Byron Bay - A dreamy little town on the coast

I'll be back soon 😊

The time around Christmas went by so quickly. On December 21st, I said goodbye to Sydney and took the Greyhound Bus up the east coast to Port Macquarie (but only for one night). There is the only koala hospital in all of Australia. Most of the koalas there have chlamydia and have become blind or have poor vision, but some have also been attacked by dogs or hit by cars... It's really a great thing, and the hospital is run completely by volunteers! Port Macquarie also has a very beautiful coastal walk, but unfortunately, it rained all afternoon, so I spent time in the hostel with a few Finnish girls. On the 22nd, I got up early at 5 am and went sunset surfing at 6 am. It was cloudy, but we had the waves all to ourselves! It was really cool to be back on the board 😊 It went better than I thought. That was all I did in Port Macquarie because in the afternoon I continued by bus to Byron Bay - where I spent Christmas.

In the bus, I met another German girl who was also going to Byron Bay (but staying in a different hostel). We walked through the streets together and heard a really good street musician, so we sat down for one song, which turned into 1 ½ hours because he was just really good. It was a really nice evening! My hostel was really modern and beautiful - but it was missing one thing: air conditioning. The room was warmer than outside, and sleeping at 33 degrees is not so pleasant, but at least I got up a little earlier.

Byron Bay is a really beautiful little town. A typical beach town. There are many restaurants, bars, bikini and fashion shops, and beaches.

On the 23rd and 24th, I went surfing again. We drove to a beach south of Byron Bay, where there weren't so many people, and the waves were really good compared to Byron Bay 😊 There were also a few pictures. This time I finally managed to catch a few unbroken green waves and steer the board. But unfortunately, on Christmas Day, I didn't have much luck because the wind was very strong, and as a result, many waves came one after another, and I lost my contact lens after just 10 minutes. But hey - I was surfing on Christmas!

Yes, Christmas... it didn't really feel like Christmas to me here. 30 degrees, sun, beach, and sea just don't feel like Christmas. So my Christmas consisted of surfing. In the evening, I went out for burgers with 2 German girls, and then I went to a bar and listened to the street musician again. It was the perfect ending for me, but I was also somehow glad when the day was over.

But the actual Christmas Day here is, of course, December 25th. All the shops were closed, and Australians usually have a barbecue at the beach. Our hostel also offered a barbecue in the evening, which I participated in. That was pretty cool, even though it started to storm and we all had to go inside. In the morning, I took a coastal walk to the lighthouse, which was not exactly easy in 30 degrees. But I saw some really beautiful places along the way. Then I went to the beach with the others and actually saw a shark! Because there was a shark alarm again. Unfortunately, there were also quite a few jellyfish-like creatures, and the German girl got stung by one of them, leaving a scar-like line on her entire thigh. It looked very painful.

Yesterday, I went kayaking, which was a lot of fun. I got to sit in the kayak with one of the guides, so I didn't have to paddle as much, got all the information, and was in the water the longest 😊 And I surfed a lot of waves. Unfortunately, we didn't see any dolphins ☹ Usually, it's a dolphin kayak tour, but I guess they ate too much over Christmas and didn't want to come up... But it was still a great experience! For the last night, I had to change hostels because I decided too late to stay one more night and go directly to Brisbane instead of Surfers Paradise. This morning, I walked around the "city" a bit, went to some shops, and went back to the beach to watch some surfers.

Now I have arrived in Brisbane, where I will spend New Year's Eve. Greetings from post-Christmas Germany! The surfing pictures will be added later, as I haven't received them yet :) Have a Happy New Year! I will be back in touch in 2018!