Newcastle, Byron Bay and the Gold Coast - Byron Bay, Australia
Byron Bay, Australia
It's incredible to think nearly 4 months have passed now travelling. It only seems like yesterday we were dropped off at the airport boarding our flight to Bangkok, I am trying to enjoy every minute of it as the days are coming thick and fast and the money is slowly starting dwindle down. We arrived in Newcastle after quite an intense couple of weeks in the heart of Sydney. We were welcomed to Newcastle Backpackers Stay, quickly realising it was a small family feel hostel with a big TV lounge and games facilities and an outside pool. A perfect remedy to chill out after Sydney and before the east coast travel. Newcastle itself is a small upcoming tourist town, the main attraction are the beaches and sand dunes. Admittedly, we did not too much in the 5 days we spent in Newcastle, we enjoyed the use of the TV room as it was the first real TV we have seen on our travels, watching the Big Bash in the evenings with other travellers. The Aussies are hooked on their Big Bash cricket! From Newcastle, we took our first bus of Australia. We have got a 'Hop on, Hop off' bus travel card all the way up the coast to Cairns. As expected the buses are a world apart from the ones experienced in Asia, air con, wifi and USB charge points for the phones are the luxuries that differ from the sweltering heat on the Asia buses. Our first stop off the greyhound was the famous Byron Bay, known for its surfing culture and long beaches. Byron itself is just a couple of streets long, it is not a big place at all but there is plenty to do whether it is just surfing on the beach or excursions. We spent days our days on the beach and on our final day we walked around Cape Byron which had some stunning views. We walked to the lighthouse on Cape Byron where coincidentally the sun was just setting making a great picture. There weren't too many places to go out in Byron, we ended up at a pub called The Great Northern where a band was playing, it was packed and cost $20 for entry but it was well worth the money. In the Australia winter months you get the great migration of humpback whales and killer whales making there way to the colder waters along Byron bay, which would be great to see! From Byron we took the short bus ride to Surfers Paradise, also known as the Gold Coast. We were told it was the Miami of Australia with sky scrapers all along the beach front. It is one of my favourite places I have been too on the trip. The hostel was sociable with lots of things to do and we met people from all over the world who we may meet with again along the trip. We went on a pub crawl on Wednesday night with everyone from the hostel which followed with a quieter Thursday by the pool! This morning (Friday Morning) we ventured up the Q1 observation tower, we would of ideally liked to of done a helicopter ride but we settled for the observation tower, you could see for miles along the coastline, I had seen pictures of it on TV, and again like many experiences I have had, it is surreal we are here. Trying to take everything is difficult, it won't be until I'm home I think I will look back on everything I have done as it all seems to happen so fast. On Friday evening we travelled to Brisbane to spend the weekend in the city. We have a good few weeks coming up with lots of excursion booked, so it should be a good last part of our trip with a lot more memories to come!