Byron Bay

Last weekend I ventured down to Byron Bay in New South Wales for another Arcadia excursion. Cara and I went down to Byron on Thursday for skydiving (see below). When we got to Byron Bay, we checked into Aquarius Backpackers (which was very nice) and went for a walk on the beach. The beach was absolutely gorgeous! It had the squeakiest sand that I have ever walked on! There was just something about that beach that was gorgeous..





After the beach, we headed back to our hostel for a free dinner. That night we were able to enjoy Byron. This place has some AWESOME nightlife with live music. The town has so much to offer young college students looking for some fun!That night, we talked to people from EVERYWHERE..

Austria
Ireland
Holland
Scotland
Canada
Germany
Sweden
and
South Africa

Needless to say, it was a GREAT night!

That next morning we went skydiving, I still can't say ENOUGH about it! Then we hung out on the beach for most of the day... and we did some shopping! We were picked up by our lovely Arcadia staff around 5ish to head to Lennox Head, where we would be staying for the next two nights.

Once we arrived, we met with some of the Bond students and had dinner. After dinner, we walked to the Lennox Head town and sat and talked on the beach.

The next morning was time for the fun to begin! We got an early start and headed back over to Byron Bay for the BEAUTIFUL lighthouse walk! The lighthouse is near the most easterly point of the Australian mainland.







After the walk, we had SURF LESSONS! I will admit that I was a little nervous about rip tides and saltwater getting into my eyes. But none of that happened and I had a blast! I think that I actually did pretty good for a first timer! I stood up a couple of times and was actually able to ride into the beach on a few. Now I see why the Aussie's love surfing so much! Its a great way to exercise and be on the beach.. how wonderful is that??





After the lessons, we went to get lunch. We found this great little cafe right in town that had a pretty amazing burger! We ate and went walking around Byron a little bit. Following an eventful day in Byron Bay, we went back to our hotel in Lennox Head. The hotel was located next to a 'healing' lake. A couple of us decided to go to the rope swing into the lake. It was a lot of fun and the lake water wasnt that cold.. it was really nice. After swimming around, I felt healed!







We had a wonderful BBQ dinner complete with yummy kangaroo pieces (which is ALWAYS a treat).

On Sunday morning, we packed up and headed for Surfer's Paradise for sea kayaking! Cara and I paired up for sea kayaking and did a pretty good job keeping up with everyone. It was a lot of fun and a GREAT way to exercise those arms! Not only were we able to sea kayak around South Stradbroke Island, we also had Aboriginal tour guides that stopped and showed us around the islands. We even got to have a welcoming ceremony where they painted white ochre on our hands, forehead, and feet to symbolize our journey in life. It was quite a nice experience. Sea kayaking took most of the day and afterwards we were dropped off in Surfer's Paradise.

We did a little bit of walking around and were going to go out, but it actually started raining!! (and we were all REALLY tired) We still had a good time in our hostel talking and playing games.

On Monday morning we got breakfast at this wonderful cafe and headed to the airport for our flight back to Townsville.

All in all going down to Byron Bay was a wonderful time. I really liked the vibe of that particular part of Australia and I enjoyed the activities that were planned for the excursion. It was a great way to prepare for those papers that I should be writing now!

Until next time,
Kiara