Surfer's, Byron Bay, and The Blue Mountains

Hanging out in Surfer's
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After taking an overnight bus from Hervey Bay, I arrived in Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast of Australia.  The most similar place I can compare it to is Miami.  There are tons of skyscrapers lining the beach and it's pretty commercial.  A lot of travelers that I had met previously didn't like it, but I still managed to have some fun there.  Surfer's has a great nightlife and during a backpacker's pub crawl I was introduced to the Australian delight known as "The Goon."  This is simply wine in a box, but the Aussie's are crazy for it, probably because it's the only cheap alcohol there is in Australia.  It doesn't treat you very well in the morning.  I met a lot of really fun and crazy people staying at this cool hostel called Trekker's and I'm glad I made it to Surfer's, but was ready to move on after two beach-filled days.

Main Beach, Byron Bay
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I left Surfer's and headed to Byron Bay.  Byron is the complete opposite of Surfer's.  It's a small town that has a really neat vibe.  It's like a smaller, more-hippie version of Boulder with a beach.  I chilled out the first day on the beach and got up early the next morning to take a run up to the Byron lighthouse.  Byron is the most eastern point of the Australian mainland and the lighthouse is the first place to see the sun rise.  Unfortunately, I'm not built to get up that early, but the views were amazing.

We ended up in the middle of a drum circle on the beach, while painted hippies twirled fire to the drum beat.

My hippie hostel, Arts Factory
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In the afternoon, I scuba dove on the Julian Rocks in Byron Bay.  I think we saw about ten sharks, four rays, two turtles, an octupus, and a lobster.  It was definitely worth the effort to go, such a cool dive.

The hostel in which I stayed was called the Arts Factory.  Apparently it was a very popular hippie hang out during the Vietnam War.  It's enormous and people have the option of living in a teepee if they so desire.  The best part is they have live music every night.  I met up with a couple of my british friends from Surfer's and we had a great night.  After going into town, we ended up in the middle of a drum circle on the beach, while painted hippies twirled fire to the drum beat.  This was enlightening to say the least.

View from the trail in the Blue Mountains
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The next day, I embarked on my journey to become a surfing god.  I took a lesson and actually got up on the board.  It was a different story when the teachers weren't pushing and we had to catch our own wave.  I now know why all surfer's are ripped, it was exhausting.

After three days in Byron I returned to Sydney for my last few days in Australia.  I took a day trip to the Blue Mountains in order to hike through some rainforest.   If anybody gets to Australia in the near future, you need to go here.  I got off the train in Katoomba and hiked for about 5 hours...amazing country.

Katoomba Falls in the Blue Mountains
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I took another foray into the surfing world today at Bondi beach and got destroyed by the waves, but luckily I caught a few.  I'm off to Singapore tomorrow and I have no idea what I'm getting into, but it should be fun.