Whales! And why there are no pictures.....

Hello again! I apologize for not writing for a little bit, although I guess it's a good thing to realize I haven't been on the internet in a few days as a result of actually doing things. Its been a little over a week total that I've been in Byron Bay. So let's see...

Lauren and I have actually (believe it or not!) made some friends at the hostel we've been staying at, in addition to the people we met through Liat, so it's been really nice to have other people to hang out with and do stuff with. I sort of feel like during this time in Byron Bay is when I really started to feel in the traveling groove, so to speak. When we first got to Byron I was so overwhelmed because it was a Friday and the hostels get packed with people coming to party for the weekend, but its much more chill during the week. And it's easy to start conversations with people at a hostel, because everyone is doing the same thing and just looking for people to hang out with. It's pretty cool.

Anyways, last week we went on a day tour to Nimbin with some friends from the hostel. Nimbin is known as the marijuana capital of Australia, basically there are tours you can take to the town (population 400) to buy weed cookies or whatever and the guide plays trippy music and talks about the counterculture history of the area. Before you get too concerned--I didn't take anything! It turns out that Nimbin and Byron Bay kind of became known as a hotspot for alternative lifestyles when loads of American draft-dodgers came in the 60's. They have this hilarious "museum" that has a few rooms just filled with random stuff, Aboriginal artefacts and quotes about spirituality. I actually wish we had more time in the town because they have some good agricultural and alternative energy initiatives going on, but it seems to get lost in the tourist hordes who come to just get high. The bus driver told some awesome stories about people who went overboard on the "space cakes" and totally freaked out on the tour, but fortunately everyone was pretty mellow, except for some guys who couldn't stop laughing while they cracked macadamia nuts. Ha. And there were some really annoying California boys who got really high and were just generally kind of asses, the kind that give Yankees abroad a bad name. One of them started talking to me at the hostel and revealed how he tricks other people into buying him drinks at the bar, despite the fact that he has his own business and is still getting paid while he's away. Not quality people.

The next day I went bodyboarding with an Irish guy I met on the Nimbin tour, it was really scary! The ocean is so strong, and we kept getting swept to the next beach over. The day after that Lauren and I actually managed to get up before noon and we went on a kayak trip at 8:30 in the morning. I thought it was a little expensive but it turned out to be more than worth it--we saw 3 humpback whales! Up close! I was in the kayak with one of the guides and at one point we were seriously like 10 meters away from them--two were swimming around and the third was a huge one (roughly the length of four of the kayaks put together) that was on it's back and slapping its fins around. It was truly amazing, to think that we were so close to one of the biggest animals in the world, and something that I'll probably never experience again. I think on the tours the whales don't usually get that close, so even the guides were in awe. I don't want to sell Lauren out, but she might have been moved to tears..... After the amazing whales, the guide with me goes "Let's go see some gay little dolphins!" Normally I would object to the use of gay to describe something but it was true, after the whales the dolphins were significantly less impressive. Though very cute.

Let's see...what else? Lauren is known as the reigning Connect Four champ in the hostel (despite the fact that our friend James has beat her a number of times while intoxicated, but no one remembers that), I've given away a significant amount of money to the local pie shop in late night runs, I burnt my back at the beach (and my bum), and we continue to offend Israeli backpackers with our atrocious Hebrew.

Last night, we planned on going out dancing with James (English) and our Canadian friend Manessa, and accordingly bought a box of "goon:" cheap terrible wine. Unfortunately once everyone was ready we discovered that all the bars had closed so we got some pie and I came up with a crackpot idea to take our sleeping bags up to the lighthouse (one of the only still funtional lighthouses in the southern hemisphere, in case you cared) and wake up for the sunrise. The lighthouse is located just above a point that is the farthest east you can get on the Australian mainland. So if you watch the sunrise there you're one of the first on the mainland to see the sun come up. Pretty cool. You have to walk along the beach for a while to get to the stairs up to the lighthouse, and we did this at like, 2 in the morning (thanks for the headlamp Shana and Daniel!). We saw lots of little sand crabs scurry away from the light. The lighthouse itself is really beautiful, it just seems kind of magical in the night. I was entranced by it. I'm adding it to my list of things that really excite me: lighthouses and koalas in the wild. Anyways, we slept for about 3 hours on a little patch of grass (I don't think you're really supposed to sleep there) and watched a beautiful sunrise.

Oh! and the reason that there haven't been any pictures is because I pulled another Mara and didn't seal my water bottle properly in my backpack and it leaked all over my camera. So when we get to Brisbane (we're leaving Byron in 2 days) I'll try to get it fixed. So that's all for now, this is the longest post I've ever written I think! Lots of love to all.....