Beautiful Bruny

On the monday morning, March 26th, I met Michael for my first proper WWOOF experience, outside the church round the corner from my hostel. I was going to spend the rest of the week with Michael and his son seven year old son Brody in at their home on the beautiful Bruny Island.

His home was a small self build in the middle of a clearing in the middle of his acres and acres of land which included his own creek. The house itself was a little blue box painted blue mostly inside too. The whole feel of the place reminded me rather of my uncle Alastair's house in the countryside in the north east of Scotland.

After meeting Micheal in Hobart we spent the rest of the morning running errands in the city, taking tools for repair buying things for the house and choosing some paint for the eves.
We looked at the paints for a while trying to choose something that would match the blue that he described his home to be.

We decided that we quite fancied an aqua marine colour- our logic was "If you have the feeling that you want to do something, just go for it," so we went ahead and bought it.  As it turned out though, the green paint we thought we'd bought was almost exactly the same as the colour of the house. After running a few more errands we stopped off at his mum's house in a place called Kingston were I met her and his ex-partner.

Ruth needed him to take her to the city to take her to a meeting, so Michael dropped me off in a cafe where I spent a fair few hours doing some writing. He said he would be back in a couple of hours, but his time keeping was as good as Polina had warned me it was going to be and he didn't return for a good four hours just as the cafe was closing.

We caught the ferry to Bruny just as the sun was starting to set, and the skies looked stunning.

Michael bumped into some people he knew on the ferry who had just been at the rainbow festival and they all headed back with us to his house, stopping on the way at the spilt that divided the north and south side of the island to admire the sun setting in the sky.

That evening for dinner we had a bit of a strange concoption of rice and sweet potato, carrot, beetroot salad and sweetcorn for dinner.

It was a bit of a strange start to my WWOOFing experience, not at all what I expected. He didn't seem to live much on a farm or have much of an organic plantation but i guessed i'd just see how it went.
The next day it was one of the Rainbow crew's birthday's- Shiva- a very expressive gay Italian man with eye lashes that fluttered as he spoke gesticulating with both hands. He was an adorable guy and I loved him instantly. The whole lot of us- Mitzy, Clint and their three children, Shiva, Virgina and Bea and their friends Erin and Joseph, and Michael, his brother Paul that was also staying with him, Brody and me all head to the beach and spent the day there. We played frisbee, swam, fished and chilled out all day.

For lunch Mitzy woked up some amazing sweetcorn fritters in her campervan for everyone, a recipe I have memorised as they were delicious!

As I'd never been fishing before Paul was determinded to take me out to catch my first fish. The brothers hacd their own fishing boat that we took a fair way off sure and Paul showed me how to cast a fishing rod and off we went. Their wasn't many fish about- apparently the fish move with the tides-but I still managed to catch one although it turned out to be a baby and we tossed it back in.   Paul managed to get a couple of decent sized fish though against the odds and we took them back to the beach and cooked them on a fire we made.

As the evening drew to a close we ll headed back to the house and made a huge feast for everyone with vegetables from Mikes garden and we all sat down to eat together on whatever piece of furniture was avaliable. It was a great evening sitting around and chatting about all kinds of things. Mitzy threw together a birthday cake for Shiva with whatever ingrediants she could find which was delicous. Shiva did this incredible almost theatrical interpretation of Mitzy with his eyes squinted and pouting his lips. , "The amazing Mitzy!.. Her children behind her, her man by her side , hand held up high looking towards the sky, holding a cake! I am the amazing Mitzy!"

When I couldnt keep my eyes open anymore I headed to bed. Looking at the time on my phone, when I got into bed it said 9:15; god i was getting old!

Talking to Michael the next day he assured me I didn't go to bed until about 4, so maybe i'm not that old afterall!

I spent the rest of Tuesday painting Michael's house with the paint we'd bought, and discovered that there was almost no difference at all in the colours. Oh well!

That evening we went fishing again. This time just me Mitzy and Paul. There was always different people to talk to and hang out with at Michael's. I liked this a lot. We even saw a pop of dolphins swimming though the bay.

On wedneday we got up pretty early and as the waves were good Micahel wanted to get out as soon as possible and head to Cloudy Bay to go surfing and asked if I wanted to come too. Of course I said yes. When we got there however the waves were pretty big so Micahel went ahead and surfed while I watched and waited for him to return to help me, but by the time he was finished we had to head back as a friend of his which was also surfing was going to come back with us. I did some yoga while I waited for him though. It was a lovely calming place to do some yoga. So on a platform built for the surfers, I relaxed and did some yoga to the sound of the waves. Sounds pretty new-age hippie of me, ay!

