Byron Bay – the town where everyone seems to have awesome golden beach tanned bodies, they couldn’t be fitter. Surfer babes everywhere – paradise!
We arrived in Byron and checked into where the rest of the gang were at; Nomads Hostel.
(Nomads – One of the most blingin’ hostels I’ve ever stayed in! Immaculate, modern, spacious, brand new. But of course expensive; $36 - Website)
We slotted straight into a group at the hostel, 13 of us in total. This was to be our family for christmas. Will and I were late comers and so had our Australian initiation. This involved drinking a well known backpackers drink in Australia; ‘Goon‘. Goon is the cheapest nastiest wine known to mankind, served in a silver bag contained in a box – it tastes like a mixture of vinegar, battery acid and piss. My first night on the goon was a blur. I woke up the following morning still dressed, drunk, with severe memory loss and was informed I was turned down from every bar I tried to go to. Whilst everyone was partying in the famous Byron club ‘Cheeky Monkey’s’ I was home in bed.
After spending 24hours in Byron I was already in love with the place. The beach was immense, white sand, clear water, decent surf. The people were chilled out. The shops and restaurants funky. It reminded a lot of Croyde Bay in England.
It was my 2nd xmas away from home. This one was the complete opposite of the last one I missed. Finnish Lapland in temps as low as -40C – compared to +30C in Byron. Christmas morning was strange, putting my board shorts on and heading to the beach seemed a crazy concept for xmas day. Of course I missed being home but we had a great day at the beach. Heaps of people were down there, santa hats everywhere, the atmosphere was great. We spent the afternoon slobbing around the beach sipping Goon.
xmas sandman
For Christmas dinner Will and I were in charge of the BBQ, it was a difficult task but we pulled it off. The dinner was a great team effort – one of the best banquets I’ve had!
We spent the remainder of the day playing various terrible christmas games like charades and drank more Goon. It was a very different xmas in Byron but all of us had a great day.
