I haven't written in a while, I know. Life is sneaking up on me here, as is school work!
This past Monday was a holiday (Labor Day), so it was a three-day weekend. Our teachers surprised us by canceling classes on Friday as well, which made it a four-day weekend. As I had spent the 5-day Easter weekend in Brisbane at home, I decided to travel with some of my fellow classmates this last weekend. Half of the class decided to go to Sydney, and the other half chose Byron Bay. I went with the Byron group, as it was much cheaper and closer.
Byron Bay is a laid-back town about two hours south of Brisbane by bus, popular for its great surfing and other water activities. My group went down on Friday afternoon, ready for some time on the beach, and arrived in a torrential downpour. It rained off and on both Friday and Saturday, but cleared up for the rest of the weekend. The rain wasn't too bad, overall. All of the companies that specialize in water activities (diving, kayaking, surfing, etc.) canceled their trips Friday-Sunday due to the weather - mostly the wind and the swell - but there were other things to do. I spent a lot of time on the beach, reading when it was clear and huddling under my raincoat when it was pouring. Others in my group went boogie boarding, though the waves were a bit rough.
Monica (one of my group members) and I hiked up to the lighthouse on the hill/mountain overlooking the bay. It was a nice hike with beautiful ocean views. We reached the lookout where we were able to stand at the Easternmost point of mainland Australia, which was pretty neat. It's the closest to California I'm going to get until this program is over! When we reached the lighthouse, the rainstorm on the way up had left us a gift: a beautiful, full double rainbow over the ocean.
Staying at a youth hostel allowed us to meet a lot of interesting people from all around the world. We hung out with a group of them (from Australia, Holland, Canada, and elsewhere), and spent several enjoyable nights exploring Byron in their company.
On Sunday night, Monica and I found a bar that had live music, and decided to go check it out. There was a really awesome guitar player. He played a 12-string guitar, which he also used as a drum while he was playing it, and he was an absolutely fantastic musician. Local live music is always a good thing to support!
On Monday, Monica and I decided to go for a kayaking tour in the ocean. The kayak company said they were running, and they picked us up, dropped us at the beach, suited us up (wetsuits, lifejackets, helmets), and gave us instructions. There were about 15 2-person sea kayaks. Monica's and my kayak was one of the first in the water. It was very challenging to get over the breakers and out to the calmer water, but since I've never been sea kayaking before, I mentally put it down to my lack of experience. We were out there for a long time, waiting... waiting... We met up with two other boats of people, and waited some more, trying not to get capsized by the farther out (huge) waves that we kept drifting towards. Eventually, one of the guides from the company made it out there. Once he got there, he basically had us just head back in to shore, giving us instructions on how to surf the waves. Getting back in past the breakers was just as challenging as getting out! Monica and I perfectly surfed one big wave, and then were promptly capsized by the second. Fortunately, we were in shallow enough water that we could stand and drag the boat the rest of the way in. Because the other ~12 kayaks didn't even make it off the beach due to the crazy waves (which had picked up since our boat left shore), the kayak company gave us all our money back. Free adventure!
That afternoon, Monica and I rented bikes from the hostel and pedaled about 3km out of Byron to a quarry that the woman at the hostel front desk had recommended. It was just off the main road, and it felt like stepping into a different world. The quarry was long since abandoned, and was filled with water. It had become a lovely lake, with water lilies (purple and white flowers) covering most of the surface. It was incredibly peaceful, and I spent a lot of time acting like a biologist, wondering what various plants were.
I was sad to leave Byron. It was a wonderfully fun and relaxing weekend. Now that I am back in Brisbane, I have 2 assignments and an exam in the next week and a half - and after that, I leave for another field trip. This one is to a rainforest: Lamington National Park.
Tonight, Monica and I decided to check out the on-campus social dance club. It meets outside one night a week, and I've been wanting to go for several weeks now. The lesson tonight was bachata, which is a form of latin dance (basic: side-step-side-touch, repeat other direction). Apparently, latin dance is the big social dance scene in Brisbane. There's not much else. I did, however, meet several good swing dancers. I danced lindy with one of them, an exchange student from Iowa/Purdue of all places, and he was quite good. We figured out that we both blues danced, too. He got the DJ to put on a blues song, and we started dancing blues/fusion. It's a style that no one else knows, though, so it was funny to look around and realize that we were the only people on the dance floor and everyone else was watching us! (They clapped when we were finished.) We were commiserating about the lack of swing dancing in Brisbane, and he mentioned that he's teaching a beginning lindy hop lesson next week for this club. He asked if I wanted to teach it with him (he was in need of a follow), and I agreed. Should be fun!
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