The last day I spent with Michael I finally did some "gardening." In fact I planted a tray of Brocolli. Not the organic gardening experience I had expected but an experience all the same. The rest of the day, trying hopelessly to do something for him, I did some cleaning and then spent the rest of the day reading and playing some ping-pong.

That evening just before the sun went down we took the boat out fishing and all those of us that were left at Michael's (Joseph, Shiva, Virginia, Michael, Paul and Me) took a rod each and tried for the final time to catch some fish in the lagoon as the sunset drinking a few beers. We caught a few fish and headed back to the shore where we sat round a fire and watched a seal as it played in the moonlight that reflected on the water.

We headed back as we were getting cold and Joseph decided that he was going to make 'chocolate creme;' it wasn't the success he'd hoped for but was pretty good regardless.

Friday came and as Michael worked back somewhere near the city over the weekends he dropped me off at a place called Margate, where I caught a bus back to Hobart. It was nice spending a few days with Michael, even it wasn't the experience I had expected. I loved beautiful Bruny Island, but it was nice to get back to civilisation too and back to the homely Central City Hostel.

Tasmania: The Other Australian State

I caught the 7am flight from Sydney to the capital city of Tasmania, Hobart.

This journey signified eight whole months of travelling on a trip that was only supposed to last only four. Here I was in a country I'd never dreamed of being in about to embark on an adventure I'd never imagined I would be going on.

However since I had come to Australia, I'd set my heart on venturing to Tasmania and here I was finally fulfilling that wish.

In a few short hours I had landed in the new state of my choice and the anticipatience of what may lie ahead was exciting. I now really was in the realm on the unknown. I had no idea what I was doing now. Little plans or ideas. This was the type of backpacking that I had tried to do the whole of my trip so far. Travelling without knowing or planning. Well ok, without planning maybe thats not wholley true. I had made some vague plans to do something that is called 'WWOOFing,' however what I would actually be doing- who knew!\

WWOOFing or 'Willing Workers On Orgainic Farms' is a kind of volunteering organistation that is actually in action all over the world. You exchange your time and energy and get some memorable life experiences, food and board in return.

Another bonus of this scheme is that if you complete three months or eighty-eight days of work (which can also be done on paid farms,) you can then qualify to apply for a the much prized second year visa.
Its a great way to see some of 'The Real Australia,' and experience life with an Australian family or host and do things you've never dreamed of doing.

I had already been in contact with a women who lived in the north of Tassie and arranged to stay with here later in April and another yoga retreat in the south of Tassie in the beginning of April.

With time to kill before those arrangements I wanted to see a bit of Hobart and the surrounding areas and and perhaps see if i could find some others to volunteer with.

The day I arrived in Hobart I was wiped. The late night and early morning start had used up all my energy, so after a short wander around I ended up falling asleep on a green in front of the parliament building in an area of town called Salamanca. Determinded to do something with the day I booked to go on a tour to the famous 'Wineglass bay' in Freyinet National Park later that week and went for some dinner at Muirs Fish and Chip restaurant which Debbie from Sydney had recommended to me.

The food was nice but being a girl from grimsby I'm not easily impressed by forgein fish and chips especially as the fish in Britain tends to come as big as your face with huge mound of soft steaming chippy chips. It was good fish but the chips were not up to standard. Sorry but GY fish and chips win handsdown everytime.

I spent the rest of that evening and the following day hanging out at the Central City Hostel back in Hobart. It was a lovely atmospheric place to be. The weather outside sucked- cold and windy- so I took some much needed lazy time and watched tv and films.

I got chatting to a lovely German guy called Dennis in my dorm room and his friend Martin, although Martin spent all his time with his head in book and barely said two words. They'd just come back from a seven day trek across the Cradle mountains which sounded pretty awesome, although had completely stunk of the whole room with their walking gear that was spread out across the floor. Dennis apologised profusely about but as he was so nice I told him it didn't matter.

The following day a german girl moved into the room too full of energy and life which certainly brightened up the place. She'd too been on some tour of Tasmania and had her washing drapped over every possible bed post avaliable.

