Week 1 I went on a bus for a ver ver ver long time.  3 days to Byron Bay, then 4 days IN Byron Bay!  whee!  Anyway, here's some of the adventure:

Started the trip with a winery tour - and if you know me, you know i'm a wine conneissure (or however you spell it)...so i walked around a bit, and found this lovely lil statue - the sky was SO BLUE.

Then there was the DAG sheep farm - not really my favorite place on the trip, but interesting in it's own right.  'Cowboys' were our hosts, and they taught us how to shear sheep (and eat them too).  uhm, ew...not in my future.

Day 2 - went horeback riding!  just like old times - except not at all...through the woody hills of the almost mountainous area around Bingara.  Pretty hot, and long - after 2.5 hours your bum screams in pain....AAAAAAAAAGH!

<----BDAY party on the bus on the way to BYRON BAY!  After 2 days in the middle of nowhere, the promises of civilisation and the ocean were music!!!

Hey!  LOOK! it's BYRON BAY!!!  behind me is the beach that i called home for the next 4 days.  It was a bit windy on top of this hill, and the hangliders found that enjoyable.  This picture looks kind of crappy...sorry!  bad resolution.  it was so nice, though :)

So, we all got pumped up dancing the night away at Cheeky Monkeys with our bellies full of $5 backpacker meals.  I got 2nd in a didgeridoo contest, and then WHAM, we bolted for the beach.  The night's weather was fantastic, as was the sand and the water.  Yay for frollicking at night!  From L to R, a 2 guys from England, The guy in the red is from California (but I'm blanking on his name), Victor from Canada, ME, and Eileen from Quebec.

Wouldn't you know it, I ran into people I knew...unfortunately on their last day!  but we had a nice din-din...didn't we kids?  yeah, baskin robbins for dessert - some things never change :)

Oh, not another one of these pictures!  that's right, my beach belly - on Byron sand :)  Grandma can't tell from this one whether or not i got my belly button pierced, can she?  (yeah, i got your letter).  It's not...or is it?  no, it i couldn't have? or did i?  i guess you'll never know...or will you? Anyway, byron consisted of about 2 streets of shopping and then the beach, so i chose my priorities wisely and worked on the tan.  i did do a bit of adventurous stuff, like learned how to surf and hiked through the rainforest a bit...went to Nimbin, and slept a lot in the sun.

So, i hiked up that trail (top left) about 2 km WAY to the top of a giant hill where the lighthouse was.  It was fabulous!  Whale watching and ice cream...and an awesome sunset.

Here's Nimbin.  An interesting lil place - only about 450 people live IN the town, but about 25,000 hippys live on communes in the area...so it's a pretty laid back place.  Lots of rainbows and peace signs.  You can't read it, but the sign says "nimbin lifestyle"...and it was...a lifestyle.  The area around it was amazing, too - it's now a rainforest but it used to be a huge volcano that collapsed onto itself some odd million years ago.  At one point we were driving with a 200 m cliff on either side of the road.  Wheeee!

Can you spot me?  I'm third from the right - and that is one REALLY big board!  wooohooo!  Byron Bay surfing lessons with Style Surf School.  best class i've ever taken.

And, BY GOLLY, i can do it!  Look mom, no hands.  Lots of saltwater up my nose, though, but hey...you have to make some sacrifices to look this cool.  I've even gone since i've been back, and this woman told me i was 'a natural out there.' YAY!!  I'M A SURFER!

Here's a few snapshots from Brissie.  I didn't have a lot of time to explore - about one whole afternoon.  But I hit an art gallery and the markets.  Left is the cityscapey thing that I took - nice lil bridge, all perdy with the boats on the river.  Below is what the locals consider a beach - I guess it's okay since they don't really have one.  It was weird - everyone was running around in swimmers jumping into any water they could find.  I'll give them one thing, it was bloody hot...but people, please...fountains are for birds!  (kidding...i'dve joined in if i had my swimmers on wheeee).