Australia Part 3: Byron Bay
Our second day on the Gold Coast was jam packed. For breakfast, we got lucky and stumbled upon a cafe just below our building that was incredible. We didn’t try it the first day because it’s name, “Raw Energy” sounded like they only had raw foods. But at second glance, they had tons of amazing dishes which we discovered gave you raw energy. This meant more muesli bowls, eggs, and giant iced lattes for breakfast!
Now that we had some raw energy, Kyle and I were ready to attack the day. I was itching to get back in the water at Greenmount considering the waves were still sizable. Kyle on the other hand was in the mood for a more specified and productive morning. He wanted to get some computer coding done (his main occupation of late), a quick gym session in, and make some phone calls. One of the reasons this trip was perfect is because we acknowledged beforehand we didn’t have to be going crazy on explore mode the entire time. The fact that we could spend a morning getting work done and not cave to travel pressures gave us some balance, and I recommend that to all people going on worldly trips who are trying to avoid burnout.
After my sun drenched and wave packed surf session, I met back up with Kyle and we sporadically decided to take a road trip south of the boarder to Byron Bay, New South Wales. We knew we wanted to head to Byron Bay at some point as the place has a lot going for it. Byron is one of Australia’s trendiest beach towns, with beautiful tourist friendly beaches, fun culture (Naomi Watts and the Hemsworth bros apparently live there), and it was only an hour south of us so easy for a day trip. Kyle and I knew we were going to arrive at Byron around four, surf until sunset at a beach called The Pass— which I was desperate to check out, and get a lovely dinner on the promenade in the humid Australian evening.
We jumped on the freeway around three, and started heading south through the lush green and farm like landscape. Conversations between Kyle and I consisted of us trying to figure out what crazy Australian animals were in the woods we were driving past. Pulling into the iconic town of Byron Bay, we noticed there were beautiful homes everywhere and a charming promenade in the center of town with surf shops, boutiques, and awesome restaurants. The first thing we did was head up the road to The Pass. The Pass is a surf spot that starts breaking up top a picturesque rocky headland. The waves barrel on shallow sand and connect all the way through to the inside of a cove. Since the waves get smaller and more manageable as you go further in, the inside turns into a Waikiki type world class beginner spot. The entire beach features incredibly cool ladders and bridges from one boulder to the next and it really is a spectacular place to spend your time. The only downside about Byron Bay in general, is apparently people see big sharks all the time. There is notorious drone footage capturing great whites cruising right through the surfing lineups. This is absolutely crazy to me considering the beaches have hundreds of people there and it seems like the opposite of where sharks would hang out, but nonetheless, I was a bit freaked out, and of course, chose to keep this information away from Kyle.
Surfing the Pass was an enriching experience. I was catching sand bottom dredging rights off the top of the point where there was a competetive surf zone, but I was wondering what we were going to do to help Kyle get some fun waves. Out of the gates, I noticed Kyle was swept out a bit, and was by far the furthest surfer out there. While I didn’t want him to freak out about the shark problems, I discreetly tried every tactic I could to get him to come further in towards me—without hinting that it would be to hide from the sea life. Ultimately it worked out and I realized we would need to head in and surf the inside if we were going to have a relaxed session.
We ventured to the inside of the pass which turns into a little oasis. There were pretty surfer girls everywhere, fun waves all abound, and Kyle and I caught waves into the sunset. I was so excited to head in and take photos of this picturesque beach until I realized my phone wasn’t in my bag on the beach. Even though we found my phone at the car eventually, I was originally convinced I brought it to the beach, so I thought someone took it from my bag. This resulted in some wasted time trying to find it and we ended up with no photos of this beautiful beach in Byron Bay! In the end, I was at least happy my phone wasn’t stolen.
The next move was to explore the town and find an epic dinner! We walked around for a bit and saw a few beaches in town, some epic street music, and ended up at a lovely sushi restaurant on the quaint yet bustling promenade. Funny enough, the town reminded me of a really chilled out French quarter in New Orleans with the thin stilts holding up the buildings. Kyle and I had a solid dinner, hopped in the car and headed back to Coolangatta! It was definitely a successful afternoon in Byron, and a amazing Australian day.
We didn’t have the camera this day but swear it was exactly like this at The Pass! Beautiful staircase up that rocky headland!
En route to Byron, Koala crossing!
