The Gabtrotter

The weekend of Feb 19^th, my friends and I went to Byron Bay. About an hour from Bond University, Byron Bay, home of Australia’s most easterly point is a great weekend trip to take. Although I wrote about my personal experience, this time I am going to give you advice as someone who has recently traveled there.

How did we get there?

You can buy a $20 bus ticket on Greyhound Australia. It leaves from Surfers and takes you right into town.

Where did we stay?

Nomad’s Hostel. They were rated best hostel in NSW of 2009 and I’d have to agree Nomad’s was awesome. Overall I’d give this place a 9. Sure, it’s definitely more on the expensive end as far as hostels are concerned. We booked an 8-person room, because there were 8 of us on the trip. We each paid $34 a piece, which in hindsight is a lot of money. Nevertheless, the room was very clean, and had a balcony. The bathrooms were very modern and were also the cleanest I’ve been in (for a hostel). They have co-ed bathrooms and also many individual restrooms within the hostel.

The staff was very friendly and sincerely knowledgeable.  They were also happy to give advice and actually remembered (or made an attempt to remember) your name. There is internet provided from Global Gossip, which of course costs something. However, if you post a picture on their facebook, or are the one who booked the hostel, you get 30 minutes of free internet. A very nice gesture, 30 minutes is the ideal amount for a weekend trip: just enough to double-check that restaurant you were recommended or to update your status or send a quick e-mail to mom and dad. Thirdly, they allowed for free printing, another major benefit.

The location of Nomad’s is perfect, right in the center of it all across the way from several bottle shops (which are liquor stores). The main beach is within walking distance. It’s also very close to the bus terminal.

Any negatives? The beds did make a lot of noise upon movement, but all things considered it wasn’t all that bad.

What did we do?

The first day we went to the most easterly point. Note, cabs are hard to come by on the street. Taxi Limousines was what we used and they were reasonably priced. From Nomad’s up to the top of the Lighthouse it cost us about $3 each of 6 of us. Definitely well worth the price and the trip, here are some more pictures.

We hiked down the other side of the mountain, and found ourselves at the Wakes Beach. Definitely the most beautiful beach I have been to in Australia thus far. The water was crystal clear, and the waves were manageable. In the distance one can see Julian’s rocks, and to the right you can see the most easterly point of Australia. It’s definitely a scenic and just beautiful place to swim around and get some sun. People were getting married while we were there. Personally, I’d prefer to swim at this beach than the main beach by town. It’s smaller and had less people, and the scene was just more visually appealing.

Afterwards we went back to town and got ready for our evening activities. A major benefit of Byron Bay, something I have never in my life, is that the clubs in the area of their own buses and will pick you up and take you to their club, for free. Take advantage of this!

Buddha Bar had a drink special, $2.50/pint for happy hour. It was a good place to start, and I recommend that if you’re in town ask the receptionist at your hostel or hotel to point you in the right direction for what is going on in the area for the night. We had the Cheeky Monkey bar pick us up and we headed over there for the ladies night special. Afterward we went to dinner down the street from Cheeky Monkey, but I can’t remember what the place was called. As the night went on, our group split up to do what the individuals wanted to do. I ended up at the Beach House bar/club. There was a live band playing and it was right on the beach. When Leigh, Kim and I were done with that we decided to go to the beach and hang out for a bit. This was a great idea. What’s great about the beach? It’s always free (at least in Australia). There were a lot of people on it (but not too many), just admiring the beauty of the ocean. There were entertainers on the beach, for example there was a girl twirling flame sticks.

When we grew tired we decided to head back to the hostel and called it an early night because we were going kayaking in the morning.

We booked a kayaking trip through our school’s Exploration Society. It cost us $65 and included transportation and lunch and dinner.  They arrived in the morning, but we were on the afternoon trip, so we shopped around in the morning.

The kayak trip was fun, but not exactly as fun as I thought it would be. We each had a partner; mine was Simona (She’s originally from Lithuania, but moved to the Bronx at the age of 12 and currently goes to Northeastern with me). She’s athletic, so I knew I didn’t have to worry about riding with someone who couldn’t handle the trip, and (even though I don’t like to admit it) she’s fun. Nonetheless, I felt like the kayaking trip was wayyyy too guided. I guess because I had kayaked before, their instructions were a bit redundant. They also were very concerned about everybody sticking together to find the wildlife in the area. We didn’t see any dolphins, but some we did see some turtle’s that were sticking out of the water. Personally, I was mainly interested in just paddling around and getting out and snorkeling near the reef area. It was kind of funny, after a certain point I just wanted to hop out and cool off. I asked if I could and they told me not yet, so I just decided to fall off the boat; however, I knew once I got in that it would be nearly impossible to get back on the boat. Well, somehow with assistance from one of the guides, I was pulled back on the boat. Although I nearly drowned Simona with my frequent (but purposeful) boat tipping, we carried on quiet well and were in my opinion, the best kayakers in the group. If it were less of a guided tour, this would have been a 10; however, given the way the trip was conducted I’d give it about a 7.

That concludes our trip to Byron Bay: overall a great weekend trip to make, with a good vibe. I took a lot of video and will try to make a video of this trip within the next month or two.