Byron Bay and Brisbane

The beach at Byron Bay

 We got up for free toast again, got ourselves ready, and had to check out at 9.30am but could hang around until our bus was due at mid day. I uploaded all the photos and then we sat out on the veranda with the English girl we had met. Tony had said he’d give us a lift back down to the bus station which was nice of him, and then he waited with us and chatted until the bus came. Having such a great guy running a great hostel makes all the difference. We were buzzing and loved our time in Port Macquarie. We had a 7 and a half bus journey to endure to get to Byron Bay, it went surprisingly quickly, though we only stopped once. We lugged all our stuff and checked into the hostel which looked ultra modern and new. We were only there one night so we didn’t have a chance to do a lot, we cooked our dinner in a packed out and filthy kitchen, and then slept in our non air conditioned room! It was a party hostel despite there being signs saying no noise etc and warning of cameras. And that was probably the noisiest night we’ve had to deal with, when drunk screaming girls rock up in your room at 3am. We wanted to get up early and get to the beach before our bus came so we were up by 7 am and didn’t try to be quiet too much. It was a gorgeous day and we stood in the sea and laid on the sand for an hour or so. It was bliss. At one point we underestimated how far the waves were coming in and where we had laid our stuff got very wet! My jacket got a nice salt wash. Dried very quickly though! We went back and checked out then just sat and waited for a bit in the hostel. We slowly made our way back up to the bus stop and sat in a nice green shady area. There were cockroaches buzzing around with made me edgy every time I felt anything! The bus came and it was absolutely rammed so it wasn’t a comfortable journey the first part, but a lot of people left when we reached Surfers Paradise so Phil and I moved to the front and carried on the journey. It was only a 3 and a half hour journey but that definitely felt like the longest of them all, it just seemed to drag. It turned out to be a 4 hour journey actually, as half way through we went back an hour in time for the time difference between Queensland and New South Wales. We finally reached Brisbane. It is a beautiful city. When we left the bus station we got a bit lost and confused, and it was so hot to be lugging stuff around for too long, so he headed back and got in a very expensive taxi. We were staying in more of a guest house type place, far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the city, but still within walking distance. Lovely. It was nice to have our own space again for a little while too. We sort of had to check ourselves in as there was no one on reception, but they left a note and the key in the door so it was fine. Once we settled in, we went for a walk up to Fortitude Valley and Chinatown. The path took us along the river which gave amazing views of the skyline, it was so nice to be in a proper buzzing city, and not be scared of being mugged. Fortitude Valley was a hub of bars,clubs and restaurants which was really nice. And Chinatown was cool, we went in a Chinese shop to see what it might be like in Hong Kong! Saw some funny things. We wandered back, made use of some free potatoes in the fridge! And relaxed for the evening.

Beautiful Brisbane

 The next day we planned to cover most of the city centre. We had our breakfast and ‘officially’ checked in. The lady was very helpful in showing us some good places to go and how to get round. We walked to the ‘City Cat’ terminal which is a catamaran taxi thing that takes you down the river to the city centre and Southbank. Great alternative to getting the bus! So that was fun. We got off at Southbank and wandered along the river, we came across Streets Beach (Streets is what they call Walls here), which was an amazing man made sandy beach and swimming area, in the middle of the city, it looked like a tropical holiday resort. Such a good idea for a city that doesn’t really have it’s own beach. We planned to do that the next day. Walking along was really nice, we crossed the bridge over to the ’CBD’ and walked through the middle of the main happening streets in Brisbane. It had such a great atmosphere about it, we both sat for a while watching people and their busy lives go by. There were Christmas decorations everywhere which was very strange! We wandered in a few shops and then went into the main shopping mall. It was so hot outside but the air conditioning in the mall was so cold I had goose bumps! We walked by a salon and a poster advertising male hair models needed caught Phil’s eye, he’d been going on about needing a haircut for weeks! He went in and enquired and they said they could fit him in there and then. So Phil sat and had his hair cut by a trainee in a very trendy salon! It took a while but they did it really well, and even gave Phil a big bottle of expensive shampoo for free for being patient. So that was a good move doing that! We headed back after that. It’s a nice walk, right along the river bank, all the way back to the hostel. That took up most of the day and so we went down to make dinner. Just after I put our stuff on the work top, I suddenly saw a gigantic cockroach scurry out from under the cupboards, and then very quickly back again! First encounter with a bug. Yuck. I happened to be in bare feet too, so I had issues going stepping onto the kitchen floor after that, I had to direct Phil to do the things I was going to do! I’ve never really seen a cockroach before, but this was so big.

Streets Beach / lagoon

The next day when we were ready, we did the river walk all the way into central towards Streets Beach again. We went via the botanical gardens which was nice, but a lot of it was cordoned off for some festival so it was a fleeting visit. We went across one of the many bridges to Southbank and walked along there from the other direction until we got to Streets Beach. There was a lot of other water features to swim about in too that we didn’t see the previous day, fountains and other fun stuff. Great idea. So we got to the ’beach’ and got in the water! It was like a tropical paradise! It became pretty cloudy, typically, after we’d had a clear scorching day the previous day but it was still warm so it didn’t really matter. We spent a good part of the afternoon there. It was so nice to just be outside and soaking up the city and beach combination. Afterwards we just took a nice easy stroll all the way back again. It was such an enjoyable walk, even if it did take an hour! We got back and had potatoes again for dinner. While waiting for our food, there was a huge moth on the window on the outside, and we watched two tiny lizards come along, plan their attack, and grab the moth! It was huge, it put up a fight and they had to grapple with it for a while before managing to drag it off to where they wanted to eat it! That was pretty fun to watch. After we’d eaten and it got dark, we decided to walk back up to a little view point over the river of the city skyline that was near the hostel. It was beautiful. It was so nice to see a big cities lights, we never got a proper chance in California, and there wasn’t much in the way of big city lights in New Zealand either! Got a few snaps and then just got an early night really, pretty manic start the next morning.

Brisbane skyline at night time