So I’ve been in Byron a full week now, living in a share house with Kate and Diva and 3 others. We are actually in Ewingsdale, about 10mins drive from the town of Byron Bay. The lease for the place ends at the end of this month, so everyone will be moving out. The three of us have been looking for a new place, but haven’t had much luck. We would like to find a place in town or at least on the bike path (would make for a shorter and safer bike then now), as right now we do not have a car and hitch hiking has become our main form of transportation. It’s been okay so far, have met a few interesting people (like today a chicken and turkey farmer who also runs a social work type program for the people of Western Papua New Guinea), and I’m always fascinated at the variety of types of people who will pick us up. There have been a few somewhat troublesome rides- mainly the ones whose car floors are covered in beer cans and bottles and the ones who are actually drinking a beer as they drive… just have it in their cup holder like it's a dang diet coke or something. The main reason I don’t like the hitch hiking is that I don’t like having to rely on others to get places (public transportation excluded as an “other”), ideally I could walk or bike everywhere. It's also a little inconvenient as we some times have to wait upwards of 10mins and the ones who pullover aren’t always going all the way into town. Plus the thought of being picked up by an serial axe-murderer has more than once crossed my mind.
Hitchhiking to town
Back to the housing issue… sorta. Here’s a good story: We rented a car yesterday and today, for 24hours, to go see this concert down the coast in a town called Ballina (More on that below). But when we got the car yesterday afternoon, before the concert, Diva went for a surf and I went with her. We stopped at this one beach parking lot to check out the waves, and the guy in the car next to us starts chatting up Diva and since we're looking for a new home, with almost every stranger we meet the conversation leads to living situations, hoping that we might get a lead on a place or a suggestion on where to look. So this guy, Mark, probably mid-late 40s, long curly dark gray hair in a wild fro-ish style, tells us he just moved out of a place in Suffolk Park (a neighborhood here) and we are both thinking maybe he’s going to tell us that the place he just moved out of is now available! But no, Creepy Mark is also looking for a place now and maybe if either of us found a 4bedroom we could all go in together. That is when I go get back in the car because I was creeped the fuck out. He proceeds to give Diva his card and she’s too nice to say no so gave her his number too, hoping that she told him the wrong number as she hasn’t got it memorized just yet. Or maybe she does now. Turns out Creepy mark is a holistic chiropractor and he called Diva today! Yuck! Super Yuck! Diva is going to save his number as “Creepy do not answer” so that she never “hears” from him again.
Looking for a home/Practicing living on the streets
Yeah, so haven’t really been up to much. I’ve been surfing here twice now, the waves here are nothing like Waikiki. They are big and powerful and a little scary for the beginner that is me. I did see a shark today while surfing though, or at least I’m pretty sure I did, haha. There was a cross current at the main beach where we were surfing today, and I ended up drifting a good distance across the bay because of it. I was waiting to catch one more wave and then head in and walk back over to where I’d started originally. As I looked down I saw a shadow and it might have been just that, a shadow, but it could have been a rock or seaweed too, but it looked like a shark and I’m pretty sure it was moving faster than I was. At this point I suddenly recalled that the scab on my foot had fallen off like 30mins earlier and could be bleeding and maybe this shark was attracted by the blood, and ohmygawd I was going to be attacked my a shark! I kept my feet out of the water and headed for shore deciding to call it day because of the possible shark sighting and my discouraging progress in the big waves of Byron Bay on the smaller board I was overly ambitious about renting (7’9”).But I’ll keep trying. It would also be nice if a big board would fall out of the sky so I don’t have to keep renting. It would also be nice if the new place we move into has a hot tub, an avocado tree, and a live in chef. And free rent. Hahaha.
I’ve also been getting to know the town little by little. It’s reminding me of Austin a lot. There are many little cafes with awesome looking/sounding/smelling food and I want to try every one! I've already had some good eats- ice cream, falafel, organic doughnuts, aka A little piece of heaven! We went out on Sunday night to this place called ‘La La Land,’ they have $2 champagne flutes all night. First we went to “the bottle shop” for some wine, and split a bottle on the beach, where I got bitten by an ant and thought I was going to have to amputate it hurt so bad. Diva to the rescue with vinegar from the beachfront fish and chip joint to ease the pain and perhaps also prevent swelling. Then we had a drink at this cool place called Balcony. The place really is a big balcony along one of the main streets in town. Then we went to La La Land, where is smelt bad (think any dept store in Austin, that moldy, water damage smell), but the scene was pretty cool, and the price was right even after 6 rounds!! And then of course no night is complete without a visit to the 23hour bakery. I was dared to ask them what hour they were closed and they told me that they never close, it's just a trick to say they're open 23 hours. HA. HA. HA. We’re thinking of making Sunday night champagne and baked goods a weekly tradition.
Wine on the beach.. Diva is happy, haha
Last night we went to Ballina, about 30mins south along the coast from here, to see an Xavier Rudd concert. It was Diva’s 10th XR show, Kate’s 4th, and my first. Although Xavier was fucking awesome (he plays an intense percussion set-up and several didgeridoos), it was unfortunately a bad first impression of concerts in Australia. It was in a large multi-purpose room, with a cash bar in the back that the crowd took full advantage of, even after paying $50 for the concert. The crowd was almost louder than the music, you could hear chatter, LOUD ASS CHATTER, during the first half of the show. At one point, in the middle of a slower, quieter song, Xavier actually started shushing into the mic, but people in the back just kept on yakking. He looked pissed. I thought he was going to just walk off the stage. No respect! Another thing was the lack of personal space in the audience. It was a standing, dancing crowd, and apparently falling all over your neighbor is just fine and dandy here. Not pleasant. Diva encountered one woman that disgusted her so badly that she actually backed away from the stage she had been working so hard to get near the whole show. Then there were some older ladies, probably 40s, who worked their way to the front hoping to tell Xavier that his performance so far was not as good as they’d seen before or wasn’t what they had expected. These ladies were faaawked, like on drugs or drunk or most likely both. Kate told them to back off and they listened, but then the one lady grabbed on to this younger guy dressed like the Love Guru next to us and held on to him as he proceeded to spill redbull on our feet. We were told by many that the people of Ballina are not the highest class humans we will encounter in Australia. We had also planned to see the Big Prawn in Ballina, but Google gave us the wrong directions so that will have to wait for another day. Ballina is not the greatest place on earth.
In other news, I made an excellent purchase the other day: zinc, in three different colors… green, blue, and yellow. Today I wore green.
I also finished Obama’s book “Dreams From My Father.” It was very good. Be sure to read the forward. I am currently reading ‘The Beach.’ Yes, the one they based a Leo Dicrapio movie on. It’s really good so far though and making a possible trip up to Thailand in February or March that much more appealing!
Robot Devil birds on the Main Beach.
P.S. About the coffee in this country- it’s an espresso culture. No one serves drip coffee. Diva and I bought a camping style espresso perculator to make our own espresso that we mix with milk, which roughly works out to be like a coffee. We bought a locally grown blend and it sure beats buying flat whites or cappuccinos or long blacks at $3 a pop. Bam.
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