On the Thursday I'd booked to go on a tour to the famous Wineglass Bay. Whenever you see pictures of Tasmania, its more than likely you'll see a photo of Wineglass Bay, I certianly got dozens of images of it when I googled Tasmania. In fact it was one of the reason I decided I definetley wanted to come. It was a kind of 'I want to go there!' moment and minutes later I booked my flight.

The tour wasn't the greatest. A bit overpriced for what was actually included but I enjoyed it all the same. All the places we stopped at were truely stunning and really made me gush about how amazing Tassie was to all my friends and family back home.

It really made me feel saying 'Excuse me Tasmania, the rest of the world called and would like some of its beauty back!'

 It was a nice day and I saw some lovely places but the best part of my day (although a close second was the friendly wallabies at Freyinet NP!) was probably meeting a young Phillapeano guy called Ken. His wonderfully boytorus and fun character really made the day. We just acted like children taking hundreds of photos and messed around all day. When we got back me and my new best friend went and grabbed some dinner at Fish Frenzy and chatted the evening away.

Friday was spent being lazy too. I really was loving this not working malarky! If you don't want to do something then don't! I could deffo get used to this!

got a call from Ken about 7 asking me if I wanted to go take photos of the lit up city skyline. I figured as I hadn't done anything more or less all day, apart from hang out with a dutch guy I'd met called Sander and talked about my travels through Asia, I would go. We (unsuccessfully!) took some pictures of the city and then played about with our cameras taking pictures in the shadows and street lights and ended up with some pretty interesting photos!

The following day we met up again to check out the famous Salamanca market with a whistlestop at an amazing bakery that was just round the corner from the market. The market was fun. Lots of stuff you expect to see- handicrafts, homemade jams, wines and whiskeys and nick nacks and plenty of food! There were quite a few buskers too making some nice music which nicely added to the market feel.

In the afternoon I headed back to my hostel and got talking to a Russian/Candian girl named Polina. Funnily enough she had just come from the WWOOF host that I'd spoke to the day before and was about to go stay with, had moved into my dorm and was even in the bed above mine!
I was getting hungry by now and being lazy and not wanting to cook for myself I was just going to head out and see what I could find. Me and Polina ended up going to an Thai restaurant with an English guy- Phil- and his French friend Adrian, which Polina had met earlier that day. We finished off the evening back at the hostel with a box of goon (bag of wine, to the English ones of you) and chatted the night away.

It was one of those nights that you would just like to chill out and have some pleasent conversation, however Phil's idea of fun was intense conversation analysing peoples beliefs. We had gotten into an extremely deep conversation about Yoga Ashrams and his views were the polar opposite of mine. I think he felt my feelings of my time in the ashram were naive and that i'd been sucked into what they wanted me to believe and feel. In the end he said he was interested in my arguments and we agreed to disagree on the whole matter and to be honest I was just glad that it was over as I found the whole ordeal exhausting!

In a pleasent end to the evening though I spoke to my best friend in England and it was so nice to hear her voice and here all about normal life back home!... Even if it was interupted my running out of credit and a women telling me to be quiet!

 Sunday came. My last day for the time being in Hobart and I finally got the energy to go to MONA- The Museum of Old and New Art, after failed attempts every other day of the week, Man, that place is weird. If you know me, you know I love art. I love all types of art. Historical painting, modern paintings, colourful paintings, b;ack and white paintings and 'i don't know if thats actually classed as a painting 'paintings. Drawings, sculptures and photographs- I enjoy them all. But boy this place was something else.

There is such a bizarre collect of things in that place I don't even know where to begin. There were things I loved. There was David Shrigley videos and art, a room filled with tv screens of people singing and dancing to Madonna songs and a huge head on the floor that you look into and see all the things whirling around its brain. But there were strange, strange things too. A poo making machine room- which smelt like sick and looked worse, a video of a person squeezing zits and a really eerie room containing a mummy on a island surrounded by black water accessible only by a stepping stone path that went around the side of the room.

I'm glad I went, but it definetly hasn't knocked London's Tate Britain of my art gallery top spot.

To finish off the evening me, Dennis, The german girl, Polina and another German girl who moved into our room went in search of a pub. It sounds like a simple task, but trying to find a pub in Hobart on a Sunday night is harder than it looks. In the end we were in luck and found one open which even had a band playing... to a massive crowd of four people! We sat and had a couple of drinks and then headed back after our crazy night. Wow Tassie is just... wild! I'm guessing that the Sunday night lack of entertainment isn't a great example of Tassie nights but you never know. This place does seem pretty quiet!

