Oz XVI - Byron Bay

Byron Bay is beautiful. I spent a week there staying in, the uniquely Byron, Arts Factory Lodge. Byron is packed to the rafters with backpackers. A contrast to all the places I had stopped in on my way up from Sydney. The beaches are stunning, if you sit on Main Beach to your right is Cape Byron with the Lighthouse and to your left mountains extend into the distance. The Arts Factory Lodge is a huge bohemian backpackers resort. You can stay in a double decker bus, a tipi, camp or in a dorm. The dorms are centred round a pool surrounded by huge palms. It is dirty and overcrowded but has atmosphere and character. I did my standup gig there on my first night and there are lots of other things going on during the week. They have a resident Aussie Legend, Cockatoo Paul. He does a buchtucker walk where you suck the nectar out of flowers and make wristbands out of leaves. He does a show in the evening, playing 7 instruments at the same time. There is a pub, cafe, day spa and cinema on site.

Byron feels alot like Queenstown. Its the backpacker capital and not a big place. So whenever you wander around you bump into people you have met from further down the coast. Everyone goes out to the nightclub Cheeky Monkeys which has various lurid shows on during the week. There isn't a dancefloor in the club, just tables for you to dance on. The challenge seems to be avoiding the drunk guys stumbling off the tables left right and centre.

I ended up hanging out with Dorm 11 (Dorm Heaven). We all went are separate ways, apart from 4 of us who headed on to Surfers Paradise. Surfers is a huge contrast to Byron. When you drive up the coast you can see the silouhette of the skyscrapers on the horizon. They are all hotels or apartment towers. It feels like you have been transported into another country, you could be in the Algarve or the Costa del Sol. It isn't really Australia. Hopefully Bryon manages to keep some of its small town character and doesn't turn into Surfers. We only stayed 2 nights. We went to Wet n' Wild waterpark and found a multitude of ways to get wet and wild. The girls were distinctly unimpressed by the fear factor on alot of the slides, but I thought they were pretty good. There was one called the Tornado where two of you would sit either side of a rubber ring, you would go round the corner then suddenly drop go flying up the other side and then drop again, repeating back and forth until you stopped. We stayed in Sleeping Inn Surfers which is a nice hostel with great staff. However, for each room of 8 there is 1 bathroom and 1 kitchen, so when everyone decides to cook or have a wash it is packed.