Eclectic Brain Salad

Today I wanted to do something different in Byron than just splash and build things on the beach! I love playing on the beach with the kids and building things out of sand, but really I am more of an explorer at heart, preferring walks around hillsides, coves and jungles. So today I put my foot down an insisted that the family follow me on one such jaunt.

I checked out the map and saw that the Byron Bay lighthouse was only a few kilometres away - this was to be our destination for today! The lighthouse was a good point to aim for, and there were a few nice small beaches and lookout points on the way to check out.

We went down to the town and chilled for a bit (the family had some beach time while I did some geeking in the Wifi cafe), then we set off on the walk. After the first kilometre or so we had a break at a gorgeous little cafe at Clarke's beach (first beer of the day), then we pressed on, reaching The Pass an hour or so later - there was a lovely beach here, and a nice little set of steps up to the lookout point, which we abandoned the pram to go and check out.

This was a perfect moment, spoilt only slightly by the wild bush Turkeys assaulting our pram and stealing our chocolate while we were distracted ;-)

As we were leaving we had a nice chat with an English lass who had been living and working out here for two years, but had to go back soon due to her visa running out. I can see why she was so down about having to go back...

Onwards we pressed, stepping into the Watego beach area after another kilometre or two. This was an awesome part of the journey, as on the way we saw not one but two really huge lizards (I think they were Geckos). We had another break at Watego, as the travel was starting to get to the kids at this point.

Next up was the final ascent towards the lighthouse. This was the hardest part, as even though the lighthouse was now less than a kilometre away, it was up a huge hill, and we had to carry Elva's pram up loads of steps.....phew! When we...fiiiiiiinally...reached the top, we had a well-deserved ice cream, then walked down the much-quicker route straight down the hill.

At this point we needed some dinner, so we found a nice place just near the beach and ate, then returned home, only stopping to pick up stout and filthy donuts to amuse us at night time.

On to Cairns tomorrow. I kinda wish we'd stayed a bit longer in Byron, as it is such a beautiful place!

Waking up for the first time in Byron Bay was wonderous, with the hot sun and a riot of bright birdsong and colourful plumage. We wandered down to the town centre for "a quick breakfast", which actually ended up being 4 hours of eating, shopping, information gathering and poi lessons (some cool guy was giving free poi lessons in the park).

We then went home to have lunch and drop our shopping off (we had an awesome salad with avocado and tomatoes, some fresh bread, and some very tasty marinated chicken pieces on skewers - honey hoi-sin, satay, and portugese spice).

Then came the mission to get to the beach before it got too late - after all our exploration followed by lunch, it was about 16.15. We rushed back into town to buy some beach towels and hit the beach. It was actually a really nice time to do it, as the sun was less hot by that point, the beach was less crowded, and there was some musicians playing guitar and hand drums at the nearby park.

I spent most of my time taking Elva around the beach to dig sand, get her toes wet, look at seashells, and um, squeal loudly at seagulls!

Gabriel and Kirsty meanwhile build a huge whale model out of sand (this was definitely not a failwhale).

Afterwards we walked around for a bit to hunt down some dinner, and we found a relly nice Italian place with a bar next to it. Gabriel had a wood-fired pizza, Kirsty had a really tasty veal steak, and I tucked in to the pasta buffet - three really gorgeous pasta dishes, all you cna eat, for $12. Quite incredibly cheap! The next door bat also served proper English pints, something I was most appreciative of, as Aussie beer measures are a bit wussy!

The rest of the evening involved sauntering home and getting the kids bathed and put to bed, and then sitting up chatting and chilling in the little outdoor area behind the apartment. Bliss.