Hobart was a lovely welcome to Tasmania and I couldn't wait for what the rest of Tasmania held!

A Reunion of Friends

I came back from the Ashram on Monday 19th March and spent that day in Sydney before I flew to Hobart.

It was really nice to be back 'home' for a short while.  I got to catch up with a women that had been at the ashram and with my friends from NQ. My meet up with Debbie from Mangrove had originally been planned as a coffee for an hour or so but turned into a five hour long chat in my beloved Starbucks on Campbell Street corner. It brilliant when you meet like minded people like that. Debbie, a fourty something Australian women who had dreams of travelling in Europe, and I had so much in common we talked for hours about everything and everything. We talked about life experiences, travelling, family, books, films, philophises and the rest.

Before i knew it it was 5pm; She had plans with a friend to go to the cinema and I had planned to meet Danielle from work. We said our goodbyes, hopefully not for the last time, and wished each other well for the future.

As I walked away from my meeting with Debbie which left me in such high spirits, I called Danielle and we arranged to both walk towards each other down George Street until we bumped into the other. It was lovely to be able to run up to her and give her a huge hug in the middle of the George Street crowds.

We sat in the Myers building and I was so hyped up with energy from chatting with Debbie for the last five hours, I talked at her like the speed of light filling her in with all the going ons from the last two weeks. Soon enough it was time to meet the others- Ardo, Irine, Midori and of course my darling Hien!

It was amazing to see them again! And we did what we did best and this was go and eat out at some of the awesome resturants Sydney had to offer. We all headed to Home, a Thai restaurant in Chinatown and got some food, which turned out to be pretty darn spicy much to Ardo's pleasure. There we all caught up on each others lives, and the antics of me and jan in the brilliant Byron Bay.

Before long it was getting late and time for me to head on back to the hostel as i had a very early flight, (yet again!) This time knowing that I wouldn't be returning to Sydney, at least for a very long time, I said my very last goodbyes to these people that had been dear friends of mine while I lived in this amazing city although I knew that one day some how I would see at least Hien and Danielle again.

The last two weeks had been awesome, work free and responsibility free. Being back on the road sure felt good and it wasn't about to change for a while at least. Onwards to Tasmania!

What do you think when I say yoga ashram?!

From Byron bay I took the train back to a place called Gosford, about an hour and a half north of Sydney where a women Shakti, met me to take me to the ashram deep in the mountains in the countryside.

When we arrived it was around 10pm, at which time the ashram was in the practice of mouna- the practice of silence that takes place every night from 8:15 until 7:30am the next morning.
The day started at 5am so I headed to my room with two girls that I met, Sophie and Remi, that Shakti had introduced me to, and went to bed ready for the next morning.

Each day had a clear rota.

5am- Wake up
5:30- Yoga class
7:00- Breakfast
8:00- Karma Yoga (Basically cleaning tasks around the ashram which is a practise of giving yourself for the benefit of everyone in the spirit of the community.)
9:00 Rostered work (Work to contribute to the Ashram running eg kitchen, grounds work and mantience, house keeping, office work etc)
11:00- Tea break (break for tea and fruit)
11:30 Rostered work
12:30 Lunch + clean up
1:30- Rostered work
2:30 Yoga Nidra (Guided mediation)
3:00 Afternoon Tea (Tea and fruit)
3:30-5:00 Rostered work
5:15 Yoga/meditation class
6:00 Dinner + clean up
7:15 Evening class or DVD
8:15-7:30 (The following day) Moana

You worked in all the rostered work times unless you had free time, and you had three and a half days off a week.

My time at the ashram taught me a lot about myself.

I need to learn to challenge my perceptions of why I feel the way I do about things in everyday life. If its regarding an event, person or situation, I need review my opinions and decide whether or not I am justified in thinking in the way I do. I should open up to other viewpoints that may exist and see if these could alter my own preception.

For example one of the yoga residents is a more of an authorian figure, with a dominating voice and strong character. When I first spoke to him I felt as though his personality was overwhelming, too controlling and that he had some kind of superiority complex which  made me feel like inferior person and child-like. After overhearing a conversation he was having about his family, I learnt that he was the the second oldest in a family of ten children and was the oldest male child. This made me realise what I'd mistaken for an overbearing nature was probably just a caring nature used to being in charge and looking out for others younger than he.

