Traveling Up the Coast

While you guys were sleeping on Thursday night, Alex and I were enjoying a scenic eight-hour train ride bound for Coffs Harbour.  Taking the train was surprisingly pleasant and a great way to travel.  The people on the train were more upstanding than I expected, until the last stop when a lady and her two out of control children got on our car but, the scenery up the coast was beautiful and we were able to relax, play cards, read and take it all in.  It definitely beat driving and having to worry about traffic, directions and paying for gas!

Sadly, Coffs Harbour didn’t exceed our expectations like the train and we were stuck there for two days because our next destination, Byron Bay, had no reasonably priced hotel rooms due to an annual Ocean Swim Classic being held that weekend.  We made the best of it though; we walked outside of town to see the Big Banana theme park (fun fact: Coffs Harbour used to be the largest banana producing region in Australia), it was a huge letdown but we got a photo of Alex with the Big Banana, which made it worth the eight mile round-trip walk.  Well I guess it wasn’t really four miles there since we stopped at one point for directions and half a mile later a little old man and his wife, who’d overheard us at the gas station, pulled up beside us and offered us a ride to the Big Banana.  Would I have gotten in a car with strangers?!  Hell no!  But Alex was like, ‘Aw thanks’, and climbed right in…  They were a sweet couple and we lived to tell the tale but I informed Alex that we wouldn’t be taking anymore rides with strangers – no need to push our luck any further on this trip, ya know?! 

We also checked out the Jetty (read: pier) and its Sunday Market (for those of you from home reading this, it was the Pec Thing on a beach – very weird), then wandered onto Mutton Bird Island (which wasn’t really an island) and saw a baby mutton bird close-up, taking its first steps.  Yep, those were the highlights, pretty lame compared to everything else we’ve done so far…  I wouldn’t call it a highlight, but I did stay in my first youth hostel and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting.  But Alex has a cool app on his Thrive that allows us to find cheap accommodation wherever we’re going so, since most low-end (but decently nice) hotels here are priced reasonably close to what a private room in a hostel would cost and despite my first experience being ok, we probably won’t be regulars at the YHAs anytime soon. 

Sunday afternoon we continued our train ride north a few hours to Casino where we caught a bus to our next stop, Byron Bay.  We arrived late and I wasn’t feeling well from the bus ride so we didn’t get up to much our first night but we awoke the next morning to explore and were pleased to find that this beach oasis was more like what we’d expected (though nothing like the Byron I grew up in).  The town was quaint with a four block square of shops and eateries, everyone was very chill and the beach was pristine.  Ok, maybe it wasn’t exactly like we expected since it was like we went back in time forty years but it was beautiful.  There were hippies everywhere; dreadlocks, no shoes, no shirts, just tan relaxed people in no hurry to do anything.  Every night on the beach they congregated around three guys playing the same beat over and over again on the drums and hippie danced – it was beyond comical, to the point where I felt like I was in an SNL skit. 

Our first afternoon, we explored town and took long walk down the beach.  The waves were coming in and the surfers were out in full force, the sand was so soft and the water was crystal clear and finally warm enough we could walk with our toes in it.  We stopped for a bit, then, after Alex spanked me at cards, we decided to walk up and check out the lighthouse.  The coastal walk took us past another gorgeous, less busy beach, and up around the cliffs south of town.  The lighthouse itself was ok (another fun fact: Byron Bay is the eastern most point in Australia), it wasn’t open for us to explore, but it had great views of the ocean and surrounding beaches.  By the time we got back down to the beach the sun was just starting to set and the sky was on fire with pink, red and orange hues (the photo , while pretty, sadly didn't do it justice).  It was stunning and we sat enjoying the sunset for over an hour. 

Over the next few days, we went back to the beach, did some more exploring and relaxed and took in the ambiance of Byron Bay.  Again, I feel I’ve not done a good job of conveying how awesome this place was.  It was just captivating; from the random inlaid tiles in the sidewalk to the painted electrical boxes to the crazy hippie outfits, there was always something new to catch your eye.  And I don’t know why but it seemed like life there would be easy.

Despite my affinity for Byron Bay, last night we took a late bus to start the next leg of our journey in Surfers Paradise.  It didn’t take long, even in the dark, to realize that, even though we’d only traveled a few hours, we were worlds away from Byron Bay.  High-rises dotted the landscape and the word quaint was long longer applicable – it felt like we were back in Fort Lauderdale.  This morning we awoke to find out we weren’t the only ones who recognized the comparison, one of the beaches here is named Miami and the resort across from where we are staying is called Florida… 

Yet, it’s still beautiful with miles of beaches and lots of tourist attractions to keep us busy.  We’ve already bowled and played mini golf (both of which I lost, boooo) and got tickets for Sea World, a waterpark and a movie theme park.  Originally we were only planning to stay here for three nights but upon our arrival we discovered that our cheap hotel room was actually a rather nice suite (yes suit, it even has a laundry room with washer and dryer in it) in a lovely resort so we’ve decided to spend a few extra days here since it’s affordable and there is so much to do.  Pretty much the only thing this place doesn’t have is free internet so email responses after today are probably gonna have to wait until Sunday when we’ll be back online to say hi to our Moms for Mother’s Day.