Byron Bay aka Paradise

So we had reached the surfer's paradise, Byron Bay (picture above)

With no hostels open at this time in the morning, AND our very heavy backpacks, we ended up just sitting outside a YHA (youth hostel association) hostel till one of the management came and took pity on us and allowed us to sleep in the TV room till he opened his reception. We were accompanied by Melrose the cat :D

We have both agreed that if we should ever go on a trip that is of a 2-3 month kind, we will NEVER pack more than 10 kg each because after walking for about 15 minutes with 15 kg PLUS small backpack, it becomes unbearable to carry these things around. Also laptops are a no no if you are not planning to stay put in one place for significant amounts of time, VERY heavy to drag around.

As much as we appreciated YHA for letting us in, we realized quickly we had to get to a different hostel. It would have been a great place if we were on a vacation, but since we are looking for jobs and a place to stay we needed our sleep, and in a party hostel with drunken people wandering in and out arguing about cigarettes, it becomes difficult.

We booked ourselves into Arts Factory Lodge, which is a 10 min walk outside Byron Bay central (also called cluster of restaurants and shops. There are only 9000 inhabitants in Byron Bay, the rest are tourists/backpackers/surfers) where we managed to get a “two-bed-tent-kind-of-thing” (pictured above) by a lake and some trees for the same price as YHA. We can now hear birds singing (some of them in a weird manner by the way), hear turkeys walking around outside and cicadas chirping. The quiet and calm is tangible. We LOVE it!!! `We did however have a girl last night who drunkenly thought our tent was hers twice during the night, but that was mildly amusing and expected on a Saturday for one of Australia’s most popular student and backpacker destinations with an infamous night life.

We are saving it for after we’ve had a job for a while ;)

On our first day in Byron Bay, we went on a viewing about a 50 minutes walk from central. A dad, ex-DJ, and his 3 year-old were renting out two double bed rooms in their house. If we shared one double bed this would mean 87,50AUSD (about 500 NOK/£50) a week in rent (AMAZING). So we turned up the charms (pictured above...:D no I jus promised Henriette to add some pictures of me and not just her) and Henriette dragged out her nanny skills and bonded with the kid, and later that evening we had a place to stay from Monday. The long walk to central will be the only issue we have to deal with, the rest was perfect. This family man also has two daughters who live with their mum, but might come over from time to time. Their other house is in the bush, I thought this house was in the bush since it was surrounded by a jungle, but apparently the bush is where the next neighbor is kilometers away and there are Kangaroos a-jumpin and Koala bears a-fallin out of trees. We hope we are also invited to this place at some point to experience some proper aussie action.

After acquiring a place to stay we have now surged the restaurants, shops and hotels with our respective CV’s and are now waiting for the Sunday to become a Monday so we may get some more CV’s out and possibly some positive responses. Currently there are some nibbles here and there because a school holiday of some sort is coming up and they are in need of people. We’re crossing our fingers.

The Sunday was spent hiking to the Cape Byron Lighthouse (pictured above), the easternmost point of Australia (pictured below) where we got ourselves a good work-out, a tan and experienced wild hunchback whales and dolphins migrating south. It wasn’t up-close, but we saw splashes and fins. The Byron Beach Beach (and the smaller beaches next to it) are absolutely dazzling. White, soft sand makes it feel like we are stepping trough flour and the constant breeze makes the heat bearable. When the sun goes down the warmth goes with it, but we’re hoping that will change as the weather gets slightly warmer with the approaching summer.

Now all fingers crossed for jobs, we need to save some money, and we want to start NOW!