Now having looked at his characteristics from another viewpoint it has opened up my mind and I can now see how my initial ideas were narrow-minded and did not allow for other possibilities.
I need to remember to apply this logic to other scenarios and I will go through life with a greater acceptance of world.

Also, having never really done a lot of meditation in the past, I found the meditation classes a relatively new practice but what I achieved in my first real class was a really strange. It was a truly unconscious state of being.

Deep within my chest I felt and could visualise a ball of light that brightened with every intake of breathe and which decreased with every release of breathe.

My body was no longer identifiable to myself; It was a void space- part of the atmosphere that surrounded me, something I could not determine to be a separate entity.

The only sensations I could feel were a gentle warmth in the very top of my head, and a mild coldness in my hands and feet and the warm ball of light in the center of my chest pulsing with each breathe.
Suddenly I became aware of an intense burning pain in my lower back just below my rib cage to the right of my spine which demanded my attention and eventually caused me to pull away from my trance and lay down.

Very strange, but very intriguing.

I found life at the ashram very easy. It was so simple just to slip into this community and live as they did.

So what is Yogic Lifestyle I hear you ask?

When people hear about the practices that go on in places like these it gets some mixed reactions. Some people believe these places are like a cult, involved in some weird going ons. Hidden away from society in some eccentric rejection of society with the sole purpose of having some higher level of being in a meditative trance.

OK, that may be in some ways true I guess. Yes they are hidden away from society but no more than people living in some of the rural villages that exist around the world.It not so much a rejection of modern society but the decision to leave material posessions behind and concentrate on themselves and a cleaner existance.

Sinics argue that its easy to achieve an inner calmness and acceptance in a place like that, hidden from the 'real world,' but if your your not open to the practises and willing to and are able to let go of all the bad things that haunt you then it doesn't matter how you spend in places like that, it won't have any lasting affects on you. You will simply foget everything as soon as your return to your normal routines.
The residents that live in these places aren't just a bunch of people trying to leave their previous lives behind, they are educated people who have chosen to study and adapt to the yogic life style and wish to pass their teachings on to people who want to learn.

Yoga is much more than streaches that people do in classes in leisure centres across the world, one or twice a week when people can be bothered to attend. Its many practises combined. Its a dedication to all these different practises: breathing techiques, mediataions, postures- understanding our bodies and minds and achieving a true inner peace.

One day when I was reading some of the feedback forms while working in the offices,  I came across one persons form who'd gone on to write on the back about how much this place and the practices had helped her life- after what I gather were some negative experiences.

This person had focused on one of the phases I'd remembered hearing, 'Act rather than re-act,' and this struck a cord when I read her letter.

I find this a very interesting concept. Taking control allows you to measure the degree of movement in yoga, and enables you to work within the range which you are capable. This idea also works in everyday life. Instead of letting things happen to you and dealing with responding to these actions, if you are the active party you are in control of the situation and therefore able to cope better. It strengthens you mental ability and gives you greater power in the situation. A similar philosophy I also learnt in my psychology classes at college, talked of this 'control' being achieved with knowledge. If you are in possession of knowledge about an event that will happen, for example how to cope in an earthquake, then when a earthquake does happen you are mentality prepared and will suffer less stress than those who were unprepared. I wonder if knowledge is essential however in being active. Are those who are active in possession of knowledge more so than those who re-act, or can simply be active alone. Maybe its just a question of individual personality.

There will always be times, however, when a passive approach is more suitable- a time to 'surrender and accept' as the lady on the form had written.

In some quite free time I had I managed to finish the latest book I had 'The Alchemist,' by Paulo Coelho, a book with many interesting philosophies of its own.

One that I really liked was this (written in relation to love but could be also about friendship,) "If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil. And one can always come back. If what you found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you will find nothing when you return." I guess only time will tell about my friendships back in England and those I made with people from all over the world whether they are only 'moments of light' or indeed 'pure matter.'

Life at the ashram wasn't always serious though. It was a time for everyone for personal reflection but we also had some fun too.

We found a hoover that was used as a backpack, just like the ghostbusters suits, so me and a couple of the girls-Hannah and Elina- made a video acting out a ghostbusters scene. ( Which exists somewhere on Youtube I do believe!) We skipped one of the mediatation classes to film it, although everyone in the class heard us singing the theme tune and screaming at the 'ghost' so it wasn't much of a mediatation class after all, oops!

