It’s all good

I’m in a beautiful place. Sitting here on the beach of Byron Bay, with the late afternoon sun starting to set behind the mountains to the west. The sand here is white and as fine as flour. The sea is blue, surf is calm. It’s the perfect time of day. Byron Bay is well known in Australia and beyond as this new age hippie town and well, that’s exactly what it is. The main street in town is lined with shops selling vegetarian pizza, hynotherapy, organic food, massage, homeopathic medicine, colon hydrotherapy – you name it, they’ve got it. It’s not crowded with people, at least now anyway, because technically it’s just the end of winter and not the high season.

Anyway I arrived here the day before yesterday and had a nice reunion with my friend James, one of the 2 UK Playboys who I had met months ago in Thailand. It was really fun seeing him again and swapping stories and catching up. He’s been in Byron for a few weeks already and is doing work for stay at the hostel so he knows a lot of people already and was able to introduce me to new friends. We all sat around the balcony outside the rooms that first night, having good laughs and drinking a few boxes of red wine (yes, I said’boxes’).

Yesterday was the big monthly market in Byron which takes place on the first Sunday of every month. One of the girls in my dorm room, Yvonne, and I walked over in the morning to check it out. Lots and lots of hippies at the market. Actually one thing I though was really cool is that they had all vegetarian food stalls – no meat to be found. They also had a few bands playing in different spots and that was definitely the highlight. This one guy was playing digerydoo with 2 guys on the drums and the 3 of them were just amazing. We sat in the grass and watched them for quite awhile.

Went back to the hostel again after that and spent the afternoon sitting by the pool and talking to 2 British girls. It’s a shame they left yesterday evening because we were really getting along well. You never know who you’re going to meet when you get to a new hostel and sometimes you get lucky and meet cool people but sometimes you don’t. I’ve been spoiled in Australia so far because everywhere I’ve been I’ve met such friendly, funny, genuine, and interesting people. In Sydney I met Winston on my 2nd day at the hostel and we essentially spent the entire week together. Then I went right to Alan’s house and had the luxury of being in a house for a whole week. Then I came to Byron Bay and was able to meet up with James and I thought I’d get in with people right away through him. But this time it doesn’t appear to be going so smoothly.

You see, James hooked up with a girl sometime before I arrived and the first night I met her there were serious daggers being thrown at me all night. The girl is travelling with 2 other friends and the 3 of them have basically been ice queens to me over the last 2 days. Total high school ridiculous bullshit. I mean, I was just visiting James as a FRIEND, but this concept is difficult for some people to comprehend. The whole thing is making me feel uncomfortable and unwelcomed and so I think I’m going to change to a different hostel and be done with it. It’s a shame, but it happens.

I had a good day today despite the soap opera drama. Got up early and went for a long walk on the beach. Then I got some info on a yoga class and went to do yoga from 10 – 12pm. Pretty good class, given at the surf club right on the beach (in the building). After that I had lunch, did email for a bit, and then walked around town. It’s a very small town with only one main street of shops, but it’s still nice to walk around and check it out. And now I’m here on the beach enjoying the sunset.

The most amazing didgerydoo player ever at the Byron Market!

Sunset at Byron Bay…

Add comment September 2nd, 2002