Byron Bay

I left the Gold Coast (where I learned to surf) and headed south for Byron Bay. It's a small 'hippie' town and I was told that people are constantly walking around in a stoned state. Figured I would be used to it since I lived in Bellingham for a few years....

When my bus pulled in through the city, I knew right away that I would love it!! No building was over 3 stories high. It's filled with shops and cafes and overall very cute!! I spent a few lazy days there, just cruising through stores and stopping for a coffee and snack. I've had a very difficult time with ordering my coffees while here though. I normally get an Iced Americano, but here if you ask for an iced coffee it comes with milk, ice cream and whipped cream on top... sounds great, but not the best for a lactose intolerant person!!

The most exciting thing I did while in Byron was go on a sea kayaking trip. My hostel roommate, Karina from Norway, and I decided to sign up for an afternoon out on the ocean! Off we went into the Pacific with our guide in the next boat partnered with an Irish guy. Karina and I shared the other boat, with me in the back because I've had a big more kayaking experience than she had. It was a beautiful sight to see -- large cliffs were to our right with a lighthouse perched at the top. We came to a rest in a small cove, when our instructor said this is where the dolphins like to hang. We waited for about 5 minutes to no dolphin sightings and just as we went to paddle again, we spotted one sole fin riding a wave in toward us about 50 feet away. It was a bit eerie for me at first, considering a shark fin looks awfully similar to a dolphins, and I was in a plastic boat about 6 inches above the water! Once I saw two, then three and four fins pop up close to each other my nerves settled and I was able to enjoy these beautiful animals!! I think in total there were 8 dolphins at one time, they didn't come too closeto us but within 15 feet. We could easily see them and hear the little 'pfffts' of breath from their blow holes.

BUT, that wasn't even the most exciting part of the trip!! Adter we decided to call it a day, we turned our boats around and headed back toward the beach. Our guide gave us some pointers for how to 'ride' the waves in and not tumble of out the kayak. Hoenstly, I was pretty excited about this part of the trip. After my stellar performance at surfing, I thought this would be amazing! Since I was in the back of the boat, I got to make the call on which wave we would catch. I let a few go through and then saw my chance. I told Karina to start paddling and we started to pick up some speed at the perfect time to get the wave. I felt it pick us up, and I started to notice that karina wasn't staying in front of me but rather started to go below me! The front of the kayak stayed with the wave while the back had hung off and was beginning to go airborne! I was literally 16 feet in the air (the legnth of the kayak) before I "decided" to bail and was catapulted off and into the sea!! *Picture having jello on a spoon and using the spoon to fling the it somewhere...well, I was the jello being flung*

As I was comiung down toward the water there was a split second when I thought 'Man, I could probably get hurt from this...." I hit the water, held my breath, got pummeled by the next wave, popped up and felt no injury and could breath. Success! I immedately turned to find the boat and Karina, and as I did I caught our guide 20 feet away with his fists thrown in the air and cheering for us! (Picture stereotypical surfer dude - way tan, bleach blonde long curly hair going "That was gnarly dude!")

Karina was 10 feet from me and looking around with her eyes wide open double in size... I sensed then that she didn't enjoy this as much as me...when I got over to her she said she was done and headed for the shore. I followed along and pulled in the boat. Our guide met us there and luckily the guide could tell how much fun I had and asked if I wanted to go back out there. Obviously I said yes!! We caught a few more waves but none of them compared to me being turned into a human food fight!


This is a picture of Bryon Bay (on the right). We left from the right side, saw the dolphins right before reaching the tip of the point- though we did go around it. You can kind of make out the lighthouse at the top of the green area.