It's Byron Bay baby!

Writing on the sand ©thepursuitoftraveling

So as we said last time, Brissie can offer you everything but a proper beach because its airport, port and river flow make swimming impossibile. If you feel bored by the city life and you are looking for a break from all that, a magic place is just around the corner, or better around the coast, to give you beautiful sandy beaches, blue crystal sea, awesome parties, outdoor activities and lots of wildlife of course! We're talking about Byron Bay! Located in NSW, not far from the border of Queensland, this place is absolutely the place to be and recognised by everybody as backpacker world paradise. Easily accessible from Brisbane:
- by car > 180 kms south of Brisbane, it takes 2/3 hours drive;
- by bus > several bus companies connect Brissie to Byron Bay, among which there is Greyhound Australia, check their website to discover the timetable www.greyhound.com.au
- by train > from Roma street there are many trains that reach Byron (have a look on http://www.railmaps.com.au/ to find routes and timetables).

Byron Bay Signal ©thepursuitoftraveling

Let's introduce Byron Bay for the perfect weekend to oganize with your mates! Of course you should stay there as long as you can, but to fall in love with BB it's enough a couple of days! With its stunning views from breathtaking cliffs and wonderful beaches where you can surf and it's also good for the beginners, love at the first sight is almost guaranteed. We have experienced this amazing spot during the Easter weekend, after having ranted a car from Wicked (http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/) and booked a mix shared room in one of the backpacker hostel of the town .... here we are in Byron Bay!

When everything started ©thepursuitoftraveling

Guy looking for cuddles in Byron ©thepursuitoftraveling

The first thing you notice when you are in Byron, day and night, is the different atmosphere from everything you have ever seen traveling until that moment. People surfing, playing guitars on the beach, selling handmade crafts and walking barefoot along the streets, hippies, travelers.... that's Byron Bay, the semplicity mixed with the spirituality and freedom to be yourself. It's look like to be in the children book of Peter Pan, in the never-never land where people try to find a sort of salavation from a society illness causing selfishness and cynicism.

Talking again about our weekend experience. Once arrived at our hostel, it was already Friday late afternoon so we didn't have time to take tun and enjoy the beach so we opted for a walk around the town plus Italian pizza... what an awesome way to start the evening! Since we were in a good vibe mood we decided to have a crazy night at the Cheeky Monkeys, Byron Bay's number one party bar. We chose that location because our hostel (http://byronbaybackpackers.com.au/), but actually most of them, gave us a colourful wristband, also distributed from nice girls around the town, to have free drinks there.

Let's the crazy night begins!! ©thepursuitoftraveling

Hangover next morning?!? What's the perfect location to recover from it??? One of the several Byron Bay beaches! Not only the Main Beach, which is long and crowded, Byron has some little ones, as Clarkes and Watengo's Beaches. 

Watengo's Beach ©thepursuitoftraveling

Bushwalk start from the Main Beach ©thepursuitoftraveling

They are reachable by car through the Lighthouse Road or otherwise you can get there thanks to an incredible coastal walk where you can take amazing pictures and watch surfers enjoying the waves. According to our opinion, making it through the bushwalk is really interesting because sometimes you can find wildlife. In our case, we didn't find any koalas or kangaroos but usually you can spot them - a lot of people told us about this wonderful opportunity. Cape Byron walking track is a 3,7 km loop and the grade of difficulty is medium, so this bushwalk is adviced also for families witk kids (keeping an eye on them, stay away from clif edges). Remember also to bring binoculars with you, in fact during the period from May to late October you can spot, from one of the several lookout, Humpback Whales migrating. If you are  interested in whale watching, during the season you can book one of the daily tour manage by Byron Bay Whale Watching, here is a link of their website http://www.byronbaywhalewatching.com.au/

Different views from Cape Byron Walking Track ©thepursuitoftraveling

Regarding outdoor activities, Byron Bay, even if it's a small so has nothing to envy to other bigger places: you can choose between land, sea, air, body and art activities. 

LAND ACTIVITIES	SEA ACTIVITIES	AIR ACTIVITIES	BODY ACTIVITIES	ART ACTIVITIES
Natural Walks	Scuba Diving	Sky Diving	Yoga	Painting
Horse Riding	Surf Lessons	Gliding	Retreats	Drawing
Mountain Bike Tours	Snorkelling	Ballooning	Day Spas
Golf	Kayaking		Massage
Entertainment for Kids	Whale Watching
	Fishing

Among these wide choice, we opted for doing snorkelling at Julian Rocks Marine Reserve. This wonderful place is home of an abundant marine life: turtles, manta rays, giant guitar fishes, cuttlefishes, colourful sponges and sometimes also grey sharks. Julian rocks consists of ancient sedimentary rock, remains of a vulcanic eruption more than 20 million years ago. We absolutely recommend this experience and to bring a good underwater camera with you :)

Enjoying the beach ©thepursuitoftraveling

Last but not least, the Lighthouse. The icon of Byron is the most eastern point of Australia and where everybody goes to enjoy bautiful sunrises and sunsets. The breathtaking view from the Cape Byron Lighthouse is amazing and the trail to reach the top of the hill, where the lighthouse is situated, worths absolutely the effort. With the last pictures below our story of Byron Bay ends.

Sunset at most eastern point of Australia! ©thepursuitoftraveling

BUDGET ACCOMMODATIONS	PUBS
BACKPACKERS HOLIDAY VILLAGE	CHEEKY MONKEYS: great party bar and restaurant where you can find 5 AUD meals from 7 PM. Entertainment is every night!
BAYSTAY GUESTHOUSE
BACKPACKERS INN ON THE BEACH	BYRON BAY BREWERY & BUDDHA BAR: open 7 days a week with live music, open mic nights, DJ's and big screens with major sporting events.
ACQUARIUS BACKPACKER MOTEL
BYRON HAVEN	WOODY’S SURF SHACK: the place to be for surfers, backpackers and locals. It's a bar where everybody will love the rocking vintage surf vibe.
ARCADIA HOUSE
ATLATNTIC GUESTHOUSES	LA LA LAND: a small nightclub with a dance floor and balcony outside where you can have your smoke.
BYRON BAY YHA	COCOMANGAS: is a popular nightclub in the middle of town -  Jonson Street
NOMADS BYRON BAY	THE RAILS: is a former railway station where train travelers could just order a beer directly from their window.
BYRON SPRINGS GUESTHOUSE	THE BEACH HOTEL: is a great place to drink a beer with friends, relax in the sun and listen to live music.
RESTAURANTS
MISS MARGARITA (Mexican)
EARTH’N’SEA AMAZING PIZZA (Italian)
THE GREEN BISTRO (Australian)
THE CYPRUS TREE (Greek)
O SUSHI (Japanese)
IL BUCO (Italian)

Thank you guys!!!

Byron Bay Map