I also had a conversation with one of the girls that was just embarking on a six month residencey at Mangrove, about digging a tunnel in the back garden when I was about four  or five and when my mum asked me what I was doing I said I was digging a hole to Australia. Think i'd been watching too much Neighbours! In fact I think I was probably trying to get to Ramsey Street. Little did I know at that age that it was much easier just to get a plane and that many years later I would finally get to Australia, I may even make it to Ramsey Street eventually.

                                                                                                                     

I found it to be a very calming, grounding environment to be in and very much disagree with the opinions of someone I later spoke to that the people who stay there are avoiding real life. They are simply living a much more basic kind of life and focusing on themselves and living in a very much self-sufficient way.

I left that place feeling refreshed and happy. It was an awesome place. Amazing people, beautiful surroundings, gorgeous food and inspiring classes.

After that wonderful break from the real life it was now time to head back to the city and continue my journey on to Tasmania!

Big Love For Byron

As we rolled in to Byron I woke to the sound of my Ipod playing Prince- 1999. I thought to myself, 'what an brilliant way to arrive!'

Byron is a place where people arrive with expectations, wonder what the fuss is about before the charm takes over and then fall in love with the place and never want to leave.

Through my experiences I would describe Byron as a town that’s a cross between Kuta, Bali and Newquay, England with a slice of some European weekend getaway destination. You really have the feeling your on some kind of European city-break when your there, but the vibe is so chilled out and relaxed and well aussie. Tourism doesn’t spoil it, just kind of agrees with it. If the name Surfers Paradise hadn't already been taken, Byron should've been called that.

The people who live there are undoubtable effortlessly cool. Surfers with their long ocean tangled locks bleached by the sun, stroll around barefoot with their beautiful tanned bodies.

We got to Bryon after an all-night journey at around 6am; Unable to drop our things at the hostel until the reception open at 8, we walked along from the bus stop into the town until we came across 'Why Not' cafe and hung out there for a while and had some breakfast and a coffee. Luckily enough they said we were able to just go straight to our dorm, where we crashed out for a few hours exhausted from the journey and lack of sleep.

The weather that day was pretty rubbish but it didn't stop us and we took a walk down the Belongli Beach to Main Beach down to The Pass on the peninsular of Bryon and then headed into the town.

Anywhere you are in Byron, you’re no longer than 10 minutes walk to the nearest beach and without exaggeration these beaches are stunning. It really is a gem of a place. Even with the terrible weather the it still looked awesome.

The next day we took advantage of the two hours free bike hire our hostel offered with the intention of biking to the famous lighthouse at Cape Byron. Unfortunately with our lack of fitness and the hilly terrain, biking all the way to the lighthouse on these Harley Davidson-esque bikes which had huge wide handlebars and lacked gears was just impossible. We got as far as the bass of the lighthouse hill and locked them up before tackling the steep incline by foot. It was a nice view though and worth the effort.

After the exhausting morning we decided to take it easy and spent the afternoon enjoying the sun at Belongli beach right in front of our hostel. It was the perfect place to engage in some people watching with such a diverse range of folk. There was an old couple enjoying some swimming, a family playing with a dog and entertaining a toddler, a group of schoolgirls jumping in the waves and many dog walkers strolling along the beach with their extra friendly pooches. It was really nice to see so many different types of people enjoying the beach.

That evening the hostel tour operator, a mildly entertaining fellow who fancied himself as a bit of a comic, hosted a free wine and cheese night to promote some of the tours he offered, give out some general info on Byron and answer any questions. He used himself as the butt of many jokes and got a few laughs out the crowd. Regardless to his comic ability he was friendly and provided some helpful info; to be honest I'll always be game whenever there’s free stuff offered like most other travelers. He was a nice guy so we decided to book some surfing through him for the following day (so I guess the promo worked!) Being in Byron and not surfing is like going to north Queensland and not going to see the Great Barrier Reef; you just have to do it. After dipping my toes in the ocean in Bali I really wanted to give it another go anyways and it didn't take much convincing to get Jan involved too.

[In fact I think the convo went something like this-
Me: While we’re in Byron we should deffo do some surfing!
Jan: Yes I was thinking the same…
Me: We should totally get a lesson then
Jan: Yeah why not
Done.]

