The next day. still feeling rotund from my Mexican the night before, I flew to queensland after work to meet up with my mate Adam who I met in Milford Sound for the weekend. I got some cheap flights over there and it was lovely to get some sunshine!
I arrived at around 8ish on the first night so we headed straight out for some/lots of beers in Surfers Paradise. The next day we were both a bit hungover so lots of lying on the beach and afternoon naps were called for. The sand is lovely over there - really soft and fine and I was so happy it was warm enough to sunbathe! But the thing with the gold coast is that as soon as it hits about 3 or 4pm the beach starts getting into shadow because of all the skyskrapers right along the beach front - bad design there. But that evening I went for a look around the beachfront night market which was really cool. Lots of really interesting stalls - it was great to look around. I had to excercise my willpower quite a lot not to buy too much!
The next day, we headed to Byron bay for a couple of days. Byron bay is in North New South Wales and about an hours drive south of the Gold Coast. We got there mid morning and booked ourselves into a cool hostel that had free bike hire and great beach access so as soon as we;d dumped our stuff in the room, we headed out on bikes to the beach and out to the lighthouse. It was a really beautiful day - hard to believe it was winter - shorts and t-shirt weather all day! I even went for a swim in the sea! Well, I say swim, it was more of a stagger/battle against the currents in the sea - it was SO strong! I couldn't move anywhere the currents kept dragging me back to the beach! But it was ace to go diving through the waves :) 
From there we cycled up to the lighthouse (well, Adam cycled, I got so far and gave up and pushed - so much for all my cycle classes at the gym...) But the view was ace from the top and there was a little historical exhibition inside the lighthouse which was interesting, and the bloke working there was really informative, telling us all about the big shipwreck that happened in the early 1900's - you can still see the wreck out to see off Byron bay today. We saw dolphins playing in the surf out to sea by the cliffs of the lighthouse which was really lovely to see - it was a fab day!
The next day was pretty hungover again from the night before, but it was nice to chill out in the sunshine - the hostel had these really cool hammock chairs to sit in so that's where the majority of the day was spent, then a little walk round the town. I really liked Byron - its small and relaxed and sunny! It's pretty pricey as its so touristy, but its still a cool laid back place. I'm looking forward to going back when I'm around that part of the country properly.
The next day back on the Gold Coast I made the most of being by the beach one last time. Got up early for a lovely long walk all along the beach for a couple of hours, it was so nice to be on the beach early in the morning :) then a bit of sunbathing and swimming before catching my flight back to melbourne.
I arrived at around 8ish on the first night so we headed straight out for some/lots of beers in Surfers Paradise. The next day we were both a bit hungover so lots of lying on the beach and afternoon naps were called for. The sand is lovely over there - really soft and fine and I was so happy it was warm enough to sunbathe! But the thing with the gold coast is that as soon as it hits about 3 or 4pm the beach starts getting into shadow because of all the skyskrapers right along the beach front - bad design there. But that evening I went for a look around the beachfront night market which was really cool. Lots of really interesting stalls - it was great to look around. I had to excercise my willpower quite a lot not to buy too much!
The next day, we headed to Byron bay for a couple of days. Byron bay is in North New South Wales and about an hours drive south of the Gold Coast. We got there mid morning and booked ourselves into a cool hostel that had free bike hire and great beach access so as soon as we;d dumped our stuff in the room, we headed out on bikes to the beach and out to the lighthouse. It was a really beautiful day - hard to believe it was winter - shorts and t-shirt weather all day! I even went for a swim in the sea! Well, I say swim, it was more of a stagger/battle against the currents in the sea - it was SO strong! I couldn't move anywhere the currents kept dragging me back to the beach! But it was ace to go diving through the waves :) 
From there we cycled up to the lighthouse (well, Adam cycled, I got so far and gave up and pushed - so much for all my cycle classes at the gym...) But the view was ace from the top and there was a little historical exhibition inside the lighthouse which was interesting, and the bloke working there was really informative, telling us all about the big shipwreck that happened in the early 1900's - you can still see the wreck out to see off Byron bay today. We saw dolphins playing in the surf out to sea by the cliffs of the lighthouse which was really lovely to see - it was a fab day!The next day was pretty hungover again from the night before, but it was nice to chill out in the sunshine - the hostel had these really cool hammock chairs to sit in so that's where the majority of the day was spent, then a little walk round the town. I really liked Byron - its small and relaxed and sunny! It's pretty pricey as its so touristy, but its still a cool laid back place. I'm looking forward to going back when I'm around that part of the country properly.
The next day back on the Gold Coast I made the most of being by the beach one last time. Got up early for a lovely long walk all along the beach for a couple of hours, it was so nice to be on the beach early in the morning :) then a bit of sunbathing and swimming before catching my flight back to melbourne.
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