When you go to Australia, you imagine beaches, vintage stores, cute cafés and of course blond surfdudes on every street corner. Up and until now, Australia has shown me plenty of each, except for the single biggest reason women travel to Australia; these surfdudes. Luckily though, I had a stop in the hippiest town of Australia: Byron Bay.
Getting there, though, was already quite a challenge. Upon leaving Noosa, our bus broke down and we had to wait over an hour before our very friendly bus driver had cooled down the engine and figured out what was wrong and how to fix it. Fortunately we made it to Brisbane on time so that we could catch the second bus going to Byron. I chilled at the hostel before going to bed early, as I would have to get up very very early.
The next morning it was time to explore one of the reasons people visit Byron Bay: Cape Byron. This headland sits next to Byron itself and is known as the most easterly point of Australia. There is a stunning lighthouse at the very end and there are many walking tracks to the various beaches in the area. Sunrise is a spectacular sight and so I set off to the lighthouse at 5:00am that morning together with a friend I met on the bus the previous day. And it was really worth waking up for! Even though the clouds delayed the sunrise for a couple of minutes, it was still spectacular to see it rise from the ocean.
After that early rise I took a nap for a couple more hours before exploring Byron Bay itself. There are so many shops and cafés to explore there! Byron Bay is a very hipster town with a lot of second-hand stores, organic foods and tarot-readings. It is quite small, with only about 5000 permanent residents, but extremely popular among tourists. It really has a nice atmosphere. I then finished off the day with a good dinner and some drinks with my sunrise friend!
The next day, though, we both decided to go back to Cape Byron, this time in full daylight, in order to explore all the surrounding beaches. Our first stop was the Pass, a famous surf spot with a lookout point that allows you to watch the surfers catch their waves from above. We then moved on to Wategos beach via a very hilly climb. At the top we stopped to take a breath, but our breath was immediately taken away when we saw the dolphins swimming right below us! A spectacular sight! Wategos beach also did not disappoint and we chilled there for a bit watching the surfdudes trying to catch the big waves. From there it was only a short walk to Little Wategos beach where we had the beach to ourselves and enjoyed the pretty sights. This all took most of our day and when we went back to our hostels we were both happy to sit down and relax for a bit.
Especially because the next day was going to be full of activity again. I was supposed to go kayaking on the ocean with a guarantee to see dolphins, but due to very strong winds this was cancelled. Instead, I went kayaking on one of the rivers near Byron, and I have to say I did not have extremely high expectations starting off, but that it was a really beautiful trip. The tides were not too strong, making the manoeuvrings through the mangroves the only challenge. We saw stingrays and a lot of fish, as well as a huge python chilling in one of the trees. Unexpectedly amazing!
(photos will follow)
The most amazing thing I did in Byron, though, was on my last day there. Quite spontaneously I decided to book a hang gliding tour above Cape Byron. After a short introduction, me and my instructor Brian took 4 steps off the ramp located on top of the Cape and jumped off. I expected to fall down several meters first, but the wind immediately lifted us up and gave us a spectacular view of the cape. It was very serene to glide around the air this way, without any engine or sounds apart from the winds and the ocean below. Spectacular! Quite funnily, I met up with a friend from Melbourne who was in Byron for the day, and she had done the exact same glide! We enjoyed ice cream and good music at the beach before saying goodbye again, as it was time for me to take a 12,5 hour night bus to my almost-last destination in Australia: Sydney.
Getting there, though, was already quite a challenge. Upon leaving Noosa, our bus broke down and we had to wait over an hour before our very friendly bus driver had cooled down the engine and figured out what was wrong and how to fix it. Fortunately we made it to Brisbane on time so that we could catch the second bus going to Byron. I chilled at the hostel before going to bed early, as I would have to get up very very early.
The next morning it was time to explore one of the reasons people visit Byron Bay: Cape Byron. This headland sits next to Byron itself and is known as the most easterly point of Australia. There is a stunning lighthouse at the very end and there are many walking tracks to the various beaches in the area. Sunrise is a spectacular sight and so I set off to the lighthouse at 5:00am that morning together with a friend I met on the bus the previous day. And it was really worth waking up for! Even though the clouds delayed the sunrise for a couple of minutes, it was still spectacular to see it rise from the ocean.
The next day, though, we both decided to go back to Cape Byron, this time in full daylight, in order to explore all the surrounding beaches. Our first stop was the Pass, a famous surf spot with a lookout point that allows you to watch the surfers catch their waves from above. We then moved on to Wategos beach via a very hilly climb. At the top we stopped to take a breath, but our breath was immediately taken away when we saw the dolphins swimming right below us! A spectacular sight! Wategos beach also did not disappoint and we chilled there for a bit watching the surfdudes trying to catch the big waves. From there it was only a short walk to Little Wategos beach where we had the beach to ourselves and enjoyed the pretty sights. This all took most of our day and when we went back to our hostels we were both happy to sit down and relax for a bit.
The most amazing thing I did in Byron, though, was on my last day there. Quite spontaneously I decided to book a hang gliding tour above Cape Byron. After a short introduction, me and my instructor Brian took 4 steps off the ramp located on top of the Cape and jumped off. I expected to fall down several meters first, but the wind immediately lifted us up and gave us a spectacular view of the cape. It was very serene to glide around the air this way, without any engine or sounds apart from the winds and the ocean below. Spectacular! Quite funnily, I met up with a friend from Melbourne who was in Byron for the day, and she had done the exact same glide! We enjoyed ice cream and good music at the beach before saying goodbye again, as it was time for me to take a 12,5 hour night bus to my almost-last destination in Australia: Sydney.
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