Surfergirls in Byron Bay

We have been in Byron Bay since Sunday and it is really wonderful here... it has a bit of a small western town vibe by the sea. On the way here, we crossed the border between Queensland and New South Wales and are now 10 hours ahead of German time. It feels really strange when you drive for only 2 hours and suddenly lose an hour of the day.

In Byron Bay, we found a very central campsite.. It's only 3 minutes to a small shopping street and 10 minutes to the beach.

We used the first day directly as a beach day, because it feels like I haven't had time for that yet and compared to the others, I still feel really pale. So it was time to arrive, go for a stroll and enjoy the sun! We had heard a lot about Byron Bay beforehand, especially that we should visit Nimbin.

Nimbin is a small hippie town not far from Byron Bay. So we planned this trip for the second day. It was a 2-hour drive into the hinterland. It was the first time that I directly told Jozy that I definitely won't drive this route again. Maybe I should explain that we usually take turns driving and try to divide long distances fairly so that you can relax as a passenger on some days. But this way to Nimbin led through what felt like 10000 serpentines, was mostly single-lane and the road conditions were not up to the usual standard. When we finally arrived, our mood didn't improve... it was a village with one street and 10 hippie houses. When asked what you could do in Nimbin, the answer was to smoke or shop. Yes, that was definitely not for both of us. As much as I love shopping, these stores definitely didn't match my taste in clothes, and the incense smell gave me headaches - clearly too much hippie for us! Back at the car, we were both looking forward to the 2-hour drive back to Byron Bay, after all, we had only spent 20 minutes in Nimbin. But our car wanted to stay in the hippie town a little longer, as it didn't start again for the umpteenth time. Fortunately, the Australians are really helpful and after numerous people pushed our car across the parking lot so that someone could give us a jump start, we could finally start our return journey. My conclusion: Nimbin is really not worth it. Since this trip was such a disappointment, we signed up for our first surf lesson for the next day.

And so it happened that I went surfing for the first time in my life today. It was soooo much fun and in my opinion, Jozy and I did really well - we both stood on the board several times!

It took a total of 4 hours, and for me that was really enough. Others may recommend a second surf lesson the next day or even a whole surf camp for several days, but I think one hour is completely sufficient for the first impression and experience.

And I already feel like a little surfer girl - even if the photos don't quite reflect that :D.

By the way, our absolute highlight in Byron Bay is the outlet drugstore! As I mentioned before, cosmetics etc. is really expensive here in Australia, so an outlet drugstore is truly a gift from heaven! Even if you only save $2 or $3 here, it's at least something. So we have completely equipped ourselves with sunscreen, shower gel, etc. here in Byron Bay, who knows when we will come across another oasis like this. Initially, we had only planned to stay here for 3 nights, but since we like it here so much, we extended for another 2 nights today. Tomorrow we will visit the lighthouse (after all, we haven't been on a hike in a long time) and enjoy the sun a bit more at the beach before we will decide in the evening where to go on Friday.

By the way, Mom asked for more pictures ... Since I don't want to overload the blog itself with pictures, as it would look more like a picture book than a blog, I have uploaded additional pictures separately. Just click on 'Bilder' at the top and you should find the additional pictures. Next time there will be more - after all, I accept every suggestion for improvement, I just neglected photography a bit in the last few days ;).