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Byron Bay, Surfer’s Paradise and driving through a Hurricane!

After some great fun in Sydney, we carried on up the East Coast with the aim of making it to Byron Bay before nightfall.  The drive was brilliant fun and with continuos rotations on driving, it wasn’t too tiring tackling the 430 or so miles.  

We arrived in Byron Bay in the early afternoon, which left us ample time to explore the small town, check into the YHA Hostel and soak up the last few hours of sunshine on the near by beach.

That night we decided to sample some of the much acclaimed nightlife of this surfers retreat and so bought some beers and the two goons (essentially a bag of cheap wine concoctions) and played some drinking games with some fellow guests at the hostel.  

We then caught a free bus ride to Cheeky Monkeys, a popular nightclub in the centre of town.  We had an amazing time thanks to some great entertainment that was put on and some cheap drink prices.  Our thumping headaches that we were left with in the morning were proof of how the night had got out of control.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and tried to cure our hangovers by eating a large fry up from a near by cafe.  It didn’t work!!  We then set off back on the road heading north to Surfers Paradise.  The road was good fun and when you were sitting in the back of our spaceship, you could either catch up on some sleep or watch a dvd!  We arrived at surfers at midday and checked into Cheers Backpackers.

Immediately after checking in we made our way down to the beach, armed with a rugby ball.  Surfers Paradise reminded me of Cancun, in Mexico.  The beach was beautiful and the ocean was wonderfully clear, but there are skyscrapers and tall high rise buildings lining the coast.  It’s far more of a fast-paced party atmosphere, rather than the chilled out vibe of Byron Bay.

We played around on the beach until the temperature dropped and the sun was about to set.  We then made our way back to our hostel to prepare an honest meal before hitting some bars and a club in town.  The night out was great fun but made a fair dent on our travel wallets, for we decided not to opt for the goon bags in the hostel this time round.

The next morning we began an epic two day journey up to the Whitsundays.  At the time of our trip, a hurricane was fore casted to hit Australia’s east coast and we were unsure as to whether out Fraser Island and Whitsundays tour would even be on but we were advised to make our way up north for the path of the hurricane was unsure and so the trip could potentially go ahead as planned.  

During our two day drive we did encounter some heavy rain and strong winds, especially in the town of Rockhampton, and we were constantly tuned in to the radio for up to date reports.  Thankfully, the hurricane did not hit and so our three day and two night cruise of the 74 islands of the Whitsundays could go ahead.  Our spaceship Roxy was holding up really well and we had by this point covered around 3000 km, and the cooking and sleeping facilities had saved us a fortune!

The drive up was fantastic fun but we were thankful to finally arrive at our destination of Airlie Beach, and to of course find out that our trip was going ahead.  That night we booked into Magnums Backpackers and celebrated the completion of our long drive with a nice meal and a few beers.  The following morning we boarded our boat to tour the Whitsundays. 

Be sure to check out the next blog of our East Coast Australia Spaceship Adventure and read of our tours of the Whitsundays Islands and the Fraser Island!

If you are thinking of booking a spaceship to do a similar trip then be sure to check out their website by clicking HERE!

July 13th, 2009 | Tags: Brisbane, Byron Bay, Byron Bay Nightlife, Camper Van Hire, Cheeky Monkeys, Spaceships, Surfers Paradise Nightlife, Susrfers Paradise, The Beach, Whitsundays | Category: Australia, Oceania Trips | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL