Byron, baby!

Mike and his Harley
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And so, ten years after most of my mates had been, we were off to Byron Bay. And like my mates who had gone before me, the town was the reserve of the 18-year-old backpacker, hanging out with the shoeless jugglers, ageing hippies and numerous other people who seemed to have gravitated to Byron's laid-back, beachside charm and never quite left. Had we no commitments back in Sydney, we may well have done the same.

Not that that is stopping Candice from having a good go. She has already claimed it as her new spiritual home, likening it to Plett, her hometown in South Africa. The similarities are striking - a long, sweeping beach of yellow and white sand, a deep blue sea capped with the white flurries of the waves, backed by spiky green mountains and covered by a very, very big blue sky. We stayed three nights but something about the place makes you feel like you've been there a lot longer.

We stayed three nights but something about the place makes you feel like you've been there a lot longer.

I just don't pull it off like Mike
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But if I can briefly wrench you out of this idyll and take you back a bit, to our trip down the Gold Coast highway, which is quite the opposite. Although it sounds attractive, it is in fact a string of apartment blocks, gaudy signage and concrete roads fuelling a relentless and ramshackle real estate boom. Surfers Paradise is a sight to behold, a mini-Dubai, and certainly not what it says on the tin. The surf has been disturbed by shifting sands and the tower blocks shade the beach from about 3pm onwards. We stayed for about 15 minutes.

Surfer's Paradise
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So anyway, Byron. We camped just back from the beach which meant swimming in the sea before breakfast, then lying on the beach all day, and of course, plenty of surfing. Being summer, we didn't witness the epic sessions it is famous for, but a bad wave in Byron is a good wave pretty much anywhere else. We had some fun in the tiny surf at The Pass, the point break at the end of the beach, as the photos testify. But Candice had "the best surf of her life" - unfortunately not captured on camera - on our last day with much bigger waves.

Local talent
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Back in Sydney, it's been hard at work. I've been offered sponsorship and if the suits at Sky say yes - and various other complications are dealt with - I'll be working there full time. This means I'll be off the working holiday visa, and we'll be staying here for the unforeseeable future.

As for the weather, summer really has kicked in now. We had the hottest day in Sydney for three years last weekend, a sweltering 43C. Spare a thought for Melbourne and brother Jim however, where the mercury hit 47C this week, and for five days running.

Ain't she a beaut?
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Mike and Clare left earlier in the month, but not before I had a ride on Mike's hired 1600cc - yes, 1600cc - Harley Davidson. We must have cut quite a YMCA picture.

We also watched South Africa smash Australia in a one day match at the SCG. Three arrests, two pitch invasions and all fuelled by light beer - the only type they serve. It felt like Fratton Park.

Tomorrow we're off on our little campervan road trip round New Zealand, which we're both pretty stoked about it. No doubt Candice will come home with a new list of places she wants to move to.