We started the day with a trip to the beach at Surfer's Paradise.
Not surprisingly, the day was overcast yet again but there were plenty of people still out enjoying the beach.
Here's the view in the other direction - such a beach town feeling with the high rise hotels lining the beach.
Of course there were surfers surfing in Surfer's Paradise!
Once again, this is what it is supposed to look like (not what we saw). Where are the blue paradisical waters? Paradisical is a term Austin coined during the trip. I so appreciate people who make up words. I am in total agreeance.
We enjoyed a very scenic inland drive between Surfer's Paradise and Nimbin. The view was spectacular with mountains, picturesque views, and quaint towns.
Nimbin is a town filled with unexpected 'treasure'. The town is known for free wheeling and dealing of all pot related goods. Although as illegal here as in the rest of Australia, a political blind eye is turned to such activities in this dopey town.
The town consists of a two block strip of stores and the most saddening people who look completely out of it, many with kids. Everyone looks completely checked out and out of touch with any form of reality. Many people are wearing hippie attire, dreadlochs, and sandals or no shoes at all. People stand along the street offering to show you their plants, sell you cookies, or outright sell pot. It was a shocking experience.
There is even a very colorful museum full of images, art, and declarations for protecting what is grown in nature.
It was hard to take it all in, so much to look at. Every shop smelled of incense and contained something quirkier than the store before it.
The town was full of these colorful parrots, which seemed only fitting in such a colorful little town.
The store fronts were psychadelic, bright, and colorful many with a clever play on words. I was quite nervous to drive and even walk along the street as I think most of the other drivers were high.
We saw more amazing scenery as we continued our drive from Nimbin to Byron Bay.
We arrived in Byron Bay just in time to appreciate the bay. Here's a view of the lighthouse.
Once again, we were privvy to a beautiful sunset as we watched surfers venture out into the water at dusk, a peak time for shark attacks. Are they crazy?
Austin went in for a quick swim. How convenient to be a boy and be wearing your board shorts all day.
We saw more surfing at Byron. Of all the beaches we saw, Byron Bay was our favorite and I'm told the best place for surfing, even beating out Surfer's Paradise.
Once again, a shot of what the beach is meant to look like in sunlight, not that we ever saw sun or blue water. No, I'm not bitter, just hard to impress after the beaches in Hawaii, Thailand, and the Whitsundays.
Austin is working for Global Gossip in Sydney and was on a mission to capture photos for a work assignment, so we stopped in this Global Gossip which happened to be adjacent to our dinner stop that evening.
We headed out to sample the nightlife in Byron and to get an early jump on celebrating Austin's birthday (Apr 13). We started with a drink at this place, but it shut down quite early so we moved onto Cocomanga's and danced til we got the boot at 3am.
Happy Birthday Austin!
