(R) Byron Bay is a fantastic young vibrant yet very hippy place to be. 3/3/16 – 10/3/16 Plenty of bars restaurants and shops, (as long as you like Billabong, Quicksilver and Roxy clothing), however there were a few of the normal traditional souvenir shops. It is definitely a place for the 18-30 age group with loads of surf sand and partying. The weekend was especially busy 24 hours a day.
We stayed at The Glen Villa Resort, a large camp site with a huge variety of accommodation, including tent sites, camper van sites and cabins. We were in the latter, quite bijous but fully furnished and only a 2 minute walk to the town/beach. Trips this week included a 9km round trip (walk) from the centre of town to the lighthouse. Very good walk, however anyone who attempts this needs to have medium fitness. The walk took us through town and up and over the cliff tops overlooking the neibouring beaches to Australia’s most easterly point. At the summit we came across a great cafe, where I had the best ever iced coffee, full of ice cream, cream and a triple shot of caffeine, perfect as a recovery drink after the 1.5 hour walk.
Another trip was offered to us free (from greyhound bus company), as we have now booked our hop on hop off bus tickets from Byron Bay to Cairns. This was a day trip including swimming under waterfalls, (this was awesome – freezing cold water falling from around 100m above our heads), swimming in a green lake, (green in colour
due to the ore coming out of the rock face – and a warmer swim), a visit to a candle factory and lunch at a very quaint village called Nimbin. Nimbin was certainly an eye opener for me. If I thought Byron Bay was for hippies, then Nimbin was full of bare footed, dreadlocked haired, scantily clothed people of all ages. We loved it. It’s high street was only approx 200m long with hippy shops on either side selling every style of clothing as long as you liked the yellow, green, black and red stripes, with a very strong odour of a certain tobacco type substance floating through the air, as we walked along with tunes from Bob Marley playing from each shop. What an experience.
One evening we got talking to a couple who stated they had just had a great Mexican meal, in a restaurant near the beach. So on our last night, we ventured out in search of it. It was called Miss Margarita which only opened up from 5pm. Once located it filled out immediately from 5 and the place was packed. To our enjoyment we found it had happy hour during the first hour, great for us. The meal itself was the best Mexican we had ever had. It’s menu was packed with traditional foods and drink from said country, and the portion size was huge. Staff very friendly as well, making the whole experience fantastic. A MUST visit if you find yourselves in Byron Bay. (and have the chili chocolate and cafe tequila cocktail).