Tag 164 - stupid

11.10.19

- Alex

Under the acoustic spectacle of the reassembling bats, we wake up and are once again convinced that we have made a real stroke of luck with this place. We have breakfast and head towards Byron Bay, the alternative surfer mecca of Australia. I have heard from various sources that this place has an incredibly great atmosphere and invites you to linger. However, this has apparently spread in the last ten to twenty years, which is why the bay is bursting at the seams during peak season - by the way, only because the Byron Bay municipality, even after years of requests from mass tourism companies, refuses to expand. Buildings are not allowed to be higher than three floors, new construction projects are very rarely awarded, and the downtown area has been locally owned for years.

Another reason why I am excited to visit this city is because my favorite band comes from there - Parkway Drive, named after a street in Byron where almost all band members lived. And if you're already in the area, you can have a good picture taken in front of the famous street sign.

So we enter the address of the street in the navigation system and we arrive there without any problems - but there is no sign of the street sign. A short research reveals that the street sign has been stolen dozens of times due to the fan cult, and the administration has decided to paint the street name on the asphalt. Too bad that at this particular time there is construction work going on and all that can be seen of the street is a brown dirt track. Well, it's not that important, we were there anyway.

However, we already realize that the experience in Byron Bay could turn out differently than expected when we are stuck in traffic five kilometers before the city. Nevertheless, we are optimistic about finding a parking space quickly and exploring the city on foot. This also proves to be difficult. There are hardly any parking spaces in the city (remember: no mass tourism) and those that exist are unaffordable. So let's park outside the city and walk a bit longer. What can I say. In the moment when we are about to leave the car, a heavy rain shower breaks out, like we haven't seen in a long time. With that, all our plans and ideas unfortunately fall into the water, because even after a short drive through the town, the rain shower does not let up, so we accept our fate and continue our journey south.

We visit a parking lot on the coast to watch the many surfers, but we don't stay long because of the weather. It's not until we have been driving south for a good hour that it slowly gets better and we find a stretch of beach where we can walk safely. As the culmination of the nice trip, we go to a beach bar and enjoy some coffee overlooking the sea.

We go back to the car and go to the rest area that is only 15 minutes away. The place is located between a river and a, as we unfortunately realize too late, busy road. Nevertheless, it's quite nice there and we end the day with dinner and board games.

- Alex