The Campingdream - Byron Bay, Tea Tree Lake, Lighthouse / 13.12.2018

We woke up very early today because we couldn't sleep well in the tents. So we had about an hour and a half before Free Breakfast at 8 o'clock, so we rested in the hammocks for a while. At that time, nobody else was up yet, which means they all sleep well and we found it quite strange. But maybe it will get better in the coming days.
At breakfast, we suddenly found ourselves in a pretty big group of girls and they told us that their first night here was also pretty terrible. Some of them had been at the campsite for over 2 weeks, which Linni and I couldn't believe with big eyes, because our tent was completely chaotic after just one night and we already knew that we wouldn't be able to handle more than the 3 nights we booked.
But this camping feeling was really cool and everyone was really nice and there were many great stories. For example, there was a man - we estimated him to be around 40 - who has been back on land for a few days after sailing around the world for 4 years. It was amazing how he could predict the weather, because he said that it wouldn't rain now or tonight, even though it already felt a bit heavy, but it would definitely rain tomorrow night and the day after (which is exactly what happened).
So we had a clear path for our plans today, because first we planned to ride bicycles to Tea Tree Lake with Fabio. We have to admit that we weren't really excited about it anymore, but since we made an appointment, we had to go through with it. So we met at the bike racks at 10 o'clock and set off towards Suffolk Park.

It's hard to describe what was so strange about Fabio - somehow he was so sluggish and easily offended, like a little sulky girl. He was riding at a snail's pace and Linni and I quickly got 10 meters ahead of him, and at some point he told us that he would also like to go if we didn't want anything to do with him. We're sorry if we're not as sensitive as you. Of course, we assured him that everything was okay and calmed him down a bit, and in between he told me that I looked really German with my overalls. I found that quite funny, because almost every third girl here was running around in overalls, but well.

After about 15 minutes of bike ride, we arrived at Tallow Beach, where we still had to walk for a few minutes until we could reach the lake. The beach was really long and beautiful, and in the distance we could see a green-covered headland and rocks. There weren't many people around, and I only stumbled across Tea Tree Lake on Instagram, so it wasn't really a tourist hotspot, which we found pretty cool.
At first, we only saw a trickle of brownish water amidst light green trees, which didn't look very promising and rather unhealthy, but the trickle got bigger and wider and the color changed to orange gold, and finally, when we had the large lake in front of us, it turned into a deep red, which was really impressive. It was a very special sight and it almost felt like being in a different world because it was so secluded here. The dark lake was completely surrounded by tea trees, which gave it a really oasis-like feel, and when we put our things down and went swimming, we couldn't even see our bodies below us, because the water was so dark. However, when we held our hands just centimeters beneath the surface, they looked blood red, which was a bit spooky. But the lake wasn't really deep either - maybe shoulder-deep at most - and we also saw a few other people floating on the surface. Because of the tea trees, the water is supposed to have healing powers, something Linni and I could definitely use after 5 days of surfing, as our skin was pretty worn out in some places from the surfboard material and the sand and saltwater.

After we had been in the water for a while and had a really fun time with Fabio, Linni and I wanted to rest a bit on our towels by the shore and played a few Christmas songs - which turned out to be more difficult than we thought because Fabio apparently needed constant entertainment and couldn't sit still. Eventually, he wanted to leave again, but we still had the plan to take some pictures at this beautiful place, so he became somewhat grumpy and really annoying. But we still took our time and afterwards walked back to our bicycles along the beach.

When we arrived at Fabio's campsite, which was a few minutes away from ours, he seemed completely offended again and didn't even say goodbye properly. But okay, the trip had been cool, the weird guy remained a mystery to us.

At the hostel, we met two nice girls named Caro and Anna who had just arrived, and we played cards with them for a while. Then Linni and I started preparing our lunch: potatoes with sour cream, because for some reason there was no quark in Australia. But our potatoes took forever to cook because there was only one outdoor kitchen and the wind kept blowing out the gas stove - but after an hour of waiting, it tasted pretty good.

Afterwards, we set off again with our bicycles, this time in the other direction, because now we wanted to visit the Byron Bay Lighthouse. Clara actually wanted to come with us, but she was too exhausted from work and it was also very windy, making the climb to the lighthouse very strenuous - but we only had today to see it.
It took us about half an hour to the parking lot, about a 40-minute hike from the lighthouse, and we immediately set off, starting with a steep stone staircase that was really beautiful. Joggers kept coming towards us all the time and we looked at them in amazement, in general, Australians were crazy when it came to sports, because they even ran along the beach in the most extreme midday heat, while we could barely crawl through the soft sand.
After a few minutes, we passed The Pass, a pretty famous beach for surfers, and from there it was just a steep climb, but we had really nice views over the coastline of Byron Bay and the sea. Eventually, we reached a small platform that was marked with a larger sign as the 'most easterly point of the Australian mainland,' which was pretty cool. After that, it didn't take us long to reach the lighthouse, which we had already seen from a distance for a while. It was big and white and actually nothing special, but the view was really great and we were just happy to finally get to the top. We took a short break and then started taking pictures, unfortunately the sky was pretty gray and overcast and we already feared that we wouldn't be able to see the sunset today because the cloud cover was too thick. But we still sat down on the grass and over time, many other people gathered next to and behind us, apparently also waiting for the sunset. But unfortunately, the beautiful colors didn't come - not even after a guy suddenly pulled out a small flute behind us and apparently wanted to summon the sunset with complicated tunes. We were really disappointed, it also got colder pretty quickly and it was already so windy up here. So we wrapped our towels around our shoulders like Superman and walked back a bit disappointed - but the mood quickly changed with a few cool party songs and we rode back to the hostel in the dark with our Superman capes - and behold, the mattresses in the tent suddenly didn't feel so uncomfortable anymore.

Song of the day: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas by Michael Bublé, because we heard it at Tea Tree Lake, it's a catchy tune, and it doesn't really look like Christmas at all here.