That night we also decided that the lighthouse would be a great place to watch the sunrise, so we got up at 4:30am on the Thursday morning and headed along the beach and climbed up to the lighthouse. However we completely mixed up the sunrise times and found ourselves there an hour too early, an hour that would have definitely been appreciated in bed. Unluckily the sky was pretty cloudy which obscured the view of the sunrise but even so it was still beautiful to see the sun breaking through the clouds.

The stupidly early start made us so unbelievably tired so we took a rain-check on the surfing and rescheduled for the Friday instead and just spent the day lounging around in 'Why Not' and strolling around Byron.

That night was the beginning of the film festival in Byron, which opened with a really interesting documentary named Minds in the Water. Made by a surfer from Byron, with the help of the director of the cove and some input from Sea Shepard, it was about illegal whaling practices and dolphin slaughtering. Filmed for the sake of the ever declining populations of these brilliant intelligent mammals, I found it intriguing and very educational. The more I've travelled the more aware I am becoming of various environmentally issues and its really opening up my eyes to the problems in the natural world caused by the selfishness of the human race. The lack of government action in enforcing laws set to protect the environment is astonishing as is the impact that chemicals and various farming practices are having on the natural world. It really makes you stop and think.

We ventured out afterwards into the town for a drink and ended up in a place named "Woody's.' We stayed for a couple schooners and Jan won a trip to Whitsunday Island in some posh boat worth around $500 in a raffle. Funnily enough we'd been talking a few days before about how much he wanted to go sailing at Whitsunday so it really worked out perfectly!

Every night we would make our way back from town via the beach; it made the journey a lot shorter than if we went by road but was also scenic. We made up a joke that there were sand snakes on the beach, so evertime i we walked down the beach we'd joke with each other about looking out for the sand snakes which would make the journey home a little more entaining by moving sticks and seaweed and spotting holes to feak the other other one out.

Friday was the day for surfing. We had booked a lesson with Mojo Surf and set off at 1pm to a place called Sharpes Beach. Having gone out into the waves with Rachman in Kuta I had an idea what I had to do but was certainly open to learning some more techniques and anything that would help me get up and surfing.
The guys were perfect teachers- friendly and approachable- essential when you’re trying to learn something new. The main guy took time at the beginning of the lesson to go through all the surfing basics- about rips, sandbanks, wind directions and the effects of the wind on the waves. I really appreciated the thoroughness and felt a lot more at ease going into the water afterwards knowing all these things. All the Mojosurf guys also made a kind of "Yeooooow!" sounds too, which I’ve realised later on is actually universal surfer sound which I found rather funny but is pretty cool!

After the days surfing, we were feeling too lazy to cook back at the hostel so went in search of a restaurant that we’d found on google that sounded nice. We eventually ended up in an alley way that had loads of cool restaurants and found two other places that looked real nice so it was a coin toss up between Thai green and yellow curry and trying calamari and oysters for the first time so we let the coin decide. The curry won.
Afterwards we went for a bathroom (so many bathrooms in Oz aren’t actually in the restaurant or café where you are but half a mile down the street!) and ended up in a bar just on corner near the alley way with the restaurants. It had a band playing so we stopped and had a schooner and watched the band for a while before we headed back via the beach watching out for sand snakes as we walked.

The next day we were in sooo much pain. I think every inch of my body ached. Even laughing hurt, and being with Jan it was impossible not to laugh. We spent a lazy day in Byron as it was not possible to do anything else. We ate Dominos pizza at a parkfor lunch and wandered round the arts market at the night after mealing at the seafood restaurant that had lost the coin toss the night before where we both tried calamari and Oysters for the first time. I do not understand why Oysters are the food of love. They look bad and smell worse. What is so romantic about that?!

To finish off the evening and the week together we headed to Woodys for one last drink. Stupidly they wouldnt let us go in with our bags so the options were home or a place called budda bar which we had to get a shuttle bus to. We flipped the coin and budda bar it was. It was a nice chilled out bar, that was situated at a hostel that i'd wanted to stay at but was unfortunetly fully booked. Jan tried the pubs speciality that was a tray of minis of all the ales that the pub offered from the lightest to the darkenest which in someway tasted a little like guiness. It was a nice place to round off the night and indeed the trip to Byron.

Altogether I spent five days in Byron with Jan and it was absolutely fantastic. It’s true what they say, the charm does take over and you do fall in love with the place and never want to leave, however it was time for me see what a yoga ashram was all about. Maybe just maybe I would return sometime in the future once again to slip into the surfer way of life for who knows how long.