Byron Bay9 Dec 2006
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Frangipanis
UFO (Unidentified Flowering Object)
Wave breaks!
9th Dec - We arrived in Byron about 12ish and checked into 2 cabins (treat!) for a couple of nights (then we're back to the tent for the rest of the week) & headed into town for lunch. Back at the cabins we split up so Fiona & Paolo could have some time on their own! Iain headed into town and checked out the sunset over Byron whilst Paolo and Fiona had a relaxed evening on the verandah with a couple of bottles of fizzy wine!
10th Dec - A lazy day for Fiona & Paolo, healthy fruit breakfast, reading on the verandah and then a hilarous hour of tennis (neither had touched a racket for about 20 years)!! Meanwhile, Iain spent most of his day mooching around Byron and reading on the beach (though the weather wasn't exactly sunny!). Paolo and Fiona scrubbed up and went out to dinner at Olivo for 6.30, a restaurant they had wanted to visit last time they were in Byron. They had an excellent meal washed down with Gewertztraminer and Merlot! After 3 hours in the restaurant they then met up with Iain for a few more drinks at the Beach house bar. Got back to the campsite around midnight and then Mum and Dad (Dalgleish) called.
11th Dec - Once again those last couple of drinks were not a good idea, never mind! Moved out of our cabins and into our tent and then headed into town for Brunch and sort out photos and diary stuff for the website. Quiet evening in the campsite and an early night ready for surfing tomorrow.
12th Dec - Got an early start, picked up our boards and headed to Wategos beach. Lot's of surfers, lot's of swimmers and lot's of falling off our boards!! After an hour and a half of struggling to stay on our boards (not helped by the strong current) we headed into Byron for a light lunch and decided to try our luck at Tallow beach in the afternoon, turned out to be not much better and an even strong current to deal with, meaning after a while in the water you had to get back out and walk back up to the beach to where you started and try all over again!! We were all thoroughly depressed by the end of the day, not sure whether we'd just forgotten everything we learned at Noosa, the only plus point was seeing dolphins surfing the waves on Tallow beach. Back at the site we decided it may be wise to take another surf lesson and find out what we were doing wrong!
13th Dec - Picked up by 'Cool Katz' at 9.15am, the guy driving the beaten up van was typically 'Byron' and a absolute scream!! We went to Flat Rock beach just outside Ballina and surfed like we knew we could, just turned out we'd picked the wrong beaches and wrong boards to try and surf on! The boards we were given at the shop were simply too short for beginner surfers and so after an exhilirating lesson where we caught virtually every wave we tried for, we headed back to the shop to get larger boards ready for the next day.Quiet night in the campsite followed.
14th Dec - Another early start today and we decided to try the main beach at Byron armed with our longer boards. Perservered for a couple of hours but the waves weren't great so after some lunch we headed to the far end of Tallow Beach. Again, waves weren't great, but all good practice and once we'd had enough of tring to surf it was fun just messing around in the waves. Went out for dinner at The Balcony which was excellent and then to the Beach House bar for a beer before heading back to the camp at about midnight.
15th Dec - A late start today, headed out to Flat Rock Beach as we'd had such a good time there on Wednesday. Success!! All up pretty much every time, good sized waves without being bone-crushingly scary!! A storm front came in and once it really started raining we packed up and headed back to Byron to secure our tent!! Fiona mentioned on the way how nice a curry would be which met with unanimous approval!! Went to the curry house in Byron where we all had curries with more than a little kick, whilst finishing a great lightning show started so we decided it would be wise to get back to the car and back to the tent. About 2 minutes after sealing up the tent tight the heavens opened....big time!! Left the lights out and laid in our beds watching the lightning light up the ten and listening to the thunder until it was directly overhead and which point we decided it would perhaps be prudent to take shelter in the camp kitchen. Storm continued until 9.30 when slight bedraggled and with a huge puddle at the front of the tent (all electricity disconnected!) we decided to call it a night!
