The Final Aussie Chapter

So Byron Bay was overated. But it was also good with free lessons in fire twirling, didgeredoo playing and bush tucker, gorgeous rolling waves in the bay and lovely open hostel grounds which made a welcome change from the high rises of Surfers Paradise.

We spent a night out in the woods at a free rave, which is like a hippie subculture all of its own with people letting themselves go totally to the music. It took us so long to get there and actually find it I wasn't really in the mood for it by the time we finally arrived, but it was interesting to be there as it's something I hadn't seen since home. At points I found myself looking at these people and wondered where the pleasure was in dancing in the cold on a random area of land and at other times the music caught up with me and I understood why. As I fluctuated between these feelings I more often than not wondered why I wasn't tucked up in a nice warm bed!

From Byron we travelled south to Port Macquarie and saw all of the inside of the hostel for one night, which I actually rather liked as it was quiet and small, rather than the 200 odd people at the hostel in Byron Bay. So onto Sydney - we were so impressed that we had finally made it and so had our car which was liable to breakdown at a moments notice! I'd forgotten the hectic driving and sheer volume of people and cars in cities and it was back to aggressive London driving in order to get anywhere. So our last few days in the Aussie adventure were spent in Manly with the bonus of having to get a ferry to the city which meant seeing some great views of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. We've also discovered that all decent lounge bars are in Sydney and no where else...! We also discovered that they're frightfully expensive.

I think that Africa is where my heart still lies as a place for travelling, but I've learnt a lot while travelling Australia; the various roadtrips and the families visiting are easily the highlights of our time here. So here I sign off from Australia and fly out to new and distant shores wondering as ever what the next stop will hold.