22nd of May 2008

Getting the less then 100km to Byron was easy, or so I thought! Took me 5 cars and the last one was with this Brandon bloke driving a wicked camper van and when I could see Byron Bay and almost had it within an arms reach he asked me if I wanted to come to Toowoomba with him and pick up another car and drive it to Brisbane, he would pay me and let me sleep in the van the next day. He promised it would only take 4-5 hours and it was only lunchtime by then so I figured why not.
30 hours later I came back to Byron! Everything was just jinxed and both the cars just kept on dying, I spent the night in Toowoomba 150km west of Brisbane sleeping in the back of the van on some random street and all the money being spent on food (should have agreed on an hourly rate instead!). In the end we dumped one of the cars (really nice car to drive with a V8 engine kinda sports car, don’t remember the name though) just on the grass next to a busy highway in Brisbane because we were so sick of it giving up on us. Then Brandon drove me back to Byron and dropped me there but had to keep driving north in the van himself. So that’s 30 hours wasted but at least I had a fun time.
Byron Bay is a backpacker mecca on the east coast, can’t decide if I love the place or hate it but spending 3 nights here still instead of one! The beach here is one of the best I ever seen and just chilling there and playing volleyball during the day and getting on the piss in the evenings are great. But it’s all so cheesy and backpacker oriented! Found that I don’t really like backpackers despite I am one myself. Being so close to Nimbin, Byron Bay really picks up the atmosphere with a lot of laid back surfers and a lot of weed going around. And for the first time since leaving Perth I’ve been able to wear my shorts during the day! Think I’m out of here tomorrow, skipping the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise because I checked it out some with Brandon and its just way to much for me, its like Malibu or something in California with all these hotels and skyscrapers just next to the beach, I miss the countryside already with all the nice laidback ozzies! So heading directly for Brisbane for a day or two so I can try to get my camera repaired before I go further.