Australia - Week Four

Well, phones aren't so bad after all, especially in Australia, as I must say, Aussies are quite possibly the friendliest and most helpful people in the world (at least those in the service industry anyway!) Good job really! The overnight bus to Ballina was again fine, and Len from the Ballina Traveller's Lodge came to collect me from the Greyhound stop in his shiny red 4x4! I was soon checked in to a tiny little YHA with immaculately clean facilities and a friendly, homely atmosphere. Ballina is a small, typical Australian suburban town and I fell in love with it from the start.

Michelle kindly spent time calling other YHAs trying to find me a room, as by now, Brisbane was fully booked! So, after Byron Bay, I'm off to Murwillumbah and Coolangatta for 5 days before Brisbane, and I can't wait as since leaving Sydney and hitting small-town Oz, I am really starting to enjoy it here! Anyway, after all that was sorted, I hired a bike and off I went along the coast, riding past beach after beautiful beach! Seriously, dear reader, if you ever make it to the East Coast, you must stop here and stay at the YHA - it's not a party town, but it's so beautiful and so friendly!

On Monday, I was off on the bike again to go Geocaching - it just so happened that I'd already ridden past most of the caches the day before, but never mind! I also stopped off at the Thursday Tea Tree Plantation, so now I know what the plant I rant and rave about actually looks like! It was good to get back to the hostel after a good 5 hours riding in the sun, (Mum, please note I was wearing factor 30 sunscreen and a hat all day!) That evening, I met Sophie from Denmark and I invited her to join me in my dinner preparations - barbecued kangaroo!!!

Well, I've been wanting to try it since I arrived in Oz, and I've not seen it anywhere, except a local kindly pointed out that Woolworths sell it, along with beef, chicken... doh!!! So, I purchased two large steaks, pre-marinaded in garlic and herbs for just over $5!!! That's miles cheaper than beef in the UK! I was also advised to cook it rare, as overdone roo (as it was listed on my shopping receipt, LOL) is incredibly tough! I was pleased that when Sophie and I woke up on Tuesday morning, we weren't ill with food poisoning as I swear, the kangaroo was raw!!! Next time, I'll perhaps not err on the side of caution quite so much and wait until it's not blue in the middle! It was delicious though and apparently very healthy and environmentally friendly. It is a lean meat with no cholesterol, and kangaroos take up less space than farmed cattle AND produce no methane. So there, skeptics!!!

Throw Another Roo On The Barbie!

It was quite a wrench to leave Ballina as I could quite easily had stayed there for much, much longer; that's the downside of booking onward accommodation but here at this time of year, you just have to or crash on the beach instead! So, Len kindly took me, Stina and Isabel (my Norwegian roomies), back to the Greyhound stop for the onward leg to Byron Bay. Yet again, I found myself at a small, friendly YHA with a pool and a great atmosphere! I was first to check into the room, so I bagged the only single bed in there, after spending the last 3 in bunk beds! HA! I then walked up to cape Byron Lighthouse and spotted my first wild dolphins far away in the surf below me! Of course, I also walked to the most easterly spot in Australia and logged it on my GPS! That's the furthest east I have ever been in my life... until New Zealand that is.

I had a lovely dinner of peanut butter sandwiches (again) that evening and met up with some great new people - Chris and James (Sydney), John (London), Lore (Italy) and Penny (Rotherham). It's hard to believe that in 12 nights in Sydney in a YHA with 500 people, I spoke to maybe only one or two other guests that weren't in my dorm! Yet here in Byron, within a few minutes of going to the kitchen, I was chatting away to a table full of new people! I really don't understand how people come to Oz for a year and never leave Sydney, what a waste!

On Wednesday, it was an early start as I had my first surfing lesson! Yes folks, I finally got a chance to wear the lovely turquoise and chocolate brown rash vest that I impulsively bought in Ko Tao! And I certainly looked the part. It was great fun, although I would spend about 5-10 mins struggling to get into the sea far enough, just to be knocked off the board again within about 5 seconds! I kind of stood up for a few seconds, sort of... I was just glad that I had booked two lessons! Luckily, Thursday's lesson went much better as I had more time in the water, although until I realised that I was trying to catch the waves before they had broken (and subsequently kept getting dumped), I was incredibly frustrated and smacked the board a few times! But eventually, I was riding the waves like a pro... sort of!!

The Mojosurf Crew, Lennox Head

That evening I was thoroughly knackered, especially as I'd walked back up to the lighthouse, before my surfing lesson, to go Geocaching. I met Lisa (Scotland), Pia (Switzerland) and Artur (Germany) and dinner and it transpired, through talking about going out, that we girls just preferred a quiet night in with good friends and a bottle of wine. "So why don't we stay here and get some wine, then?" was my retort and so ensued the best night I've had away so far, hilarious fun with three bottles of Semillion Sauvignon Blanc, nachos and salsa! The highlight of the night had to be when Lisa kindly topped up our glasses, and it was quite a while before we realised that we had finished our wine and she'd someone else's wine who had joined our table! Luckily, Riccardo (Brazil) was very magnanimous about it and a new friendship was formed (although Lisa was still apologising about an hour later!

On Friday, I had free time before my afternoon bus to Murwillumbah, so I spent an easy day perusing the shops with Pia. I bought myself an authentic boomerang, which I will (as soon as I find a nice open space big enough) will be trying out. The bus journey that afternoon was pleasant enough, as I was only going one stop north. The short walk to the hostel was less so, as now my bag is back to stupid proportions, there was not an iota of space left in it and barely five minutes of it on my back is torture. Plus, I've got an overflow shopping bag, so it is a far cry from the way I had got all my junk down to a neat 13kg in KL!

Anyway, the YHA at Murwillumbah has to be the most charming place I have stayed in so far, it reminded me of the dorms I used to stay in on Brownie camp. Tassie was a most welcoming host and after a quick trip to the supermarket, I was busy preparing a Greek salad and kangaroo kebabs in the little kitchen! Plus, I had to make chciken sandwiches ready for the next day's expedition to Mount Warning!

This morning, I set off with Tassie at 10am to the mountain, the highest caldera in the Southern Hemisphere, whereby I heard a fascinating commentary about the area on the way there, superbly pre-recorded onto tape by Tassie! At the car park, we arranged to meet there again at 3.30pm, which gave me 2 hours to get up the mountain, 2 hours doen with enough time for lunch at the top. The going was a little tough at first as I got used to the exercise, but soon I was making steady progress up the trail. The final 100m section was a challenge though - an almost sheer rockface with only a chain for support... but I couldn't get so far and not make it up the the peak!

So off I went, hanging on for dear life, wondering how on Earth would I be able to make it back down that stretch, but at last it was all worth it as the views from the summit were spectacular! Tassie had advised me to begin my descent at 1.30 to ensure i made it back to the car park on time. To be on the safe side, especially as the return down the chain was concerning me, I set of at 1.15, which was a good job as it took me an hour just to descend ¼ of the way down!!! That left just over an hour to make the remaining 75%, which by some miracle, I semi-sprinted down and was back with time to spare! I tell you what though, I am feeling it now. Goodness knows how stiff I will be tomorrow...