the dare devil stunt photos on Facebook recently, so be assured, we are still alive and well!

So where did we leave you guys hanging? Byron bay? No? We didn't even get that far?! Oh dear.

Ok so Byron bay and the first weekend there was actually Nickys birthday! Yes! Really! We left you that long ago! Sorry :(
That weekend was an absolute blast. Byron bay is hmm, some would say hippy town, others surfer town, and even others would call it (close your eyes parents and grandparents) the Amsterdam of Australia! No no, we were in the surfer Byron bay! Honest!!

This is going to be almost bullet point kind of blog, and I know it's our own fault, but trying to write this blog on a kiwi experience bus....in New Zealand obviously, and not even Australia....makes us want to get to the awesome kiwi bits as quick as possible! But seriously, we absolutely loved Byron Bay, and we're very sad to leave after just one week there!

So yes sorry, Byron:
Sun sets over Mount Warning sitting on the beach, listening to waves crashing against the rocks, the light house on the other side sending shadows over the ocean, people strolling past with their evening ice creams......did you see it? Good imaginations? Good, because it was gorgeous!!

A couple of runs up to the light house were by no means easy! The steps were insanely steep, but it was all worth it yet again for the fabulous views and more so to say we have been to the most easterly point in Australia! Yay!

Body boarding in the immensely strong current. No seriously, it was actually quite dodgy! But not all the time! We got some pretty good waves in, and when body boarding got a bit boring (because it does when you actually get to do it so often in a gorgeous country....and not down bexhill beach..ehem) we did some wave diving! So cool! Oh and body surfing too!:)
Sooooooo really we were beach bums for the weekend....but no surfboards to hand :( sad times I know!
One of the best bits about the weekend was the Byron Bay Market! We were very lucky to be here for it as they are only there once a month. It was by far the best market either of us has ever been to! It honestly took about 2 hours to walk around the whole of the stalls! Brilliant.
Nicky had a good birthday. As mentioned, it was a run in the morning followed by...well...exactly what we just described.... cool ay?
Oh and ofcourse there was an evening meal at Byron Fresh Cafe, when haz so kindly gave the guys an orange cake thingie gluten free to stick a candle in to surprise Nicky. Aww isn't that nice? Oh but Nicky brought it so wasn't really that much of a surprise. Ok, the candle bit was! Jeez!

Ok, so that was the weekend. Nice and chilled!
But have no fear! It wasn't time to leave Byron Bay just yet!
We managed to arrange staying with a lovely family (Georgie, Ephraim and Omar) in their fabulous house just another couple of streets down from the hostel we were staying at for the weekend.
This was part of the whole WWOOFing stuff. So Accomodation and food was all free, alongside great conversations, borrowing of bikes and body boards (oh yes, those things again!) all for just a few hours work each day in their vegetable garden. We did weeding and planting of seedlings! And I tidied up tomato plants mum! You would have been so proud! All those times I managed to avoid helping out weeding in the garden at Cooden Drive and here I was doing it voluntarily! Nicky on the other hand was quite useless at the whole thing , and stuck to watering the seedlings and erm, filling up water bottles? Oh maybe hammering the posts in too?
     Ermm.. Excuse me I did more than just those thugs you gave me credit for...cut me some slack! I don't have the patience for all that fiddly stuff.
     Ok sorry, Nicky swept up afterwards too. :) wait, no I think that was me still!

We also got to go to Georgie and Ephraims Finger Lime Farm. Ever heard of a Finger Lime? No? We hadn't either!
They are the most random fruit! You cut them open (they look like elongated normal limes) and inside are all these tiny pods - like caviar! They are so citrusy and pop in your mouth. Brilliant in absolutely any food dish, be it curry or on ice cream...or even in your water bottle for flavour!

On the farm, we just did some more weeding, pruning and mulching. General tidy up of the lime trees (normal ones) and ofcourse picking hundreds of them too! And dont forget being terrorised by the HUGE golden orb spiders!!

After work on these days, we enjoyed wondering through the town, looking in all the quirky little stores, eating scrummy ice creams, sitting on the beach, watching the surf, and actually body boarding for a change...

To finish off the week we thought a change of scenery was in order! Howz about wobbegongs, manta rays, dolphins and leopard sharks? Sounds pretty sweet doesn't it? Well, it was awesome! We went for two dives at Julian Rocks just off the coast. Not quite the same as the Great Barrier Reef, but then we didn't see leopard sharks there...or manta rays...or dolphins for that matter!! It was a fantastic dive site, and we were very lucky to see what we did, and really happy to get another couple of dives in!

We had a great evening at possibly one of the best pubs ever! Awesome atmosphere at this place - The Rails. Live music every night and people from all walks of life, young, old, hippy, surfer, all mixing dancing and chatting. Brilliant.

See now why we didn't want to leave Byron Bay?! :) good times indeed.