Surfing and hiking fun at the easternmost point of Australia

Last Friday, December 9th, we went to Byron Bay. There is a famous lighthouse at the easternmost point of Australia and we wanted to take a nice walk up there. First, we went to the Visitor Centre to find out about the walks and other things to do in Byron Bay. The man at the Info Centre was very nice and he also gave us some good tips on surf spots, as he is a surfer himself. On this Friday, the wind was good for surfing at Main Beach in Byron Bay, and the next day it would be good for surfing at the southern beaches of the coast. Since we were planning to go surfing anyway and Friday was still open, we quickly rented a board from the Visitor Centre and walked to the beach. The rental fee was quite cheap at $20 for half a day, and we didn't have to return the board until almost 6 hours instead of 4.

Unfortunately, it started drizzling on the way to the beach, and despite the prospect of better weather and getting wet in the water anyway, we would have preferred sunshine. At the beach, we quickly changed into our swimwear and went into the water. Man, it was cold!! It was by far the coldest seawater we have ever swum in :D First, Andi and I each spent a few minutes alone in the water with the board, but when we both realized that it wasn't working out, we went in together. The waves were sometimes very strong, and it was a struggle to get far enough into the water to catch the waves well enough to surf to the beach. In addition, the rented board was shorter than the ones we used for our first surf, so we had to get used to the new instability. Most of the time, we capsized before we could even make an attempt to stand up :D The advantage of being together is that one can push the other when the wave comes. This way, you don't have to paddle as much and you have the necessary momentum to catch the wave well. With Andi's help, I managed to surf a short distance on my knees or in the yoga cobra position twice :D

Overall, it didn't work out so well, and we quickly got cold in the water because of the weather, so we finished surfing after 2 hours. We then had our lunch at the beach, changed clothes, and walked back to the Info Centre. We returned the board there and then drove to another parking lot from where we could start the Lighthouse Loopwalk. It was a 3.7km walk in total, with many stairs around Cape Byron, passing by the Lighthouse and the Easterly Point Lookout. It was a really nice walk, but also quite exhausting because of the constant ups and downs. The lighthouse itself was not super special, but it looked pretty with the cliffs. The water was also beautiful, and we could watch the kayakers paddling on their dolphin tour off the coast. Unfortunately, there were no dolphins. Dolphins are never there when we're out :/ In Byron Bay, there is actually a canoe tour where you paddle in a group to the spots where dolphins usually are, and you can get very close to them. The Info Centre guy also tried to sell us the tour, but with our luck, we didn't want to spend $69 per person. It was a good decision!

During our walk, we also met many locals or holidaymakers who were jogging. The crazy ones!! So many stairs are already super exhausting without running! We were relieved when we finally reached the car again after what felt like an eternity. Now we looked for accommodation and drove to a campground in Byron Bay. However, they wanted $50 for one night on an unpowered site. $50!! Since the holidays start this weekend, the campgrounds increase their prices, and since Byron Bay is already expensive, it becomes really expensive during the holidays. At that point, we decided to drive back to the free rest area where we spent the night before. But before we set off, we briefly sat in a Backpacker World Travel branch and asked about campervans in New Zealand. Our flight there is on January 3rd, but we hadn't booked a van yet. From Atlanta, the person we talked to there, we learned that there is a campground right around the corner, very close to the main street of the town, which will increase the prices only on Sunday and currently costs $40. Since it was already late and we also wanted to do some laundry, we drove to this campground, did 2 loads of laundry in the evening, enjoyed a nice camp kitchen and the showers.

Originally, we wanted to go to the city because it was within walking distance and we could treat ourselves to a drink. But Andi's foot got in the way again because the board hit his ankle while surfing and he couldn't walk properly. So instead, we applied cream to his foot, elevated it, and went to bed. Somehow, that's how it goes for us :D