Sydney to Byron Bay – The Beginning of the End

After what was a late night, I wake up not feeling my best, unsurprisingly, and end up spending my free Sunday in bed. The group has nothing planned today and neither do I. I am pretty much packed and ready to go. I never really unpack and, after sorting out my laundry the other day, I made sure my bags were ready to go. So I put on my headphones and spend my day watching After Life, Ricky Gervais’ show which I did watch the first season of ages ago but have been meaning to go back to for sometime. To be honest, it is a lot more emotional than I remember and probably not the best thing for me to be watching hungover, especially as I am prone to getting into my feelings the day after a night of drinking. Nevertheless it pulls me in and I spend the day watching most of the first two seasons, only leaving my bed for what I have to admit was a rather depressing meal at a local KFC. Basically I had a me day, which I think I needed but not how I would recommend one spends their time in Sydney. Although, as I usually after a day of doing pretty much FA, I am exhausted and am able to have a nice early night and catch up on the sleep that I have been missing for the last few days, weeks and months!

It works, the next day I am up bright and early ready for check out and to meet the new group and re-sign the waivers for Mollie, my new group leader. Once my life is signed away and I have said hi to some of the new group I am off with the Bargain Babes. It is Amy’s birthday and we have plans to head into town and go for Bday Brunch. So off we go and on our way stop off at a few charity shops in search of a bargain or two before getting to our lunch spot. It is a nice little place and I get myself a shakshuka and it is delicious. A lovely way to spend a morning walking the sunny streets of Sydney before sharing a meal with new friends and watching the world go by. After our meal we head back to the Ultimate offices to have our welcome chat as Mollie goes through all the required legal babble as well as the more exciting optional activities. It is a busy time at the moment so we need to make our choices asap to book in the optionals and, as usual, I kind of want to do them all! Luckily after our chat we have a couple hours before getting on our night bus to decide what we want to do. So I head to the hostel reception to have a think and chill until our night bus arrives, I also try a Taco Bell something I haven’t eaten in a long time and I am only giving it a go because multiple people have told me they are better in Australia than the UK or US. They aren’t wrong; it is better, but still a meal that is not worth the time or effort, in a world of amazing Mexican food, Taco Bell should not be allowed to exist in my opinion. Anyway finally we are all on our greyhound bus and I am quickly asleep ready to wake up in Byron.

Shakshuka

Our Byron Bay hostel

Wake Up Hostel's bar and restaurant by the pool

When I wake up I find we have arrived in Byron Bay. We unload from the bus and grab all our bags; there is a shuttle from the hostel waiting for us but it is a small shuttle and ends up making multiple trips to get us all to the hostel. However, the need for multiple trips kind of works out because by the time we are all at the hostel we are able to check in. For some lucky reason the rooms have been booked in a way that means I am sharing with the Bargain Babes as well as Fiona and Jess a couple of the other woman in our group, no smelly men’s feet for me at least in Byron. Once we are in our rooms Mollie messages, she got a cake for Amy the other day which we were supposed to enjoy after the welcome talk but it is still in the fridge in the office so instead she has booked us a table at Table Top the restaurant next door to our hostel and frequented by the Hemsworth brothers who have property near by. Ironically the Bargain Babes, including Amy, decided they don’t fancy an eat-out meal and the group end up having a bday meal for Amy without Amy. I go along and enjoy a nice burger as well as some left over pizza and a bite of fish taco. All in all a good meal, especially considering the lizard family that we get to watch scuttle around the restaurant scavenging dropped crumbs. After the meal I head into town with Aron and Matt to go to a Bottle-O (an Aussie bottle shop where you buy alcohol) to stock up on some beers for the next few days and I am able to get a 24 pack of beers for fifty dollars or twenty five pounds, bargain.

Once back from town it is a relaxed evening the group has a pizza night planned at the hostel. The pool area is a licensed bar that can occasionally do food and tonight for the Ultimate Groups we are getting pizza. The pizzas are definitely a step up from Side Bar, in fact I would even go so far as to say I would re-order their BBQ Chicken Pizza at another opportunity. It is a pretty nice vibe; a sunny evening by a pool eating pizzas and sharing a drink or two. To be honest I didn’t last too long I was in the mood for another early night so head back to the room early with a promise to myself to wake up for sunrise and another early morning swim.

Dining companion