ChrisJenTravel.com – Honeymoon Trek

With the newfound freedom of having a car, we couldn’t wait to get down to the Gold Coast to explore. The 30km strip on the Southern end of the state of Queensland is a surf mecca with countless surf shops, resident professional surfers and some of the best surf breaks in the world. The travel guide warned that the area has come under heavy development over the last decade. But, because of the name (like Bali) and images we’d seen from surf videos, magazines and pictures over the years, we weren’t deterred. Driving through town after little town (all grown together) though, from Surfer’s Paradise to Coolangatta, we were reminded of a huge, glitzier Daytona Beach. In parts we had trouble even finding the beach because of the high-rise hotels and condos. Plus, of course, since we were in town, the surf was not. Shopping at the surf shops was out of the question with $45 t-shirts and $35 hats. We reached the end of the Gold Coast in only a few hours and stood confused as to what to do since we’d planned on spending almost a week. At times like these, in areas we aren’t crazy about, we have to remind ourselves that although frustrated, we aren’t at work or putting up with winter cold back home. We counted our blessings that we’d have more time now to spend in the South and made the most of it for two nights: checking the surf, reading, exercising, catching up on our entries and calling family and friends.

While catching up on emails, Jenny found out two of her good friends from FSU, Amanda and Naomi (twin sisters), happened to be in Australia at the same time and were working their way North to Byron Bay as we were going South. We planned to meet up over Australia Day weekend to catch up and partake in the celebrations. We were super excited since this was the only time we would see friends from back home at random – half way around the world. On the way to Byron we drove the coast of Northern New South Wales and were astounded at the natural beauty of the beaches and coves, and the nice slow pace of the little towns. We stopped for a surf check at a few spots and ended up just taking pictures, but when we reached the perfect cove at Cabrita with its turquoise water, rocky headland and gentle breaking waves, I had to get in the water for a quick surf. Jenny hiked a headland to a lookout and talked with the locals while snapping some great pics and watching the dolphins swim below. Having gotten a quick fix of salt and sun we moved on.

We arrived in Byron Bay on the Wednesday prior to Australia Day weekend without much forethought about finding a place to stay. While the town was just what we had been looking for since leaving Noosa, we were struck right away at the price of accommodation and the reality that it was filling up fast for the weekend. We were lucky to find a few spots in a decent hostel right on the beach but we had to adjust to the party-friendly atmosphere. Many of the young travelers spent their day on the patio or the beach chain smoking cigarettes, pounding beers, singing old American songs then sleeping as late as possible and repeating. Fortunately we got two great roommates: Tom from England and Ray from Tasmania. We hung out with them much of the week and found out that we had quite a lot in common. Even growing up as far away as Taz, Ray had been bombarded with American culture his whole life from TV, so he was eager to hear our version. One night, the hostel put on a Sangria and BBQ party so we couldn’t pass it up but for the most part we spent our nights at the beachfront watering holes hanging out with Amanda, Naomi, Tom and Ray or meeting locals. It was especially cool watching the Australian Open on the big screen TVs since all the locals get caught up in the tournament. The Australia Day celebration was capped at a cool, laid back bar on the beach with great live music and plenty of toasting.

During the daytime we explored the great beaches for some sun and surfing and got heaps of exercise hiking and running around the area. We climbed up to the lighthouse, which sits at the farthest point East on the Australian mainland and gives some spectacular views of the bay, the town and the ocean stretching both ways. The surf was still kind of small but fun in the crystal clear water. In Byron we also discovered Kebabs (Turkish chicken or lamb pita wrap with veggies and amazing sauces grill-pressed together). Since it was one of the few cheap options around it became part of our sustenance from then on through the next few towns. As with Noosa, we knew we could spend more time in Byron getting comfortable in our routine but we had to move South if we were to have time to take in all the sights down to Melbourne.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 24th, 2007 at 10:35 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.