Down the Range and to the Sea - Night 17

By some miracle we nearly had everyone up and ready at 7 am today for the drive to Byron Bay. Carrying ten people with all our weekend gear in the back, the troupee was packed tight and ready for the journey. Our trip would take us over much of the Great Dividing Range, an old, eroded string of mountains more similar to the Appalachians than the Rockies. The road, improperly named the Bruxner Highway, was hands down the curviest, thinnest paved road I have ever been on. Though beautiful, our sinuous trek was tough to take in the back of the troupee.

We arrived in Byron Bay around the noon hour

Peering East

amidst sharp sunshine and a light sea breeze. A small town in terms of permanent population, Byron Bay is world famous for its backpacker scene and I reckon nine out of ten people on the street are anything but local. In addition to its nightlife reputation, Byron Bay is also the eastern most point of mainland Australia. It is somewhat strange to be driving the Pacific Highway (also numbered 1) on the east coast, not the west.

We spent the better part of the day just hanging out on the beach and jumping in and out of the surf. The waves break nicely here and the surfers were busy cutting up the rollers. There is a bit of rip tide here, though more horizontal than vertical. It is no wonder the size of Fraser Island considering the ample long shore drift that is prevalent here. In the afternoon we went for a walk down Jonson Street, the main drag. Good looking girls handing out flyers for everything under the sun man nearly every corner. We managed to pick up vouchers for free internet and for a $3 dinner. At the internet kiosk, which doubled as a travel agency, I found a few good deals on trips to Fraser Island, Noosa and the Whitsunday and will likely book one tomorrow.

The crew came back to the caravan park for a quick shower before dinner. Hanging around outside we fell into an impromptu game of football (soccer) against the girls rugby team that was staying next door. Though outnumbered and undersized we managed to squeak out a 2-1 victory on the strong goaltending of our team leader John.
It took awhile to find the $3 dinner place, however, upon arrival we found out that the only catch to the $3 deal was that we had to wait outside in line at 8 o’clock when the deal began. The joint, The Cheeky Monkey,

Drinks at the Cheeky Monkey

was a decent place with cheap drinks and good scenery, clearly a backpacker’s haven. Pitchers of beer, or jugs as they are known here, were only $7 from 7 to 10. The food was decent, certainly nothing to complain about for the price. By 10 o’clock the place had turned into a full scale night club and much drinking and dancing on the table was had. To anyone who will be in Bryon Bay in the future I highly recommend this place if you are looking for somewhere to let your hair down.

Daniel Winning some Beer

A question of etiquette for you all: If you buy two girls beers and they end up being completely boring and a bit teetotalerish, is it OK to steal the beer back? I guess I really don’t care what your answer is, because Matt and I did just that. The two broads in question were from the UK (Cornwall to be exact) and though certainly good looking, were about as interesting as a freshly painted wall. Thus after a bit of unsuccessful conversation we rightly nickered our boughten beers back.

After leaving the bar we stopped for a dirty doner kebab and then jumped into a cab for the ride back to the caravan park. I ended the night with an empty wallet and a bed consisting of a floor mat and my sleeping bag.

What I Learned Today: The surfer lifestyle has been glamorized in Hollywood for over thirty years now as the perfect pursuit for those wild and young at heart. Though I will admit that surfing does have the luxury of beautiful scenery and good-looking men and women (at least in the movies), I don’t think it is more fulfilling than any other hobby or lifestyle one can choose to practice. What surfing does have going for it, however, is the passion of its members and the community they have formed. These, the passion and the community, are what truly draw people to the ideal of the surfer’s lifestyle. Most of us long for such passion but cannot seem to find it in our daily pursuits. Going to work, paying taxes, grocery shopping, a weekly basketball game, our favorite sitcom; these do not stir the hearts of men. The community aspect is just as, if not more, important than the passion. When people are entirely committed to something they need someone to share it with. In this respect, surfing benefits through the geographic concentration of it members, i.e. there are only a few spots in the world to properly surf year round. Other hobbies such as hiking, stamp collecting, gardening, and writing erotica, for example, can be done nearly anywhere and thus the members are spread out all over the face of the earth. The internet is bridging these gaps, but there is no substitute for sitting around a beach campfire with other surfers sipping beer and telling stories of ridiculous breakers and shark sightings.

written by

exumenius on October 27, 2007 from Byron Bay, Australia

from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos

Send a Compliment

comment on this...